Financial / 401(k)

Smiths Group understands how important it is to prepare for a secure financial future. When you contribute to the Smiths Group Incentive Savings Plan (401(k) Plan), you take an important step towards reaching that goal.

Features and benefits:

  • Competitive company match
  • Choice of before-tax and/or after-tax contributions
  • Flexible investment options

 

401(k) Plan Details

You and Smiths Group share the responsibility when it comes to contributing to the plan — to the extent that you are willing to invest in your future, we want to help you build your retirement savings and take control of your financial well-being. When you contribute to the plan, Smiths Group will match a percentage of your contribution — that’s free money toward your retirement savings every pay day!

In most cases, you are eligible to participate in the plan as of your date of hire. Questions? Call Fidelity 800-835-5095 or log in at 401k.com.

What do you need to know about the plan?

New Roth option effective January 1, 2024

  • You get paid to save:

    Smiths Group matches 50% of the first 6% of base pay you contribute each paycheck (paid on the pre-tax contribution only). Be sure to contribute at least 6% to take full advantage of the match! For annual IRS limits, click here.

    Savings Fitness Financial Planning Series Video #3 – Determining a Target Retirement Saving Rate

  • You choose how to invest your money:

    The Plan provides a wide variety of investment options, so you can tailor your portfolio to meet your needs based on your risk tolerance, years until retirement, and personal financial goals.

  • You are always 100% vested in your contributions to your account.

Effective February 15, 2022 all active Smiths Group employees only:

  • Company contributions and associated earnings vest 50% after one year of service and 100% after two years of service.
  • “Years of Service” is defined by the Plan.  Take a look at the Smiths Group 401(k) Summary Plan Description

A small change can make a big difference.Sometimes the little things in life make the biggest difference. That’s true when it comes to saving for retirement too.

Aim for an amount that is manageable (your 6% contribution will give you the full company match) Then, challenge yourself to save 1% more each year. While 1% is a small percentage of your annual earnings, it can make a big difference in your total retirement account.

Remember, a key to growing your savings is to increase your contributions each year. Your Plan lets you set automatic increases every year,  take advantage of it. Overall, Fidelity recommends building up to saving 15% of your income toward retirement annually (including Company contributions to your account). But remember, you don’t have to get there overnight, and you can change your contribution amount if you need to, anytime.

Go ahead, challenge yourself to save a little more!

What type of investor are you?

Once you’re saving for retirement, you’ll need to ensure contributions are invested wisely. Choosing the right mix of investments and how best to manage them is key to help protect and grow your savings. Consider the amount of experience, time, and interest you have to manage your investments when deciding which of the following approaches is right for you:

A more hands-off approach
If investing isn’t your first love and you find it hard to regularly review your financial situation and investments, then you may want to choose an investment approach that does the work for you:

Singe Fund Solution- Target date funds (based on an anticipated retirement date). With a target date fund, you pick the fund with the target year closest to when you want to retire. The fund adjusts the investment mix to become more conservative as it gets closer to the retirement date and beyond. With target date funds, the investment mix varies from conservative to aggressive. Simply select the fund that you feel best meets your risk tolerance, time horizon, and investment goals. If you do not choose investments, contributions will be defaulted to the Target date fund that is closest to the normal retirement age of 65.

Managed account- Investment professionals will get to know you and your retirement goals and then manage your investments based on your personal situation. Call Fidelity for assistance with this option.

A more hands-on approach
If you’re comfortable spending more time researching and monitoring investments – as well as building your own diversified portfolio and managing it through market ups and downs – Fidelity offers tools to help you.

Whichever approach you choose, be sure to regularly check that your investments still meet your changing needs (at least once per year) to help ensure you’re on track to meet your goals.

Old 401(k) from a previous employer?

Click here to check out some options

Visit Fidelity for access to modeling tools and resources, such as the library, where you can browse articles, videos, and more to help you make the most informed financial decisions.

Visit Fidelity or call the Fidelity at 1-800-835-5095 to manage your 401(k) plan account:

  • View your account balance
  • Change how your money is invested
  • Start, stop, or change your contributions
  • Use investment and risk tolerance planning tools
  • Read plan rules (contribution limits, loans, distributions, etc.

Note: the information provided on the smithsgroupbenefitscenter.com site has been provided by Smiths Group, not Fidelity, and is solely the responsibility of Smiths Group.

When determining how much to contribute, consider factors such as your age, your pay and the amount of income you may need when you retire. The Smiths Group 401(k) Plan gives you the flexibility to save for retirement in a variety of ways. You can make pre-tax contributions, after-tax contributions or a combination of the two. You may contribute up to 50% of your eligible pay each pay period.

Each pay period that you do not contribute is a lost opportunity for company match.  The Smiths Group Incentive Savings Plan does not provide a true-up.