First Merchants Corp 401(k) match: 4.5% max
First Merchants Corporation Retirement Income and Savings Plan · FRME · CIK 712534
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
4.5%
First Merchants Corp matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 3% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4.5% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 11, 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 First Merchants puts in, and what the plan costs
What First Merchants put into the plan, per active participant
$3,432
First Merchants Corp put $3,432 into this plan for each of its 2,056 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.
First Merchants put in more per active participant than 50% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants at banks and lenders. The middle plan in that group of 245 reported $3,422. Banks and lenders comes from business code 522110, which First Merchants 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 First Merchants 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 351544218, plan 002 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $3,432 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. First Merchants Corp also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $2,228 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 First Merchants puts in
$2,228
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Matching contributions: Employer matching contributions are discretionary and are determined annually by the Employee Benefits Administrative Committee. For the year ended December 31, 2022 and thereafter, the approved matching formula provides a match equal to 100% of the participant's salary deferral on the first 3% of eligible compensation and 50% of the participant's salary deferral on the next 3% of eligible compensation.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 6% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $2,970 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 5% 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: 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their voluntary contributions and rollover contribution accounts plus earnings thereon. Vesting in the Corporation's matching contribution portion of their accounts plus earnings thereon is based on years of service, with a year of service defined as completion of at least 1,000 hours worked during a plan year. Participants vest at a rate of 20% for each year of service and become fully vested upon completion of five years of service.”
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
33rd percentile
$58.26 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 67% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants.
What is First Merchants' 401(k) match formula?
First Merchants' 401(k) employer match tops out at 4.5% of pay. A tiered formula pays its best rate on the first slice of pay and less on the next, which is how the rate steps down.
| Match formula | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay |
|---|---|
| then | 50% of the next 3% of pay |
| Maximum employer match | 4.5% of compensation |
| Conditions | Matching contributions are discretionary and are reapproved annually by the Employee Benefits Administrative Committee. The formula recorded here has applied for the year ended December 31, 2022 and thereafter, including the plan year covered by this filing. |
| Current formula effective | January 1, 2022 |
| Other employer contribution | Retirement Security Contribution (RSC): a non-elective employer contribution equal to 2% of a participant's eligible compensation, requiring at least 1,000 hours of service during the Plan year and employment on the last day of the Plan year (the end of year employment requirement is waived for normal retirement, death, or disability); employees hired or rehired after January 1, 2010 are not eligible for the RSC. |
| Other employer contribution | No discretionary employer contributions were made for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. |
At a $75,000 salary, contributing 6% ($4,500) earns the full employer match of $3,375 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“Matching contributions: Employer matching contributions are discretionary and are determined annually by the Employee Benefits Administrative Committee. For the year ended December 31, 2022 and thereafter, the approved matching formula provides a match equal to 100% of the participant's salary deferral on the first 3% of eligible compensation and 50% of the participant's salary deferral on the next 3% of eligible compensation.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 11, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is First Merchants' 401(k) vesting schedule?
First Merchants 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 |
| Year of service | completion of at least 1,000 hours worked during a plan year |
| Accelerated vesting | In the event of Plan termination, participants will become 100% vested in their accounts. |
| Other employer contributions | the vesting in the retirement security contribution portion of their account plus earnings is 100% after three years of credited service and vesting in the transition contribution portion of their account plus earnings is immediate since all eligible participants have at least ten years of service. |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their voluntary contributions and rollover contribution accounts plus earnings thereon. Vesting in the Corporation's matching contribution portion of their accounts plus earnings thereon is based on years of service, with a year of service defined as completion of at least 1,000 hours worked during a plan year. Participants vest at a rate of 20% for each year of service and become fully vested upon completion of five years of service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 11, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join First Merchants' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
First Merchants enrolls new hires automatically at 6% of pay.
| Plan entry | The Plan is a defined-contribution plan sponsored by First Merchants Corporation (the "Corporation") for the benefit of all employees who are age 18 or older. |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; 30-day opt-out window |
Eligibility, word for word
“The Plan is a defined-contribution plan sponsored by First Merchants Corporation (the "Corporation") for the benefit of all employees who are age 18 or older.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“The Plan Document also includes an automatic deferral feature whereby a participant is treated as electing 6% of eligible compensation unless the participant made an affirmative election otherwise. Participants must make a contribution percent election or decline participation within 30 days of their hire date to avoid the automatic 6% contribution being applied to their account.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 11, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the First Merchants plan report on Form 5500?
The First Merchants plan reported $260.9M in assets and 2,854 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $260,904,766 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 2,854 |
| Recordkeeper | Lincoln Financial Group Trust Company ("Lincoln Financial") Serves As The Trustee Of The Plan, And Lincoln Retirement Services Company, LLC ("Lincoln") Serves As Recordkeeper. |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $58.26 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $58.26 per participant. The median across plans at banks and lenders is $152.83, from the 2,143 of 2,264 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
Read from the Form 5500 filing of First Merchants Corporation Retirement Income And Savings Plan, which has no page of its own here.
How does First Merchants' 401(k) match compare?
First Merchants Corp's maximum 401(k) match of 4.5% of pay compares with a median of 4% across the 269 companies in our data with a computable formula.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file at banks and lenders, two land near First Merchants' maximum match and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay, level with First Merchants.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay, level with First Merchants.
Match vests in steps, 100% after 5 years. Also fully vested after 5 years, like First Merchants.
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 11, 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 First Merchants Corp's 401(k) match?
First Merchants Corp matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 3% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4.5% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the First Merchants Corp 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 First Merchants Corp's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; 30-day opt-out window.
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 First Merchants Corp 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 | First Merchants Corp |
| SEC CIK | 712534 |
| Accession number | 0000712534-26-000044 |
| Plan | First Merchants Corporation Retirement Income and Savings Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 11, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with First Merchants Corp, 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, “First Merchants Corp 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000712534-26-000044, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
