<prompt> Human: I recently had a windfall and I am trying to finally move up the flowchart of personal finance and financial independence, following this post. Im trying to figure out why the IRA in in that place on the flowchart I am a total finance beginner and it seems to me that the tax deduction is what gives an IRA its advantage. Even with the IRA deduction, it is still better for me to take the standard deduction on on my taxes. Does this mean that I ought to skip this step on the flowchart and do something else, like my 401k? I dont have employer matching - if I did it would be above the IRA on this flowchart. Thanks in advance. I have been reading and Googling a ton but this is confusing stuff for a beginner.  <response>: IRA, hsa, and others are above the line deductions. They reduce your agi and then later you decide if you want to do standard vs itemized deductions 