<prompt> Human: Ive read through many of the tutorials on this sub- I know that you want to put any money into retirement you can that your employer will match. However, I dont think the school is matching any of what we put into retirement. I have a bunch of handouts of different companiesplans - like deferred compensation, 403b, 457, Roth options, etc. Does it even make sense to go through the school as opposed to getting our own independent retirement accounts? We are very overwhelmed!  <response>: The devil is in the details. If employers have a retirement plan, which most public schools do, then some of it is employer paid, and some is employee paid. There doesnt have to be a match per se, but there could be.You could describe what the company will contribute and we can weigh in. Employer plans almost always have some benefit that its hard to match individually. 