Source hierarchy
We begin with statutes, IRS forms and instructions, Treasury or IRS guidance, Federal Register material, and Department of Labor releases. Financial institutions and publishers may inform industry context, but they do not define federal rules.
Rule records
Each implemented rule has an internal ID, effective dates, a source ID, and a verification date. Rules are not copied into multiple calculators. Proposed rules are stored and presented as proposed.
Eligibility logic
The checker treats Treasury auto enrollment, account claiming, receiving-account activation, rare manual elections, and the separate pilot contribution election as different states. It returns next steps rather than pretending it can read IRS records.
Growth formula
The calculator derives the growth-period end from the birth date—December 31 of the year the child turns 17—then compounds monthly. Monthly deposits occur at month-end and annual family or employer deposits at December 31. The selected eligible-fund expense and separate account-fee assumptions are subtracted monthly.
Later target ages show continued hypothetical growth without post-growth-period IRA contributions. Partial months, taxes, withdrawals, inflation, tracking error, and market sequence are not modeled.
Comparison policy
Accounts are compared by purpose, eligibility, ownership and control, contribution framework, tax treatment, investment limits, withdrawal rules, and age transitions. No account or provider receives a higher position because of compensation.
Corrections
If an important rule is wrong or outdated, we update the rule record, affected pages, verification date, and tests together. Contact details are on the contact page.