To find out about when you will receive any money from your profit sharing account, you will need to contact Merrill Lynch; this will help you check on Wal-Mart’s policies and rules. Unless you are absolutely desperate for the money, it may be worth having it paid into your 401K account (which is a completely different thing to profit sharing), or even into an ISA. If you just withdraw it, you will find that it will get taxed and that there will be fees to pay, too.
A 401K is a retirement savings plan that was introduced in the States in 80s as an alternative to traditional pension plans. Employers still contribute, but the onus of responsibility for their own pension has shifted to the worker. There are around 60 per cent of people in America who are nearing retirement age who have this kind of account.
The trouble with these accounts, though, is that the first wave of retired workers who bought into the scheme are finding that they are not receiving as much money as was anticipated because the plans seem to be falling short. In February of this year, the Wall Street Journal stated that ‘the median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401K account has less than one quarter of what is needed... To maintain its standard of living in retirement’.
Employees, though, can choose where their savings will be invested, usually in a selection of mutual funds that focus on stocks, bonds and the money market. Employees are also able, if they want to, to buy stock from the company that they work for, and are able to re-locate their money where they choose. Obviously, the more knowledgeable you are about investments, the better chance you will have of making a good return, but there are always risks.
A 401K is a retirement savings plan that was introduced in the States in 80s as an alternative to traditional pension plans. Employers still contribute, but the onus of responsibility for their own pension has shifted to the worker. There are around 60 per cent of people in America who are nearing retirement age who have this kind of account.
The trouble with these accounts, though, is that the first wave of retired workers who bought into the scheme are finding that they are not receiving as much money as was anticipated because the plans seem to be falling short. In February of this year, the Wall Street Journal stated that ‘the median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401K account has less than one quarter of what is needed... To maintain its standard of living in retirement’.
Employees, though, can choose where their savings will be invested, usually in a selection of mutual funds that focus on stocks, bonds and the money market. Employees are also able, if they want to, to buy stock from the company that they work for, and are able to re-locate their money where they choose. Obviously, the more knowledgeable you are about investments, the better chance you will have of making a good return, but there are always risks.
