Why is a Roth IRA a priority over a 401k?

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Feb 12, 2020
10:08:15am

Jeff Spicoli All-American

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Jeff Spicoli

Bio page: Jeff Spicoli
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Last login: May 25, 2024
Total posts: 35,572 (199 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

POLL: After contributing to 401K up to company match, where would you allocate your retirement.

cougaman

2/12/20 9:48am

I hear the Dinar is poised for some major movement.

joelvandyne

2/12/20 9:51am

I knew a guy who was way into the Dinar. Talked at length about what he was

Kilgore Trout

2/12/20 10:44am

Max Roth IRA and max 401k, then 529 contributions for your kids' college.

frontrowcougar

2/12/20 9:51am

This is nice, but should always be /after/ you've adequately funded retirement

ebv

2/12/20 9:55am

College will soon be free so don’t do 529 plan

Dangerous

2/12/20 10:09am

Company Match-->HSA Max-->Roth IRA Max-->401(k) Max

ebv

2/12/20 9:54am

Why is a Roth IRA a priority over a 401k?

Jeff Spicoli

2/12/20 10:08am

Lower fees

JAM3

2/12/20 10:09am

Unless your camp at has really low 401k fees which some do.

Dangerous

2/12/20 10:10am

If you really want the deduction you can do a traditional IRA instead of Roth

JAM3

2/12/20 10:12am

As you progress in your career and/or your wife starts working again,

ebv

2/12/20 10:40am

Way more options, tends to be cheaper.

JuicyJam

2/12/20 10:12am

And with the $3 you have left over, get a slurpee.

Pro Logic

2/12/20 10:10am

exactly, it's just that easy. Nevermind starter homes in Utah/west are 400k +

Mayor of Cougartown

2/12/20 10:24am

That's just the order of priority.

ebv

2/12/20 10:38am

I get it, but so many people are now drowning in their mortgage payments

Mayor of Cougartown

2/12/20 10:44am

Yep. It's hard. Retirement isn't going to be super easy for the vast majority

ebv

2/12/20 11:57am

It can be easy if you are budgeting and can tighten things up a bit.

TheLoneCougar

2/12/20 10:57am

I would say that Roth isn't always the right answer all the time. But I agree with this priority order.

supertux

2/12/20 11:23am

RE: POLL: After contributing to 401K up to company match, where would you

Zooropa

2/12/20 10:59am

Max HSA, then IRA, then 401k

supertux

2/12/20 11:22am

Unfortunately no HSA option:(

cougaman

2/12/20 11:30am

More 401k, to max yearly first.

blackshirts

2/12/20 11:35am

Before Roth?

cougaman

2/12/20 11:39am

I'm no expert. I calculate the percentage needed to reach the max

blackshirts

2/12/20 12:01pm

Depending on income, it can be helpful for tax purposes.

TheLoneCougar

2/12/20 1:31pm

Depends on your income level. If you’re in a 22+% bracket the numbers

KSwiss

2/12/20 7:18pm

Or a traditional IRA. Sorry to be pedantic but these discussions drive me crazy. There are both traditional and roth IRA

supertux

2/13/20 5:54am

Why would you ever contribute to a traditional IRA when you have room

KSwiss

2/13/20 7:46am

This isn't right. You can roll over 401(k) funds into an IRA literally

ebv

2/13/20 7:58am

I choose to max traditional 401k and two ROTH IRAs.

TheLoneCougar

2/13/20 8:11am

Nice. That's great!

ebv

2/13/20 8:42am

Why would I ever want to put my IRA funds back into a 401k? Even if my income is so high that I can't contribute to a

supertux

2/13/20 8:31am

If you can’t think of any reasons it probably won’t ever apply to you

KSwiss

2/13/20 8:59am

RE: If you can’t think of any reasons it probably won’t ever apply to you

TheLoneCougar

2/13/20 9:02am

Does the word probably have more meanings than I’m aware of? Cool gif though!

KSwiss

2/13/20 9:09am

No, just the thought of prioritizing 401k over Roth is incredibly strange to me.

TheLoneCougar

2/13/20 9:33am

Like I said in my first post there are a variety of factors when deciding

KSwiss

2/13/20 10:36am

That stopped being your point several posts ago.

ebv

2/13/20 10:49am

But you are being so vague about it. Give me a scenario or two in which it does make sense.

TheLoneCougar

2/13/20 11:06am

You want a scenario where you would contribute more to a 401k before an IRA

KSwiss

2/13/20 1:04pm

RE: You want a scenario where you would contribute more to a 401k before an IRA

TheLoneCougar

2/13/20 1:10pm

Pearls before swine, I guess.

ebv

2/13/20 2:46pm

Probably right. But I am curious to know under what circumstances one might want to.

supertux

2/13/20 9:31am

I am already maxing out my 401k and IRAs though so it doesn't really make any difference to me but in case anyone

supertux

2/13/20 9:32am

Ha! I found the same article. It lays out what I think KSwiss is talking about

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