Aflac Incorporated 401(k) match: 4% max
Aflac Incorporated 401(k) Savings and Profit Sharing Plan · AFL · CIK 4977
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
4%
Aflac Incorporated matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 4% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026 ↗, covering the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Page data last updated July 28, 2026, when the Form 5500 bulk data was last refreshed. Why filings lag
On this page: what the employer actually paid in · the formula, word for word · when the money becomes yours · who can join · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What Aflac puts in, and what the plan costs
What Aflac put into the plan, per active participant
$7,230
Aflac Incorporated put $7,230 into this plan for each of its 5,776 active participants in plan year 2024. This is the whole employer side of the plan: matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions, and reallocated forfeitures. The Form 5500 does not separate them, so this is what the employer put in and not the match.
Aflac put in more per active participant than 72% of plans with 5,000+ participants in insurance. The middle plan in that group of 98 reported $5,049. Insurance comes from business code 524140, which Aflac entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.
What this figure cannot separate: how much Aflac pays, and how much it puts in
This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.
This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.
Source: DOL Form 5500 for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, EIN 581167100, plan 004 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $7,230 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Aflac Incorporated also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,980 a year at a $49,500 salary, and the same filing states employer contributions made outside the match. That second figure is what the formula pays one worker on that salary, and not an amount either filing reports. The two figures cover different plan years and measure different things, so neither one is the other one corrected.
What Aflac puts in
$1,980
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The first 1% to 4% of participants' compensation contributed may be subject to a percentage matching contribution by the Company. For the year ended December 31, 2025, subject to certain limitations, the Company's matching contribution was 100% of the portion of the participants' contributions, which were not in excess of 4% of the participants' annual cash compensation.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 4% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $1,980 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
57.14 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 4% of the 253 schedules we have scored.
It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.
Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are 100% vested in their contributions plus investment earnings or losses thereon. Participants become vested in the Company’s matching contributions and nonelective contributions and the related earnings or losses thereon according to the following schedule.”
The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.
What the plan costs, against plans of its size
Not reported
The Form 5500 filing does not report the plan-paid administrative expenses this figure needs.
What is Aflac's 401(k) match formula?
Aflac's 401(k) employer match tops out at 4% of pay. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 4% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 4% of compensation |
| Rate actually paid this plan yearAs reported in the filing. | For the year ended December 31, 2025 the matching contribution was 100% of contributions not in excess of 4% of annual cash compensation |
| Conditions | The filing hedges that the first 1% to 4% of compensation contributed may be subject to a percentage matching contribution, with the rate stated for the plan year |
| Other employer contribution | Nonelective contribution of 4% of annual cash compensation for the year ended December 31, 2025 |
At a $60,000 salary, contributing 4% ($2,400) earns the full employer match of $2,400 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“The first 1% to 4% of participants' compensation contributed may be subject to a percentage matching contribution by the Company. For the year ended December 31, 2025, subject to certain limitations, the Company's matching contribution was 100% of the portion of the participants' contributions, which were not in excess of 4% of the participants' annual cash compensation.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Aflac's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Aflac vests the employer match on a graded schedule: 20% after one year, rising to 100% after five. Each step is money that leaves with you that year, which is how a graded schedule differs from a cliff.
| Employer match vesting | Graded: 20% at 1 yr, 40% at 2 yr, 60% at 3 yr, 80% at 4 yr, 100% at 5 yr |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Accelerated vesting | Fully vested upon termination because of death or disability or after attaining normal retirement age; 100% vested upon Plan termination |
| Other employer contributions | Nonelective contributions vest on the same 5-year graded schedule as matching contributions |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are 100% vested in their contributions plus investment earnings or losses thereon. Participants become vested in the Company’s matching contributions and nonelective contributions and the related earnings or losses thereon according to the following schedule.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Aflac's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Aflac enrolls new hires automatically at 6% of pay, rising 1% a year to 10% of pay.
| Plan entry | Eligible employees may voluntarily participate on the first day of the payroll period following their employment date |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%; default investment: Target date retirement fund determined based on the age of the participant |
Eligibility, word for word
“Eligible employees may voluntarily participate in the Plan on the first day of the payroll period following their employment date.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Participants that do not make an affirmative contribution election are automatically enrolled in the Plan to contribute 6% of annual cash compensation, which will increase by 1% annually until contributions reach 10% of annual cash compensation.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Aflac plan report on Form 5500?
The Aflac plan reported $1.1B in assets and 6,929 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $1,064,802,824 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 6,929 |
| Recordkeeper | Fidelity Investments |
How that cost compares
It is one of 1,068 plans in insurance in the Form 5500 data we publish.
The plan reports Fidelity Investments as its recordkeeper, one of 10,593 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 10,022 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $97.71 per participant.
How does Aflac's 401(k) match compare?
Aflac Incorporated's maximum 401(k) match of 4% of pay compares with a median of 4.5% across the 181 companies in our data with a computable formula.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file in insurance, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in insurance.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in insurance.
Maximum match 2.1% of pay. Also in insurance.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also fully vested after 5 years, like Aflac.
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Fidelity NetBenefits ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 23, 2026, SEC EDGAR. Every match fact on this page comes from it.
- Changed jobs? Find an old 401(k) ↗
The Department of Labor's Retirement Savings Lost & Found, a free government database.
- This year's IRS contribution limits ↗
The official deferral and catch-up limits every formula operates under.
- Download this data (CSV)
Formula, vesting and source references for this company, one file.
Questions this filing answers
What is Aflac Incorporated's 401(k) match?
Aflac Incorporated matches 100% of employee contributions up to 4% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Aflac Incorporated 401(k) match vest?
Graded: 20% at 1 yr, 40% at 2 yr, 60% at 3 yr, 80% at 4 yr, 100% at 5 yr.
Does Aflac Incorporated's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%; default investment: Target date retirement fund determined based on the age of the participant.
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Aflac Incorporated 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001628280-26-044896, plan year ended 2025-12-31.