Stages of Retirement for Meta (Facebook) Employees

Regardless of whether you work for Meta or another Fortune 500 corporation, planning for retirement can be a daunting proposition. It's a task best completed in stages, and knowing when and how to gather the information and assets required to have a successful and relaxing retirement is often difficult without assistance.

Retirement planning, whether you are 20 or 60, is something you should be working on actively each year. Unfortunately, numerous polls and experts say the majority of Americans don't know how much to save or what income they will need. Before you read further, log in to Meta's internal benefits portal (or contact Fidelity for your 401(k) plan) to make sure you have a current view of your benefits.

Getting Started at Meta: Your 20s and Early 30s

It's critical to start saving in your 20s and early 30s. Many people suffer from intense anxiety over not saving enough, while others fail to capitalize on earnings early in their careers.

Time is the one advantage you will never get again. As you may know, compounding has significant impacts on future savings. Starting early matters, and the key is to maximize your Meta 401(k) contributions and capture the full Meta match as early as possible.

Say you open a tax-deductible Individual Retirement Account (IRA) at age 25 and invest $100 a month until age 65. If the account earns 8% a year, you could amass roughly $349,100 by age 65. If you wait until age 35 to start saving the same $100 a month, you could end up with about $149,035 when you are 65. Waiting 10 years to start saving and investing could cost you substantially.

There are three primary reasons why a 401(k) is such a popular retirement savings vehicle: matching contributions, tax benefits, and compound growth.

Matching contributions are exactly what they sound like. Your employer matches your own 401(k) contributions with company money. At Meta, the match is 50% of eligible employee deferrals up to a cap that scales with the IRS elective deferral limit each year, with employer contributions 100% immediately vested.

Suppose your employer matches up to 3% of your contributions to the plan, dollar for dollar. If you contribute 2% of your salary to your plan, your total 401(k) contribution will be 4% of your salary each month after the employer match is added. If you bump up your contribution by just 1% (so you're putting in 3% of your salary), your total contribution is now 6% with the employer match.

Many workers do not take full advantage of the employer match because they're not contributing enough themselves. Industry estimates have long suggested that employees who don't maximize their company match leave well over a thousand dollars of potential extra retirement money on the table each year.

Working on It: Your 30s Through Your 40s

At this stage, you're likely full stride into your career and your income probably reflects that. The challenges to saving for retirement at this stage come from large competing expenses: a mortgage, raising children, and saving for college. Try investing a minimum of 10% of your salary toward retirement. Always maximize the Meta contribution match.

One of the classic conflicts is saving for retirement versus saving for college. Most financial planners will tell you that retirement should be your top priority because your child can usually find support from financial aid, whereas you'll be on your own to fund your retirement.

The Home Stretch: Your 50s and 60s

Ideally, you're at your peak earning years, and some of the major household expenses, such as a mortgage or child-rearing, are behind you, or soon will be. Now it's time to boost your retirement savings goal to 20% or more of your income, since this is the last stretch in which to stash away meaningful funds.

For 2026, the IRS contribution limits for employees in this age range are:

• Base 401(k) employee deferral limit: $24,500.
• Age-50+ catch-up: an additional $8,000, for a total of $32,500.
• SECURE 2.0 "super catch-up" for ages 60–63: an additional $11,250 in lieu of the standard age-50 catch-up, for a total of $35,750.

These limits are adjusted annually for inflation. A new SECURE 2.0 wrinkle that takes effect in 2026: if your prior-year FICA wages exceeded $145,000 (indexed), your catch-up contributions (including the super catch-up) must be made on a Roth (after-tax) basis.

If you are over 50, you also have access to an IRA catch-up contribution. For 2026, the IRA contribution limit is $7,500, which includes the $1,100 age-50 catch-up amount (the IRA catch-up is now indexed under SECURE 2.0).

Sources:

1. Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics: 401(k) and Profit-Sharing Plan Contribution Limits, current year, including the age-50 catch-up and the age-60–63 super catch-up under SECURE 2.0. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-401k-and-profit-sharing-plan-contribution-limits
2. Internal Revenue Service. "401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500." https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500
3. SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. 117-328), provisions on the age-60–63 super catch-up, the indexed IRA catch-up, and the Roth-only catch-up requirement for high earners (effective 2026).
4. Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) (current edition). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590a.pdf
5. Meta Platforms, Inc. Summary Plan Description, Meta Platforms, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan (current edition); Form 5500 filings available via EBSA. https://efast.dol.gov/5500Search/