The only taxes and penalties on the Roth IRA will be on the earnings, not the original contributions.
Your Roth IRA contributions will be in "excess" if you enroll in the 401(k) regardless of how much you actually contribute, so you might as well put as much money in the 401(k) as possible. If you like the idea of a Roth IRA, you can ask the plan administrator if the 401(k) offers a Roth option. The difference between a Roth IRA and a Roth option in a 401(k) is that you can withdraw contributions from the Roth IRA at any time, but you can only withdraw contributions from a 401(k) after you separate from service.
I would like to know how to go from unemployed to making $250,000+ per year!
Remember that your Roth eligibility is determined by your gross income on your tax return, not your annual salary. So for 2021, even if your new annual income is over the Roth limit ($196,000 for MFJ or $124,000 for single) but you will actually be paid less than those amounts because the job started mid-year, you would still be eligible to fund your Roth IRA for this year.
https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/amount-of-roth-ira-contributions-that...
