SMITH A O CORP 401(k) match: 3.5% max
A. O. Smith Retirement Security Plan · AOS · CIK 91142
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
3.5%
SMITH A O CORP matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 1% of pay, then 50% of the next 5% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 3.5% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 26, 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 SMITH A O puts in, and what the plan costs
What SMITH A O put into the plan, per active participant
$2,322
SMITH A O CORP put $2,322 into this plan for each of its 4,854 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.
SMITH A O put in less per active participant than 72% of plans with 5,000+ participants in industrial and materials manufacturing. The middle plan in that group of 178 reported $3,585. Industrial and materials manufacturing comes from business code 332900, which SMITH A O 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 SMITH A O 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 390619790, plan 018 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $2,322 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. SMITH A O CORP also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,733 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 SMITH A O puts in
$1,733
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“For non-union employees, the Company makes a matching contribution equal to 100% on the first 1% of a participant’s compensation and 50% on the next 5% of a participant’s compensation that is contributed to the Plan, for a maximum annual matching contribution of 3.5%. In addition to the matching contribution, the Company also makes a non-elective contribution of 3% of pay for certain participants. The Company will make a non-elective contribution for a participant for a plan year if the participant was not eligible to accrue a benefit under any defined benefit pension plan or money purchase pension plan sponsored or contributed to by the Company for such plan year, the participant was either employed as a full-time equivalent employee for the plan year or is credited with 1,000 hours of service for the plan year, and the participant was employed by the Company on December 31 of the plan year or terminated during the plan year after having attained age 65 or as a result of death, disability or job elimination. Union employees receive a Company matching contribution equal to 50% of their contribution up to 4% of payroll period 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
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
“Participants of the Plan are immediately 100% vested in their own contributions to the Plan. Company matching contributions are 100% vested after two years of vesting service. Non-elective company contributions to the plan are 100% vested after three years of vesting 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
Not reported
The Form 5500 filing does not report the plan-paid administrative expenses this figure needs.
What is SMITH A O's 401(k) match formula?
SMITH A O's 401(k) employer match tops out at 3.5% of pay. The match is deposited each payroll. 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 1% of pay |
|---|---|
| then | 50% of the next 5% of pay |
| Maximum employer match | 3.5% of compensation |
| Deposited | Each payroll |
| Conditions | Union employees receive a Company matching contribution equal to 50% of their contribution up to 4% of payroll period compensation. |
| Current formula effective | January 1, 2010 |
| Other employer contribution | Annual non-elective employer contribution equal to 3% of total compensation for participants not eligible to accrue a benefit under a Company defined benefit or money purchase pension plan |
| Other employer contribution | Additional discretionary matching contribution allocated as of the last day of the plan year for eligible participants |
| Other employer contribution | Discretionary annual non-elective employer contribution in an amount determined by the Company |
At a $75,000 salary, contributing 6% ($4,500) earns the full employer match of $2,625 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“For non-union employees, the Company makes a matching contribution equal to 100% on the first 1% of a participant’s compensation and 50% on the next 5% of a participant’s compensation that is contributed to the Plan, for a maximum annual matching contribution of 3.5%. In addition to the matching contribution, the Company also makes a non-elective contribution of 3% of pay for certain participants. The Company will make a non-elective contribution for a participant for a plan year if the participant was not eligible to accrue a benefit under any defined benefit pension plan or money purchase pension plan sponsored or contributed to by the Company for such plan year, the participant was either employed as a full-time equivalent employee for the plan year or is credited with 1,000 hours of service for the plan year, and the participant was employed by the Company on December 31 of the plan year or terminated during the plan year after having attained age 65 or as a result of death, disability or job elimination. Union employees receive a Company matching contribution equal to 50% of their contribution up to 4% of payroll period compensation.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is SMITH A O's 401(k) vesting schedule?
SMITH A O 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 | Full vesting upon Plan termination |
| Other employer contributions | Non-elective company contributions vest 100% after three years of vesting service |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants of the Plan are immediately 100% vested in their own contributions to the Plan. Company matching contributions are 100% vested after two years of vesting service. Non-elective company contributions to the plan are 100% vested after three years of vesting service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join SMITH A O's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
SMITH A O enrolls new hires automatically; the filing does not state the default deferral rate.
| Plan entry | Employed at a rate expected to work 1,000 hours of service in a plan year, or actually complete 1,000 hours of service during their first 12 months of employment or any plan year thereafter |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: 90-day opt-out window |
Eligibility, word for word
“To be eligible, certain employees must either be employed at a rate expected to work 1,000 hours of service in a plan year or actually complete 1,000 hours of service during their first 12 months of employment or any plan year thereafter.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“An automatic enrollment feature was instituted, along with an annual automatic increase in employee pre-tax contributions”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the SMITH A O plan report on Form 5500?
The SMITH A O plan reported $617.7M in assets and 6,118 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $617,703,307 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 6,118 |
| Recordkeeper | Fidelity Management Trust Company (Custodian) And Fidelity Workplace Services LLC (Recordkeeper) |
How that cost compares
It is one of 6,008 plans in industrial and materials manufacturing in the Form 5500 data we publish.
A O Smith Retirement Security Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does SMITH A O's 401(k) match compare?
SMITH A O CORP's maximum 401(k) match of 3.5% 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 industrial and materials manufacturing, two land near SMITH A O's maximum match and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in industrial and materials manufacturing.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in industrial and materials manufacturing.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay. Also in industrial and materials manufacturing.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay, level with SMITH A O.
Maximum match 3.5% of pay, level with SMITH A O.
Maximum match 2% of pay. Same 2-year cliff as SMITH A O.
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 26, 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 SMITH A O CORP's 401(k) match?
Smith A O Corp matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 1% of pay, then 50% of the next 5% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 3.5% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the SMITH A O CORP 401(k) match vest?
Cliff: 100% vested after 2 years of service.
Does SMITH A O CORP's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: 90-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 SMITH A O 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 | SMITH A O CORP |
| SEC CIK | 91142 |
| Accession number | 0000091142-26-000094 |
| Plan | A. O. Smith Retirement Security Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 26, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with SMITH A O 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, “SMITH A O CORP 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000091142-26-000094, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
