Your employer's 401(k) match is free money sitting on the table, Freedom Builder. Leaving it there is the one guaranteed loss in personal finance — and grabbing it beats every other use of a dollar, even paying down debt.
When your employer matches your 401(k) contribution, they hand you 50 cents or a full dollar for every dollar you put in. That's a 50–100% return the moment it lands — before the market does anything. No investment, no debt payoff, nothing else in finance comes close.
A 100% instant return dwarfs the market's ~7% a year. This is why the match comes before paying off debt.
Even your highest-interest debt costs maybe 20–25% a year. A full match returns 100% instantly. So you grab the match first, then attack the debt in Step 5. Capturing free money is always the better math.
Your only job here is to contribute at least enough to earn the full match. A common formula is "100% of the first 3%" or "50% of the first 6%." Whatever yours is, contribute up to that line to capture every free dollar.
The match threshold is the contribution % that earns the maximum match — hit it exactly for now (you'll push higher in Phase 2). Vesting is how long you must stay before the matched money is fully yours; check your schedule if you might change jobs soon.
For where the money goes, keep it simple: a low-cost target-date fund matched to your retirement year is a perfectly good default. One choice, and you're invested.
Setting a contribution percentage in the portal is not a budgeting decision — it is a payroll automation. From the next paycheck forward, money moves from your gross pay directly into your 401(k) before it ever touches your checking account. You never see it, so you never spend it. The match accumulates every pay period without any willpower required. That's what makes this step so powerful: you set it once and the outcome is guaranteed.
Your match formula. The exact terms (e.g. "100% up to 3%"). You recorded this in Step 0.5 — pull it up.
The threshold to hit. Set your contribution percentage to at least the level that earns the full match.
Your vesting schedule. How long until the matched dollars are fully yours — matters most if a job change is on the horizon.
Pick a lead measure and start. The step-by-step walkthrough follows below if you need it.
Your 401(k) / payroll portal and your Step 0.5 notes on the match formula. This is one of the fastest, highest-return moves in the whole Blueprint.
Here's exactly how to work each move from the lead measures above — skip to whichever one you're on.
Set your contribution to at least the full match threshold, invested in a low-cost target-date fund — then confirm it landed on your next paycheck. This is the one step where doing the minimum is exactly right; you'll push contributions higher in Phase 2.