re: Question about a pension plan and income during retirement

Broadly speaking there are three types of accounts you've referenced:

- Tax deferred retirement accounts (IRA, 401k, deferred comp, 457, 403b, HSA, etc.) These are all variations of the same concept. No income taxes up front, income taxes paid in retirement.

- Roth retirement accounts (Roth IRA, Roth 401k, Roth 457, etc). These are again variations of the same concept. You pay income taxes up front, but no income or capital gains taxes in retirement.

- Taxable investment account i.e. a brokerage account. You pay income tax on your money, invest it, then pay capital gains tax on the growth.


All of these account types can be invested in just about whatever you want - stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, real estate, money markets, whatever you want to buy with the money inside the account. The type of account only refers to the tax treatment and rules governing how and when you can access the money.


So that said..

quote:

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So if I want to invest it then its much smarter to just put it in either a Money Market taxable stock acount and the 6K per year into my roth rite?

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The answer to this question depends on your goals.

If you want to maximize retirement income, you should probably max a Roth IRA followed by Roth retirement contributions if your employer offers it, followed by tax deferred retirement contributions. If you are getting a 100% pension, your retirment income is likely to be higher than your working years so Roth options are more tax efficient than tax deferred accounts.