Minimum Age Requirement

[Guest hitt24]

Is there a minimum age in order to start contributing to a 401(k)?

[KJohnson]

An employer may elect to exclude employees under the age of 21 from participating in a 401(k) plan. You should ask your employer for a "summary plan description" and this should tell you whether your employer has made such an election.

[Guest hitt24]

Originally posted by hitt24

Is there a minimum age in order to start contributing to a 401(k)?

But what is the earliest possible date a plan may allow someone to start deferring? 16, 17, 18, 19, etc...

[Guest]

That is a plan design issue. There is no minimum age for Bona Fide employees.

In the past I had a client who's child was 15 and legitimately working 20 hours a week. The company had only family members involved and the child was covered by the plan. However, note that any person in like situation would also have been covered.

[Guest gasher]

Technically if a person is old enough to earn compensation under IRC 415, then they can contribute to a plan (provided the plan does not exclude them)

The tricky part comes into play when investing in securities. NASD rules prohibit minors from playing the market. So who will make the investment decisions for the participant? Are you then providing a benefit to the detriment/exclusion of other employees?

Is it worth it? Exclude them and give them a non qualified bonus/gift of $500 into an education IRA. Its easier.

[Jon Chambers]

In this situation, I wouldn't worry about NASD rules, since the minor doesn't "own" his or her account, the plan owns the account. The broker/dealer has no "know your client" responsibilities for the individual plan participant, and ERISA would probably preempt such a concern, even if it did apply.