10% withdrawal penalty<\/a>, retirement investors typically have a great deal of flexibility in how much they’ll withdraw and when. (Though traditional 401(k)s do have required minimum distributions, so investors generally have to take withdrawals starting at age 73.)\n<\/p>\n “When thinking about retirement, liquidity is paramount. The 401(k) would be the obvious winner,” said Flavio Landivar, a senior financial advisor at Evensky & Katz \/ Foldes Wealth Management, in an email. “You have much more control as to when funds are sold, how much [are sold], and [if] the rest remains invested.”\n<\/p>\n
What Would You Get With a Home? <\/p>\n
A home, most importantly, offers people a place to live.\n<\/p>\n
Unlike renting or paying a mortgage, you don’t have to make large monthly payments when you own a home, and you have the option of selling it for a profit if it appreciates in value.\n<\/p>\n
From Q1 of 2020 to Q3 of 2025, home prices rose nearly 55% nationally, but home price appreciation varies by region and these figures don’t account for the costs of homeownership, which may involve property taxes, HOA fees, and more.\n<\/p>\n
“I would take the $1 million in the 401(k) over the home, hands down,” wrote Michelle Gessner, CFP and founder of Gessner Wealth Strategies, LLC, in an email. “Here’s why: the home requires a lot of ongoing costs such as hefty property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, repair and maintenance, and security costs so that you don’t succumb to burglary and vandalism.”\n<\/p>\n
Which Should You Choose? <\/p>\n
Ultimately, the best option for you will depend on what you want and need in retirement.\n<\/p>\n
For those who want flexibility and the ability to access their money easily, a 401(k) will offer low fees, different investment options, and the option of tapping your funds whenever you want\u2014as long as you’re age 59\u00bd.\n<\/p>\n
And for those who don’t want to make rental or mortgage payments in retirement or are interested in being able to pass a home down to their heirs<\/a>, homeownership may be the better choice\u2014although this option does have drawbacks like a lack of liquidity (though you can tap into your home equity by taking out a reverse mortgage, HELOC, and more) and ongoing expenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key Takeaways A 401(k) offers liquidity, flexibility, and potential for higher returns, making it the preferred choice for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-299184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}