We haven't talked about goals in a long time

[lookout123]

Traditional IRA for most people is pretax money (Income tax to be paid upon withdrawal) because:
A) They don't have a 401K or other work sponsored retirement defined contribution plan. The money doesn't go straight from their check to the IRA though, it is listed as a deduction on your taxes.

B) Money rolled over from 401K, 403B, etc.

Roth IRA is aftertax money that gives you no tax benefit today, but has huge tax benefits in retirement - No taxes due whatsoever.

Radar- the whole vesting issue sounds wrong to me. I don't know what is happening there, but the best thing you can do is pull up the 401K contract/rules for your plan and go through it. Whatever you read in there is what the facts are. 401K's do not allow for any side agreements or special arrangements. Anyone who says, "keep it quiet, but we'll do XYZ" is either lying or stupid. The company can lose its ability to sponsor plans and be sued into oblivion if they don't follow the plan rules to the letter.