INGLES MARKETS INC 401(k): Principal, match 3.75% max
Ingles Markets, Incorporated Investment/Profit Sharing Plan · IMKTA · CIK 50493
Principal 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.
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
3.75%
INGLES MARKETS INC matches 75% of the first 5% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 17, 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 INGLES MARKETS puts in, and what the plan costs
What INGLES MARKETS put into the plan, per active participant
$324
INGLES MARKETS INC put $324 into this plan for each of its 18,006 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.
INGLES MARKETS put in less per active participant than 81% of plans with 5,000+ participants in retail. The middle plan in that group of 196 reported $700. Retail comes from business code 445110, which INGLES MARKETS 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 INGLES MARKETS 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 560846267, plan 001 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $324 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. INGLES MARKETS INC also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,856 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 INGLES MARKETS puts in
$1,856
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The Company matches 75% of each participant’s contributions up to 5% of such participant’s compensation as defined in the Plan.”
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 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%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Contributions and rollovers by participants plus actual earnings thereon are immediately vested and non-forfeitable. Participants become vested in the Company’s matching and profit sharing contributions on a graduated basis with 100 percent vesting occurring after the completion of two 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
10th percentile
$13.45 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 90% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is INGLES MARKETS' 401(k) match formula?
INGLES MARKETS' 401(k) employer match tops out at 3.75% of pay. The match is deposited each payroll. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 75% of the first 5% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 3.75% of compensation |
| Deposited | Each payroll |
| Conditions | Company 401(k) matching contributions are described in the Plan as discretionary in nature and determined by the Company, and remitted for each payroll period, but the filing then states the actual formula applied: 75% of each participant's contributions up to 5% of compensation. |
| Other employer contribution | Company profit sharing plan contributions to the Ingles Stock - Class B, made by the Company, discretionary in nature; no participant 401(k) contributions can be made to the Ingles Stock - Class B. The Company made no discretionary profit sharing contributions during 2025. |
At a $60,000 salary, contributing 5% ($3,000) earns the full employer match of $2,250 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company matches 75% of each participant’s contributions up to 5% of such participant’s compensation as defined in the Plan.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 17, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What is INGLES MARKETS' 401(k) vesting schedule?
INGLES MARKETS 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 | 100 percent vested in accounts upon Plan termination |
| Other employer contributions | Participants become vested in the Company's matching and profit sharing contributions on a graduated basis with 100 percent vesting occurring after the completion of two years of service. |
Vesting, word for word
“Contributions and rollovers by participants plus actual earnings thereon are immediately vested and non-forfeitable. Participants become vested in the Company’s matching and profit sharing contributions on a graduated basis with 100 percent vesting occurring after the completion of two years of service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 17, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join INGLES MARKETS' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
INGLES MARKETS' filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | Full-time employees who have completed 90 days of eligible service, or part-time employees who have completed 12 months of eligible service, as defined in the Plan document, and who are at least 18 years of age are covered under the Plan. |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“Full-time employees who have completed 90 days of eligible service, or part-time employees who have completed 12 months of eligible service, as defined in the Plan document, and who are at least 18 years of age are covered under the Plan.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 17, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Principal, filed as “PRINCIPAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY”. 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.
5,239 plans on file name Principal as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 5,230 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $170.05 per participant.
Participants log in at Principal ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Principal or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Principal |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 420127290 |
What does the INGLES MARKETS plan report on Form 5500?
The INGLES MARKETS plan reported $196.8M in assets and 18,050 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 | Ingles Markets, Incorporated Investment/Profit Sharing Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $196,782,406 |
| Participants | 18,050 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $13.45 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $13.45 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 INGLES MARKETS' 401(k) match compare?
INGLES MARKETS INC's maximum 401(k) match of 3.75% 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 in retail, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in retail.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same 2-year cliff as INGLES MARKETS.
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 17, 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 INGLES MARKETS INC's 401(k) match?
Ingles Markets, Incorporated matches 75% of employee contributions up to 5% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the INGLES MARKETS INC 401(k) match vest?
Cliff: 100% vested after 2 years of service.
Does INGLES MARKETS INC's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Who is the recordkeeper for INGLES MARKETS INC's 401(k)?
Principal is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Ingles Markets, Incorporated Investment/Profit Sharing 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 INGLES MARKETS 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 | INGLES MARKETS INC |
| SEC CIK | 50493 |
| Accession number | 0000050493-26-000016 |
| Plan | Ingles Markets, Incorporated Investment/Profit Sharing Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 17, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with INGLES MARKETS 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, “INGLES MARKETS INC 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000050493-26-000016, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
