I overheard someone in the cafeteria at work the other day saying they do not contribute to their retirement account. I could hardly believe my ears. This person seems to be experienced enough to know this inaction would cost them some serious money. Could it really be these concepts I consider in the realm of ‘common sense’ are not followed by the entire workforce? It is common for employers to match a certain percentage of...

So Max. how much cash is all this retirement contribution saving you? Well, tax-deferred retirement contributions technically don’t save any tax. It is deferring tax until a later date. The goal is to use the deferred tax dollars to make money. You would then realize this as income at a point in the future when you’re in a lower tax bracket. Or, even better, take it during a year you are on sabbatical and not even...

I got a complicated-looking letter from my retirement account administrator about a month ago. It was too long to understand and the only take away I got was my employer was no longer going to offer the Vanguard Index Fund (VINIX) I had selected as the landing place for my hard-earned cash. I immediately got irritated. After all, I have been front-loading thousands of dollars of every paycheck into this fund over the last few months.

Since Max doesn’t need much cash from my paycheck these days, I figured I would continue my front-loading strategy for 2019. My tax-deferred 403(b) retirement bucket can hold $19,000 in 2019. Front-loading is basically paying myself before the federal government. I defer taxes now instead of slowly all year. It gives me more time in the market. The Mad Fientist can explain it much better than I can here. Trust me, if I can do it,...