Accounts, by how they're taxed

Last updated September 19, 2026

Accounts are grouped by how the IRS taxes them — cash, taxable brokerage, traditional, Roth, HSA, and 529 — since that's what actually determines how each one is withdrawn and taxed in your results.

Each account gets a current balance (its starting point for growth) and an annual contribution (added every year until you retire). Taxable accounts add a cost basis field — only the gain, balance minus basis, is taxed when you withdraw. Leaving it blank now assumes the whole balance is gain (the conservative reading of "I don't know"), so a rough guess beats leaving it blank — it only ever lowers your computed paycheck from the blank-field default, never raises it.

A 529 account is linked to a specific kid and is never drawn on for anything but that kid's college costs, no matter what else is happening in your plan. Traditional and Roth accounts can be marked as an employer plan, an IRA, or other — that subtype affects how the account is treated but doesn't change your results directly.

The "Contribution pace vs. IRS limits" card compares what you've entered against the real employee-deferral limit for that account type and year, combined across every account of that type you own — two 401(k)s at two different employers still share one limit. It only counts your own employee contributions, not an employer match.

"Employer plan features" (match rate, match cap, Roth option, mega-backdoor eligibility, HSA-eligible plan) describes your current employer's plan rules for a future forward-projection feature — it doesn't change any number in today's results. Your actual employer match already comes from what you typed into "Employer match received" on the account itself.

"Log a past balance" lets you backfill or correct a specific quarter's balance for an account's history, separate from editing its current balance.