Fastenal Company 401(k): Merrill Lynch, match vests immediately
Fastenal Company & Subsidiaries 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan · FAST · CIK 815556
Merrill Lynch is the recordkeeper named on the Form 5500 filed for this plan, the company that keeps the account records. Where to log in, and what the filing says.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing.
The 401(k) employer match
Set again each year
Fastenal Company sets its 401(k) match at its own discretion each year, and this filing does not state the rate.
From the Form 11-K filed June 4, 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 · who holds your account · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What Fastenal puts in, and what the plan costs
What Fastenal put into the plan, per active participant
$1,106
Fastenal Company put $1,106 into this plan for each of its 17,820 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.
Fastenal put in more per active participant than 74% of plans with 5,000+ participants in retail. The middle plan in that group of 196 reported $700. Retail comes from business code 444130, which Fastenal 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 Fastenal 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 410948415, plan 001 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
What Fastenal puts in
Not stated in the filing
The match rate is set at the company's discretion each year, and the filing does not state the rate it used.
The Form 5500 for this plan reports what Fastenal actually paid in: the figure and its peer comparison are above. It is the whole employer side of the plan on one line, so it answers what went in rather than what the formula promises.
Two places state the terms in full: your plan’s Summary Plan Description, which your employer must provide on request, and your recordkeeper’s site, which for this plan is Merrill Benefits OnLine ↗.
What you contribute to collect all of it
Not stated in the filing
The filing does not state the contribution rate that collects the full employer contribution.
Vesting score
100 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 48% of the 369 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: 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“The Plan's discretionary employer matching contributions are 100% vested when made. Discretionary contributions are reported as an employer contribution receivable on the Statement of Net Assets Available for Benefits and were paid to the Plan subsequent to the respective year end.”
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
20th percentile
$26.59 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 80% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Fastenal's 401(k) match formula?
Fastenal sets its 401(k) match at its own discretion each year and does not state the rate in this filing. The match is deposited once a year. A discretionary match is set again each year, so the rate in force lives in the plan document rather than the filing. The four shapes a formula takes is what to look for when you read one.
| Deposited | Once a year |
|---|---|
| Conditions | Employer matching contributions are discretionary; no rate or formula is disclosed. Discretionary contributions are reported as a receivable and paid to the Plan subsequent to the respective year end ($22,245,913 for 2025). |
What the filing says, word for word
“Contributions to the Plan include (i) salary deferral contributions authorized by participants, (ii) participant rollover contributions from another qualified plan, and (iii) discretionary matching contributions made by Fastenal.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 4, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Fastenal's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Fastenal vests the employer match immediately: 100% is yours as soon as it is paid in. Nothing is forfeited when you leave, which is not true of the two schedules that vest over time.
| Employer match vesting | Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
Vesting, word for word
“The Plan's discretionary employer matching contributions are 100% vested when made. Discretionary contributions are reported as an employer contribution receivable on the Statement of Net Assets Available for Benefits and were paid to the Plan subsequent to the respective year end.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 4, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Fastenal's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Fastenal enrolls new hires automatically at 5% of pay.
| Plan entry | All full-time and part-time U.S. employees of Fastenal are eligible beginning on the first of the month on or after completing 60 days of service and attaining the age of 18 |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 5% of pay; default investment: Age-based target retirement investment option |
Eligibility, word for word
“The Plan is a defined contribution plan covering all full-time and part-time U.S. employees of Fastenal. Employees are eligible to participate in the Plan beginning on the first of the month on or after completing 60 days of service and attaining the age of 18.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“The Plan includes an automatic enrollment provision for newly hired and rehired employees meeting eligibility requirements, unless they affirmatively elect not to participate in the Plan. Participants are automatically enrolled with a 5% pre-tax deferral and contributions are invested in an age-based target retirement investment option.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 4, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Merrill Lynch, filed as “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER AND S”. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. The trustee that holds the plan’s assets can be a different company, and this filing does not name it.
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.
663 plans on file name Merrill Lynch as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 659 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $87.18 per participant.
Participants log in at Merrill Benefits OnLine ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Merrill Lynch or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Merrill Lynch |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 135674085 |
What does the Fastenal plan report on Form 5500?
The Fastenal plan reported $1.1B in assets and 21,059 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 | Fastenal Company & Subsidiaries 401(k) And Employee Stock Ownership Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $1,058,811,094 |
| Participants | 21,059 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $26.59 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $26.59 per participant. The median across plans in retail is $93.99, from the 2,177 of 2,305 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
How does Fastenal's 401(k) match compare?
Fastenal Company's filing does not state a maximum 401(k) match as a share of pay. Across the 269 companies in our data that do, the median is 4% of pay.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file in retail, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Employer match vests immediately. Also in retail.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in retail.
Match vests in steps, 100% after 6 years. Same recordkeeper, Merrill Lynch.
Match vests in steps, 100% after 3 years. Same recordkeeper, Merrill Lynch.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Vests immediately too, like Fastenal.
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 4, 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.
Questions this filing answers
What is Fastenal Company's 401(k) match?
Fastenal Company's employer match rate is set at the sponsor's discretion and is not disclosed in the 11-K for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Fastenal Company's Form 5500 for plan year 2024 reports $1,106 of employer money per active participant. 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. 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.
When does the Fastenal Company 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does Fastenal Company's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 5% of pay; default investment: Age-based target retirement investment option.
Who is the recordkeeper for Fastenal Company's 401(k)?
Merrill Lynch is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Fastenal Company & Subsidiaries 401(k) And Employee Stock Ownership Plan for plan year 2024. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. 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.
Source
The match formula, the vesting schedule and the enrollment rules on this page were read from one document: the Form 11-K annual report that Fastenal Company filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Each of those fields carries the filing sentence it was read from, expandable where the field appears. Nothing on this page was supplied by the employer to this site.
The plan assets, the participant counts, the plan-paid fees and the recordkeeper come from a different document, the plan’s DOL Form 5500 annual return, and the section that reports them links it. Comparisons with other employers are computed across the filings named in the section they appear in.
Read the filing on SEC EDGAR ↗
| Document | Form 11-K annual report |
|---|---|
| Filed with | US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) |
| Filed by | Fastenal Company |
| SEC CIK | 815556 |
| Accession number | 0000815556-26-000031 |
| Plan | Fastenal Company & Subsidiaries 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 4, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Fastenal Company, with the Securities and Exchange Commission or with this plan’s recordkeeper, and publishes this page without their involvement. It republishes a public filing and says where it came from.
Cite this page
401(k) Monitor, “Fastenal Company 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000815556-26-000031, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
