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Comment by spcelzrd | Hacker News Reader

The article attempts to define it, but he word "generous" here is a little vague. If I'm making above market rate in salary, I don't really care about 401k match. At a previous employer, I had five weeks of vacation. Salary was lower than what I made when I left, but I valued the extra time off more.

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Money in a 401(k) is tax-advantaged, so it counts for more than an equal amount in salary.

In addition to match, other factors that matter a lot (but are harder to find out up front) include what funds are available and if after-tax contributions are allowed. Having access to low-cost funds is a huge plus, and after-tax contributions allow for the mega-backdoor Roth 401(k) strategy.

I agree that a 401k match is better than the equivalent salary. Match is often a company policy and non-negotiable. Salary is negotiated per individual and usually more than once over the lifetime of a job, so it's easier to get more salary than more retirement match.

It's the pingpong tables that kill me. Why does this make me want to work there?

Ping-pong (foosball, etc.) tables make me less likely to want to work somewhere. At an old job the foosball table was near my desk. Whatever little amusement I got from playing foosball was dwarfed by the annoyance of other people playing foosball while I was trying to work. Ping-pong would be worse because I'd be trying to get things done while balls are flying through the air near me.

I used to work with an old engineer who said that every company he worked for that had a ping-pong table has closed up shop in the years since.

Also nice is the in-service rollover, so you can roll funds directly from the company's 401(k) plan into your self-directed IRA or whatever multiple times per year, instead of when you leave.

Good point. Another nice option is the ability to roll over an existing roll over IRA into a 401(k) -- not all plans have this option. This is important because having basis in an IRA negates a lot of the advantage of doing a backdoor Roth IRA, but if you can move all of those IRA funds into your 401(k) without any tax consequences, then you're golden.

Note that 401(k)-to-401(k) rollovers are generally always allowed.

> I don't really care about 401k match.

That doesn't make any sense. Even if you value retirement savings at zero, you can withdraw as soon as the match hits with a 10% penalty. Matching is free money.

Sorry if that was unclear. I do value retirement savings and understand the advantage of a pre-tax retirement contribution.

What I mean to say is that salaryX + 3% 401k match is not as valuable as salaryX + 50% salaryX with no 401k match.

The extra salary you need to ignore a lack of 401k can be debated, but at some salary, I just don't care.

The nice part about the match is it let's you get past the 401k contribution limit. YOU can only contribute something like 18k to your 401k, but your total 401k contribution can be much higher (~50k). So if YOU hit your 18k limit, the match is free 401k that you cannot get in another way.

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