What’s your preferred way to save for retirement? Do you use a Roth IRA (or a traditional IRA), or do you put as much as you can in an employer-sponsored plan, like a 401(k)? Or do you use a combination of the two?
I’ve always contributed enough to get my full employer 401(k) match and then invested extra money in my Roth IRA. For the past few years, I’ve maxed out my Roth IRA contribution and then contributed a bit of extra money for unmatched 401(k) contributions. (I’m nowhere close to maxing out my 401(k) contribution, though.)
I like having a Roth IRA for a couple of different reasons, the main one being that you can withdraw the contributions any time you want without penalty. I hope I don’t have to do so before I’m retirement age. But I like knowing that if I had an emergency that was too big for my emergency fund to cover, my Roth IRA contributions could at least double as a back-up emergency fund.
I’ll probably bump up my 401(k) contributions soon. I got somewhat of a late start to retirement (didn’t save at all in my 20s), so I have a bit of lost time to make up for.
Tell me about how you’re saving for retirement. What type of accounts do you invest in? Do you aim to save a certain percentage of your income? I’m currently saving about 15%. Perhaps I should aim a bit higher, but I don’t want to neglect my emergency fund, either.
I just started a new job that has a 1 year 401k waiting period so for now I’m focusing on maxing out my Roth IRA for the year. In my last job, I tried to do around 20% in my 401k then do as much extra as I could in my Roth. I’m a bit lopsided in how much I have pretax so for that reason I have been trying to favor the Roth moreso these days. Early on I liked the fact that I could treat my Roth contributions as an emergency fund if I needed them but it was so far removed and limiting in how much I could add to that it would have taken a real big emergency for me to tap. Back when I was making a higher salary, pretax in my 401k was probably the better choice for me because I deferred volunteering to tax myself at that higher bracket. Who knows what tax rate I’ll be at when I retire though.
I now meet with a financial advisor a few times a year and her recommendation was, if we didn’t need the tax deductions now from 401k, to start contributing to a ROTH instead. I just yesterday switched this over. We shall see how I like this next April, but I guess taxes will be paid one way or another.
My employer contributes a significant amount- not matching just a straight contribution and it’s fantastic. I contribute a certain amount with each paycheck and not a percentage. I’m comfortable with my retirement plans, and I started late as well.
i just got vested in my retirement i have worked there 21 years but part time makes it 10.5 so they now pay towards my pension and i don’t pay anything hope its worth it to me, i belong to the teachers union
Too late. I’m already in the retirement bullring I didn’t have a traditional pension as most of my years were spent as a contractor, but I did have a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. I still do some work part-time too.
I imagine you get a good little teacher’s pension. My mother was a teacher, and I remember her teacher’s pension being larger than her Social Security payment. My niece is a teacher. I love teachers and librarians.
I have a Roth IRA with Charles Schwab to which I’m currently contributing, and aiming to max out this year. Being self-employed, I’m working toward increasing my income so that I can contribute to my individual 401k also with Schwab. I also have a 401k sitting at ADP that I need to rollover. I’m a late learner and starter on retirement as well, but I will get there!
good day sthon i am a lunch room monitor i fill in some times as a teachers assented so my pension is different but i will be grateful for what i am able to receive teachers are amazing
I didn’t have a traditional pension as most of my years were spent as a contractor, but I did have a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. I still do some work part-time too.
