What’s Smartest Method Of Retirement Investing?

Do you contribute pre-tax or after-tax dollars to your favorite Defined Contribution retirement plan? Even though tax law permits employers to offer the after-tax Roth feature as an alternative to the traditional or pre-tax feature of investing in a 457(b), 401(k) or 403(b) plan, many employers have yet to do so. Stubbornly, they stick with the hurtful one-size-fits-all policy.

Most notably, those of you who use the 403(b) TDA Program of the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York know you can only contribute on a pre-tax basis. This restriction contrasts with the Deferred Compensation 457(b) and 401(k) Plans of the City of New York, the Deferred Compensation 457(b) and 401(k) Plans of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the 403(b) TDA Plan of the New York City Health + Hospitals Corporation and the Deferred Compensation 457(b) Plan of the State of New York, where participants are given the choice of contributing on a pre-tax or after-tax Roth basis.