Topic · Account placement
Which of my accounts should hold which piece of the portfolio?
The mix is chosen first, under Asset allocation in Choose; nothing here changes what a household owns. This topic decides where each piece sits, the practice advisers call asset location. Most households park index funds in the IRA and keep the active, high-turnover stuff in the taxable account. The arithmetic says the other way round.
Start here3 reads · 8 min
The few ideas everything else rests on.-
The rollover that never got invested
IRAs hold $19.2 trillion. Vanguard found that 28% of rollovers were still sitting in cash seven years later. The most under-managed retirement money is the money that never got invested at all.
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Four accounts, three tax treatments
Taxable, traditional IRA or 401(k), Roth, HSA. Each taxes the same dollar of return at a different time and a different rate. One table, then the one rule that follows from it.
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Turnover decides location, not asset class
Most households shelter index funds in the IRA and keep active holdings in taxable. A 3% return from monthly trading nets 1.4% in taxable and keeps its full value in an IRA. That setup is backwards.
How it works3 reads · 8 min
The mechanics and the numbers behind them.-
Fill the sheltered slots before adding taxable money
A dollar inside a shelter never meets the 52% short-term rate or the yearly dividend tax. The 2026 limits, the two back doors for high earners, and one Californian catch.
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What an IRA cannot do
It cannot borrow, so it cannot short. It destroys a loss harvested next door. And a long-only version of a long/short idea keeps about half the edge. Three limits of the best shelter most people have.
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California taxes the HSA every year
Federally an HSA is deductible going in, untaxed while it grows, and untaxed coming out for medical costs. California recognizes none of it. What that costs, and the bill that would change it.