Does setting up a 401k have some sort of calendar year deadline?

[AJSimon]

I don't mean enrolling in a pre-existing program. I mean an employer setting up a 401k program for the first time for participating employees. Twice my employer has promised to set something like this up at the start of a calendar year, and then it doesn't happen and she's like, "Sorry, we ran out of time to get it done." I wasn't aware these program took months to set up.

[terri77]

Wow, that’s unacceptable. Your CEO needs to make her employees a priority.

[myrdale]

Your employer did not forget. They simply aren't interested in doing a 401(k) program, and you are gullible enough to keep falling for it. They can get it started any day of the week. I had a similar situation when I started this job.

Me: Hey can we get a 401(k)?
Boss: That sounds like a great idea. You know you can open you're on IRA outside work right?
Me: Yeah, so about the 401(k).
Boss: .....

About a year later I was at the point where it was becoming a deal breaker and I was about to start looking for another employeer when we got bought out. In the last 15 years, mine has grown to $+150k.

Every day you are at a job without a retirement program is another day of savings you've lost that you will never get back.

[AJSimon]

I wasn't suggesting she did forget. I was just looking for confirmation of what I already suspected, that she lied again about there being some sort of deadline preventing it. This time around I actually spoke to the plan organizer who was going to be setting it up. The only real question I still have is what's actually stopping it from happening.

[Petunia 100]

I wasn't suggesting she did forget. I was just looking for confirmation of what I already suspected, that she lied again about there being some sort of deadline preventing it. This time around I actually spoke to the plan organizer who was going to be setting it up. The only real question I still have is what's actually stopping it from happening.

They are expensive to administer.

[AllyStreelman]

There's no deadline for when an employer can start a 401k plan for their employees. However, once the plan begins, there are many deadlines they have to abide by for tax purposes. Your employer may be wanting to launch the plan in a particular quarter to make filing later easier. That said, your best bet is to open up an individual retirement account if you haven't already and start setting aside funds for retirement there.

[myrdale]

There's no deadline for when an employer can start a 401k plan for their employees. However, once the plan begins, there are many deadlines they have to abide by for tax purposes. Your employer may be wanting to launch the plan in a particular quarter to make filing later easier. That said, your best bet is to open up an individual retirement account if you haven't already and start setting aside funds for retirement there.

Agreed.

[scfr]

Well yes, there can be deadlines. But if your employer missed getting it set up in one year I can't think of any reason why they couldn't roll any "legwork" they had done over to the next year.
I can imagine a lot of scenarios why they may not have done it yet. Is it a really small company? Not all entrepreneurs are good at handling multi-step administrative tasks and if they don't have someone to handle such tasks and are unwilling to pay an outside consultant it can be a problem (my DH is like that - he has a solo 401K and I handle the paperwork for it. He literally wants me to stick it in front of him to sign and that's it. Makes me crazy, just as it probably makes him crazy that I actually want to read and understand first.)