Company match: Company X will match 25% of the first 8% of the pay you contribute or a max of 2% of your total paycheck.

25% of 8% is exactly 2%--these are just two different ways of saying the same thing. They will only match up to 2% of your total paycheck. 'Match' means they don't contribute anything if you don't. So, if you only want to contribute to the maximum match, then you should only contribute 8%. Then, if you're eligible for a Roth, put money in that. Then increase the amount in your efund. (Could you live for 6-8 months on $800?) Only after you've paid into your Roth and increased your efund to 6-8 months of expenses should you consider raising your 401K contribution percent. It will at least save you some taxes, which can mean something if you're in a high tax bracket.

I also don't quite understand the Vesting part:>/i>

The 8% (or whatever) that YOU contributed you own 100% of--if you leave in six months you can 'rollover' your contributions to an IRA, but you forfeit 100% of all matches they've made (100-0=100). If you stay over one year, but less than 2, you forfeit 75% of the matches they've made (100-25=75%), etc.

(is this a normal time frame btw?I believe the other employer would offer 90).

They're all different--ours is one year!

2old