Southside Bancshares, Inc. 401(k): Principal, match 4% max
Savings Plan for the Subsidiaries of Southside Bancshares, Inc. · SBSI · CIK 705432
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.
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
4%
Southside Bancshares, Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% 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 Southside Bancshares puts in, and what the plan costs
What Southside Bancshares put into the plan, per active participant
$2,793
Southside Bancshares, Inc. put $2,793 into this plan for each of its 789 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.
Southside Bancshares put in less per active participant than 67% of plans with 500–999 participants at banks and lenders. The middle plan in that group of 309 reported $3,434. Banks and lenders comes from business code 522110, which Southside Bancshares 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 Southside Bancshares 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 751848732, plan 002 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $2,793 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Southside Bancshares, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,980 a year at a $49,500 salary. 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 Southside Bancshares puts in
$1,980
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The Company’s matching percentage is 100% for the first 3% of the employee’s salary deferral and 50% for the next 2% of the employee’s salary deferral. In applying the matching percentage, only salary deferrals up to 5% of a participant’s eligible compensation will be used.”
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
42.86 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. No schedule among the 369 we have scored is lower.
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%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their salary deferral contributions including Roth 401(k) and after-tax contributions and any rollover contributions plus actual earnings thereon. Vesting service means the sum of a participant’s periods of service. The cumulative periods of service begin when the participant starts working for the Company and/or a predecessor employer and ends on the earlier of the date the participant stops working for the Company or the date the participant is absent from work for one year. Any Plan year in which a participant was not an employee of the Company for less than a full year or is absent from work less than one year will count as a period of service for vesting purposes. Vesting in the Company matching contributions is based upon periods of service as indicated below: Periods of Service % Vested Less than 2 0% 2 20% 3 40% 4 60% 5 80% 6 or more 100% A participant also becomes 100% vested in all accounts upon attaining age 55 while employed by the Company. A participant’s account is also fully vested if the participant dies or becomes disabled while employed by the Company.”
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
38th percentile
$85.94 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 63% of plans with 500–999 participants.
What is Southside Bancshares' 401(k) match formula?
Southside Bancshares' 401(k) employer match tops out at 4% 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 2% of pay |
| Maximum employer match | 4% of compensation |
| Conditions | The participant must have made match-eligible contributions during the Plan year, completed 1,000 hours or more of service during the Plan year, and be employed by the Company on the last day of the Plan year, unless the participant terminated due to death or disability, or after attainment of normal retirement age. Only salary deferrals up to 5% of a participant's eligible compensation are used in applying the matching percentage. The match is discretionary; the Company has an option to provide it as it deems advisable from time to time. |
At a $45,000 salary, contributing 5% ($2,250) earns the full employer match of $1,800 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company’s matching percentage is 100% for the first 3% of the employee’s salary deferral and 50% for the next 2% of the employee’s salary deferral. In applying the matching percentage, only salary deferrals up to 5% of a participant’s eligible compensation will be used.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Southside Bancshares' 401(k) vesting schedule?
Southside Bancshares vests the employer match on a graded schedule: 20% after two years, rising to 100% after six. 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 2 yr, 40% at 3 yr, 60% at 4 yr, 80% at 5 yr, 100% at 6 yr |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Year of service | A period of service running from the date the participant starts working for the Company or a predecessor employer to the earlier of separation from service or one year of absence from work; a partial plan year of employment or an absence of less than one year still counts as a full period of service for vesting purposes. |
| Accelerated vesting | Full vesting at age 55 while employed by the Company, upon death or disability while employed, and upon Plan termination. |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their salary deferral contributions including Roth 401(k) and after-tax contributions and any rollover contributions plus actual earnings thereon. Vesting service means the sum of a participant’s periods of service. The cumulative periods of service begin when the participant starts working for the Company and/or a predecessor employer and ends on the earlier of the date the participant stops working for the Company or the date the participant is absent from work for one year. Any Plan year in which a participant was not an employee of the Company for less than a full year or is absent from work less than one year will count as a period of service for vesting purposes. Vesting in the Company matching contributions is based upon periods of service as indicated below: Periods of Service % Vested Less than 2 0% 2 20% 3 40% 4 60% 5 80% 6 or more 100% A participant also becomes 100% vested in all accounts upon attaining age 55 while employed by the Company. A participant’s account is also fully vested if the participant dies or becomes disabled while employed by the Company.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 25, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Southside Bancshares' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Southside Bancshares enrolls new hires automatically at 5% of pay, rising 1% a year to 10% of pay.
| Plan entry | At least 30 days of service with the Company or a predecessor employer. |
|---|---|
| Match eligibility | Must have made match-eligible contributions during the Plan year, completed 1,000 hours or more of service during the Plan year, and be employed by the Company on the last day of the Plan year (unless termination was due to death, disability, or after attainment of normal retirement age). |
| Excluded groups | Union employees, leased employees, independent contractors (even if later determined to be an employee), non-resident aliens, and security officers hired on or after April 30, 2003 who are also employed full time by a federal, state, county, or local law enforcement agency. |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 5% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10% |
Eligibility, word for word
“Eligible employees may participate in the Plan after they have worked at least 30 days with the Company or a predecessor employer. Union employees, leased employees, independent contractors (even if later determined to be an employee), non-resident aliens and any security officers hired on or after April 30, 2003 who are also employed on a full-time basis by any federal, state, county or local law enforcement agency shall be excluded from participation in the Plan.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“On January 1 of each year and on the plan entry date for each new participant that has met the eligibility criteria, an automatic enrollment at a 5% deferral rate will be applied to all participant accounts that have not made an election to defer. Those who had previously elected not to defer or designated a zero-deferral percentage will also be automatically enrolled each January 1, unless the participant affirmatively elects to not defer prior to each January 1. If a participant does not choose a different deferral percentage other than the automatic 5%, the deferral percentage will also be automatically increased each first day of each succeeding plan year by 1% up to a maximum deferral percentage of 10%.”
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 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.
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 Southside Bancshares plan report on Form 5500?
The Southside Bancshares plan reported $70.2M in assets and 984 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $70,194,905 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 984 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $85.94 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $85.94 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 Savings Plan For The Subsidiaries Of Southside Bancshares, Inc., which has no page of its own here.
How does Southside Bancshares' 401(k) match compare?
Southside Bancshares, Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 4% 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 report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also at banks and lenders.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also fully vested after 6 years, like Southside Bancshares.
Compare Southside Bancshares, 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 Southside Bancshares, Inc.'s 401(k) match?
Southside Bancshares, Inc. matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the Southside Bancshares, Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Graded: 20% at 2 yr, 40% at 3 yr, 60% at 4 yr, 80% at 5 yr, 100% at 6 yr.
Does Southside Bancshares, Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 5% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 10%.
Who is the recordkeeper for Southside Bancshares, Inc.'s 401(k)?
Principal is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Savings Plan For The Subsidiaries Of Southside Bancshares, Inc. 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 Southside Bancshares, 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 | Southside Bancshares, Inc. |
| SEC CIK | 705432 |
| Accession number | 0000705432-26-000098 |
| Plan | Savings Plan for the Subsidiaries of Southside Bancshares, Inc. |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 25, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Southside Bancshares, 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, “Southside Bancshares, Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000705432-26-000098, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
