4 Best Retirement Accounts for 2021 • Benzinga

What will life be like when you no longer go to work every day? Your autonomy will delight you as you fill your days with activities you only dreamed of having time for during the decades of your 9 to 5 work day. 

You can make your retirement years even better if you are able to save money for retirement during your working years.

1. Best for People with a 401(k) Option at Work: A Traditional or Roth 401(k)

A 401(k) from the company you work for is the best retirement account you can have. It allows the highest tax-incentivized contribution amount, the possibility of a loan, set-and-forget automatic withdrawals and potential company matching. If you have this benefit at work, use it.

2. Best for Small Business Owners and Gig Workers: SEP, SIMPLE or Solo 401(k)

If you have a profitable main or side business and no 401(k) at work, you can start your own retirement plan even if you are your only employee. A company plan allows higher tax- incentivized deferrals and gives you an additional business expense to deduct. A SIMPLE IRA, SEP or Solo 401(k) are relatively easy to set up and maintain. 

3. Best for Workers with No 401(k) Option: An IRA 

If you have no 401(k) option, max out your contributions every year to an IRA that you set up yourself at a brokerage like E*TRADE, Fidelity, Vanguard or other similar places.

4. Best for a Spouse out of the Workforce:  An IRA Based on Your Spouse’s Earnings

If your spouse works but you don’t, you can still contribute to an IRA. The basis of retirement account savings is that you have to earn money to put money in one. But if your spouse earns, you can use his or her earnings as if they were your own to contribute that $6,000 each year. Income limits apply in this case.

Importance of a Retirement Account

You will still have bills even when you no longer get a paycheck. If you are lucky enough to live into your 80s or 90s, you will probably find it difficult or impossible to work for money. However, you will still need a place to live, food and medical care. These needs cost money, and they may cost more each month than the Social Security payment you receive. 

The average Social Security payment is $1,503, which works out to $18,036 a year— about $5,000 above the poverty line for a household of 1. It is likely that you would also be eligible for some state assistance if you had no additional savings, but it would be nicer to age with the security of additional money in the bank to use.  

Some people argue that putting money in retirement accounts when you are young ties up money you might want to use in middle age. It’s true that you will incur a 10% penalty if you take money out of a traditional plan before a certain age, but the benefit of definitely saving for retirement usually outweighs the possibility of needing the money.

If you do need money in a company 401(k), you can usually take a low-interest loan. Exceptions also exist that allow you to withdraw money early from an IRA.

Brief Comparison of Retirement Accounts

All these retirement accounts seem like an alphabet soup of letters and rules. The table below provides a general outline of the characteristics of each. An important distinction to understand is the difference between a traditional or pre-tax retirement account and a Roth retirement account.

The traditional retirement account, whether it is an IRA, 401(k), 457b, military TSP or others, gives you a tax break when you put your contributions in as a younger person. The Roth account, which can also be an IRA, 401(k) or other plan, gives you a tax break when you are old and taking money out to use. 

* This limitation is by individual, rather than by plan. You can split your annual elective deferrals between designated Roth contributions and traditional pre-tax contributions, but your combined contributions can’t exceed the deferral limit —$19,500 in 2021 and 2020 and $19,000 in 2019 ($26,000 in 2021 and  2020 and $25,000 in 2019 if you’re eligible for catch-up contributions).

How do Retirement Accounts Work?

Governments use policy and legislation to shape citizens’ behavior. U.S. policymakers wish to encourage Americans to save money for retirement, so they offer incentives in the form of tax breaks for those who save. 

Traditional 401(k)s and IRAs let you defer paying taxes on some of your earnings until you are older and theoretically in a lower tax bracket. Roth 401(k)s and IRAs let money you have already paid tax on grow and be withdrawn tax free.

Imagine you earn $60,000 a year. If you want to reduce your taxes now, and you contribute $6,000 to a traditional 401(k) or IRA this year, you reduce your taxable income for that year to $54,000. If over the next 20 years that $6,000 grows to $26,000, when you take that money out, you pay taxes on the $26,000.

If you want to reduce your taxes in the future, and you contribute $6,000 to a Roth 401(k) or IRA this year, your taxable income that year is still $60,000. Roth contributions are after-tax money. If over the next 20 years that $6,000 grows to $26,000, when you take $26,000 out, you don’t pay taxes on the original, already-taxed $6,000 or on the $20,000 that money earned. 

The Roth retirement account concept is unique in the American tax world because it is one of the few ways you can earn money without paying taxes on it. In a normal brokerage account or in a traditional retirement account, when you make money, you pay taxes either at income tax rates or capital-gain rates. The Roth lets you accumulate gains without paying taxes. The $20,000 you earned in the example above is never taxed.

If you have access to both traditional and Roth versions of retirement accounts, you might decide that contributing a portion of your retirement savings to both options might be the best choice. That way you get some tax break right now while reserving the possibility of getting more tax breaks later.

Best Retirement Financial Advisers

After you decide which is the best type or types of retirement accounts for you, you’ll want to pay attention to the investment choices you’ve selected. The long-term nature of retirement account investing means that you will make fewer changes than you might in a more active stock trading account, but you still want to be aware of where your money is invested and how it is doing. 

Check out our Benzinga Guide to the Best Retirement Planning Apps to choose the best robo-adviser for your retirement account success. 

Save Now, For Later

Gone are the days when age 60 saw you rocking on the porch with one foot in the grave. Today we live into our 90s, and we need cash to live well. Any saving you can do for retirement now will help you then, so take advantage of tax-deferred plans in retirement accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions