If you change jobs your employer will not be contributing any of your paycheck to your 401k because you won't have a paycheck from them anymore!! So at that point you can either "roll over" your money from your old 401k into a new 401k offered by your new job, OR you can "roll over" the money to an IRA (individual retirement account) that you can open with any bank or brokerage company.
It is usually not advised to leave your money in your old company's 401k (although technically you can). It is a lot easier and more organized to stay current and keep your money all together. It can be very difficult to work with a bunch of previous employers and a number of different 401ks so stay on top of it and transfer (aka "rollover") the money whenever you get a new job.
Keep up the good work. 15% is a phenomenal contribution rate. You should be retired in no time. Keep all of your money in stock funds until 5 or 10 years before you retire, at that point you will want to start getting more conservative. Good luck!
You contribute to a 401(k) from each paycheck, so if/when your employment stops you don't make contributions anymore to it. If you leave your job you can "roll over" your 401(k) to your new employer's 401(k) or to your own IRA (or you can just leave it in the previous employer 401(k) until you retire, although most people roll it over).
401(k) accounts are great for several reasons. You never see the money so you don't miss it, making it easy to save. It is also pre-tax dollars, you pay tax on it when you retire. Third, many employers match at least some of your contributions.
You're doing great to start now. Keep up the good work.
Get all of the literature provided for your 401k and make an effort to wade through it. Make notes. write down questions. go to Yahoo Finance and read some related articles.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to understand. But you will have to learn some "lingo" and "apply yourself".
Final tip: Buy high quality, dividend paying stocks, ETF's or well managed, low fee, mutual funds. Reinvest the dividends. Add to them on a timely basis. Hold on for the long term and retire wealthy.
(and if you don't understand some of the "lingo" I have used, Yahoo finance will help you. Just search and study. (or play video games and regret your laziness when you turn 50)
make yourself aware of WHAT the money is invested in.
I'm 22 and just signed up for my 401(k) at my job, and decided to go with 10% from my paycheck or whatever (since that and 15% was the recommended amount that people need to save) but what happens if I leave the job within the next year? I've been there a year already (which made me eligible for it), but would money just stop going into it? Would I have to put money into it on my own if I left?
