On the Way to Financial Freedom When Beginning a Career.

This article provides a rank ordering of the most tax-efficient financial moves an employee should make when beginning a career. Ideally, the first two moves should be made together: put the maximum into a health savings account if the employee has high-deductible health insurance and put enough into a 401(k) account to obtain the maximum employer match. The next step is to pay down and ultimately pay off all high-interest-rate debts. The fourth step is to contribute to a Roth IRA annually since the contributions can be used for emergency spending needs tax free. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]