Key Takeaways
Direct answer: A Roth 401(k) is a Roth account offered inside an employer's workplace retirement plan, funded by payroll deferral, with no income limit on contributing but a plan-set investment menu. A Roth IRA is a Roth account you open yourself with any broker or custodian, funded directly, with a broader investment menu but an income-based phase-out on who can contribute. Both grow tax-free and both allow tax-free qualified withdrawals; the two accounts are not mutually exclusive and can be funded in the same year from two entirely separate contribution limits.
The Roth 401(k) and Roth IRA share a tax label but not a rulebook. Treating them as interchangeable versions of the same thing is the single most common source of confusion in this comparison, and it leads people to either skip a Roth IRA they were still eligible for, or assume a Roth 401(k) carries RMDs it no longer has. For how either account fits into a full retirement plan alongside asset allocation and withdrawal sequencing, see Swoopr's Retirement Investing hub.
- A Roth 401(k) has no income limit on who can contribute; a Roth IRA's contribution eligibility phases out above income thresholds the IRS sets and adjusts periodically.
- The two accounts draw from separate annual contribution limits, so contributing the maximum to one does not reduce how much you can contribute to the other.
- Since a SECURE 2.0 Act change effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2023, neither account requires lifetime RMDs from the original owner, a genuine alignment that undid what used to be a real structural gap.
- A 401(k) plan may offer loans against a Roth 401(k) balance; an IRA can never offer a loan under any circumstances.
- Early, non-qualified withdrawals are taxed differently: a Roth IRA lets you withdraw your own contributions first, tax- and penalty-free; a Roth 401(k) treats an early withdrawal as a pro-rata mix of contributions and taxable earnings.
What Each Account Actually Is
Both accounts are built on the same underlying idea, contribute after-tax dollars, get no upfront deduction, and let the investment grow without the IRS taking a further cut at qualified withdrawal. Where they diverge is who controls the account and what infrastructure it lives inside.
Roth 401(k): a Roth option inside an employer plan
A Roth 401(k) is not a separate account type on its own; it is a designated Roth contribution option that a 401(k) plan sponsor chooses to offer alongside the traditional pre-tax option. If your employer's plan includes it, you elect a percentage or dollar amount of each paycheck to be deferred into the Roth sub-account instead of, or in addition to, the pre-tax sub-account. Because it lives inside a qualified employer plan, it inherits that plan's structure: a fund lineup selected by the plan administrator, plan-level fees, potential vesting schedules on any employer money, and plan-set rules about loans and in-service withdrawals. The IRS requires the plan to separately account for designated Roth contributions and their associated gains and losses, which is what makes the pro-rata early-withdrawal treatment discussed later in this guide possible.
Roth IRA: an individually owned account with no employer involved
A Roth IRA is opened directly by an individual at a brokerage, bank, or other IRS-approved custodian, entirely independent of employment. There is no payroll mechanism, no plan sponsor, and no employer money of any kind. You choose the custodian, and within that custodian's offerings you typically choose from the full range of publicly traded stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds the custodian supports, a materially wider menu than most 401(k) plans offer. Eligibility to contribute directly depends on having earned income and staying under the IRS's income phase-out for the year, a constraint the Roth 401(k) does not share.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Roth 401(k) | Roth IRA |
|---|---|---|
| Who can offer or open it | Only available if your employer's plan offers a designated Roth option | Anyone with earned income can open one at a broker or custodian of their choice |
| How contributions get in | Payroll deferral, set as a percentage or dollar amount per paycheck | Deposited directly by the account owner, at any time, in any amount up to the limit |
| Income limit to contribute | None | Direct contributions phase out above IRS-published modified AGI thresholds |
| Contribution limit pool | Shares one aggregate elective-deferral limit with any pre-tax 401(k) contributions in the same plan | Shares one aggregate limit with any Traditional IRA contributions across all IRAs you hold |
| Employer money | Can receive a match; since SECURE 2.0, may also let you elect employer match/nonelective contributions on a Roth basis | None; no employer is involved in a personal Roth IRA |
| Investment menu | Limited to the fund lineup the plan sponsor selected, unless a brokerage window is offered | Whatever the chosen custodian offers, typically a broad public-markets menu |
| Loans | Plan may (not must) offer participant loans against the vested balance | Never permitted; an IRA loan is a prohibited transaction |
| Early, non-qualified withdrawal taxation | Pro-rata mix of already-taxed contributions and taxable earnings | Contributions-first ordering; your own contributions come out tax- and penalty-free before earnings |
| Required minimum distributions (original owner) | None during the original participant's lifetime, per current IRS guidance | None during the original owner's lifetime |
| 5-year clock for qualified withdrawals | Generally starts with your first contribution to that specific plan; a new employer plan can start a new clock | Starts with your first contribution to any Roth IRA you have ever held, and does not reset |
| Rollover destination | Another designated Roth account or a Roth IRA only, never a Traditional IRA | Another Roth IRA; can also receive rollovers from a Roth 401(k) |
How Contributions Work
The contribution mechanics are where the two accounts feel most different day to day. A Roth 401(k) contribution never touches your bank account, it is withheld from each paycheck by your employer's payroll system and deposited directly into your designated Roth sub-account, based on an election you make (and can typically change) through your plan's enrollment portal. A Roth IRA contribution is something you do yourself, transferring money from a bank account into the IRA at whatever custodian you chose, whenever you choose, up to the annual deadline (the tax-filing deadline for that year, without extension).
The two accounts also draw from entirely separate limit pools. A Roth 401(k) shares a single elective-deferral limit with any pre-tax 401(k) contributions made to the same plan in the same year, that combined limit is set annually by the IRS and is substantially higher than the IRA limit, reflecting the employer-plan context. A Roth IRA shares a single, lower annual limit with any Traditional IRA contributions made across every IRA you hold, regardless of custodian. Because these are two different pools entirely, maxing out a workplace Roth 401(k) contribution does not reduce your Roth IRA room for the same year, and maxing out a Roth IRA does not reduce your 401(k) elective-deferral room. Current-year dollar limits for both are set annually and published by the IRS; see the References section for the source rather than a number that will eventually go stale on this page.
Income Eligibility
This is one of the sharpest structural differences between the two accounts. A Roth 401(k) has no income limitation on who can participate; IRS guidance is explicit that eligibility runs through employment and plan enrollment, not through a modified AGI test. A highly compensated employee at a company that offers the Roth option can defer into it on exactly the same terms as anyone else at the company.
A Roth IRA works the opposite way. Anyone can open the account regardless of income, but the ability to make a direct contribution phases out once modified adjusted gross income crosses a threshold that varies by filing status and that the IRS reviews and adjusts periodically. Above the top of that range, no direct Roth IRA contribution is permitted for the year. This is precisely the gap that makes a Roth 401(k) valuable to higher earners: it is a direct Roth contribution channel that keeps working after income has closed off the Roth IRA. (High earners who want Roth IRA exposure anyway typically use the backdoor Roth IRA strategy instead; see Swoopr's guide to the backdoor Roth IRA for that mechanism.)
Employer Contributions
A Roth IRA never receives employer money, by definition; there is no employer relationship attached to the account at all. A business owner who wants to help fund an employee's retirement outside a 401(k) uses a different vehicle entirely, such as a SEP IRA or SIMPLE IRA, not a contribution into the employee's personal Roth IRA.
A Roth 401(k) can receive employer money in two distinct ways. First, a plan can match your Roth elective deferrals using the same match formula it applies to pre-tax deferrals; historically, that matching contribution itself was deposited into a pre-tax account even when it was matching a Roth deferral, so the match dollars were taxable on withdrawal even though your own contribution was not. Second, Section 604 of the SECURE 2.0 Act lets a plan sponsor allow participants to elect that matching or nonelective employer contributions themselves be made on a Roth basis, a provision the IRS detailed in Notice 2024-2. Employer contributions designated as Roth under this option must be fully vested at the time they are made, and because the employer never withheld tax on them, they are included in your taxable income for the year they are contributed, even though they then grow and can be withdrawn tax-free like any other Roth money. Whether your specific plan offers this election is a plan-design choice, not something guaranteed by law; check your plan document or ask your plan administrator.
Access Before Retirement: Loans and Early Withdrawals
Access to your own money before retirement age is another area where the two accounts genuinely diverge, not just in degree but in kind.
Loans
A 401(k) plan, including its Roth sub-account, may offer participant loans against the vested balance, with repayment made through payroll deduction under terms the plan itself sets (an interest rate, a maximum term, a cap tied to the vested balance). The plan is not required to offer this feature, so availability depends entirely on your specific employer's plan design. An IRA of any kind, Roth or Traditional, can never offer a loan; IRS guidance treats a loan taken from an IRA as a prohibited transaction, a serious consequence that can disqualify the entire account's tax-advantaged status. The closest an IRA gets to short-term liquidity is the 60-day rollover rule, which lets you withdraw funds and redeposit them within 60 days without triggering tax, but that is a rollover mechanism with strict once-per-12-months and full-repayment requirements, not a loan.
Early, non-qualified withdrawals
Both accounts allow you to eventually take a "qualified distribution", one that meets the 5-year holding requirement and an additional condition such as reaching age 59½, completely tax-free. The difference shows up before that point, on a non-qualified, early withdrawal. A Roth IRA follows an ordering rule: distributions are treated as coming first from your own after-tax contributions (always available tax- and penalty-free, since you already paid tax on them), then from converted amounts, and only last from earnings. A Roth 401(k) follows a different rule entirely. Because the plan is required to separately account for designated Roth contributions and their earnings, IRS guidance treats a non-qualified distribution as coming pro-rata from both, you cannot elect to withdraw only your own contributions first. A withdrawal from a Roth 401(k) before the account is qualified will almost always include some taxable (and potentially penalized) earnings, proportional to how much of the balance is earnings versus contributions at the time.
Required Minimum Distributions
This section of the comparison changed meaningfully in recent years and is a common source of outdated advice still circulating online. For a long time, designated Roth accounts inside 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans were subject to the same lifetime required minimum distribution rules that apply to pre-tax accounts in those plans, forcing withdrawals starting at the applicable RMD age even though the money was already tax-free. A Roth IRA never had this requirement during the original owner's lifetime.
A SECURE 2.0 Act provision (Section 325) eliminated the lifetime RMD requirement for designated Roth accounts in employer plans, effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2023. Current IRS guidance confirms this directly: you are not required to take withdrawals from Roth IRAs, or from designated Roth accounts in a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, while the account owner is alive. The two account types are now aligned on this specific point, an outcome many investors and even some older articles have not caught up with.
One nuance survives the change: RMD rules still apply to most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit either a Roth 401(k) or a Roth IRA after the original owner's death, and beneficiary distribution timing rules are broadly similar across both account types. The elimination of lifetime RMDs applies specifically to the original owner while alive, not to what happens to the account afterward. For the mechanics of beneficiary RMD rules, see Swoopr's guide to required minimum distributions.
Rollovers and Job Changes
Leaving an employer with a Roth 401(k) balance triggers a set of options, and the rules on where that money can go are stricter than they might seem. An eligible rollover distribution from a designated Roth account may be rolled over only to another designated Roth account in a new employer's plan, or to a Roth IRA; it cannot be rolled into a Traditional IRA or a pre-tax 401(k) account, because doing so would mix already-taxed Roth money with never-taxed pre-tax money and undo the account's tax character. Many people use a change of employer as the moment to consolidate a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA, gaining the IRA's broader investment menu and its contributions-first withdrawal ordering in the process, though staying in a new employer's Roth 401(k) can make sense if that plan offers strong, low-cost funds or a loan feature the person wants to preserve.
The 5-year clock adds a wrinkle worth flagging rather than glossing over. A Roth IRA's clock is based on your very first contribution to any Roth IRA you have ever held and does not reset. A Roth 401(k)'s clock is generally tied to your first contribution to that specific plan, so a rollover to a new employer's plan, or the start of Roth deferrals with a new employer for the first time, can start a fresh clock rather than carrying the old one forward. Anyone moving a Roth 401(k) balance, whether to a new plan or to a Roth IRA, should confirm how the receiving account's 5-year clock will be treated before assuming the original start date carries over automatically.
Worked Examples: The Mechanics in Numbers
Illustrative figures, for educational purposes only. These are not current contribution limits, income thresholds, or tax rates; see References for where to find this year's actual figures.
Example 1: Two separate limit pools
Suppose an employee's 401(k) plan allows Roth elective deferrals, and, purely for illustration, their plan's aggregate elective-deferral limit for the year is $20,000 while the IRA annual limit is $6,000 (illustrative figures only, not this year's actual limits). If this employee defers the full $20,000 into their Roth 401(k) through payroll, that has no effect whatsoever on their separate $6,000 Roth IRA room, assuming their income is under the Roth IRA's phase-out. They could, in principle, contribute the full amount to both accounts in the same year, funding $26,000 of Roth-taxed retirement savings from two entirely independent limits. This is the mechanical point worth understanding: the two accounts do not compete for the same room the way a Roth IRA and a Traditional IRA do with each other.
Example 2: Pro-rata early withdrawal versus contributions-first
Suppose an investor's Roth 401(k) balance consists of $8,000 of their own contributions and $2,000 of accumulated earnings, an 80/20 split, purely illustrative. If this investor takes a non-qualified $1,000 withdrawal, the pro-rata rule means the withdrawal is treated as $800 of already-taxed contributions and $200 of taxable earnings (potentially also subject to the early-withdrawal penalty on that $200), regardless of which portion the investor intended to access. Now suppose the same investor instead held that same $8,000/$2,000 split inside a Roth IRA. A $1,000 non-qualified withdrawal there would be treated first as coming from the $8,000 of contributions, fully tax- and penalty-free, because the Roth IRA's ordering rule draws from contributions before earnings. Same balance, same withdrawal amount, different tax result, purely because of which account type holds the money.
Which Fits Which Situation
Neither account is a universal upgrade over the other; they serve overlapping but distinct purposes, and many people end up using both. The following describes circumstances where each account's particular mechanics tend to matter most, without ranking one as better.
- An employer match is on the table. Capturing a full employer match inside a Roth 401(k) is close to an immediate, guaranteed return on that portion of a paycheck; people commonly prioritize contributing at least enough to capture the full match before directing money elsewhere.
- Income is above the Roth IRA phase-out. A Roth 401(k) has no income limit, so it remains a direct Roth contribution channel for higher earners after a Roth IRA has closed off (short of the backdoor Roth strategy).
- Investment choice matters a great deal. A Roth IRA opened at a full-service brokerage typically offers a much wider menu than a workplace plan's curated fund lineup, which matters more to someone who wants specific individual securities or niche funds.
- Contribution capacity is the priority. The 401(k) elective-deferral limit is set on a scale meant for a primary retirement vehicle and is substantially larger than the IRA limit, mattering most to someone with high savings capacity relative to their income.
- Potential need for a loan. Someone who wants the option, even if unused, of borrowing against retirement savings for a genuine need has that option only through a 401(k) plan that offers it, never through an IRA.
- Wanting penalty-free access to contributions. A Roth IRA's contributions-first ordering gives more predictable, more flexible early access to the money you put in, which matters to someone who values that flexibility even if they never plan to use it.
- No workplace plan is available. Someone without access to an employer plan, self-employed without a solo 401(k), between jobs, or at an employer with no Roth 401(k) option, has the Roth IRA as their direct Roth vehicle by default, subject to its income limit.
For many savers, the realistic answer is not choosing one account but sequencing both: capture the match in the workplace Roth 401(k), then direct additional Roth savings to a Roth IRA for its flexibility and broader menu, then return to the 401(k) for any remaining capacity. To model your own contribution scenario, Swoopr's Roth vs. Traditional Calculator compares the after-tax outcome of Roth versus pre-tax contributions using your own assumptions, a related but distinct question from the account-type comparison covered here.
Misconceptions vs. Reality
| Misconception | Reality |
|---|---|
| Having a Roth 401(k) at work means I can't also have a Roth IRA | False. The two accounts draw from entirely separate contribution limits. The only constraint on the Roth IRA side is its own income phase-out, unrelated to your 401(k) participation. |
| A Roth 401(k) has required minimum distributions, but a Roth IRA does not | Outdated. Since a SECURE 2.0 Act change effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2023, neither account requires lifetime RMDs from the original owner. This was true before the change and is a common source of stale advice online. |
| Withdrawing my own contributions from a Roth 401(k) early is tax-free, just like a Roth IRA | False. A Roth 401(k) uses pro-rata treatment on non-qualified withdrawals, mixing contributions and earnings proportionally. Only a Roth IRA lets you withdraw contributions first, tax- and penalty-free. |
| High earners can't use a Roth account through their employer | False. A Roth 401(k) has no income limit, unlike a Roth IRA. It remains available to high earners even after income has closed off direct Roth IRA contributions. |
| I can borrow from my Roth IRA the same way I can from my Roth 401(k) | False. IRA loans of any kind are a prohibited transaction that can disqualify the account. Only a 401(k) plan (Roth or pre-tax) can offer a participant loan, and only if the plan chooses to. |
| Rolling a Roth 401(k) into an IRA means rolling it into any IRA I already have | Partially false. A designated Roth account can only roll into another designated Roth account or a Roth IRA, never into a Traditional IRA, since mixing pre-tax and Roth money would undo the tax treatment. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I contribute to a Roth 401(k) and a Roth IRA in the same year?
Yes, and this surprises many people. A Roth 401(k) draws from your plan's elective-deferral limit, a separate pool set annually by the IRS for employer-plan contributions. A Roth IRA draws from a completely different, lower annual limit that is shared only with any Traditional IRA contributions you make. Maxing out a Roth 401(k) at work does not use up any of your Roth IRA room, and vice versa. The one constraint on the Roth IRA side is its own income phase-out, which the 401(k) does not share.
Does a Roth 401(k) have income limits like a Roth IRA does?
No. There is no income ceiling on contributing to a Roth 401(k); it is available to any eligible employee at any income level, because eligibility runs through your employment and plan enrollment rather than your tax return. A Roth IRA is the opposite: anyone can open one, but the ability to contribute directly phases out once your modified adjusted gross income crosses thresholds the IRS publishes and adjusts periodically. This is one of the most consequential differences between the two account types for high earners, since it makes a workplace Roth 401(k) the more reliable direct-contribution path once income rises.
Are Roth 401(k) accounts subject to required minimum distributions?
No, not since a SECURE 2.0 Act change that took effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2023. Before that change, designated Roth accounts inside 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans were subject to the same lifetime RMD rules as pre-tax accounts, a frequently cited structural disadvantage next to the Roth IRA. Current IRS guidance confirms that original account owners are not required to take withdrawals from Roth IRAs or from designated Roth accounts in a 401(k) or 403(b) plan while they are alive. The two account types are now aligned on this point during the original owner's lifetime; RMD rules still apply to most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit either type of account.
Can I take a loan from my Roth 401(k) or my Roth IRA?
A 401(k) plan, including its designated Roth sub-account, may offer participant loans against your vested balance, repaid through payroll deduction under terms the plan sets, though the plan is not required to offer this feature. An IRA, Roth or Traditional, can never offer a loan; the IRS treats a loan from an IRA as a prohibited transaction, which can disqualify the entire account. The closest an IRA gets to short-term access is a 60-day rollover, which is not a loan and carries strict once-per-12-months and repayment-deadline rules.
What happens to my Roth 401(k) when I leave my employer?
You generally have several options: leave the balance in the former employer's plan if the plan and balance size allow it, roll it into a new employer's Roth 401(k) if that plan accepts incoming rollovers, or roll it into a Roth IRA. A designated Roth account can only be rolled over to another designated Roth account or to a Roth IRA, never to a Traditional IRA or a pre-tax 401(k), because mixing already-taxed Roth money with pre-tax money would undo the account's tax character. Many people consolidate a former employer's Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA specifically to gain the IRA's broader investment menu and the option to withdraw their own contributions at any time.
If I withdraw money early from a Roth 401(k), is it taxed the same way as an early Roth IRA withdrawal?
No, and this is one of the more consequential mechanical differences between the two. A non-qualified distribution from a Roth IRA follows contributions-first ordering: your own after-tax contributions come out tax- and penalty-free before any earnings are touched. A non-qualified distribution from a Roth 401(k) is treated pro-rata between contributions and earnings under IRS rules requiring the plan to separately account for both; you cannot choose to withdraw only your own contributions first. In practice, an early Roth 401(k) withdrawal is more likely to trigger some taxable, and potentially penalized, earnings than an equivalent early Roth IRA withdrawal of the same dollar amount.
Can my employer contribute money to my Roth 401(k)?
Yes, in two different ways. First, a plan can match your Roth elective deferrals the same way it matches pre-tax deferrals, though historically that match itself was deposited pre-tax into a separate account. Second, following a SECURE 2.0 Act provision effective for contributions made after the Act's enactment, a plan may let you elect to receive matching or nonelective employer contributions themselves on a Roth basis; those employer dollars must be fully vested when contributed and are included in your taxable income for that year, since they were never taxed going in. A Roth IRA has no equivalent, an employer never contributes to your personal Roth IRA; a business owner instead uses a separate vehicle like a SEP or SIMPLE IRA for that purpose.
Which account should I prioritize if I cannot max out both?
There is no single right answer; it depends on what each account gives you that the other does not. A Roth 401(k) is usually prioritized up to the point of capturing any available employer match, since that match is close to an immediate, guaranteed return. Beyond the match, some people prefer directing additional dollars to a Roth IRA for its wider investment menu and contributions-first access, while others prefer staying inside the 401(k) for its much higher annual contribution capacity and, where offered, loan availability. Income also matters: someone above the Roth IRA's contribution threshold may find the Roth 401(k) is their only direct Roth contribution channel at work, aside from a backdoor Roth IRA strategy.
Do both accounts follow the same 5-year rule for tax-free withdrawals?
Both have a 5-year rule, but the clock runs differently. A Roth IRA's 5-year clock is based on your first contribution to any Roth IRA you have ever held, and it never resets once started, even if you close the account. A Roth 401(k)'s 5-year clock generally runs from your first contribution to that specific plan, and starting a Roth 401(k) with a new employer can start a new clock unless the balance is rolled over in a way that preserves the original start date. Anyone changing jobs with an existing Roth 401(k) balance should confirm how the receiving account's clock will be treated before assuming continuity.
References
This guide is based on publicly available IRS guidance verified in August 2026. Key sources include:
- IRS: Retirement Topics, Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs): current confirmation that neither Roth IRAs nor designated Roth accounts in a 401(k) or 403(b) plan require lifetime withdrawals from the original owner.
- IRS: Retirement Topics, Designated Roth Account: contribution mechanism, the 5-year holding period for qualified distributions, pro-rata treatment of non-qualified distributions, and rollover-destination rules.
- IRS: Roth Comparison Chart: side-by-side summary of designated Roth 401(k) accounts and Roth IRAs, including the absence of an income limit on Roth 401(k) contributions.
- IRS: Retirement Topics, Plan Loans: confirmation that 401(k) plans may offer participant loans while IRAs and IRA-based plans cannot.
- IRS: Roth IRAs: Roth IRA contribution and income-eligibility framework.
- IRS: Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs): the Roth IRA 5-year rule and the contributions-first ordering of non-qualified distributions.
- IRS: Notice 2024-2, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2024-02: guidance on designated Roth matching and nonelective employer contributions under SECURE 2.0 Act Section 604, including the vesting and gross-income-inclusion rules.
This content was reviewed by the Swoopr Editorial Team in August 2026 and reflects publicly available information at that time, including the SECURE 2.0 Act's elimination of lifetime RMDs for designated Roth accounts. Retirement plan rules are subject to change and specific 401(k) plan features (matching formulas, loan availability, Roth employer-contribution elections) vary by employer; verify current limits and your specific plan's terms with the IRS, your plan administrator, or a qualified tax professional before making contribution decisions.
Conclusion
A Roth 401(k) and a Roth IRA both deliver the same core promise, pay tax now, never pay tax again on qualified growth, but they get there through different machinery. The Roth 401(k) runs on payroll deferral, plan-set investment menus, and, since SECURE 2.0, no lifetime RMDs and no income ceiling. The Roth IRA runs on direct individual funding, a broader investment menu, contributions-first access, and an income-based eligibility test the 401(k) does not share. Because they draw from separate contribution limits and serve overlapping but distinct purposes, framing this as an either/or choice usually misses the more useful question: given an employer match, an income level, a desired investment menu, and a need (or lack of one) for loan access, how should contributions be sequenced across both accounts rather than concentrated in just one.