My employer offers a 403b retirement plan (I believe it's the non-profit version of a 401k) and I can choose between pre-tax contributions or roth contributions, or a mix of my choosing. I started this job at age 20, 4 years ago. Back then the human resources person helping me sign up for benefits advised me to pick the roth option, so thats what it is set up with right now. I am currently saving 7% because my employer matches 50% up to 3.5%, so a total of 10.5% roth contributions. This is the plan until I have my student loans paid off in a couple years.
My concern is whether someone seeking FI at a young age would benefit more from roth or pre-tax contributions in a 401/403 retirement account?
I plan to max out a roth IRA account, HSA account, and the 403b after the student loans are gone. The rest will go in taxable investment accounts and hopefully some rentals further down the road. I understand that I can use the roth ira contributions + taxable accounts + rental income to live on until I can tap the 403b and HSA at age 60. I am currently in the 25% tax bracket but will likely be in a lower bracket when withdrawing from the 403b. Would you switch to pre-tax contributions or just stay with the roth?