Questions about planning for retirement

Questions

What is the difference between a company pension, Social Security and a 401K plan?

How does the tax system apply after retirement? Is everything taxed? Money saved during the course of employment time, plus interest earned?

1. Can I exclude spouse from SEP IRA eligible employees list?
2. What Happens to Your Social Security When You Die? https://www.investopedia.com/social-security-after-your-death-11766984

What is better? Paying tax now? Or paying tax at retirement?

When we withdraw from our account in retirement, our contributions and investment earnings are generally fully taxable. The taxes will be determined by the tax rate at the time of your withdrawal.

More questions about retirement accounts?

Any questions are bound to be covered in one of two enormously useful pamphlets/website you can get for free from the IRS. Look at these. We can download these booklets right off the Internet.

1. Publication#590 (Individual Retirement Arrangements) and
2. Publication#560 (Retirement Plans for Small Businesses)

The IRS website contains an amazing amount of information and it is all free.

Believe it or not, the government really wants you to save money be making pre-tax contributions to a qualified retirement plan. You just need to know how to do it.

TODO

Which option is better?

1. 401K, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, etc.
2. Investing using own Vanguard accounting