• Making Sense of Mixed Signals

    Making Sense of Mixed Signals

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Reading Between the Headlines
    • Monte Carlo Retirement Simulator: Plan for Uncertainty
    • Market Overview


  • The Melt-Up and What It Means for Your 401(k)

    The Melt-Up and What It Means for Your 401(k)

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • The Melt-Up and What It Means for Your 401(k)
    • RMD Traps and Roth Strategies: Use Our Calculators to See Your Real Situation
    • Market Overview


  • Savings for Your Kids’ Lifetime Education

    Savings for Your Kids’ Lifetime Education

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Lifetime Education Cost Planner
    • Market Overview


  • Variable Annuity vs. 401K vs IRA

    Variable Annuity vs. 401K vs IRA

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Variable Annuity vs. 401K vs IRA
    • Market Overview


  • Variable Annuity vs 401(k) vs IRA: A Beginner’s Guide

    Variable Annuity vs 401(k) vs IRA: A Beginner’s Guide

    Variable annuities are rarely a substitute for 401(k)s and IRAs. This guide breaks down fees, tax treatment, and when a plain vanilla variable annuity like Vanguard’s might make sense—plus why a taxable brokerage account often wins anyway.


  • ETFs Can Match Lowest Cost Funds in 401(k) Plans

    ETFs Can Match Lowest Cost Funds in 401(k) Plans

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • ETFs Can Match Lowest Cost Funds in 401(k) Plans
    • Retirement Withdrawal Calculator
    • Market Overview


  • Wars and Investments

    Wars and Investments

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Wars and Investments
    • Oil Price and Inflation Infographic
    • Market Overview


  • FIRE: Financial Independence Retire Early Readiness

    FIRE: Financial Independence Retire Early Readiness

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) Readiness Calculator
    • Market Overview


  • Oil Prices and Your Wallet

    Oil Prices and Your Wallet

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Oil Prices and Your Wallet: Oil Price Impact Calculator
    • Market Overview


  • Special Report: Iran War, Oil Price & Your Investments

    Special Report: Iran War, Oil Price & Your Investments

    • Special Report: Iran War, Oil Price & Your Investments
    • Tools & Tips: Asset Location Calculator
    • Market Overview


  • Layoff & Your Rights

    Layoff & Your Rights

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Layoff & Your Rights
    • Tools & Tips: Very Long-Term Stock and Bond Return Data
    • Market Overview


  • Understand Mega Backdoor Roth Conversion

    Understand Mega Backdoor Roth Conversion

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Understand Mega Backdoor Roth Conversion
    • Tools & Tips: Backdoor Roth IRA Pro-Rata Conversion Calculator
    • Market Overview


  • Mega Backdoor Roth Infographic

    Mega Backdoor Roth Infographic

    The infographic to illustrate the differences among traditional 401k, Roth 401k, After Tax 401k and Mega Backdoor Roth Conversion.


  • 2026 Tax Bonuses

    2026 Tax Bonuses

    10 Real Tax Savings for 2026


  • The $7,000 Roth IRA Myth, Why It Is a Bigger Deal Than People Think

    The $7,000 Roth IRA Myth, Why It Is a Bigger Deal Than People Think

    Many people look at the $7,000 annual Roth IRA limit and immediately dismiss it. Too small, not impactful, not worth the hassle. Big mistake! Let’s use a simple example. A husband and wife each contribute $7,000 a year, so $14,000 total, from age 30 to 60. That is 30 years of steady investing at an assumed 8 percent return. Total contributions come to $420,000. By age 60, that Roth balance grows to about $1.6 million. Roughly $1.16 million of that is pure growth, and it comes out tax free. If you live in a no state tax environment, you just avoided federal long term capital gains and the extra 3.8 percent surtax on investment income, already a meaningful number. Now layer in a high tax state. At an 8 percent state tax rate, that same $1.16 million of gains would have faced another large haircut (actually like $411K tax savings). The Roth just simply protects such a big chunk of your gain. The following are results from our Investment Return Calculator: And it does not stop there. Most people do not touch Roth money first. They let it keep compounding while spending from pre tax or taxable accounts. Let that same Roth grow another 10 years, untouched, at the same 8 percent. By age 70, it is worth roughly $3.9 million. Now you are looking at close to $3.3 million of gains that will never be taxed. In a zero state tax scenario, that already avoids a large federal tax bill. In an 8 percent state tax scenario, the difference becomes even more dramatic: a $1 million savings. This is where people underestimate the impact. The contribution feels small. The tax free compounding over decades is not. This is real money, not theoretical. High income earners often respond with another objection. Fine, but my income is too high to contribute to a Roth IRA anyway. Not really. This is where the backdoor Roth comes in. The process is simple in concept. You contribute to a traditional IRA using after tax dollars, since there is no income limit on contributions. Then you convert that contribution to a Roth IRA. If done correctly and promptly, there is little to no tax cost. The key rule is that you cannot have other pre tax IRA balances sitting around, including SEP or SIMPLE IRAs, or the conversion becomes partially taxable. Many people solve this by rolling old IRAs into a 401(k) first. Once set up, this becomes a repeatable annual process. So the real question is not whether the Roth is too small to matter. It is whether you want to keep paying taxes on millions of dollars of future growth, or quietly opt out while you still can.


  • Ultimate 2026 Retirement Playbook for 401(k)s & IRAs

    Ultimate 2026 Retirement Playbook for 401(k)s & IRAs

    Extremely use tips to maximizing 401(k) match, RMDs and IRA tactics


  • Personal Finance Year End Check List

    Personal Finance Year End Check List

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Personal Finance Year End Check List
    • Tools & Tips: 12% Tax Bracket Is the Sweet Spot for Roth IRA Conversion
    • Market Overview


  • How A Valuation Driven Bear Market Looks Like

    How A Valuation Driven Bear Market Looks Like

    • Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
    • Stock Market Bubble & Retirement Savings
    • Tools & Tips: Retirement Spending Calculator
    • Market Overview


  • How Retirement Savings Can Quietly Reduce Your Student Loan Payments

    How Retirement Savings Can Quietly Reduce Your Student Loan Payments

    Increasing Retirement Savings such as 401(k) can help reduce your monthly student repayment if you are on the federal IBR program. But


  • The Quiet Millionaires of 2024: What Sets These Retirement Plans Apart

    The Quiet Millionaires of 2024: What Sets These Retirement Plans Apart

    Every year, when new 401(k) data is released, it quietly reveals how uneven wealth building can be. In 2024, that picture is especially clear. The retirement plans with the highest average balances mostly belong to two types of organizations. On one side are high-income professionals such as physicians, lawyers, and boutique asset managers. These groups tend to have both strong personal contributions and large employer matches, often tied to firm profits. On the other side, a few large corporations, such as Texas Instruments and General Re, show that slow and steady saving across decades can also create significant wealth. MyPlanIQ recently did a study on all year 2024 retirement plans. We identified the top retirement plans that have the highest average participant account value. We limited our study in plans that have at least 100 participants. Below is a summary of the top 37 retirement plans by average account value. The numbers speak for themselves. Rank Retirement Plan Sponsor Average Account Value 1 Lone Pine Capital LLC 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan Lone Pine Capital LLC $1,612,021 2 Anesthesia Service Medical Group, Inc. 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan Trust Anesthesia Service Medical Group, Inc. $1,240,779 3 Medical Center Emergency Services Retirement Savings Thrift Plan Medical Center Emergency Services $1,217,978 4 Crescent River Port Pilots’ Association 401(k) Retirement Plan Crescent River Port Pilots’ Association $1,172,843 5 Irell & Manella Profit Sharing Plan Irell & Manella LLP $1,003,150 6 Anesthesia Consultants of Indianapolis, LLC 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan Anesthesia Consultants of Indianapolis, LLC $975,046 7 Fond du Lac Regional Clinic, S.C. 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan Fond du Lac Regional Clinic, S.C. $967,649 8 Wasatch Advisors, LP Deferred Profit Sharing Plan and Trust Wasatch Advisors, LP $924,154 9 Dodge & Cox Profit Sharing Plan Dodge & Cox $912,271 10 National Exchange Carrier Association Retirement Savings Plan National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. $893,253 11 TI 401(k) Savings Plan Texas Instruments Incorporated $882,313 12 Employee Savings and Stock Ownership Plan of General Re Corp and its Domestic Subsidiaries General Re Corporation $862,746 13 Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C. 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C. $860,649 14 Zeta Associates Incorporated Savings Plan Zeta Associates $829,709 15 Anesthesia Consultants of Indianapolis, LLC 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan Anesthesia Consultants of Indianapolis, LLC $804,322 16 Jennison Associates Savings Plan Jennison Associates LLC $797,881 17 Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP Lawyers Retirement Plan Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP $792,777 18 Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP 401(k) Retirement Plan Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP $778,761 19 Medical Anesthesia Group, P.A. Profit Sharing Plan Medical Anesthesia Group, P.A. $754,092 20 Bayerische Landesbank NY Employees Retirement Plan Bayerische Landesbank $747,774 21 Barrow, Hanley Profit Sharing & 401(k) Plan Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney and Strauss, LLC $736,341 22 Callan LLC Retirement Savings Plan Callan LLC $717,465 23 Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. Defined Contribution Plan Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. $716,205 24 Maverick Capital, Ltd. 401(k) Plan Maverick Capital, Ltd. $676,958 25 Progressive Physician Associates, Inc. Retirement Savings Plan Progressive Physician Associates, Inc. $669,937 26 Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP $663,531 27 QRM 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan Quantitative Risk Management, Inc. $662,045 28 Neuberger Berman Group 401(k) Plan Neuberger Berman Group LLC $661,047 29 MBIA Inc. Employees Pension Plan MBIA Inc. $658,502 30 Maher Terminals LLC Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan Maher Terminals LLC $657,996 31 Willcox & Savage, P.C. Profit-Sharing Retirement Plan Willcox & Savage, P.C. $647,756 32 Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP $647,520 33 Eastman & Smith Ltd. Profit Sharing and Savings Plan and Trust Eastman & Smith Ltd. $643,627 34 APG Asset Management 401(k) Plan APG Asset Management $642,912 35 American Radiology Associates, P.A. Retirement Plan American Radiology Associates, P.A. $638,273 36 First Manhattan 401(k) Plan FMC Group Holdings LP $636,751 37 Downs Rachlin Martin Retirement Plan Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC $632,968 Across these 37 plans, the average account value stands close to $820,000, with a median around $754,000. That is a striking contrast to the national average, which remains under $120,000 for most retirement savers. The first major reason for this difference is compensation. These are high-income groups with the ability to contribute the annual maximum without hardship. Employers in these professional partnerships also tend to make hefty profit-sharing contributions. A doctor earning $400,000 a year or a law partner receiving a share of firm profits can easily reach contribution limits and still receive matching or profit-based additions on top. Over time, that combination of high base income and rich employer match drives account values far above what traditional salaried workers can achieve. The second reason is less about pay and more about time. Companies such as Texas Instruments and General Re demonstrate the quiet power of long-term consistency. Their plans have thousands of participants and more modest individual incomes, yet decades of continuous contributions and steady investment returns have compounded into substantial balances. The difference is discipline rather than income level. These two factors together explain why some retirement plans have reached the million-dollar mark while others lag far behind. High income and employer generosity create the initial lift. Long time horizons finish the job. In a period when many Americans are struggling to save even a fraction of what they will need, these plans are reminders that structure and time still matter more than luck. The quiet millionaires of 2024 did not chase returns or time markets. They simply contributed, matched, and waited long enough for patience to pay.