At a high level, for most workers, your basic options are:
- 401(k)/403(b) plan through work
- Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
- Taxable investment account
- Taxable savings account
You already know about 401(k)s. You put away some of your paycheck earnings, pre-tax, into your account; there are limits as to how much money you may contribute each year. Your employer may or may not choose to partially match your contributions. You then allocate how you want the money to be invested. When you retire, you start pulling the money out, pay taxes on any withdrawls, and spend the rest.
For IRAs, there are two types, Traditional and Roth. For both IRA types, there are limits as to how much money you may contribute each year. You are allowed to contribute to both a 401(k) and an IRA at the same time. For IRAs though, you may only contribute to them if your income is below certain dollar thresholds. You would usually open an IRA at a financial institution that deals with investments.
Traditional IRAs work similarly to 401(k)s. You put money into your Traditional IRA account pre-tax, and then allocate how you want to the money to be invested. To ensure your contributions are pre-tax dollars, you declare how much you contributed to your Traditional IRA on your 1040 tax form each year; you then receive the appropriate tax reduction in return. When you retire, you start withdrawing money, pay taxes on any withdrawls, and spend the remainder.
With Roth IRAs, you do not get an immediate tax reduction. You contribute after-tax dollars to Roth IRAs, and then allocate how you want the money to be invested. When you retire, you start withdrawing money, but you pay no taxes on the withdrawls. (Side Note: there are actually Roth 401(k)/403(b)s, but they aren’t as common in the workplace as traditional 401(k)/403(b) ).
A taxable investment account is just a normal investment account. You get no tax breaks by default ; you put in after-tax dollars to invest and try to grow your money. You pay taxes on any gains you realize.
A taxable savings account is your everyday savings account at a bank. You can also elect to purchase certificates of deposit (CDs), where you agree to leave your money in the bank for a predefined amount of time, in return for receiving slightly higher interest payments from the bank.