<prompt> Human: As Im preparing for next year, Im debating no longer contributing to a 401K, and instead invest elsewhere. Lets say I am 30 years old, and have 100K in my 401K. Since I cant pull this out without a penalty before 59 12, is there a good time to invest elsewhere, and choose liquidity over the 401k? Ive been maxing it out over the last 3 years, but am now considering cutting back substantially, or stopping altogether and letting the 100K ride for the next 30 years.This is probably partially dependent on what the company matches, so lets say my company matches 50 up to the max or 9K a year, totaling 27K in contributions. Also, this money wouldnt be used for a house, but rather other investment opportunities with a similar rate of return.  <response>: If your company is matching 50, itll be hard to find something that gives you 50 rate of return in the first year, every year... Keep contributing big dawg. 