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If you’re a high earner in the market for an investment strategy that sounds more like a Transformer than a legitimate wealth-building option, then boy, do I have good news for you: The Mega Backdoor Roth IRA might be a contender for your tax-advantaged lineup. Before we talk about the “how,” let’s talk about the […]
Welcome to the world of Tiny Violin Problems, my friend. If you make too much money to contribute to a Roth IRA per the IRS, you’ve officially entered the realm of TVPs, amongst the opulent ranks of, “There’s no more room for overhead luggage in First Class so I have to gate-check my bag,” and, […]
Is FICA tax the key difference maker in the Roth vs. Traditional 401(k) debate? This blog post will hopefully be quite a bit shorter than the ironically named “Ultimate Traditional vs. Roth 401(k) Debate” post I wrote previously and slightly shorter than the “Will You be in a Higher Tax Bracket in Retirement? Maybe, But […]
The original tiny violin problem: Wah, I made too much money to contribute to a Roth IRA, and accidentally contributed to one anyway! In other words, my life this year. This is a weird transition that most people who (a) are actively earning more money and (b) contributing to a Roth IRA will probably experience, […]
2025 Update: There’s a much more in-depth breakdown of this thesis in Chapter 6 of Rich Girl Nation. If you’d prefer to listen to me explain it, check out this episode of The Money with Katie Show. The math in this post still uses 2022 contribution limits, but the logic remains! There are so many […]
If you can’t beat ‘em, evade taxes like ‘em. Just kidding – there will be no tax evasion here (you hear that, little FBI man that resides in my MacBook Air? No need to call Jim at the IRS, because everything in this post has its origins in tax code loopholes, laws, and cultural differences between […]
The other night on Instagram Stories (a sentence that’s so 2025 it hurts), I asked what question you’d ask a Magic Money 8 Ball (unfortunately, I’ve watched so many cartel movies that I now feel the need to clarify I’m talking about those adorable children’s toys, not a substantive amount of cocaine). I asked the […]
A more robust version of this analysis is available in Chapter 6 of Rich Girl Nation, “Don’t Outlive Your Assets.” Any time I open the “Roth vs. Traditional 401(k)” can of worms, I’m inevitably met with one resounding piece of pushback: “But what if I’m in a higher tax bracket in retirement?” This is the […]
Merely typing that sentence felt blasphemous, but I was struck with a realization I couldn’t ignore when filming my NEVER PAY TAXES AGAIN YouTube video (and yes, all caps is a necessity on YouTube). You see, the entire video is premised on the fact that long-term capital gains are taxed really favorably. Like, really favorably. […]
A far more robust version of this blog post lives in Chapter 3 of Rich Girl Nation, “Knowledge is Power.” Grab your copy now! One of the most interesting things about blogging about personal finance (and, by extension, creating an Instagram presence that just screams, “Send me your deepest, darkest fears about investing!”) is that […]
This topic can be provocative. It gets the people going! In the personal finance world, this fact—that you’re likely better off investing on your own rather than paying another human being 1% of your net worth to do it for you—is not really disputed. It’s becoming accepted as the truth. What do I mean by […]
After reading The Simple Path to Wealth, I started wondering: Could anyone become a millionaire? And better yet, could anyone become a millionaire early in life, regardless of income? Obviously, the answer is no: But depending on how creative you’re willing to get, the payoff could be massive. If you’re hoping this post is going […]
As anyone who’s been in the same room as me when the topic of tax savings comes up knows, pre-tax investment vehicles are like my inner 12-year-old girl’s Justin Bieber. If my husband would let me put up a poster on our bedroom wall of the US’s tax-efficient trifecta (401(k), Roth IRA, HSA), I would. […]
Three years ago, a member of the Rich Girl Community named Jenny Burke reached out to me to share a picture of herself teaching her friends about personal finance. She stood in front of a giant sticky easel with HOT GIRL SHIT scrawled in Sharpie across the top, and definitions of the 401(k) and IRA […]
Welcome to another installment of Money with Katie Horrifies Readers Outside the US—also known as, another foray into the US healthcare system. If you’ve missed the previous two installments, feel free to check them out here: How to Budget for Healthcare in the US in the Least Frustrating Way Possible Navigating the US Healthcare System […]
Can I admit something that reveals my ignorance and relative lucky breaks? It’s always been pretty easy for me to avoid talking about health insurance and healthcare costs because—as an adult—I’ve always been employed and healthy. It wasn’t until recently (like, embarrassingly recently) that I was hit with a medical bill that I wasn’t expecting: […]
I’ve never really thought much about my HSA. FI experts always talked about it like it was this secret, secondary IRA, and to an extent I understood why, but I didn’t feel convinced enough to prioritize it as part of my ongoing financial plan. Here’s why: Your HSA is designed for medical expenses. If you’re […]
The HSA—or Health Savings Account—is a wunderkind of the tax code. The HSA is different from the 401(k) as a tax savings vehicle because—if you make payroll contributions—you don’t pay the 7.65% FICA tax on them. The HSA is the only investment vehicle that has the potential for funds to go in tax-free, be invested […]
As my standard legalese: I am not a licensed tax professional, and this is not tax advice. Please consult your friendly neighborhood CPA and do your due diligence. This is intended to be a starting point for your #TaxSzn research. As I was reminded repeatedly by TurboTax’s 2023 ad campaign called “Don’t Do Your Taxes,” […]
The most popular talking point that sucked me into the financial independence (FI) movement in late 2017 was the idea of getting off the hamster wheel. “Get out of the rat race! Get off the hamster wheel!” (Apparently we’re all analogous to small rodents.) My brain didn’t hesitate to make the jump from “working all […]
Hint: You may not need that Backdoor Roth IRA after all. Blasphemous, I know—and while I’m sure this article will apply to a pretty niche segment of my audience, I had an important realization the other day that I feel I must share: Most full-timers with side hustles (hello, millennials) aren’t taking advantage of the […]
Let me preface this post by saying that if you have access to a CPA and you’re feeling a little unsure about doing your taxes yourself (or, more realistically, you just don’t want to), it’s probably wise to pony up a few hundred bucks and pay your CPA to do them for you. That said: […]
On today’s episode of, “Katie posts about a situation that’s so niche, it’s unhelpful to almost everyone,” I present to you: My first meeting with a CPA! This blog post is intended to help guide you through your first meeting, and potentially surface some questions you might want to ask yours, too. I have a […]
I’ve never really thought much about my HSA. FI experts always talked about it like it was this secret, secondary IRA, and to an extent I understood why, but I didn’t feel convinced enough to prioritize it as part of my ongoing financial plan. Here’s why: Your HSA is designed for medical expenses. If you’re […]
When I originally published this post in February 2021, my thesis was pretty simple: Comparing your financial situation and decisions to the gals you wine down with on Bachelor Monday probably won’t net highly favorable results, because you’re selecting your “financial frame of reference” based on unrelated qualifications. As I revisit the idea in 2025, […]
Every once in a while I receive an email that makes me scratch my head. So for this week’s post, I present to you: “We have 3 children under 18 and pay significantly less in taxes now than we will 12 years from now. This makes the tax savings from Traditional accounts less impactful during […]
I go into much greater detail about marital finances (and the legal considerations therein!) in Chapter 4 of Rich Girl Nation, “I Thee Wed (and Spend Thy Bread.” If you’re interested in the full deep dive on money for couples, pick up a copy. Every time I post one of my monthly budget breakdowns, I […]
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: While I’m thrilled this blog has a shot at helping others, I am – at heart – a selfish creature. Writing these articles mostly serves as a way for me to publish my own thought experiments and, consequently, force my own hand at figuring out how these […]
This blog post is based on a few sections of Chapter 4 of Rich Girl Nation, “I Thee Wed (and Spend Thy Bread.” If you’re interested in the full deep dive on marital finances, pick up a copy. The question of “how to combine finances” comes up frequently, so I figured now was as good […]
A far more robust version of this blog post lives in Chapter 3 of Rich Girl Nation, “Knowledge is Power.” Grab your copy now! I’m just going to put this out there now: I don’t really understand why people are sometimes offended by the idea of early retirement. Every once in awhile, you’ll get someone […]
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