<prompt> Human: 33 years old here, and I worked as a software engineering for seven years usually paycheck by paycheck, unable to get job offers for full-time jobs. I can say with confidence that I am much better at my job than at the job interviews. So all I get are contract-to-hire jobs that pay far less hourly than what a typical software engineer gets.Because of my career experience I have no exposure to insurance or pension plans. Cant ask my mom about it either, since she gets paid under the table as a housekeeper so shes in the dark about this stuff as I am. Ive read the retirement wiki here but I still dont know what is considered a crappy 401k. Is it measured in relation to your income? Your employers contribution matching? Ive been ripped off in the past with lowball salaries Im in the lowest 25 of local salaries in my profession so I dont want to be ripped off again. I want to go into the next job with the knowledge of someone who has already had exposure to non-income compensation packages for the past seven years.  <response>: Probably the 1 factor that makes for a crappy 401k is high-fee funds. Some 401k plans, especially at smaller businesses, have fees of 1, 2, or more. This is absolutely ridiculous.Few fund choices also make for a crappy 401k, but honestly, a half-dozen of the right low-fee funds are all you need to choose from, so dont automatically write off a small selection. 10 low-fee funds are far, far better than 30 high-fee funds to choose from. 