401(k) up to the full employer match
Contribute enough to capture the employer match after confirming the current formula, eligibility rules, and vesting schedule.
Retirement Contribution Priority
Where should your next dollar of savings go? A suggested order, rebuilt from your situation.
Once you have anything to save for retirement, the accounts start competing for it: the workplace plan with its match, IRAs in Roth and traditional flavors, the HSA with its unusual tax treatment, plain taxable investing — each offering a different deal. There’s no universally right order — the best home for your next dollar depends on your employer’s match, your tax picture now versus later, your debts and cushion, and what already exists — which is what your answers below sort out.
Learn more about this decision
The account landscape — Every account can hold the same investments; what differs is the tax wrapper around them and when its bill comes due — some deals pay off now, some in retirement, and an employer match is simply part of your pay that you only collect by contributing. Access differs too: some money stays easy to reach, some is expensive to touch early.
The usual sequence — The conventional ordering runs match first, then tax-advantaged space, then everything else — but real lives bend it: high-interest debt can outrank any account, an emergency fund may need to exist before optimization starts, and income limits close some doors entirely.
Why it isn’t obvious — Roth versus traditional is a bet on tax rates decades from now, made with today’s information. The rules phase in and out with income and employment, so the order that’s right for a colleague can be quietly wrong for you.
What your answers change — A match you’re not fully collecting dominates everything else; your bracket tilts the Roth-or-traditional lean; debts, cushion, and self-employment each rewrite the sequence from the middle. That’s why this page asks instead of tells.
Your profile
Your accounts
Your situation
How you work
All 10 options. Add anything above to rank them for you.
Pay down highest-cost debt
Direct extra cash to the balances charging the most, while preserving required payments, emergency liquidity, and a fee-aware refinance comparison.
Build an emergency reserve
Hold an accessible cash buffer sized to your essential bills, likely recovery time, deductibles, and household income stability.
Fund an eligible HSA
Use an HSA only after confirming current contribution eligibility, total contribution room, qualified-expense rules, and provider fees.
Roth IRA
An after-tax IRA whose qualified distributions can be tax-free; contribution eligibility, ordering rules, and investment fees still need checking.
401(k) beyond the match
Raise workplace-plan contributions after the match, using the plan’s current tax choices, limits, fees, investments, and access rules.
Mega-backdoor Roth (after-tax 401(k))
Use after-tax workplace-plan contributions and a permitted Roth conversion only after confirming both features, total plan room, and tax handling.
SEP-IRA / Solo 401(k) for side income
Choose a self-employed retirement plan only after comparing eligible earnings, other-plan coordination, contribution math, deadlines, and administration.
Taxable brokerage
A flexible investment account without retirement contribution caps; market risk, taxes, account type, and the full fee schedule still matter.
529 for education
A state-sponsored education account whose tax benefits, qualified uses, fees, investment menu, and rollover options require plan-specific checking.
How these results work
Each savings step is scored on four dimensions — return on the next dollar, tax leverage, access before 59½, and simplicity — and everything you add to your profile shifts the scores and weights to rebuild the order for your situation.
Eligibility gates remove steps that don’t exist for you: no match means no match step, no high-deductible plan means no HSA, income above the limits hides the direct Roth.
The order is structural and rarely changes; the yearly numbers (limits, phase-outs) are deliberately left out — verify those before acting.
Educational, not tax or investment advice. Contribution limits and phase-outs change yearly — verify current numbers before acting.
Scores are computed instantly in your browser. Your answers are saved to your account only if you sign in; otherwise they stay on this device.
Educational only — not tax or investment advice; verify current-year limits before acting. Scores are computed in your browser; answers are saved to your account only if you sign in.