<prompt> Human: The title sounds like a silly premise, but I think my situation gives me no advantage to any variation of a 401k or IRA. I did a lot of reading on both and I think there is currently no point to me contributing to either. Heres why: My AGI is 150,000 before RSU vesting My employer does not match 401k contributionsBecause of the above, if I understand it correctly, there are no tax advantages to a traditional or roth 401k or IRA. My income is too high to deduct the IRA contributions. Traditional IRA or 401k would grow tax free, but thats really just a deferral, right? Id have to pay tax on the distribution in 30 years. Id need a strategy to severely lower my AGI at that time to sneak out an advantage.Am I looking at this incorrectly? Should I still be contributing to those accounts? This is assuming I have the discipline to otherwise contribute to my brokerage with a long term growth plan.Thanks!  <response>: Should I still be contributing to those accounts?You should be contributing to both accounts.You should max a traditional 401k, as this will drop your AGI and prevent you from paying 28 taxes on this money. When you retire, you will probably have a much lower AGI and consequently this money will be taxed at a much lower rate when withdrawn, not to mention all of the tax deferred growth that happened in the meantime.You should also make non-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA and then immediately roll it to a Roth IRA. This is known as a back door Roth IRA and will allow for tax free growth of that money, which is incredibly powerful. You can perform this processrollover every year.Not taking advantage of the tax advantaged accounts that are available to you will severely handicap your future retirement from what it could have been. I hope you reconsider. 