<prompt> Human: 34 year old buddy asked me to look at his 401k options. I was mortified What do I tell him to do?  <response>: It depends on how much his employer matches. Yeah, 1-2 expense ratios are horrid, but an automatic 100 return on anything his employer matches takes away some of the sting. Id contribute up to the match limit assuming its something reasonable and then fund an IRA. 