A 401k plan is an amazing tool that helps many people immensely when they retire. The only wish I have is that more people took full advantage of the terrific opportunities that their employers are giving them with company matching for their 401k plan.

Most companies will match your investment in your 401k plan up to a certain amount, generally around 6 or 8% of your annual pay. The typical rate is around 50 cents on every dollar you invest, though some are now dollar for dollar or even better. Think about this for a minute, how can you turn something like that down? You are silly to turn it down. I simply cannot think of any other time when anyone would be willing to just turn down an instantaneous 50% or 100% return on their investment, so why should they with a 401k plan?

Too many employees think they can't afford to put enough in to maximize the employer match, but in reality they can't afford not to. This Motley Fool article from a couple years ago points out the amazing fact that for some reason, 401k matches just don't catch on like they should.

Please, always max out your investment in the 401k plan to where you milk every single dime out of the company match that you can! Those matches could well be the things that make you rest easily when you retire.