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Comment by astura | Hacker News Reader

Capital gains and dividends in a Roth IRA is not taxed either.

They clearly mean they ALSO had a taxable brokerage account that generated dividends; saying they contributed to an IRA was an (unintentional) misdirect.

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Yes, I've been upfront about the error, acknowledged it, and I've edited the original post.

I still stand by my assessment it's not cool to nudge people not to save.

There are many people who'd like to save, but don't have 401ks. (Ex: students doing internships, contractors, or people working in the service industry)

The limit for a 401k is ~18k IIRC and ~5500 for an IRA IIRC. If you had say, 10k from a summer internship, you'd put the difference in a normal, taxable brokerage.

Having a brokerage account does not mean one is affluent.

To be pedantic, the total pre-tax 401(k) contribution limit in 2019 is $19k ($25k if you’re over 50). But the total defined contribution limit (employer+employee, including after-tax) is $56k. So if you were so inclined (and fortunate to have the income) you could sock away $56k through an employer plan, including pretax, company match, and post-tax.

IRA (traditional and Roth) contribution limit in 2019 is $6k.

Source:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-contribution-limit-increas...

If you're self-employed (e.g. contractor) can set up a SEP-IRA and do "employer" contributions in addition to the regular "employee" IRA contribution.

Another option is a "solo" 401k account but there's more paperwork involved.

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