<prompt> Human: Im 22 years old working a salaried job. I get 25 match up to 8 of paycheck on 401k, so I contribute 8 to that. I want to put extra money away but would rather put it in an account that I dont have to wait until retirement to draw from. I trust myself not to blow it all on something silly, but I figure if I want to buy a house in 20 years, it would be nice to have some untouched cash. Is it wrong to go straight from 401k to a regular vanguard index fund? Im guessing those are not tax advantaged. Would it be wise to open a roth ira with vanguard, wait until i have enough income to max that out and then open a regular index fund? Honestly, my boss suddenly died about a month ago at 55, and I dont want to save all of this money just to die before I can touch it... If I put money in a fund now and wait 20 years Ill be 42 and still have a good return on investment.Assistant: You can invest in a Roth IRA and withdraw your contributions without penalty. The rest can go into an emergency fund high yield checking or an investment account.Human: I already have an emergency fund. Im wondering if it is a bad idea to put the rest in a vanguard index fund which would not be tax advantaged, or just contribute more to my 401k.  <response>: Roth IRA before anything that isnt tax-advantaged. 