Job without 401K

[Dalton]

I only had a 401k at one of my jobs, and only worked there for 3 years before the housing bubble burst and took my job. I retired early, and am honestly quite pleased that I have a tIRA and a sizeable taxable brokerage account to go with a very low cost of living. My income taxes on taking money from the brokerage are at Roth levels so far, though I similarly paid tax on the basis when I earned it (same as Roth). If I find something to spend more money on, I guess Ill be in the 15% bracket.


For OP, if you're not planning to work at this new company for a long time, you could just consider that you're building up those bridge funds for when you retire early.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

pretty common in startups to not have 401k. Too expensive for say 8 employees. But if you work for a startup i'm sure you know that you are also being paid less too. Mostly you are there for experience and gambling on the stock going exponential. Looking to 100x your options or something.

 

[BeWealthy]

I worked for 11 years at a small company without a 401k. I chose to invest part of my salary in tax efficient ETFs in a taxable account. I am now grateful that I have abundant accessible funds since leaving the workforce at age 53. I know some who have retired earlier than expected and have lamented an over-allocation to tax deferred accounts. YMMV.

 

[disneysteve]

I didn’t get a 401k until I took my current job in 2016. For the 23 years before that I didn’t have one so we maxed out IRAs and Roths once those came along and accumulated a lot in taxable accounts. I retire next month a couple of months shy of turning 60.

You work with what you’ve got.

 

[Maxburn]

I have one of those jobs for about ten years now. I'd like to hear ideas on what else I can do about it on my end. I don't generally need health savings unless that can be carried somehow year to year and used in a decade maybe??

My company is small ~55 people and they didn't want to deal with all the things a 401k requires, they looked into it and front office said no way. It bothers me because I'd really like to dump a lot more pre tax money in to invest.

BUT in my case part of the compensation package is a good chunk of change dumped into a IRA in my name. My only gripe with it is they exclusively do it with Edward Jones and the only funds they have available are poor performers with high expense ratios. So now every year I tell EJ to put me in a cash position and I'll sweep it out to Vanguard IRA.

I also max out my Roth every year, usually before April. This year was a bit of a stretch, I just did my last contribution last week as the limit went up to $8000.

All of the rest of my savings just gets dumped into a money market fund. I technically have a savings account I never use.

 

[swabby01]

My wife and my 401K’s were over half of our “retirement” funds and allowed both of us to pick the date we chose to retire. Maybe should have channeled additional funds into Roth but that would have been for kids after we passed away anyway. The were “Priceless” to us

 

[target2019]

Depends on timing?

If you are 10 years away, and need the tax deferred growth, then yes.

If you are just a few years away, you may be bettered served by growing tax free and taxable.

 

[Badger]

BUT in my case part of the compensation package is a good chunk of change dumped into a IRA in my name. My only gripe with it is they exclusively do it with Edward Jones and the only funds they have available are poor performers with high expense ratios. So now every year I tell EJ to put me in a cash position and I'll sweep it out to Vanguard IRA.

I also max out my Roth every year, usually before April. This year was a bit of a stretch, I just did my last contribution last week as the limit went up to $8000.

All of the rest of my savings just gets dumped into a money market fund. I technically have a savings account I never use.

 

[jazz4cash]

. I don't generally need health savings unless that can be carried somehow year to year and used in a decade maybe??

I don’t have one but isn’t that how HSA’s work?

 

[Maxburn]

I don’t have one but isn’t that how HSA’s work?

I need to look into that, last one I was aware of was a use it or lose it situation.