<prompt> Human: For instance, if one were to make 60k per year, they would need to invest about 16 of their gross pay to bring them from the 22 tax bracket to the 12 tax bracket assuming single and 12k standard deduction. Would it be more advisable to invest that 16 in a 401k and put 0 in a Roth IRA this putting them in a lower tax bracket? Or should one just take the company match 401k lets say 5 and invest the other 11 minus taxes into a Roth IRA and pay a little at the 22 tax bracket? For this scenario, lets assume 30 year old starting fresh no investments and 0 in debt.  <response>: I put enough in my 401k to get the match, then max out my and my wifes Roth Ira. Any thing left over will go to my 401k 