I'm not a US citizen and not sure if I'll even be in the country to retire. Not sure how much of my salary I should be putting into my 401k.. Am I better off investing in stocks etc or what?
How is climate corp? Interested in their data science group
Climate's data science is overall pretty great. Some teams are more rigorous than others and top management needs to figure some things out. But overall culture and individual data scientists are awesome
They have a problem with retaining talent tho
Yes
You should max out your 401(k) even if you're sure you want to retire outside the US. Whatever you don't contribute, the IRS will take a cut from it right away. And you can withdraw from your 401(k) regardless of whether you live in the US or not. It's still YOUR money, which simply happens to have different tax treatment.
401k with index funds is probably a safe bet since you don’t know how long you will stay here. After 401k, do Roth and then do stocks.
1. If company matches max out 2. If don’t have short term plans max out. 3. If you are in a state with high state tax, max out as per-tax 401k
This
At minimum take company match. Even when you decide to leave you just pay tax (10% penalty)
Should you invest in your 401k or stocks? That is not an "or" question. You should invest in your 401k with stocks :) And as others say, max out. Not even a debate.
Definitely max out. You can withdraw at 59.5yrs age, no matter where you’re in the world. Taxation will depend on where you are, most countries have tax treaties with US that may allow same tax rate as if you were in US. None the less you will save tax now, possibly get free money as company match, and likely pay lesser tax when you withdraw after 59.5yrs age. So just max it out.
Max out your 401k.