401k contributions: pre/post tax and roth.

[mittman84]

I am 22 and at my first full time job. I am now eligible to enroll in my companies 401k. They contribute 2% of your salary plus 100% of your contributions up to 6%, and the possibility of another 2% if we hit our goals. I plan on contributing 10% out of my pay.

I am very comfortable picking the funds and such. My question is what % of my contributions do I want to be pre-tax, post-tax, and roth401k. I see there are penalties for withdrawing before 59.5 years old for the pre-tax and roth. I don’t want all my money tied up until then.

Obviously 6% will be going into the 401k one way or another to get the match, with another 4% going somewhere. My question is what is the best way to allocate my contributions between pre, post, and roth? Or should the 4% go into some other form of investment? I am an actuarial analyst and make pretty decent money for someone my age, with the possibility to make a lot more if I continue to pass exams, so I would like to have the option to retire before age 59.5, thus not have the early withdraw penalties.