<prompt> Human: I am preparing to take my first real, salaried job in 8 months. Ive been reading this sub for over 4 years and now that Im getting even closer to making actual money, Ive started to prepare to open retirement accounts. My company matches dollar for dollar up to 6 so I am obviously going to invest at least that much in a 401k. My goal is to save 20 of my gross income per month for retirement. My parents are very good with their money and I trust their judgement. My father says that I should invest as much money as I can into my companys 401k and not just stop at 6. This sub recommends that after I contribute up to the match, I should open an IRA or Roth IRA up until I hit the max 5500 allowed, then switch back to contributing to the 401k. I am not exactly sure why pf advises this. Reading the wikisidebarsother pages, the answer seems to be that you should invest in an IRA to avoid large expense ratios fees from your 401k. What if your plan doesnt have large fees, especially if it has several different ones to pick from? Does that change the answer?  <response>: I believe because generally you dont have as many choices in 401ks and sometimes higher fees. If you have good choices and low fees, probably doesnt matter. Maybe if you want to do a Roth but dont have a Roth 401k option through work? 