The Revenue Act of 1978 created new retirement options for employee benefit plans. Under section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code, employers may offer their employees the option of taking cash payments currently or deferring the cash until retirement. Employees may also elect to defer current income to the plans on a pre-tax basis. This simply means that the employees can invest money into the plans before the money is taxed, thereby making it tax-free for the present. Employees can save hundreds of dollars each year by choosing this option. Some plans also allow employees to make after-tax contributions to a savings plan. Profit sharing plans, savings plans, and stock bonus plans may include provisions for 401(k)s. This tutorial will cover 401(k) plans as retirement tools.

We will take you through four areas of 401(k)s:

• MAKING CONTRIBUTIONS TO A 401(K) PLAN
• 401(K) PLAN CONTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS
• 401(k) Plan Distribution Requirements
• SIMPLE 401(k) Plans
• SUMMARY OF 401(K) PLANS

Let's look first at how you can fund a 401(k) plan.