<prompt> Human: So I get paid on the 7th and 22nd of the month. Since the 7th this month June 2015 is a Sunday, yesterday Friday, June 5 was pay day. This was a big one for me because I would be receiving my base pay as well as my 15K signing bonus. A few weeks back I set my 401k contribution percentage at 10 per paycheck per the advice of my financial advisor. I think you can see where this is going...At my previous job, base pay and bonusincentive payments were always separated into two separate direct deposits. I assumed it would be the same at this new job, ostensibly giving me my base pay minus the 10 401k contribution and my FULL 15K signing bonus less normal taxes of course. EAD my base pay and signing bonus were lumped together into a single payment, and the 10 was applied to the entire lump sum! Thus, my 401k was almost 2K instead of about 400. Ive called payroll and the 401k fund and gotten mixed answers in terms of whether or not I can retroactively apply the 10 ONLY to my base pay and get the extra 1,600 or so of my signing bonus paid out to me now. 401k fund manager says once the money is in, its in but payroll has made a high priority ticket and will see what they can do. I should hear back by Monday...dont get me wrong, I understand that the moneys still mine, its just that for cash flow purposes, that 1,600 is more valuable to me now as opposed to after retirement e.g. moving expenses; travel expenses to grandmas 90th bday; travel, gift, and tux expenses for friends summer weddings, etc.. TL;DR 10 401k contribution was applied to BOTH my 15K signing bonus AND my base pay when I had only planned for it to apply to base pay only. Can I get back the extra 1,600 of signing bonus that was taken out, or am I SOL?Assistant: why do you consider this to be a bad thing? Certainly a little extra in the 401k that was tax exempt has pretty big impact on future retirement goalsHuman: udecaturbob I hear you and I agree, its not the worst thing in the world. However, with just starting the new job and a slew of weddings and my grandmothers 90th birthday this summer, I have a more need of the extra cash now for moving and travel expenses. I could probably put the 1600 back in later in the year, but cash flow is key right now for the summer, and I wasnt necessarily planning on being out an extra 1600 at the moment. But yes, on principle, youre right...never hurts to have a little or a lot! extra in the ol 401k. Assistant: I am fairly worried for you. You got an extra 13k and youre panicking over a comparatively trivial sum. Are you on a written budget? This feels like a problem someone living paycheck to paycheck would have.Human: Quite to the contrary uSpicedApple! At my old job, I was borderline paycheck to paycheck...no liquid emergency fund, only 401k and IRA, and about a 1,000 buffer month to month. Per the advice of rpersonalfinance and my own financial advisor, I was planning on using a large majority of my signing bonus to put directly into a high-interest savings account as my very first Emergency Fund! However, that initial Emergency Fund deposit is now going to be less about 1,600 due to this mixup. On top of that, I was planning on using SOME of the signing bonus for the aforementioned summer expenses as well, but alas, thats not possible either due to the mixup. So yes, I hear you, its not the end of the world, its just contrary to my original plan. Can it be fixed overtime? Of course! Ill just have to budget out the summer travel a little better and my Emergency Fund will take a little longer to build up to where it needs to be as opposed to being taken care of in one fell swoop. Again, this is really a cash flow issue as opposed to any sort of true emergency. Thanks for your concern.  <response>: 10 of your 15k bonus only reduced your take home by 1125 less if you have a state income tax. In the mean time getting your money into the market earlier can have its own benefits. It certainly doesnt translate to a full 1600 less for your emergency fund, and if youre reducing your emergency fund contribution by the amount of the mixup, why would there be any additional effect on your summer expenses?Undoing the 401k election is pretty much impossible, since I assume somewhere in their plan documents they say it works this way and that stuff is very binding since it has to do with the IRS. I would just adjust your 401k and plan your budget accordingly. 