<prompt> Human: Im salaried at close to 60k, and considering my rent alone is close to 10k a year, lowering my salary pre-tax to 42.5k seems nearly rough.Everyone here always suggests putting in the full contribution, but I would really have to limit my spending now and I feel like Id have to live as frugally as possible to do so.  <response>: Everyone here always suggests putting in the full contributionNo, they dont. They suggest that when it makes sense for the particular person asking for advice. The typical advice is: contribute enough to 401k to get max employer matching, then pay down debts, then max an IRA, then go back to 401k until you hit the limit. 