● Category

Retirement Accounts

Index funds and ETFs are often held inside tax-advantaged retirement accounts. This category explains how 401(k)s, IRAs, and Roth accounts work specifically for index investors, sourced directly from current IRS guidance.

This category is for anyone deciding where to actually hold their index funds — a workplace 401(k), a Traditional IRA, a Roth IRA, or some combination — since the account type affects when and how your investment growth gets taxed, separate from which specific funds you choose. It's written for readers at any stage: someone evaluating their first employer plan menu, someone deciding between Traditional and Roth contributions, and someone simply trying to benchmark whether their current savings rate is reasonable for their age. Fund selection itself follows the same principles covered in Index Fund & ETF Basics; what changes here is the account wrapper around those funds and the tax rules that come with it.