"You know this is percent, right?"

[Scubanewbie]

OK, not really badassity compared with current forum members but made me feel like a badass and gave me quite the chuckle :)  Husband got a new job and  I checked the materials they sent home and there's no cap on % of income you can put in.  So we put in 25% (I know, not nearly as badass as some on here, two young kids, maxxing IRAs, excuses excuses I know :) -- HR's response was to double check that we realized that was 25%...not $25.  Twenty five PERCENT?!?  Gave husband and I quite the chuckle.  Yes, we know it's 25%.  Yes PERCENT!  You mean everyone doesn't do that?  Haha, secret giggling and chuckling by us.

[trailrated]

Kick ass and take names!

[Mississippi Mudstache]

I'm always shocked at the number of forum members who work at companies where actual people are looking over their 401k selections. I've only ever done it on the 401k provider's website.

I've had my 401k withholdings as high as 75% for a couple months at a time when I was trying to max out before year end. That would have made for good fun if there was actually an HR rep looking over the paperwork.

[TheAnonOne]

I'm always shocked at the number of forum members who work at companies where actual people are looking over their 401k selections. I've only ever done it on the 401k provider's website.

I've had my 401k withholdings as high as 75% for a couple months at a time when I was trying to max out before year end. That would have made for good fun if there was actually an HR rep looking over the paperwork.

I am with you... My employer couldn't give a rats a**

[Scubanewbie]

I'm always shocked at the number of forum members who work at companies where actual people are looking over their 401k selections. I've only ever done it on the 401k provider's website.

I've had my 401k withholdings as high as 75% for a couple months at a time when I was trying to max out before year end. That would have made for good fun if there was actually an HR rep looking over the paperwork.

I am with you... My employer couldn't give a rats a**

True enough.  Husband's company has all of 25 employees so its still a bit old school.  Mine is a F500 so yeah, nothing is human interaction ;)  Also interesting to note that DH can only change anything in 401k once a quarter and again, that's through the one HR/other job lady, so although fine for us, it isn't something to try to move around very often.  Changes are anything from changing the percentage to changing funds.   Of course, the oh-so-helpful investment guy came by to "help" DH pick some funds.  He recommended all managed funds...wonder why that would be?!?  We went as low fee as we could but the options still suck compared with Vanguard, lowest we could get was around 0.6.  Luckily my company uses Vanguard so we can sock away more there.

[forummm]

There was another thread about 401k deductions and an HR person responded to say that they check over the forms because people will mistakenly put too much in their 401k and then be unable to pay the rent/mortgage because of it--and then they get all upset with HR.

[Scubanewbie]

There was another thread about 401k deductions and an HR person responded to say that they check over the forms because people will mistakenly put too much in their 401k and then be unable to pay the rent/mortgage because of it--and then they get all upset with HR.

I can actually imagine that happening.  Which only  brings up another shortcoming in the average American, that a single lost paycheck (or portion thereof) can throw a family into a tailspin and unable to pay rent/mortgage.  I started out being a Dave Ramsey follower though, so despite moving on to MMM I still have more than most here would recommend being lazy loafers in a money market that's easily accessible in case of an emergency.  Though if I wasn't quite so conservative I'm well aware that my stellar credit would offer another layer of protection as there would be plenty of banks/CC willing to "tide me over" in a temporary emergency...not that I'd resort to it.  In my first foray at travel miles hustling the CC company gave me mind boggling $23K line of credit in a 60 second online approval.  Another application a month later to the SAME company lent me another $17K again instantaneously online.  They are of course PIF each month :)

[Jack]

I just started a new job and talked to HR about maxing out my HSA before open enrollment (which means $6650 between now and October, or $1000+ per paycheck) and they didn't seem all that shocked about it.

Of course, maybe they should have been concerned since I'm not actually sure if I can afford to max my HSA or not (especially since I don't know what my net paycheck will be -- I need to figure out how to calculate my withholding accurately...).

[Scubanewbie]

I just started a new job and talked to HR about maxing out my HSA before open enrollment (which means $6650 between now and October, or $1000+ per paycheck) and they didn't seem all that shocked about it.

Of course, maybe they should have been concerned since I'm not actually sure if I can afford to max my HSA or not (especially since I don't know what my net paycheck will be -- I need to figure out how to calculate my withholding accurately...).

That is a tall order, good luck on maxxing it!  Love this forum for how things that are uncommon other places are common sense here.  Cheers!

[etselec]

I just started a new job and talked to HR about maxing out my HSA before open enrollment (which means $6650 between now and October, or $1000+ per paycheck) and they didn't seem all that shocked about it.

Of course, maybe they should have been concerned since I'm not actually sure if I can afford to max my HSA or not (especially since I don't know what my net paycheck will be -- I need to figure out how to calculate my withholding accurately...).

https://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/ is my go-to for figuring out what net pay will be with various levels of pre-tax deductions. Just make sure you're solid on whether "pre-tax" includes FICA and state/local or not.

[Jack]

I just started a new job and talked to HR about maxing out my HSA before open enrollment (which means $6650 between now and October, or $1000+ per paycheck) and they didn't seem all that shocked about it.

Of course, maybe they should have been concerned since I'm not actually sure if I can afford to max my HSA or not (especially since I don't know what my net paycheck will be -- I need to figure out how to calculate my withholding accurately...).

https://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/ is my go-to for figuring out what net pay will be with various levels of pre-tax deductions. Just make sure you're solid on whether "pre-tax" includes FICA and state/local or not.

The hard part is that not only did I change jobs this year, my wife has gone from unemployed to one job to two jobs, and they're both supposed to be temporary but we don't know when they're going to end. Not only do I not know how much total income we'll have, it's relatively complicated even just to go find how much withholding has been taken out YTD since I'd have to look up/find four different paycheck stubs...

[lithotomist]

A few years ago I was setting up my wife's 403b contribution and was trying to set it up to max it out by the end of the year.  What I actually did was told them to contribute her entire paycheck.  Oops ;P  On the plus side at least we got the thing funded early and it felt like a windfall when a few months later she started getting a paycheck again :) 

[TomTX]

I just started a new job and talked to HR about maxing out my HSA before open enrollment (which means $6650 between now and October, or $1000+ per paycheck) and they didn't seem all that shocked about it.

Of course, maybe they should have been concerned since I'm not actually sure if I can afford to max my HSA or not (especially since I don't know what my net paycheck will be -- I need to figure out how to calculate my withholding accurately...).

Hm, that's something for me to think about - in theory, we are supposed to have an HSA option available starting September 1, 2016. I should see whether they will let us max it out to the IRS limit across the remaining 4 2016 paychecks. Probably worth emailing them now so that they have the mechanism in place, rather than asking during Open Enrollment and having to wait 2 months for them to figure it out....

[Jack]

I just started a new job and talked to HR about maxing out my HSA before open enrollment (which means $6650 between now and October, or $1000+ per paycheck) and they didn't seem all that shocked about it.

Of course, maybe they should have been concerned since I'm not actually sure if I can afford to max my HSA or not (especially since I don't know what my net paycheck will be -- I need to figure out how to calculate my withholding accurately...).

Hm, that's something for me to think about - in theory, we are supposed to have an HSA option available starting September 1, 2016. I should see whether they will let us max it out to the IRS limit across the remaining 4 2016 paychecks. Probably worth emailing them now so that they have the mechanism in place, rather than asking during Open Enrollment and having to wait 2 months for them to figure it out....

HR might have been mistaken about it, but I was told that the HSA contribution was based on health care plan year, not calendar year or tax (fiscal) year. Allegedly, the contributions I'm making now are for the 2014-10-01 to 2015-09-30 period, and I could make more contributions between October and January for the the 2015-10-01 to 2016-09-30 period, resulting in > $6650 contributed in calendar year (and maybe tax year?) 2015.

[TomTX]

I just started a new job and talked to HR about maxing out my HSA before open enrollment (which means $6650 between now and October, or $1000+ per paycheck) and they didn't seem all that shocked about it.

Of course, maybe they should have been concerned since I'm not actually sure if I can afford to max my HSA or not (especially since I don't know what my net paycheck will be -- I need to figure out how to calculate my withholding accurately...).

Hm, that's something for me to think about - in theory, we are supposed to have an HSA option available starting September 1, 2016. I should see whether they will let us max it out to the IRS limit across the remaining 4 2016 paychecks. Probably worth emailing them now so that they have the mechanism in place, rather than asking during Open Enrollment and having to wait 2 months for them to figure it out....

HR might have been mistaken about it, but I was told that the HSA contribution was based on health care plan year, not calendar year or tax (fiscal) year. Allegedly, the contributions I'm making now are for the 2014-10-01 to 2015-09-30 period, and I could make more contributions between October and January for the the 2015-10-01 to 2016-09-30 period, resulting in > $6650 contributed in calendar year (and maybe tax year?) 2015.

I think your HR screwed up. Publication 969 all seems geared to calendar year/tax year. It talks about YOUR individual tax year (which is calendar year for most people), not your company's tax year.

[Jack]

I just started a new job and talked to HR about maxing out my HSA before open enrollment (which means $6650 between now and October, or $1000+ per paycheck) and they didn't seem all that shocked about it.

Of course, maybe they should have been concerned since I'm not actually sure if I can afford to max my HSA or not (especially since I don't know what my net paycheck will be -- I need to figure out how to calculate my withholding accurately...).

Hm, that's something for me to think about - in theory, we are supposed to have an HSA option available starting September 1, 2016. I should see whether they will let us max it out to the IRS limit across the remaining 4 2016 paychecks. Probably worth emailing them now so that they have the mechanism in place, rather than asking during Open Enrollment and having to wait 2 months for them to figure it out....

HR might have been mistaken about it, but I was told that the HSA contribution was based on health care plan year, not calendar year or tax (fiscal) year. Allegedly, the contributions I'm making now are for the 2014-10-01 to 2015-09-30 period, and I could make more contributions between October and January for the the 2015-10-01 to 2016-09-30 period, resulting in > $6650 contributed in calendar year (and maybe tax year?) 2015.

I think your HR screwed up. Publication 969 all seems geared to calendar year/tax year. It talks about YOUR individual tax year (which is calendar year for most people), not your company's tax year.

Oh, fuck! I just read Publication 969, and got some very bad news: in order to be able to max the HSA for 2015, under the "last month rule" I'd have to still have an HSA health plan on 2016-12-01, which (because open enrollment is earlier than that) means I'd really have to have it until 2017-09-30. That completely screws up my plans, as I had been strongly considering switching to a non-HDHP in 2016 because it's about time for my wife and I to start considering kids. Because of that, I might only be eligible to contribute $1662.50 without being subject to penalties (which means I'd have to change my HSA withholding immediately to stop it, since it's $1000/paycheck and I already contributed one!).

(On that note, am I right in assuming that an HDHP + pregnancy is a bad idea? Answer in this other thread, please.)