Quote:
Originally Posted by GregWeld
BUT -- the NUMBER ONE thing I'd do if I was you --- OPEN A ROTH IRA and start funding it with as much as you can.
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Dylan - good idea, but do not do this at the expense of your company match! Make sure you max that out before you go outside the 401k! Take the free money! I'm not suggesting Greg was implying you forgo the free company money, just making sure that it is clear that the free money comes first!
As for the student loans and other financial strains I can relate. I started grad school a few weeks after the company I was working for closed and my twins were six months old. As soon as I was drawing a true pay check again I put in what I could to get the company match at a minimum and increased my withholding with each raise until I had maxed it out. I recently went with the "high deductible" health plan which comes with a HSA that the company kicks a little into and I now am maxing that out. HSA money is tax free going in and tax free coming out, just has the limitation of only being used for health care. Since our plan has an out of pocket maximum and I have three kids it is fairly easy to predict how much I need to put into the HSA. If I do not use it all it carries forward anyway.