For most individuals, the first place to begin investing is with your employer-sponsored retirement accounts like a 401K/403B/457B because there's usually a match of 3-9%. This is the closest to getting free money you can ever get. All high-income earners should max out their 401K/403B (currently $23K/year in 2024) because it helps you AGI. Low-income earners on the other hand, should invest up to their company match and then move on to the next important account, which is the ROTH IRA. For high-income earners, you are unable to contribute directly to your ROTH IRA due to something called the pro-rata rule. For a single filer making over $161,000, you must do what is called a “back-door-ROTH-IRA. This can be done by opening a traditional IRA and simply converting the funds to a ROTH-IRA a few days later.
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