Yup. I hear you, techmom, similar family financial situation here – both DH and I. I have never taken out a penny of retirement money (have rolled it into my IRA, or kept it in other plans). Compounded earnings make a BIG difference when you start in your 20s. DH didn’t start saving (despite my strong advice) until he because a gov’t EE at age 37. He’s been catching up ever since. He cashed out his retirement funds in his 20s to help pay for grad school (ok, that’s legit), but then he worked seven years at an employer that didn’t match and he refused to contribute on principle. Dumb, dumb, dumb, IMO.
Not uncommon. Our small company plan used to fail every year. (We could not afford to offer a match, so the lower comp’ed did not participate much). When I spoke with the Fidelity Rep, she said that a third of her small clients “fail” every year.
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Exactly. Fidelity, our Admin, would do the math and would send back the exact amount needed to the Highly Comped to get the plan into ‘pass’. (Those dollars became income to the HCE’s in the following year.)
Owners probably figured it was just not worth the fees and hassle.