401(k) Monitor

Caleres, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan

Caleres, Inc. · Saint Louis, MO · EIN 430197190 · Plan 006 · Form 5500 for plan year 2024

What Caleres put into the plan, per active participant

$2,031

Caleres, Inc. put $2,031 into this plan for each of its 2,280 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.

0 · least per person100 · most per person

Caleres put in more per active participant than 81% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants in retail. The middle plan in that group of 316 reported $857. Retail comes from business code 448210, which Caleres, Inc. 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 Caleres 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 October 14, 2025 · DOL EFAST2

The $2,031 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Caleres, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula on its own for plan year 2025: the section below reads $1,485 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

$20.75

The plan paid $20.75 per participant in plan-paid administrative expenses in plan year 2024, cheaper than 88% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants. The middle plan of that size paid $84.96.

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

83 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: $2,031. Higher than 81% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants in retail.
  • What the plan cost, per participant: $20.75. Cheaper than 88% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants.

How this score is built

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 Caleres puts in

$1,485

a year, at a $49,500 salary.

The match paragraph, word for word
For eligible salaried employees, the Company makes a core contribution of 1.5% of eligible compensation, regardless of whether the salaried employees contribute to the Plan. In April 2025, the Company amended the Plan to cease eligibility of the core contribution for salaried employees hired or rehired on or after April 6, 2025. The Company also makes a matching contribution of 50% on the first 6% percent of participant contributions. In addition, the Company has the discretion to contribute up to an additional 2% percent profit-sharing benefit based on the Company’s performance.

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

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.

Vesting scheduleCliff, 3 years

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
Participants are immediately vested in their contributions and related earnings or losses. Vesting in the employer’s core, matching contribution and profit-sharing contribution portions of their accounts and related earnings occurs if: (1) the participants' employment is terminated on account of their death, (2) the participants' employment is terminated on account of their disability, (3) the participants complete at least three years of service with the Company, (4) the participants' employment is terminated after they attain age 65, or (5) the Company completely discontinues contributions or the Plan is terminated while they are an employee.

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.

The formula, the six-year window and a worked example

What the plan costs, against plans of its size

12th percentile

$20.75 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 88% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants.

The match, vesting and eligibility terms above are read from the Form 11-K filed by Caleres, Inc., whose page states the full formula, the vesting schedule and the sentence behind each one.

What to check next

  • Collecting the whole match

    Caleres’s Form 11-K pays the whole match at 6% of pay, which is $1,485 a year at a $49,500 salary and scales with your own. Your payslip and your Principal account both show the rate you set. A rate below 6% 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.

  • 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 Principal. What you may put in during a year is set by the IRS and not by the plan: this year’s limits ↗.

Key figures

From Schedule H of Form 5500 filing 20251014084019NAL0005128034001, plan year 2024.
Total plan assets, end of year$276,461,142
Net assets$275,840,539
Participants, beginning of year3,402
Of which active2,280
Plan typeSingle employer
Size cohortThe peer group we rank fees against.1,000–4,999 participants
Employer share of the money that went in, plan year 2024The rest came from employees, who put in $10,593,356. 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.30%

Plan-paid administrative expenses

The plan paid $70,576 in administrative expenses in plan year 2024, across 3,402 participants: $20.75 per participant.

Contract administrator fees$70,576
Professional feesnot reported in filing
Investment management feesnot reported in filing
Other administrative feesnot reported in filing

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 1,000–4,999 participant cohort, where the median plan pays $84.96 per participant. The sponsor files from Missouri, one of 1,025 plans on file there, at a median of $132.02 per participant. Its business code places the plan in retail, one of 2,305 on file, which run to a median of $93.99.

Plans of a similar size in Missouri

The plans nearest this one by participant count, out of 170 in its peer group. Cost per participant is each plan’s own Schedule H figure, and a filing that reported no administrative expenses says so instead of showing a zero.
PlanParticipantsCost per participant
Herschend Family Entertainment Profit Sharing & 401(k) PlanHerschend Entertainment Company LLC3,980$87.99
Bunge Retirement Savings PlanBunge North America, Inc.3,438$25.29
The Savings And Profit Sharing Plan For Employees Of Shelter Insurance CompaniesShelter Mutual Insurance Company3,414$14.01
True Manufacturing Company, Inc. 401(k) PlanTrue Mfg. Co., Inc.3,282$145.29
Delmar Gardens Enterprises, Inc. 401(k) Profit Sharing PlanDelmar Gardens Enterprises, Inc.3,248$10.50

Service providers (Schedule C)

Recordkeeper: Principal (as filed: “PRINCIPAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY”)

5,239 plans on file name Principal as their recordkeeper, at a median of $170.05 per participant.

Providers from Schedule C, Part 1, Item 2 of filing 20251014084019NAL0005128034001. Direct compensation is paid from plan assets. Amounts in USD.
ProviderService codesDirect comp. ($)Indirect comp. ($)
Principal Life Insurance Company64, 50, 37, 1370,5760

Source

DatasetDOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data (FOIA)
Form year2024
Filing ACK_ID20251014084019NAL0005128034001
Dataset last refreshedJuly 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, "Caleres, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan: Form 5500 facts", from DOL EFAST2 filing 20251014084019NAL0005128034001, plan year ended December 31, 2024. 401(k) Monitor Score 83 out of 100 (exact value 83.43).