International Paper Company Salaried Savings Plan
International Paper Company · Memphis, TN · EIN 130872805 · Plan 007 · Form 5500 for plan year 2024
What International Paper put into the plan, per active participant
$9,350
International Paper Company put $9,350 into this plan for each of its 12,229 active participants in plan year 2024. That is the whole employer side, matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions and reallocated forfeitures together, because the Form 5500 reports them on one line, so it is not the match rate.
International Paper put in more per active participant than 98% 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 322100, which International Paper Company 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 International Paper 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: Form 5500 filing for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, received by the DOL July 21, 2025 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $9,350 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. International Paper Company also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula on its own for plan year 2025: the section below reads $2,376 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 the plan cost, per participant
$105.45
The plan paid $105.45 per participant in plan-paid administrative expenses in plan year 2024, more expensive than 85% of plans with 5,000+ participants. The middle plan of that size paid $54.84.
Why a plan this big pays less per person before anything else
Bigger plans pay less per head by construction, because the same negotiated bill divides across more people. That is why this ranking sits inside the plan's own size cohort and is never taken across all plans.
Schedule H reports only what came out of plan assets. Fees the sponsor pays directly, and fees taken inside fund expense ratios, never appear here, so this is a floor and not the all-in cost.
401(k) Monitor Score
73 out of 100
Where this plan stands against plans of its size and industry on two amounts its Form 5500 reports: employer money in per active person, and plan-paid cost per person. It reads no match formula, no vesting schedule and no fund lineup, because a Form 5500 states none of them.
- What the employer put in, per active participant: $9,350. Higher than 98% of plans with 5,000+ participants in industrial and materials manufacturing.
- What the plan cost, per participant: $105. Cheaper than 15% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
On this page: the match and vesting terms · what to check next · every figure on the filing · fees itemised · the plans this one is ranked against · service providers
The match and vesting terms, from a Form 11-K
The match formula and the vesting schedule are stated in a Form 11-K, which is filed only by employers whose plan holds company stock. A Form 5500 reports neither.
What International Paper puts in
$2,376
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Company Matching Contributions—The Company matches in cash all participant contributions at 70% on the first 4% of compensation contributed to the Plan and 50% on the next 4% of compensation contributed to the Plan. Retirement Savings Account—The Company makes a Retirement Savings Account (“RSA”) contribution for employees equal to 3% of compensation for employees under 40, 4% for employees 40 through 49, 5% for employees 50 through 54, and 6% for employees 55 and above.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 8% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $3,960 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 4% of the 253 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 immediately vested in their participant contributions and rollover contributions, plus earnings thereon. Participants become 100% vested in Company matching contributions and RSA contributions, plus earnings thereon, after three years of service. Participants also are fully vested in amounts contributed by the Company, plus earnings thereon, upon attainment of age 65, termination of employment due to death or disability, or termination of employment due to permanent closure or sale of an employee’s work facility.”
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
85th percentile
$105.45 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 85% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
The match, vesting and eligibility terms above are read from the Form 11-K filed by International Paper Company, whose page states the full formula, the vesting schedule and the sentence behind each one.
What to check next
Collecting the whole match
International Paper’s Form 11-K pays the whole match at 8% of pay, which is $2,376 a year at a $49,500 salary and scales with your own. Your payslip and your Empower ↗ account both show the rate you set. A rate below 8% collects less than the whole match.
That Form 11-K covers plan year 2025. The plan’s Summary Plan Description states the terms in force, and the plan administrator must provide it to participants on request.
What to ask about the fees
This plan paid $105.45 per participant out of plan assets, more than 85% of plans with 5,000+ participants, where the middle plan paid $54.84. The filing does not say what the difference buys. Two questions put that to a benefits or HR team: what the recordkeeping and administration contract costs, and how much of it comes out of participant accounts rather than being paid by International Paper. The lines this total is made of are further down.
Your own numbers are not on this page
Every figure here is the whole plan for plan year 2024, taken from one filing and divided by headcounts. Your own contribution rate, your balance and the fees taken from your account are on your recordkeeper’s site, which this filing names as Empower ↗. What you may put in during a year is set by the IRS and not by the plan: this year’s limits ↗.
Key figures
| Total plan assets, end of year | $4,993,858,777 |
|---|---|
| Net assets | $4,993,469,892 |
| Participants, beginning of year | 21,009 |
| Of which active | 12,229 |
| Plan type | Single employer |
| Size cohortThe peer group we rank fees against. | 5,000+ participants |
| Employer share of the money that went in, plan year 2024The rest came from employees, who put in $126,963,139. The share falls when employees save more, so a plan whose staff contribute heavily reads lower here through no act of the employer. It is printed as a fact and it is not part of the score. | 47% |
Plan-paid administrative expenses
The plan paid $2,215,422 in administrative expenses in plan year 2024, across 21,009 participants: $105.45 per participant.
| Contract administrator fees | $133,552 |
|---|---|
| Professional fees | not reported in filing |
| Investment management fees | $1,374,973 |
| Other administrative fees | $58,514 |
These are plan-paid expenses from Schedule H only. Fees the sponsor pays directly, and fees embedded in fund expense ratios, never appear here. This figure is a floor, not the all-in cost, and a low number is not “free”.
The plans this one is ranked against
Fees on this page are ranked against the 5,000+ participant cohort, where the median plan pays $54.84 per participant. The sponsor files from Tennessee, one of 1,083 plans on file there, at a median of $119.79 per participant. Its business code places the plan in industrial and materials manufacturing, one of 6,008 on file, which run to a median of $142.19.
Plans of a similar size in Tennessee
| Plan | Participants | Cost per participant |
|---|---|---|
| Geodis USA Retirement PlanGeodis Logistics, LLC | 22,334 | $44.27 |
| Nissan Employee 401(k) PlanNissan North America, Inc. | 22,188 | $161.71 |
| Jacobs Technology Inc. Employees' Savings PlanJacobs Technology, Inc. | 20,006 | $43.87 |
| National Healthcare Corporation 401(k) PlanNational Health Corporation | 16,932 | $12.35 |
Service providers (Schedule C)
Recordkeeper: Empower (as filed: “EMPOWER ANNUITY INSURANCE COMPANY”)
7,876 plans on file name Empower as their recordkeeper, at a median of $165.69 per participant.
| Provider | Service codes | Direct comp. ($) | Indirect comp. ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empower Advisory Group, LLC | 50, 26 | 1,356,400 | not reported |
| Empower Annuity Insurance Company | 50, 37, 64, 15 | 519,310 | 0 |
| Alight | 13 | 131,683 | not reported |
| Deloitte & Touche | 10 | 129,073 | not reported |
| Pension Benefit Information, LLC | 15 | 46,466 | not reported |
| Mercer | 16 | 16,134 | not reported |
| Qdro Consultants Company, LLC | 50, 16 | 8,100 | not reported |
| Em Printing | 36 | 2,581 | not reported |
| Curcio Webb | 16 | 2,439 | not reported |
| Willis Towers Watson | 13 | 1,870 | not reported |
Useful links
- Find a 401(k) you left at an old job ↗
The DOL's Retirement Savings Lost & Found. Free and official.
- Look up this plan's full Form 5500 ↗
The DOL's own filing search. Search by plan or sponsor name.
- Download this plan's data (CSV) ↗
Every field on this page, one row, ready for a spreadsheet.
Source
| Dataset | DOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data (FOIA) |
|---|---|
| Form year | 2024 |
| Filing ACK_ID | 20250721115147NAL0001839184001 |
| Dataset last refreshed | July 28, 2026 |
Bulk dataset at askebsa.dol.gov ↗ · Look up the filing on EFAST2 ↗
Filings lag by design: a plan can file up to 9½ months after its year ends, so this is the newest data on file. Why filings lag
Cite this page
401(k) Monitor, "International Paper Company Salaried Savings Plan: Form 5500 facts", from DOL EFAST2 filing 20250721115147NAL0001839184001, plan year ended December 31, 2024. 401(k) Monitor Score 73 out of 100 (exact value 73.37).