<prompt> Human: Is a Roth IRA any safer than a 401k in relation to the health of the economy? If the economy goes down the toilet, so will your 401k. Is it the same with the Roth?  <response>: So a 401k and a Roth are only tax advantaged accounts. Its what you have your money invested in that matters. If you have a long time frame for investing, you can ride out the short term ups and down, shifting your allocations to more conservative bonds the closer you get to retirement. 