Morgan Stanley 401(k): Alight, match 5% max
Morgan Stanley 401(k) Plan · MS · CIK 895421
Alight 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.
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
5%
Morgan Stanley matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 5% 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 · 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 Morgan Stanley puts in, and what the plan costs
What Morgan Stanley put into the plan, per active participant
$7,353
Morgan Stanley put $7,353 into this plan for each of its 54,084 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.
Morgan Stanley put in more per active participant than 57% 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 Morgan Stanley 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 Morgan Stanley 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 208764829, plan 003 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $7,353 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Morgan Stanley also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $2,475 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 Morgan Stanley puts in
$2,475
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Company Match: For employees (except Senior Advisors and Advisory Directors (or equivalent titles) each as defined in the Plan) with eligible pay of $275,001 or less and who are not eligible to receive a Fixed Contribution (as described below), the Plan-provided Company Match for the year ended December 31, 2025 (“2025 Company Match”) was one dollar for each dollar of before-tax and/or Roth after-tax contributions that eligible participants contributed to the Plan, up to a maximum of 5% of eligible pay. For these employees, the maximum 2025 Company Match was $13,750. For employees with eligible pay of $100,001 or less who are eligible to receive a Fixed Contribution or employees with eligible pay over $275,001, the Plan-provided 2025 Company Match was one dollar for each dollar of before-tax or Roth after-tax contributions that eligible participants contributed to the Plan, up to a maximum of 4% of eligible pay, up to the Code limit of $350,000. For these employees, the maximum 2025 Company Match was $14,000. The Company Match is made at the discretion of the Plan Sponsor.”
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
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
“Vesting — Participants are vested immediately in their Employee Contributions plus earnings thereon. Generally, participants are vested in any Company Contributions upon the earlier of: (i) completion of 3 years of service, or (ii) termination of employment due to death, Retirement, Release or Total and Permanent Disability, each as defined by the Plan. There is no partial vesting.”
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
98th percentile
$210.50 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 98% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is Morgan Stanley's 401(k) match formula?
Morgan Stanley's 401(k) employer match tops out at 5% of pay. The match is deposited once a year. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 5% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 5% of compensation |
| Deposited | Once a year |
| Conditions | Headline formula applies to employees with eligible pay of $275,001 or less who are not eligible for the Fixed Contribution; maximum 2025 Company Match for them was $13,750. Employees with eligible pay of $100,001 or less who are eligible for the Fixed Contribution, and employees with eligible pay over $275,001, were instead matched one dollar per dollar up to 4% of eligible pay (maximum $14,000 for 2025). Senior Advisors and Advisory Directors are excluded. The Company Match is made at the discretion of the Plan Sponsor. To receive Company Contributions for a plan year, a participant must be actively at work or on authorized leave on December 31 or have terminated during the year due to Retirement, Release, Total and Permanent Disability, or death; contributions are generally credited in the first quarter of the following year |
| Other employer contribution | Fixed Contribution of 2% of eligible pay for eligible employees with annualized base pay and eligible annual pay of $100,001 or less (excluding Financial Advisors, Producing Assistant Branch Managers, Producing Branch Managers, Producing Sales Managers, Advisory Directors, Senior Advisors, and Saxon employees), regardless of whether they contribute to the Plan or receive a Company Match |
At a $60,000 salary, contributing 5% ($3,000) earns the full employer match of $3,000 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“Company Match: For employees (except Senior Advisors and Advisory Directors (or equivalent titles) each as defined in the Plan) with eligible pay of $275,001 or less and who are not eligible to receive a Fixed Contribution (as described below), the Plan-provided Company Match for the year ended December 31, 2025 (“2025 Company Match”) was one dollar for each dollar of before-tax and/or Roth after-tax contributions that eligible participants contributed to the Plan, up to a maximum of 5% of eligible pay. For these employees, the maximum 2025 Company Match was $13,750. For employees with eligible pay of $100,001 or less who are eligible to receive a Fixed Contribution or employees with eligible pay over $275,001, the Plan-provided 2025 Company Match was one dollar for each dollar of before-tax or Roth after-tax contributions that eligible participants contributed to the Plan, up to a maximum of 4% of eligible pay, up to the Code limit of $350,000. For these employees, the maximum 2025 Company Match was $14,000. The Company Match is made at the discretion of the Plan Sponsor.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Morgan Stanley's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Morgan Stanley vests the employer match on a cliff schedule: nothing is yours until three years of service, then 100% at once. Leave a day early and the employer money goes back to the plan, the edge a three-year cliff creates.
| Employer match vesting | Cliff: 100% vested after 3 years of service |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Accelerated vesting | Full vesting on termination of employment due to death, Retirement, Release or Total and Permanent Disability, each as defined by the Plan; there is no partial vesting |
| Other employer contributions | All Company Contributions (match and Fixed Contribution) vest upon the earlier of 3 years of service or termination due to death, Retirement, Release or Total and Permanent Disability; dividends paid with respect to the Morgan Stanley Stock Fund are always fully vested |
Vesting, word for word
“Vesting — Participants are vested immediately in their Employee Contributions plus earnings thereon. Generally, participants are vested in any Company Contributions upon the earlier of: (i) completion of 3 years of service, or (ii) termination of employment due to death, Retirement, Release or Total and Permanent Disability, each as defined by the Plan. There is no partial vesting.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Morgan Stanley's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Morgan Stanley's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | U.S. benefits-eligible employees, generally full-time, part-time and hourly employees of participating companies; rehired eligible participants may participate immediately upon rehire |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | Non-U.S. benefits-eligible workers, interns, summer associates, contingent workers, leased workers, independent contractors or consultants; employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement unless it provides for participation; Puerto Rico residents |
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“Eligibility — U.S. benefits-eligible employees, generally defined as full-time, part-time and hourly employees of participating companies, are eligible to participate in the Plan. Individuals who are (a) classified by a participating company as non-U.S. benefits-eligible workers, interns, summer associates, contingent workers, leased workers, independent contractors or consultants, regardless of whether or not such classification is subsequently upheld for any purpose by a court or federal, state or local administrative authority; (b) covered by a collective bargaining agreement with respect to which a participating company is a party, unless such agreement provides for participation in the Plan; or (c) Puerto Rico residents, are not eligible to participate in the Plan.”
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 Alight, filed as “ALIGHT SOLUTIONS LLC”. 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.
46 plans on file name Alight as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 46 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $87.90 per participant.
Participants log in at Alight, find your HR website ↗. Alight runs a separate site for each employer, so that page asks which employer you work for first. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Alight or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Alight |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 821061233 |
What does the Morgan Stanley plan report on Form 5500?
The Morgan Stanley plan reported $22.2B in assets and 81,090 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $22,180,692,974 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 81,090 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $210.50 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $210.50 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.
Morgan Stanley 401(k) Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Morgan Stanley's 401(k) match compare?
Morgan Stanley's maximum 401(k) match of 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 in investment management and securities, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in investment management and securities.
Maximum match 5.4% of pay. Also in investment management and securities.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Also in investment management and securities.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Alight.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Alight.
Maximum match 5% of pay. Same 3-year cliff as Morgan Stanley.
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 Morgan Stanley's 401(k) match?
Morgan Stanley matches 100% of employee contributions up to 5% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Morgan Stanley 401(k) match vest?
Cliff: 100% vested after 3 years of service.
Does Morgan Stanley's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Who is the recordkeeper for Morgan Stanley's 401(k)?
Alight is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Morgan Stanley 401(k) 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.
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 Morgan Stanley 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 | Morgan Stanley |
| SEC CIK | 895421 |
| Accession number | 0000895421-26-000196 |
| Plan | Morgan Stanley 401(k) Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 25, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Morgan Stanley, 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, “Morgan Stanley 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000895421-26-000196, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
