FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC 401(k) match: 85% of contributions
Franklin Templeton 401(k) Retirement Plan · BEN · CIK 38777
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
Stated as a rate, not as a ceiling
FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC matches 85% of contributions (matched-pay ceiling not stated in the filing).
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 · 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 FRANKLIN RESOURCES puts in, and what the plan costs
What FRANKLIN RESOURCES put into the plan, per active participant
$15,503
FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC put $15,503 into this plan for each of its 4,383 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.
FRANKLIN RESOURCES put in more per active participant than 86% of plans with 5,000+ participants in investment management and securities. The middle plan in that group of 45 reported $6,786. Investment management and securities comes from business code 523900, which FRANKLIN RESOURCES 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 FRANKLIN RESOURCES 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 132670991, plan 003 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
What FRANKLIN RESOURCES puts in
Not stated in the filing
Only part of the match formula is disclosed in the filing, so the yearly dollars cannot be computed from it.
The Form 5500 for this plan reports what FRANKLIN RESOURCES 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
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%, 0%, 0%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their deferral and rollover contributions plus actual earnings thereon. Participants with less than three years of service vest gradually in the Company's matching contribution portion of their accounts plus actual earnings thereon based on their years of service. Typically, a participant is 100% vested after completing three years of service, as defined in the Plan.”
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
79th percentile
$91.15 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 79% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is FRANKLIN RESOURCES' 401(k) match formula?
FRANKLIN RESOURCES' filing does not state a maximum 401(k) employer match. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 85% of contributions (matched-pay ceiling not stated in the filing) |
|---|---|
| Conditions | Certain subsidiaries of the Company are permitted to make a discretionary matching contribution in lieu of the matching contribution described above. |
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company makes a matching contribution equal to 85% of eligible compensation deferred by participants. Eligible employees become participants in the matching portion of the Plan on their employment commencement date. Certain subsidiaries of the Company are permitted to make a discretionary matching contribution in lieu of the matching contribution described above.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is FRANKLIN RESOURCES' 401(k) vesting schedule?
FRANKLIN RESOURCES vests the employer match on a graded schedule: 100% after three years. Each step is money that leaves with you that year, which is how a graded schedule differs from a cliff.
| Employer match vesting | Graded: 100% at 3 yr |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Accelerated vesting | Upon death, disability or upon reaching normal retirement age as provided in the Plan, a participant's account becomes 100% vested. |
| Other employer contributions | Balances transferred from the Western Plan attributable to Old Western Accounts are 100% vested, while Western Company Contributions Account balances vest gradually based on years of service and are 100% vested after completing five years of service or, if earlier, upon reaching age 62 while employed. |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their deferral and rollover contributions plus actual earnings thereon. Participants with less than three years of service vest gradually in the Company's matching contribution portion of their accounts plus actual earnings thereon based on their years of service. Typically, a participant is 100% vested after completing three years of service, as defined in the Plan.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join FRANKLIN RESOURCES' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
FRANKLIN RESOURCES enrolls new hires automatically at 6% of pay, rising 1% a year to 15% of pay.
| Plan entry | All eligible employees, as defined in the Plan, may begin contributing to the Plan on their employment commencement date. |
|---|---|
| Match eligibility | Eligible employees become participants in the matching portion of the Plan on their employment commencement date. |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15% |
Eligibility, word for word
“All eligible employees, as defined in the Plan, may begin contributing to the Plan on their employment commencement date.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Newly-hired eligible employees are automatically enrolled in the Plan at a deferral rate of six percent of eligible compensation following an election period during which the employee may either opt out of the Plan or choose a different salary deferral percentage in the manner prescribed by the Plan Administrator. Unless the participant elects otherwise, participants who are automatically enrolled in the Plan have their deferral rate automatically increase by one percent each year on December 1. The automatic increase is stopped when a deferral rate of 15% is attained, unless changed by the participant.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 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 FRANKLIN RESOURCES plan report on Form 5500?
The FRANKLIN RESOURCES plan reported $2.8B in assets and 6,963 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 | Franklin Templeton 401(k) Retirement Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $2,796,746,897 |
| Participants | 6,963 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $91.15 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $91.15 per participant. The median across plans in investment management and securities is $111.34, from the 882 of 960 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
Franklin Templeton 401(k) Retirement Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does FRANKLIN RESOURCES' 401(k) match compare?
FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC'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 investment management and securities, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also in investment management and securities.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also in investment management and securities.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also in investment management and securities.
Employer match vests immediately. Same recordkeeper, Merrill Lynch.
Match vests in steps, 100% after 6 years. Same recordkeeper, Merrill Lynch.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also fully vested after 3 years, like FRANKLIN RESOURCES.
Compare FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
- 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.
Questions this filing answers
What is FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC's 401(k) match?
Franklin Resources Inc. discloses its match formula in the 11-K for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC's Form 5500 for plan year 2024 reports $15,503 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 FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC 401(k) match vest?
Graded: 100% at 3 yr.
Does FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 6% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%.
Who is the recordkeeper for FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC's 401(k)?
Merrill Lynch is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Franklin Templeton 401(k) Retirement 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 FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC 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 | FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC |
| SEC CIK | 38777 |
| Accession number | 0000038777-26-000179 |
| Plan | Franklin Templeton 401(k) Retirement Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 25, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC, 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, “FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000038777-26-000179, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
