Brunswick Corporation 401(k) match: 4% max
Brunswick Retirement Savings Plan · BC · CIK 14930
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
4%
Brunswick Corporation matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 25, 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 · what it used to be · when the money becomes yours · who can join · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What Brunswick puts in, and what the plan costs
What Brunswick put into the plan, per active participant
$2,047
Brunswick Corporation put $2,047 into this plan for each of its 1,383 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.
Brunswick put in less per active participant than 65% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants in medical devices and other manufacturing. The middle plan in that group of 206 reported $2,911. Medical devices and other manufacturing comes from business code 339900, which Brunswick 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.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
What this figure cannot separate: how much Brunswick 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 360848180, plan 154 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $2,047 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Brunswick Corporation 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. 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 Brunswick puts in
$1,980
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Subject to certain limitations, the Company makes matching contributions on a per-pay check basis equal to 100% of the first 3% of participant contributions plus 50% of the next 2% of contributions. Prior to January 1, 2025, eligible participants in the IAM Union in Brookfield, Wisconsin received Company matching contributions of 50% of participant deferrals, up to 6% of eligible compensation.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 5% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $2,475 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
71.43 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 32% 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%, 0%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are required to complete two years of service to become fully vested in employer matching contributions. Eligible participants in the IAM Union in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin hired before January 1, 2019; the IBB Union in Lowell, Michigan hired before July 1, 2024; and the IAM Union in Brookfield, Wisconsin hired before January 1, 2025, are fully vested in their accounts at all times.”
The plan tops the match up after year end, so contributing unevenly through the year does not cost the worker part of it.
The same match paragraph, word for word
“Subject to certain limitations, the Company makes matching contributions on a per-pay check basis equal to 100% of the first 3% of participant contributions plus 50% of the next 2% of contributions. Prior to January 1, 2025, eligible participants in the IAM Union in Brookfield, Wisconsin received Company matching contributions of 50% of participant deferrals, up to 6% of eligible compensation.”
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
41st percentile
$70.39 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 59% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants.
What is Brunswick's 401(k) match formula?
Brunswick's 401(k) employer match tops out at 4% of pay. The match is deposited each payroll and the plan pays an annual true-up. What an annual true-up repays is the arithmetic behind that line: it matters most in a year when contributions land unevenly.
| Match formula | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay |
|---|---|
| then | 50% of the next 2% of pay |
| Maximum employer match | 4% of compensation |
| True-upA year-end recalculation that repays match lost to uneven contributions. | Yes, annual true-up |
| Deposited | Each payroll |
| Current formula effective | January 1, 2025 |
At a $75,000 salary, contributing 5% ($3,750) earns the full employer match of $3,000 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“Subject to certain limitations, the Company makes matching contributions on a per-pay check basis equal to 100% of the first 3% of participant contributions plus 50% of the next 2% of contributions. Prior to January 1, 2025, eligible participants in the IAM Union in Brookfield, Wisconsin received Company matching contributions of 50% of participant deferrals, up to 6% of eligible compensation.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What did Brunswick's 401(k) match used to be?
Brunswick changed its 401(k) match on January 1, 2025. The formula in force now is 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay.
| Since January 1, 2025 | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay |
|---|---|
| Before | Prior to January 1, 2025, eligible participants in the IAM Union in Brookfield, Wisconsin received Company matching contributions of 50% of participant deferrals, up to 6% of eligible compensation. |
What is Brunswick's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Brunswick vests the employer match on a cliff schedule: nothing is yours until two years of service, then 100% at once. Leave a day early and the employer money goes back to the plan, the edge a two-year cliff creates.
| Employer match vesting | Cliff: 100% vested after 2 years of service |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Accelerated vesting | Eligible participants in the IAM Union in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin hired before January 1, 2019; the IBB Union in Lowell, Michigan hired before July 1, 2024; and the IAM Union in Brookfield, Wisconsin hired before January 1, 2025, are fully vested in their accounts at all times. |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are required to complete two years of service to become fully vested in employer matching contributions. Eligible participants in the IAM Union in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin hired before January 1, 2019; the IBB Union in Lowell, Michigan hired before July 1, 2024; and the IAM Union in Brookfield, Wisconsin hired before January 1, 2025, are fully vested in their accounts at all times.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Brunswick's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Brunswick's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | Eligible employees under the terms of the Plan, who are not eligible to participate in the Brunswick Rewards Plan, a separate plan sponsored by the Company, must be at least 18 years of age and employed by the Company or a related company to which the Plan has been extended. |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“Eligible employees under the terms of the Plan, who are not eligible to participate in the Brunswick Rewards Plan, a separate plan sponsored by the Company, must be at least 18 years of age and employed by the Company or a related company to which the Plan has been extended.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Brunswick plan report on Form 5500?
The Brunswick plan reported $162.5M in assets and 2,111 participants for plan year 2024.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
| Plan named in the DOL record | Brunswick Retirement Savings Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $162,525,231 |
| Participants | 2,111 |
| Recordkeeper | Vanguard |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $70.39 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $70.39 per participant. The median across plans in medical devices and other manufacturing is $125.72, from the 1,386 of 1,455 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
The plan reports Vanguard as its recordkeeper, one of 2,337 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 2,333 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $97.87 per participant.
Brunswick Retirement Savings Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Brunswick's 401(k) match compare?
Brunswick Corporation'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 medical devices and other manufacturing, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in medical devices and other manufacturing.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Same 2-year cliff as Brunswick.
Compare Brunswick Corporation with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Vanguard ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 25, 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 Brunswick Corporation's 401(k) match?
Brunswick Corporation matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Brunswick Corporation 401(k) match vest?
Cliff: 100% vested after 2 years of service.
Does Brunswick Corporation's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Did Brunswick Corporation change its 401(k) match?
Yes. Prior to January 1, 2025, eligible participants in the IAM Union in Brookfield, Wisconsin received Company matching contributions of 50% of participant deferrals, up to 6% of eligible compensation. The current terms took effect January 1, 2025.
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Brunswick Corporation 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000014930-26-000079, plan year ended 2025-12-31.