How many people max out BOTH the 401k and 457(B)?

[Anonymous]

Assuming your company offers both a 401k and 457(b). It is a lot of cash and even more if over 50 or in the super catch up 60-63. But I am wondering are some folks really socking away that much cash?

Or is it a rarity to do a double max?

[Anonymous]

We’re still double maxing.

[Anonymous]

I’ll be maxing my 403b and 457b in 2026 and 2027 and maybe for the next two years after in order to keep our income down for FAFSA calculations.

I also did this during the pandemic to take advantage of market drops.

We always add at least $20k per year into retirement accounts but bump it up when it makes sense. We did the same in 2024 to lower income below $150k to get the used EV tax rebate.

[Anonymous]

Horrible accounts. Wouldn't touch them even for the match.
Used Roth and regular investment account. Retired years before turning 50 and pay state tax only.

[Anonymous]

I have been doing both since COVID. I work for a large university and during covid they stopped their match (wich is a generous- 10%) for one year. To make up for it, I started adding money to my 457b. And I haven't stopped. But I also want to retire relatively young- in my 50s. It is hard to beat sheltering that much money from taxes. Once my kid goes off to college, I may have to pull back- we have money saved, but not sure it will be enough. We will see.

[Anonymous]

I think the danger is that you will have a higher tax rate than you think in retirement when you have to pull out the RMDs. Do you think that tax rates are going to go down in the future? Think about the national debt and which direction it is going (and how Trump is screwing the economy). You might be able to do a backdoor Roth at some point, but nothing is guaranteed in life (Congress can change any of this).

Put into a Roth if you aren't already doing that.

[Anonymous]

Another consideration for some people may be that Medicare Part B premiums are based on your income. If you are pulling out high RMDs (which you are forced to do), you will have a high income in retirement. It may be that you saved money on your kid's college, but you may be paying it back to the government in the form of Medicare premiums. Of course who knows what will happen with healthcare in this country. It's a roll of the dice. You might need to spend your own money on healthcare in the future.

[Anonymous]

We have access to a 457(f), so can’t possibly max it out (allows up to 100% of salary), but we do put about 10% into it, after maxing out 401(k)s with catch up. We are less than thrilled about the changes to catch up contributions for high earners, but hey, cool, now we have Roth accounts, too, right?

[Anonymous]

Not 457, but max out my 401k and Mega Roth. 24,500 401k +10k employer match +34,500 Mega Roth. Total annual contributions $69,000. My DH does 401k, plus his 8k roth catch up. RMDs will kill us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not 457, but max out my 401k and Mega Roth. 24,500 401k +10k employer match +34,500 Mega Roth. Total annual contributions $69,000. My DH does 401k, plus his 8k roth catch up. RMDs will kill us.

Same with us, plus we max HSA and don't spend it. We've been maxing the federal limit for a decade. Both late 30s with 3.8M in combined retirement funds. I don't know what we're going to do with it all, but we keep maxing it every year since it seems like leaving money on the table not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not 457, but max out my 401k and Mega Roth. 24,500 401k +10k employer match +34,500 Mega Roth. Total annual contributions $69,000. My DH does 401k, plus his 8k roth catch up. RMDs will kill us.

Same with us, plus we max HSA and don't spend it. We've been maxing the federal limit for a decade. Both late 30s with 3.8M in combined retirement funds. I don't know what we're going to do with it all, but we keep maxing it every year since it seems like leaving money on the table not to.

we are mid 40s and are on track for the top tax rate in retirement, so we no longer contribute to the traditional 401k, we only do our mega roth and the roth 401k. We also will be doing a roth conversion for our 401k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not 457, but max out my 401k and Mega Roth. 24,500 401k +10k employer match +34,500 Mega Roth. Total annual contributions $69,000. My DH does 401k, plus his 8k roth catch up. RMDs will kill us.

If your DH is contributing directly to a Roth IRA then your joint taxable income for 2025 is less than $236K. Or you're doing Backdoor Roths and you just didn't provide that detail. You're contributing a huge percentage of your income to pre-tax accounts. You should look into Roth Conversions and contributing to Roth 401Ks. You're right, those RMDs are a ticking time bomb unless you take action soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Another consideration for some people may be that Medicare Part B premiums are based on your income. If you are pulling out high RMDs (which you are forced to do), you will have a high income in retirement. It may be that you saved money on your kid's college, but you may be paying it back to the government in the form of Medicare premiums. Of course who knows what will happen with healthcare in this country. It's a roll of the dice. You might need to spend your own money on healthcare in the future.

You're referring to IRMAA surcharges. They are calculated based on a 2-year look back on your income. So when you turn 65 and go on Medicare, SSA will look at your income for the tax year when you were 63. And yes, RMDs when you turn 73 (or 75) can bump you into the top IRMAA brackets. And IRMAA is like a tax cliff, you go $1 over into the higher IRMAA bracket and you get charged the IRMAA premium for that higher bracket (it's not a last dollar marginal tax like income taxes).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not 457, but max out my 401k and Mega Roth. 24,500 401k +10k employer match +34,500 Mega Roth. Total annual contributions $69,000. My DH does 401k, plus his 8k roth catch up. RMDs will kill us.

Same with us, plus we max HSA and don't spend it. We've been maxing the federal limit for a decade. Both late 30s with 3.8M in combined retirement funds. I don't know what we're going to do with it all, but we keep maxing it every year since it seems like leaving money on the table not to.

Dear Simpleton:

Thank you for so blatantly revealing your stupidity. It is mathematically impossible to have accumulated such an amount in retirement savings by your late 30s even across four separate 401k, 403b, 457, or Roth accounts and with employer matching. You’re not even smart enough to provide improbable numbers.

Even if only the spirit of your post is true, this strategy makes you look like a total fool. You’re either so dumb that you can’t figure out how to balance near-term spending with long-term investing or so indolent that you’re hoarding extreme amounts of money to retire early and escape a job for which you’re clearly not a qualified fit.

It’s all about life choices. Perhaps in your next incarnation, you’ll roll the dice more favorably. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not 457, but max out my 401k and Mega Roth. 24,500 401k +10k employer match +34,500 Mega Roth. Total annual contributions $69,000. My DH does 401k, plus his 8k roth catch up. RMDs will kill us.

If your DH is contributing directly to a Roth IRA then your joint taxable income for 2025 is less than $236K. Or you're doing Backdoor Roths and you just didn't provide that detail. You're contributing a huge percentage of your income to pre-tax accounts. You should look into Roth Conversions and contributing to Roth 401Ks. You're right, those RMDs are a ticking time bomb unless you take action soon.

he turned 50 this year and that’s how the catch ups work now via a roth. And yea my work has a mega back door roth. This year we are considering ditching the traditional 401k since is is over funded and going all in with the roth 401k.

we are going to start the roth conversions but want to be in a position to pay the penalty tax out of our current taxable funds in order to keep the converted roth in tact. that’s what our FA has advised. But yea taxes are now the focus.