Hello friends and welcome to Money Girl, a podcast that helps you master your money so you can live rich and love the journey.

I'm Laura Adams, a personal finance expert and author based in Silicon Valley.

You can learn more about me at Laura D Adams.com. When you visit my site you can sign up for my email newsletter.

I send out a notice when the podcast is live each week

with a link to the show notes and audio.

You can also check out my tools page

to see many of the resources that I recommend to help you earn more,

save more, and accomplish more with your money.

I'm always adding to that page when I find a new resource that I love.

And you can also submit your money question on my contact page.

That's exactly how I got inspired for today's topic.

I received a question from a show listener named Sharif.

He says, I just graduated college and started my first real job with good pay

and a 401k that matches up to 3% of my contributions. So I plan on contributing at least

that much to get the free money from my employer.

If I can invest more, should it go to the 401k or in a Roth IRA instead?

Sharif, thanks so much for your question and congrats on your new job.

Maybe listeners have also wondered the same thing.

Using retirement accounts is a really smart way to save for your future and cut taxes at the same time.

But they can be really confusing because they come loaded with rules and limitations.

So in this podcast, I'll answer Sharif's question and help

you prioritize contributions among different types of retirement accounts depending on your

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