MONEY MANAGEMENT
How To Get The Most Out
Of Your Retirement Plan
Want lo have someone else contribute to your retire
ment savings? If so, consider taking advantage of a com
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More than 180,000 companies offer these programs
to employees, and many of them will kick in company
funds. No matter what your age is now or when you ex
pect to retire, investing in a 401 (k) plan is one of the
best ways to save for your retirement. Here's how you
can reap the full benefits of such plans.
Contribute Early
A 401(k) plan enables you to contribute pretax dol
lars that compound interest on a tax-defeired basis.
What this means is that you don't pay taxes on the por
tion of your salary you contribute to the plan, and the
earnings aren't taxed until they are withdrawn at retire
ment.
The sooner you contribute to the plan, the more you
will benefit from the compounding of interest. For ex
ample, if you place $7,000 into a 401(k) plan each year
for 20 years and earn a return of 8 percent, your total as
sets at the end of the period will equal $320,000.
Matching Contributions
Many companies offer matching contributions.
Some companies will match your contribution dollar for
dollar. Others will contribute 50 cents for every dollar
you contribute. Still others will contribute certain per
centages of your salary depending on the amount of
your contribution.
To get the most out of your 401 (k), contribute at
least the amount that will enable you to receive the max
imum company matching contribution.
Maximum Contributions
It's wise to contribute as much as possible to your
401(k) plan. The amount you can contribute each pay
period depends on your salary and what percentage of it
the company permits employees to contribute. Typically,
companies allow contributions of between 2 and 15 per
cent of your compensation.
For 1994, you are allowed to make a maximum tax
free contribution of $9,240 to your 401(k) plan. This
itiuuuiii uucN uui include employer contributions. !f you
set aside $9,240 and your employer matches your contri
bution dollar for dollar, you can actually save $18,480,
plus interest, this year.
Monitor Investments
Monitoring and managing your 401 (k) plan's perfor
mance is an important task since it directly affects the
balance of your savings at retirement. Today, employers
generally give employees several options for investing
their 401(k) contributions. For example, you may be
able to allocate your contributions among fixed-income
investments, such as certificates of deposit (CDs), and
variable income investments, such as stock or bond
funds.
Generally, it's wise to diversify your 401(k) assets.
Of course, the closer you get to retirement, the less risk
you should take and the more you should consider fixed
income investments.
Invest Long-Term
Under the tax law, you can withdraw funds from
your 401(k) plan when you reach the age of 59 or be
cause of death, disability, separation from service, retire
ment or termination of the plan. You may also be al
lowed to withdraw funds if you're experiencing finan
cial hardship. Keep in mind that withdrawals for hard
ship are limited to your contributions only.
You cannot draw on your employer's contributions
or income earned by the ftind Finally, he aware that in
certain circumstances, a 10 percent early withdrawal
penalty may apply.
This doesn't mean 401(k) plans are a bad invest
ment ? just one you must be willing to stick with for the
long- term.
Money Management is a weekly column on personal
finance prepared and distributed by the North Carolina
Association of Certified Public Accountants.
Small Business Association Loans
$1 .4 Million In County During 1 994
Six Small Business Association
loans totaling $1.4 million were ap
proved in Brunswick County during
1994, according to Janita Stewart,
acting district director of the
Charlotte District office.
Statewide, 548 loans were ap
proved from October 1993 through
September 1994, totaling more than
S129 million. Loans were made in
78 of North Carolina's 100 counties.
SBA loans are primarily made by
private lenders, usually banks, guar
anteed up to 90 percent by SBA.
Loan programs include working
, capital loans, loans under $25,000,
contract loans, export revolving line
of credit, and the Green Line Loan
Program, 2 five-year line of credit
Among new SBA plans imple
mented this year is the LowDoc pro
gram, which uses a one-page appli
cation and assures a quick re
sponse ? usually less than a week ?
from SBA loan officers. LowDoc
applies to loans of up to $100,000
made by banks and guaranteed up to
90 percent by SBA.
The approval process focuses on
character, credit and business expe
rience and may require some addi
tional paperwork from the lender, as
well as certain income tax returns,
according to an SBA news release.
"The Unsinkable Boat"
BOATS
by
TAYLOR MANUFACTURING, INC.
Call
Ron Taylor
1 -80n-54R-??93 I
I I I
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Naber's New Car Trades Are
At Super Low Prices. No
Reasonable Offer Turned Down.
First Come, First Serve!
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N443A '89 Saab 900S-Very well cared (or, sunroof, sharp.
B324A '94 Dodge Ram 1500- A deal. 5.9 litre engine, short bed, must
S06.
B268B '91 Nissan Pickup-Nice, inexpensive small truck.
N485A '87 Nissan Sentra XEHMHflfrble transportation, one owner
trade, low miles.
N330A '88 Mustang Convertible-Must sell, no reasonable offer refused,
good condition.
N513A '89 Dodge D50 Ram-Lc^OW^iles, great condition.
B302A '89 Nissan Sentra-Less than $2,000. Dependable, solid value.
N943B '89 Dynasty-Less than value
N202A *93 Jeep Grand Cherokee-wnne, 4x4, mini vummSoTi, ? ofilona,
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B230A *92 GMC Sanoma SLE Plck-up-4 3 engine, nice.
B279 '94 Jeep Grand Cherokee-Driftwood, 4x4, all options, very nice,
will sacrifice, local trade.
B285A '93 Cherokee-Red, 4x^?Q|j03uper nice condition, aU options,
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N522A '94 Dakota 8LT Club Cab-4x4, mint condition, only 9,000
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B218A '93 Nissan Hardbody Pickup-Must sacrifice, very nice truck.
N293B1 '89 Dodge D50-Low miles, dependable transportation.
N189A '90 Plymouth Voyager-Priced to sell, good condition.
B340A1 '87 Dodge Caravan SE-\fery nice condition, low miles.
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B164A '91 GMC Cheyenne- White , nice truck, great price.
B314A *91 Suzuki Samurai-Convertible.
B285A '88 Honda Accord LX-4-dr., nice condition, auto. A/C, stereo,
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N351A '88 Ford Taurus LX-Priced to seN. super nice shape.
N452A2A1 B '93 Hyundai Elantra-Priced to sell, automatic trans
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N450A '90 Electra Umfted-T-type, priced to sell.
N444A *91 Ford Tempo-Great condition. Economy car.
B340A *92 Chevy Lumina Euro-Sharp, great condition, great value.
B271A '89 Bute* Century-uepenaante, solid transponabon. Must
call
N410A '89 OMs Clera-4 door, must sell.
B306A '91 Dodge Shadow Convertible-Economical, low mttes,
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N460A '91 Acura Integra-Low miles, automatic transmission, super
nice.
N487B '88 Mercedes 300 TE-Priced to sell, top of the line vehicle, f
new tires, third seat in back.
HI
I
B276 '02 Podflt Caravan
B322 *04 Dodge Ram 250 Conversion VSn-Priced under $17,000, TV,
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B306 *03 Renegade-Hardtop, auto, not made anymore, hard to get, low
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B257 '03 Renegade-Hardtop, hard to get, low miles.
N467A *03 Dodge Steelttv-New tires, great condition, local trade, hot.
B254 "03 Eagle Talon-Automatic transmission.
B299A '93 Ford Probe QT-Automatic transmission, new tires, beautiful
trade in.
N299A*02 Honda Aooord LX-Laather interior, low miles, excellent con
dition, local trade.
B295A *02 Ford Mustang Convertible-Excellent condition, local trade.
N406A *02 Foid Escort- Super shape, must sell.
N488 '80 Chevy Spectrum-Great transportation, automatic, air
conditioning, stereo, cassette.
W'
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RENTALS
Dodge Qrand Caravan
VSR
Jeep Wrangler
Jeep Qrand Cherokee
Neon
Chrysler Concorde
?Competitive Rates
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754-2811 ? 1-800-754-2811
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