Tax-Advantaged Accounts
Accounts carrying a deduction, deferral, or exemption, and how they differ from a taxable brokerage.
Pre-tax accounts deduct now and tax the withdrawal. After-tax Roth accounts do the reverse. Which comes out ahead is determined by the difference between the marginal rate at contribution and the rate at withdrawal, and by nothing else, since the compounding is identical between them.
Two considerations sit outside that comparison. Employer matching is a return on the contribution itself rather than a tax effect, and HSAs avoid tax at all three stages rather than two. Both change the arithmetic independently of any view about future rates.
Contribution order is a genuinely contested question rather than a settled one, and the sequence below is the one most commonly published. It rests on assumptions that may not hold in a given case: that a match is available, that an HSA-eligible plan is in force, and that income falls within the Roth phase-out. A tax professional is the right party to weigh it against a specific situation.
Worked through
The most commonly published ordering
- 1
401(k) to the match ceiling
The match is a return on contribution, not a tax effect
- 2
HSA
Untaxed at all three stages, requires an eligible health plan
- 3
Roth IRA
Subject to income phase-outs
- 4
401(k) to the annual limit
Tax-deferred, no income limit
- 5
Taxable brokerage
No contribution limit and no restriction on access
See your own tax-advantaged accounts
Promi computes this from your linked accounts, with the definition one click from the number.
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