Free primer: how to read a stub. Calculator: 2026 W-2 paycheck. Order of operations: 401(k) vs IRA vs Roth. Paid steps assume you already know “save 20%” is a slogan, and you want a payday file — match, then HYSA, then Roth/trad, then taxable — not another budget app.
Do this in order
Read last month’s stub, not the offer letter. Gross, pretax 401(k)/HSA, FICA, federal, Roth, net. Run the paycheck calculator until the net is within a few dollars of the deposit. 2026 Social Security wage base is $184,500; traditional 401(k) does not cut FICA; payroll HSA usually does. If you cannot name net and the pretax retirement line, you are about to automate a guess. Walk the stub top to bottom before you touch HR.
Autopay every minimum so the HYSA cannot bounce. Cards, auto, student loans, rent. Then write the true leftover: net minus those minimums minus next month’s known bills. A 24% card still beats unmatched index-fund contributions — pause only the unmatched 401(k). Do not pause the match to “feel aggressive” on the card. The match is 50–100% the week it posts; the card is 24% a year. If DTI is the reason a refinance died, that is the DTI tool, not this file.
Capture the full employer match. Stop there for now. Formula is in the SPD, not a Slack rumor. 100% of the first 6% of an $80,000 wage is $4,800 you put in and $4,800 they put in. 2026 elective deferral is $24,500, age-50 catch-up $8,000, ages 60–63 $11,250 (Notice 2025-67 / IR-2025-111). Match dollars sit in the $72,000 §415(c) cap, not in the $24,500. No true-up → spread the percent across 26 paychecks; front-loading to the cap in March can zero later match. Vesting is a leaving problem, not a reason to skip. Never skip the match.
Size a 1–3 month HYSA of essential bills, not of “feel-good.” Rent, groceries, insurance, minimums — the number that keeps the card at $0 if a paycheck misses. Payday+1 ACH from checking until the sleeve is full, then kill the transfer. This is Tuesday money. It is not an I-bond (12-month lock, 3-month penalty) and it is not a brokerage. If the sleeve would be a credit card, you wanted this step, not a Roth. See the emergency-fund guide. A $9,000 sleeve on $3,000/month essentials is three months. One month is allowed if the card is on fire; three is the classroom default once the 24% is gone.
HSA vs FSA is an enrollment file, then a payroll percent. If open enrollment is in front of you, run HDHP vs copay before you raise the 401(k). A general health FSA next to an HDHP is how HSA contributions become excess. Limited-purpose is the legal stack. 2026 HSA: $4,400 self / $8,750 family, +$1,000 at 55 (Rev. Proc. 2025-19). 2027: $4,500 / $9,000, HDHP tests in Rev. Proc. 2026-24. Employer seed counts toward the cap. Payroll HSA usually skips FICA; a 1040 contribution does not unwind FICA already withheld. The sequence is in elect the HSA without lighting the FSA. Do not skip the 401(k) match to max the HSA.
Roth vs traditional on the next dollar, not on a podcast. Traditional 401(k) if this year’s bracket is high and later’s is likely lower. Roth 401(k) / Roth IRA if you are early-career, expect raises, or want a tax-free sleeve. Split is allowed. 2026 IRA / Roth IRA $7,500, +$1,100 at 50 (Notice 2025-67). Direct Roth MAGI phase-out: single $153,000–$168,000; MFJ $242,000–$252,000. Combined IRA cap is across traditional and Roth. 2026 is the first year age-50+ 401(k) catch-up must be Roth if 2025 Social Security wages from that employer were over $150,000 — confirm the plan actually coded it. The primer is 401(k) vs IRA vs Roth; the calendar is the IRA deadline tool.
Draft the IRA 24 hours after payday so the HYSA does not bounce. Payroll 401(k) and HSA leave before the deposit. The IRA and the taxable account do not. A same-day ACH on payday is how people overdraft and then “pause investing.” Calendar: payday, HYSA sweep the next morning until the sleeve is full, IRA/brokerage the morning after that. If MAGI blocks a direct Roth, the workaround is a backdoor Roth — nondeductible traditional, convert the same week, file 8606 — not a leftover checking pile labeled “Roth later.”
Park extra cash that has a date. Do not invent a rate. After the HYSA sleeve is full, money with a 12-month lock (I-bonds) or a maturity (T-bills) can leave checking. Tuesday money stays HYSA. $10,000 electronic I-bond cap per SSN per calendar year (31 CFR 363.52); 12-month lock; 3-month interest penalty before five years. Type your own composite / APY / discount into I-bonds vs T-bills vs HYSA — defaults are labeled example, not today’s auction. Do not skip the match to fill a 4% sleeve. The 12-step park is park the cash without lighting the lock.
Taxable brokerage is last on purpose. After match + sleeve + HSA you will actually fund + IRA/401(k) room you will actually use. A target-date or a broad index at 0.08% beats a brilliant allocation you never buy. Taxable is for money you might need before 59½ without an exception, or for leftover after the caps. Do not park the emergency fund here. Do not skip a 6% match to “keep it liquid in a brokerage.” 529 money is a different file — college stack — and it still sits after this one.
Spend one afternoon wiring it so willpower is unemployed. HR: 401(k) percent at least the match, HSA dollar or percent if elected, Roth vs traditional boxes actually checked. Bank: payday+1 HYSA ACH with a kill date when the sleeve hits the number. Brokerage / IRA: payday+2 draft. Two checking accounts if the bills account keeps spending the IRA draft. Screenshot the elections. Future-you will not remember a verbal “I’ll increase it next raise.”
Two numbers on the first of the month: the savings percent happened, net worth moved. If the percent missed, the ACH bounced or HR never took the election — fix the wire, do not “try harder.” If net worth did not move, you are measuring checking. Add 401(k), HSA, IRA, HYSA. A giant refund is not a savings plan; it is an interest-free loan to Treasury — set the W-4 so April is boring and autopay the difference to the HYSA on payday. A raise is a 90-day capture problem, not a lifestyle problem: first 90 days after a raise.
Hard-stop list: skipping the match to max a Roth IRA, putting the emergency fund in I-bonds or a brokerage, electing a general FSA next to an HDHP, same-day IRA ACH on payday, treating the I-bond calculator’s example composite as a live print, front-loading the 401(k) to the $24,500 cap with no true-up, using a tax refund as the only HYSA contribution, waiting until December 31 to open the IRA, and pausing the match for a 24% card. If the leftover after minimums is $0, you wanted the stub and the card, not a target-date. If the leftover exists and is still in checking on the 15th, the calendar is the bug.
One-page decision
Match first. HYSA sleeve of 1–3 months of essentials, payday+1, then stop. HSA payroll only if the HDHP actually passes and a general FSA is not sitting on it. Roth or traditional next, IRA drafted the morning after payday, backdoor if MAGI blocks the front door. Dated extra cash: I-bonds / T-bills with numbers you typed. Taxable last. Two numbers on the 1st. Nobody is required to max the $24,500 before the sleeve exists.