What's the difference between a 401K and an IRA?

[ryanschurdell]

Thank you

[VolvoGirl]

A lot.  A 401k is deducted from your paychecks pretax (unless it's a ROTH 401k).  So it is excluded from your wages and you don't pay tax on it. The max you can contribute is $18,000 or more for catch-up if you are over 55.

A IRA is an Individual Retirement Account you contribute to with your own money outside of work.  You may or may not get a deduction for it on your tax return.  The max your can put in is $5,500 or 6,500 If over 50.

There are also different rules on taking distributions and doing rollovers.

IRS Pub 590-A IRA Contributions
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590a.pdf

See IRS publication 590B for IRA Distributions
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590b.pdf