Your plan’s vesting schedule is used to determine the percentage of your employer contributions you will be able to take if you leave your employer or otherwise become eligible for a distribution.
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Cliff vesting is a type of vesting where you become 100% vested in your employer contributions all at once after being with the company for a certain number of years (known as vesting service).
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For instance, if your company implements 2-year cliff vesting, once you hit your 2-year work anniversary, you will be 100% vested in all employer contributions up to that point and any new contributions moving forward.
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For plans at Guideline, you earn a year of vesting service on the anniversary of your date of hire. For 401(k) plans, a cliff vesting schedule can never be longer than 3 years.
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​The chart below shows how cliff vesting works:

You are always 100% vested and entitled to your own salary contributions, safe harbor contributions, and rollover balances from other retirement accounts. To find your company’s vesting schedule, you can access the Plan Details page of your Guideline dashboard.
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Learn about what happens to non-vested account balances here.
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