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Where does my next extra dollar go first?
Answer the questions in order. The lab walks the steps most personal-finance frameworks use and stamps the first one still open. The values shown are samples.
Frameworks give a range of 3 to 6 months.
No single cutoff is standard. This lab starts at 8%.
You need a high-deductible health plan.
Catch-up limits start at 50.
Sets whether a Roth IRA is open to you.
401(k) match
This week: check the one number this step needs, such as your plan's match formula or a loan's rate.
You have a starter fund. The flowchart sets it at about $1,000.
A match pays you for every dollar you put in, an immediate return. Bogleheads and r/personalfinance both place it ahead of everything but cash.
Paying down $4,000 at 22% earns a guaranteed 22% a year, above this lab's 8% cutoff. Frameworks differ on the cutoff.
You have 1.5 of 3 months of expenses saved. Three to six months is the usual range, so $4,500 is left to reach 3.
An HSA needs a high-deductible health plan, so this step does not apply.
A Roth IRA grows tax-free. $7,500 of the $7,500 2026 limit is left.
Past the match, the plan takes up to $24,500 for 2026. $24,500 is left.
With the steps above full, extra dollars go to a taxable brokerage account or a goal such as a home down payment. There is no limit here.
Have a lump sum to place? Split it across these steps in the windfall lab.
Educational, not advice. The order is a convention, and the sources disagree on details: Bogleheads puts the full emergency fund before the match, and r/personalfinance puts a $1,000 starter fund first. This lab uses the flowchart's order. It simplifies in four ways: the $1,000 starter amount and the 8% debt cutoff are this lab's defaults, the HSA catch-up at 55 and the IRA earned-income rule are left out, and a Roth phase-out only flags that your limit may be lower. 2026 limits: 401(k) $24,500 plus catch-up, IRA $7,500 plus $1,100 at 50, HSA $4,400 self-only or $8,750 family. Bogleheads: Prioritizing investments · r/personalfinance wiki · IRS 2026 retirement limits · HSA limits in rev. proc. 2025-19
She has a starter fund and a job that matches 401(k) contributions, but she does not yet contribute enough to get all of it. Her card balance is $4,000 at 22%, and she has 1.5 of 3 months of $3,000 in expenses saved, so $4,500 is left to reach her target. The order stamps the match as the next dollar and the card as the one after. After the card, the emergency fund needs $4,500, then a Roth IRA has $7,500 of room and the 401(k) has $24,500.
Finance Quest is educational. It is not financial advice, and no calculator here knows your full situation.
A match pays a return the moment a contribution lands, often 50% or 100% of the dollars you put in. A loan at 4% earns 4% when you pay it down. Both frameworks put the match ahead of debt payoff for that reason. The exception people run into is a very high rate, such as a 29% card, which is why the lab lets you set the cutoff and shows the debt step with its rate.
No. It is a widely used starting point. Bogleheads and r/personalfinance agree on most of it and differ on whether the full emergency fund comes before the match. Your own situation, such as unstable income or a plan with high fees, can move steps around.
There is no single cutoff. This lab starts at 8% and lets you change it. A credit card at 22% is above almost any cutoff, and a mortgage at 4% is below almost all of them.
The usual range is three to six months of expenses. You pick a target in the lab, and it shows the dollars left to reach it.
An HSA is untaxed going in, growing and coming out for medical costs, which no other account matches. Bogleheads lists it before an IRA for that reason, when you have a high-deductible health plan.