<prompt> Human: Hey Personal Finance! Ive been lurking for a while, and love reading everything this sub has to offer! I wish I found this sub as well as rchurning when I was in High School haha. Currently 22. Well I have a question for investing in retirement. My dad is trying to play catch up, still proud of him, and has started putting money away into his companys 401k. Heres the thing, his company has a 0 match for the 401k. I know its recommended a lot to pay into as much as the match has to offer and then max out an IRA. Well seeing how the company doesnt have a match, should he be maxing out an IRA first and then contribute to the 401k? Thanks a bunch, please feel free to give me as much details as possible, Id love to get my head around all of this and maybe help him out!  <response>: You need to look at the invest options in the 401k. If you have good options than the 401k is way to go. If you dont have good options go with the IRA. goodlow cost index fund that covers the US market. Think SP 500 or Total US market index.Large companies like GE or Apple ect... will likely offer funds with lower expenses than you could get in your IRA, because of the scale. Also 401ks have some interesting liability protections if you really want to dig into this. 