How much of your employer’s 401(k) match you keep if you leave, by years of service
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 29 Sept 2026.Enter your employer contribution balance, your own balance, the plan's vesting schedule and your years of service. Your own deferrals are always 100% vested. Employer money vests at least as fast as a 3-year cliff or a 6-year graded schedule, so 4 years on the graded schedule means 60% vested.
Rates and rules read from the sources listed on this page (the earliest on 29 Sept 2026); they may have changed since.
Under "Vesting schedule for employer money", pick the schedule your Summary Plan Description names: 3-year cliff, 6-year graded or Immediate.
Enter your Years of vesting service, counting each plan year in which you worked the hours your plan requires.
Type your Employer contributions (match, profit-sharing) and Your own deferrals and rollovers from your benefit statement.
Read You keep, the Vested percentage and Forfeited if you leave, then open Year by year to see what each extra year adds; Share result copies a link.
Vesting decides how much of your 401(k) you own if you leave your job. This calculator takes the vesting schedule in your plan, your years of service and your balances, and shows the part you keep, the part you would forfeit, and when the next step comes.
Your own money is always yours. Elective deferrals you make from your pay, pre-tax or Roth, are always 100% vested, according to the IRS. So is money in a SEP or SIMPLE IRA, and safe harbor 401(k) employer contributions are fully vested when made. Vesting schedules apply only to other employer contributions, such as matching and profit-sharing.
The two legal maximums. A plan can vest faster, but not slower, than one of two schedules set by section 411 of the tax code. With the 3-year cliff you own nothing until 3 years of service, then everything. With the 6-year graded schedule you own 20% after 2 years, 40% after 3, 60% after 4, 80% after 5 and 100% after 6. The IRS example: John, with 5 years of service on a 6-year graded schedule, is 80% vested.
Years of service are counted by the plan. Most plans credit a year when you work 1,000 hours in a 12-month period, but plans can count service differently; your Summary Plan Description says how. Everyone becomes 100% vested at the plan's normal retirement age or when the plan is terminated.
Check your own plan's schedule. Choose "My plan's own" and enter its percentage for each year. The calculator tells you whether it meets the legal minimum and, if not, the first year it falls behind.
What this does not do: breaks in service, forfeiture timing, or defined benefit pensions. Ask your plan administrator or read your annual benefit statement. Not legal or tax advice.
Vested means owned. The vested part of your 401(k) is money your employer cannot take back when you leave. Your own contributions are always fully vested; employer contributions become yours over time under the plan's vesting schedule, and whatever is not vested when you leave is forfeited back to the plan.
Cliff vesting gives nothing until a set point and then everything: the slowest legal cliff is 100% after 3 years of service. Graded vesting rises in steps: the slowest legal graded schedule gives 20% after 2 years and 20% more each year until 100% after 6 years.
Multiply your employer contribution balance by your vested percentage. With $18,000 of employer money on a 6-year graded schedule and 4 years of service, you are 60% vested and keep $10,800; $7,200 is forfeited. Your own deferrals are kept in full on top of that.
No. The IRS states that an employee's own contributions, such as elective deferrals taken from salary, are always 100% vested. The same is true of every contribution to a SEP or SIMPLE IRA, and of safe harbor 401(k) employer contributions, which must be fully vested when they are made.
The plan document decides, but most plans credit a year of vesting service for each 12-month period in which you work at least 1,000 hours. The IRS example counts calendar years: John worked from June 2007 to August 2011 with 1,000 hours in each year and had 5 years of service.
All employees must be 100% vested when they reach the plan's normal retirement age, and when the plan is terminated, according to the IRS. Switch on that option in the calculator to see the full balance. Your annual benefit statement shows the vested balance your plan has recorded for you.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
Still stuck? Ask about 401(k) Vesting Calculator and anybody who knows can answer. No account needed.
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