It is NOT too Late to Make 2018 Contributions to your Retirement Account!

If you are seeing that you should have contributed more to your 401(k) for the tax year 2018, the good news is that it is not too late.  The bad news is that most employers do not allow you to specify which year you want to add to, so ask.  Your HR team should be able to tell you whether you can apply more to your 2018, since the IRS allows 2018 401(k) contributions up to April 15, 2019.  But as Matthew Frankel reminds us in the Motley Fool article, you can’t simply write a check or deposit cash.  The good news is that if you have an IRA, you may contribute until April 15, 2019 according to the IRS.

Regardless of whether you can contribute more to your 2018 401(k) the IRS released its notice that  2019 401(k) contribution limits are increasing.  If your contributions are already short in 2018, now is the time to raise your contributions in 2019.  Not every employer asks, but since this affects not only your retirement money, but also your tax refund amount, be proactive and let your employer know you want to raise your contribution.