How 401(k) Plan Report works
Show the evidence. Explain what it means.
For every number, we try to answer three simple questions: What is it? Where did it come from? What can’t it tell you?
Past records and current benefits are different
The Department of Labor records show what a plan reported for a past year. The current match, vesting rules, eligibility, fees, and investment choices need a recent plan document. We keep those two kinds of information separate.
Employer money
We divide the total employer contributions reported for the plan by the number of active participants. This makes plans easier to compare, but it is not the company’s match formula and it is not what every employee received.
Costs paid by the plan
We divide reported administrative costs by the number of participants at the beginning of the year. This does not capture every fee an employee may pay. We show a reported zero, but leave it out of the lowest-cost lists because zero does not necessarily mean free.
How the Plan Health Score works
The score combines employer contributions versus comparable plans, lower reported administrative costs, active-participant and net-asset trends, participant-loan burden, reported compliance signals, and filing completeness. Peer comparisons carry half of the available weight. Missing measures are removed from the calculation rather than treated as zero.
Confidence describes coverage, not quality: high confidence means at least 75% of the scoring weight was available, medium means at least 50%, and limited means less than 50%. We require at least four measures and half of the model weight before publishing a score.
How the Benefit Quality Score works
This separate score uses reviewed current terms: maximum employer match, vesting, employee-fee evidence, investment choices, eligibility timing, automatic enrollment, and Roth access. The match carries 25% of the full model; vesting, fees, and investments carry 15% each; eligibility, automatic enrollment, and Roth access carry 10% each.
We publish it only when the employer contribution and at least three other current terms are documented. Missing terms are excluded rather than treated as bad benefits. A score based on more documented terms receives higher confidence.
How the job-offer estimate works
The comparison tool uses the documented match or employer-contribution formula, the salary and contribution rate you enter, and any documented eligibility or vesting schedule. It estimates annual employer money, adjusts the first year when a clear waiting period is available, and estimates how much employer money would be vested at the tenure you enter.
If a formula, waiting period, or vesting rule cannot be read reliably from a current source, the estimate stays blank. It does not substitute the plan-wide Form 5500 contribution average. The estimate also excludes taxes, salary growth, investment returns, bonuses, equity, health insurance, and other compensation.
Current benefits coverage
The coverage percentage shows how many current benefit fields have reviewed evidence. It is useful context, but it does not reward a plan merely because its documents were easier to find.
What it takes to judge the full benefit
A complete review needs current information about employer contributions, vesting, access, low-cost investment choices, and employee costs. When something is missing, we show what we know and leave the rest unanswered.
401(k) Plan Report can help you understand a plan. It cannot tell you which job to take, how much to contribute, or which investment to choose.