Pfizer Employees: Don’t Leave Money or Security on the Table When You Retire

Many Pfizer employees—especially those who joined expecting a pension—may think the same thing: “I just want to retire without making a mistake.” This 1-minute guide is designed for them.

1. The Pension Is Gone for Most Employees

Unless you were grandfathered in, every dollar of your retirement now depends on your 401(k), your investments, and your decisions.

2. The Good News: Pfizer’s 401(k) Is World-Class

With employees receiving between 5%-13.5% of their pay in company contributions to their retirement plan to our knowledge, low-cost investment choices, Fidelity brokerage window for expanded options - employees at Pfizer have access to one of the best retirement plans in the entire United States for a large company employer. Most employees don’t realize how strong this plan really is.

3. How Pfizer’s Employer Contributions to your retirement plan actually work

Pfizer's retirement plan has two basic employer contributions with different rules and vesting schedules. The two parts of the basic match and the Retirement Savings Contribution.

For the Basic Match: If you put 6% of your pay into your Pfizer 401(k), Pfizer will put 4.5% of you salary into this plan. You must contribute to your Pfizer 401(k) to get this match, but you will vest immediately in this 4.5% employer contribution and you can take it with you when you leave. Pro tip: you should never leave Pfizer before the end of the quarter because if you do you will lose the company match for that quarter.

For the Retirement Savings Contribution: you don't have to contribute anything to get this and it starts at 5% of your pay for the youngest employees. This basically is an age + years of service at Pfizer formula that pays out based on your "points"

Here’s the formula to our knowledge: (1 point = Your current age + how many years of service you've had at Pfizer)

• Under 35 points: Pfizer contributes 5%

• 35–44 points: Pfizer contributes 6%

• 45–54 points: Pfizer contributes 7%

• 55–64 points: Pfizer contributes 8%

• 65+ points: Pfizer contributes 9%

If you are relying on this formula in deciding whether to join Pfizer an an employee, it is important that you confirm this information with your recruiter or HR at pfizer before joining.

The Retirement Savings Contribution from Pfizer has a three year vesting cliff, to our knowledge, which means that if you don't stay for 3 years after they give you this contribution, they'll claw it back when you leave. There are exceptions however for death, disability, and retirement under certain conditions based off age at retirement and having worked more than 10 years at Pfizer at the time you retire, to our knowledge.

It is best to use real numbers to see how powerful Pfizer's retirement contributions can be.

Assume you are a 40 year old considering joining Pfizer. If your salary with bonus might be $200,000 a year and you make a 6% contribution to your Pfizer 401(k), that means you'd be putting $12,000 of your pay into the Pfizer 401(k).

On top of this $12,000 you are putting in at 6% of your pay - you may receive a 4.5% basic match from Pfizer which is worth $9,000.

Then you may receive the retirement savings contributionof 6% of your pay based on Pfizer's retirement savings formula above. This amounts to a $12,000 additional Pfizer contribution to your 401(k).

So all in - while you are just setting aside 6% of your pay or $12,000 into your 401(k), Pfizer is putting in $21,000 of their money for you meaning that $33,000 a year is going into your 401(k) at Pfizer which is a very healthy sum.

Because Pfizer has a self directed brokerage account in their 401(k) (a Fidelity BrokerageLink account) you can also invest the money very effectively to achieve your goals since almost the entire investment universe is available to you through that option.

4. The Pfizer Supplemental Savings Plan: Extra Money, Extra Risk

High earners may participate in the Pfizer Supplemental Savings Plan, a non-qualified deferred compensation account. This plan is really designed for employees who make more than the 401(a)17 limit - which is $350,000 in 2025.

So if you make $400,000 a year at Pfizer only the first $350,000 can be considered for Pfizer's employer contributions in the 401(k), so there is a deferred savings plan to save on the excess $50,000.

Contributions to the Pfizer Supplemental Savings Plan reduce your taxes now, but the money is not protected from creditors and cannot be rolled into an IRA.

Distributions usually come as a lump sum or installments over 2-20 years to our knoweldge, but if Pfizer faces financial trouble, this money could be seized.

You should know that the seizure of your pay is not a hypothetical thing that never happens. It happened to Chrysler executives and middle managers in 2008, it happened to physicians at Steward Healthcare when they went bankrupt - it does happen.

5. I Have A Lot of My Net Worth in Pfizer stock (due to RSUs and ESPP) Is this a problem?

Between the ESPP and RSUs, many employees end up with dangerously concentrated positions. That’s great in good years—and deeply stressful in bad ones. It must be managed before retirement.

In our view maintaining a very concentrated position in company stock when you are not living off your savings is one thing, but in retirement it should be looked at closely.

If you are within 5-10 years of retiring from Pfizer it can be worthwhile to discuss your situation with a fiduciairy financial advisor to. be informed about options to diversify in a tax efficient way.

6. You’re Responsible for Investing Your Way to Security

No pension means you choose the investments, you manage the risk, and you must turn your savings into a paycheck that lasts. No one wants guesswork at the finish line.

Who This Is For

We primarily work with physicians, but many of our physician clients have spouses at Pfizer—so we built this specifically for you.

If You’re a Pfizer Employee With $2M+ Saved and Within 10 Years of Retirement

At D.R. Harris & Co., we help Pfizer families reduce concentration in Pfizer stock, protect their savings, manage Supplemental Savings assets prudently, and work to create a stable, dependable retirement paycheck. If you want clarity and a plan you feel you can trust, we can help you work on that.

If you are interested in scheduling a 10 minute introductory phone call you can do so here

Alternatively, you are interested in learning more about Daniel Harris and D.R. Harris and Co. you can do so here and here.

Disclaimer: The information in this article if written for educational purposes only. While we believe the information in this article is correct, we cannot guarantee its accuracy and you should solely rely on information provided to you by Pfizer before making any financial decisions based off informatio you read about in this article. Neither Daniel Harris nor D.R. Harris and Co. are your financial advisor unless you have a signed written advisory agreement with us. Before acting on any information you read about in this article we encourage you to do all your own independent research and/or talk to your own investment, legal and tax advisors.