One of my favorite pastors preached a great sermon yesterday on the topic of money (first in a two-part series; you can find them both here). Highly recommended! He briefly touched on retirement savings, which reminded me that I owe y’all several more posts on the same topic. I loved hearing your thoughts in the comments on our first post in this mini series, and now it’s time to get into specifics. We’re continuing with a beginner’s guide to 401ks! Let’s go with a question and answer format today. What is a 401k? A 401k is a retirement savings account offered by some employers (usually larger ones). If your employer does not offer a 401k plan or you are self-employed, you’ll probably want to save via an IRA, which we’ll cover in a future post. A 401k is not an investment — it’s just the type of account that holds your investments. Investment options within a 401k are determined by the employer. What investments can I make through a 401k? When you sign up for your 401k, you’ll be presented with a list of your investment options. Some plans will have hundreds of options, and some plans will have fewer than a dozen — it’s up to your company. All of the investment options will be mutual funds, with one possible exception: company stock. Some plans do include a feature that allows more advanced investors to expand their options to include stocks, bonds, CDs, and other investment vehicles. What about the company stock? I assume that you like the company you work for, and believe in what they do. (Or at least, I hope so!) So, should you invest all of your 401k in your company stock? NO! If your company offers their stock as an option, do NOT put