I love being a paramedic… however, I don’t plan on doing this “forever”.

In my past employment experiences, I have been involved in several different types of retirement plans, including simple IRAs, profit sharing, and 401k programs.

Our company’s 401k retirement plan is one of the best in the business.

They match our pre-tax contributions dollar-per-dollar, up to 10% of our yearly earnings.

For example… if you earn $50k a year, contribute $5k/year pre-tax to your 401k… our company puts in an additional $5k into your account.

So basically, it instantly doubles our contributions to our 401k plan… and because the contributions are pre-tax, it has less of an effect on our take-home pay.

A friend of mine works for a rather large, nationwide ambulance service. Their 401k match is only up to 3% of their earnings. So using the same scenario, his $5k contribution only yields an additional $1500 contribution by his employer.

Some people don’t put too much thought into retirement plans when choosing an employer. My friend, for example, is missing out on $3500/year simply because of his company’s 3% cap on 401k matches.

I wish I’d started contributing to a 401k sooner in life… however, with my company matching my 401k contributions dollar for dollar, up to 10% of my yearly income… I find I am catching up on my retirement savings very fast.

Just another reason this is my “EMS Dream Job”.