<prompt> Human: Hello,Im not sure if this is the right way to post this question. Long story short, our company has recently allowed us a 401K plan. It is through Principal.com. There is no employer matching and all the expenses are over 1, most ranging between 1.07 - 1.18.This seem very high. My question, is it still worth investing in this 401K? They dont have many funds maybe 12. I have been very happy with a Roth IRA through Vanguard after viewing information on this sub.Should I just open a non retirement account on Vanguard instead and invest more money through Vanguard or will the tax benefits of the 401k out weigh the higher expense ratios assuming I get an average return of about 7? Thank you for your assistance!  <response>: From the 401k FAQs page.My 401k is crappy. Should I still contribute to it?If your 401k has a poor selection of high cost funds, consider contributing to an IRA first. You can open an IRA with whoever you want, thus allowing you to choose which funds you have access to. If you have already maximized your IRA contribution for the year and still have money left over you want to put towards retirement, you should contribute to your poor 401k. The effect of high expenses really only starts to bite after long periods of time, and 401ks are quite portable in that you can roll them to your IRA if you leave your current employer, or sometimes you can roll it into a new 401k with a new employer. Bad 401k plans can turn into great IRAs in a heartbeat. 