Which tax-advantaged accounts should I use first?

In United States

• 401(k), 403(b) or similar workplace plan: up to $24,500 of your own pay in 2026, plus $8,000 more from age 50 ($11,250 at ages 60–63). If your employer matches part of it, that match is the free money to take first.
• Individual retirement account (IRA): up to $7,500 in 2026, plus $1,100 from age 50, across traditional and Roth IRAs together.
• Traditional versus Roth: a traditional 401(k) or IRA gives relief going in and is taxed coming out; a Roth is paid from taxed income and qualified withdrawals are tax-free. Direct Roth IRA contributions phase out at incomes of $153,000–$168,000 (single) and $242,000–$252,000 (married filing jointly) in 2026.
• Access: withdrawals before age 59½ generally carry an additional 10% tax unless an exception applies — which matters if you plan to stop working early.

In Canada

• RRSP: relief going in, taxed coming out. You can deduct contributions up to 18% of the previous year’s earned income, to a limit of $33,810 for 2026. An RRSP must mature by the end of the year you turn 71 — withdrawn, moved to a RRIF or used to buy an annuity.
• TFSA: paid from taxed income, growth and withdrawals tax-free. The annual dollar limit is $7,000 for 2026, and unused room carries forward.
• FHSA: for a first home — $8,000 of room a year and $40,000 over your lifetime, with relief going in and tax-free withdrawals for a qualifying purchase.
• Leaving Canada: you can keep a TFSA, but only residents can contribute tax-free; a contribution made while non-resident is taxed at 1% for every month it stays in the account.

A workplace pension with employer contributions, where you have one, usually comes before all three.

In United Kingdom

• Workplace pension: your employer pays in too, so this usually comes first. Contributions get tax relief, and the annual allowance for tax-relieved pension saving is £60,000, with unused allowance carried forward from the previous three years.
• ISA: paid from taxed income, tax-free inside and out. You can save up to £20,000 in ISAs in the 2026–27 tax year. From 6 April 2027 the cash ISA limit falls to £12,000 for under-65s, within the same £20,000 overall.
• Lifetime ISA: open it between 18 and 39 and pay in up to £4,000 a year until 50, with a 25% government bonus (up to £1,000 a year). Withdrawing for anything other than a first home costing £450,000 or less, reaching 60, or terminal illness costs a 25% charge. The government has consulted on replacing it with a First Time Buyer ISA.
• Access: the normal minimum pension age is 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028. Money in an ISA other than a Lifetime ISA can be taken out at any time, which makes ISAs the usual bridge for anyone stopping work earlier.
• Moving abroad: you can keep an ISA but cannot pay into it while non-resident.

In Europe

There is no single European answer: each country sets its own pension and savings accounts, their tax relief and their limits. EIOPA, the EU’s pensions authority, states plainly that taxing personal pension products, and any tax benefit they get, is for each member state alone.

The one EU-wide product is the pan-European personal pension product (PEPP), created by Regulation (EU) 2019/1238 and available since 22 March 2022. It is voluntary, sits alongside state and workplace pensions, and is designed to move with you between member states — but its tax treatment is still national, and the Commission proposed a review of the regulation in November 2025.

• Whether your employer offers a workplace pension with its own contribution — usually the first place to look.
• Which personal pension or savings accounts your country gives tax relief on, and the annual limits.
• The age at which each can be opened, and what early access costs.
• How the account is treated if you move to another country, inside or outside the EU.

In Australia

• Compulsory employer contributions: your employer pays 12% of ordinary time earnings into super, from 1 July 2025.
• Concessional (before-tax) contributions, including your employer’s and any salary sacrifice, are taxed at 15% in the fund. The cap is $32,500 a year from 1 July 2026; unused cap from the previous five years can be carried forward if your total super balance was under $500,000.
• Non-concessional (after-tax) contributions: up to $130,000 a year from 1 July 2026, with bring-forward rules for larger amounts.
• Free money: a low or middle earner who makes after-tax contributions may receive a government co-contribution of up to $500.
• Access: super is preserved until your preservation age — 60 for anyone born after 30 June 1964 — and you meet a condition of release. Money you need before then has to come from outside super.
• First home: under the First Home Super Saver scheme, up to $15,000 of your voluntary contributions from any one financial year, and $50,000 in total, can count towards what you release for a first home.

In New Zealand

• KiwiSaver contributions: the default rate for both you and your employer rose from 3% to 3.5% on 1 April 2026, and is set to rise to 4% from 1 April 2028. You can ask for a temporary reduction to 3%.
• Government contribution: 25 cents for every dollar you contribute between 1 July and 30 June, up to $260.72 a year — so contributing $1,042.86 of your own money collects all of it. It is not paid if your taxable income is over $180,000.
• Access: you can withdraw your savings at the age of eligibility, currently 65. After at least three years’ membership you can withdraw most of it towards a first home, leaving $1,000 in the account.

For anyone planning to stop working before 65, the money for the years in between has to come from savings outside KiwiSaver.

In Singapore

• CPF is compulsory: from 1 January 2026, someone aged 55 or under pays 20% of wages and their employer 17%, on ordinary wages up to S$8,000 a month.
• CPF interest: the Ordinary Account earns at least 2.5% a year, and the Special, MediSave and Retirement Accounts at least 4% — a floor extended to 31 December 2027 — with extra interest on the first S$60,000. Members aged 55 and over no longer have a Special Account; it closed for them in January 2025.
• Cash top-ups: topping up your own CPF accounts in cash can earn tax relief of up to S$8,000 a year, and up to S$8,000 more for topping up family members’.
• Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS): voluntary, with tax relief on contributions up to S$15,300 a year for citizens and permanent residents (S$35,700 for foreigners). Withdrawals before the statutory retirement age are fully taxable with a 5% penalty; from that age, only half of each withdrawal is taxed.

In Hong Kong

• MPF is compulsory: you and your employer each pay 5% of relevant income. For monthly-paid employees, income above HK$30,000 a month is not counted, so each side pays at most HK$1,500 a month; below HK$7,100 a month you are not required to contribute yourself.
• Tax deductible voluntary contributions (TVC) and qualifying deferred annuity premiums share one tax deduction of up to HK$60,000 per year of assessment.
• Access: MPF benefits, including TVC, are paid at 65, or at 60 if you have stopped working for good and declare it; a few other grounds, such as leaving Hong Kong permanently, also allow early withdrawal.

Because TVC money is locked to the same ages as mandatory contributions, savings for stopping work before 60 have to sit outside the MPF system.

In Japan

• NISA (since 2024): gains are tax-free with no time limit. You can invest up to ¥1.2 million a year through the tsumitate (instalment) quota and ¥2.4 million through the growth quota, up to a lifetime ¥18 million, of which at most ¥12 million in the growth quota. Selling frees the quota again, at what you paid, from the following year. The old Junior NISA ended in 2023.
• iDeCo: contributions are fully deductible from income and gains inside are not taxed; withdrawals are generally possible from age 60, with the exact age depending on how long you have been a member. Monthly limits depend on your work: today ¥23,000 for a company employee without a workplace pension, ¥20,000 with one, ¥68,000 for the self-employed.
• From the December 2026 contribution, the employee limit rises to ¥62,000 a month (including any workplace pension) and the self-employed limit to ¥75,000, and people aged 60 to 69 can keep contributing under certain conditions.

Because iDeCo is locked until 60 and NISA is not, NISA is the usual home for money you may want sooner.

In India

• EPF is the compulsory provident fund for many salaried employees. The Union Cabinet has approved raising the wage ceiling for mandatory coverage from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 a month, with effect from 17 September 2026.
• PPF: between ₹500 and ₹1,50,000 a financial year, maturing after 15 complete years and extendable in five-year blocks. Interest is tax-free; the rate is 7.1% for October–December 2026. Only resident citizens can open one — if you become an NRI, an existing account runs to maturity but cannot be extended.
• NPS: a non-government subscriber leaving at 60 must use at least 20% to buy an annuity and may take up to 80% as a lump sum, under rules amended in December 2025; smaller balances can be taken in full or in larger part.
• Tax regime matters. Under the old regime, PPF deposits and other eligible savings share a ₹1,50,000 deduction (Section 80C), with ₹50,000 more for your own NPS contributions (80CCD(1B)). The new regime, the default, allows almost none of these — but an employer’s NPS contribution of up to 14% of salary is still deductible (80CCD(2)).

These deduction limits are for the year of assessment 2026–27; check the current year’s rules before relying on them.

In Malaysia

• EPF (KWSP) is compulsory for employees under 60: you pay 11% of wages and your employer 13% (12% on wages above RM5,000).
• Three accounts: since 11 May 2024, new contributions are split 75% to Akaun Persaraan, 15% to Akaun Sejahtera and 10% to Akaun Fleksibel, the flexible account.
• Access: at 55 the accounts merge into Akaun 55, which you can withdraw in full, in part or monthly; contributions made after 55 go to Akaun Emas, available from 60.
• Private Retirement Schemes (PRS): tax relief of up to RM3,000 a year, for the years of assessment 2012 to 2030, shared with deferred annuity premiums.
• Tax relief on EPF: for the year of assessment 2025, mandatory or voluntary EPF contributions count towards relief of up to RM4,000, within a combined RM7,000 limit shared with life insurance.