What Is Retirement Plan Vesting? 
What is retirement plan vesting ? Vesting applies to some qualified plans where an employee earns a greater percentage of the employer contribution to their `` name '' as time passes while they work for the employer . The idea behind a vesting schedule is to reward the employee for sticking around by making more and more of the employer contributions the employees . A usual vesting schedule runs five years . Starting with a 20 % vested in the first year moving to 100 % vested by the fifth year . 