<prompt> Human: Im 26 years old, and make about 100k a year. I dont have any loans or anything I need to pay off. Is there any downside of maxing out my 401k contribution yearly vs putting in enough for employer match and investing the rest myself?  <response>: Maxing out the 401k is probably a good idea. It reduces your taxable income by quite a lot. In your example, lets say you put in 18k into a 401k. With 100k of income you are in the 24 tax bracket. So by contributing 18k to your 401k you save 4300 in taxes that year. When you withdrawal that money in retirement it gets taxed at your effective tax rate, not your margin tax rate, so its almost always lower. Do check that your 401k options arent complete shit though with really high management fees. There was also another reply about not being able to access the money if you retire early. This isnt entirely true. Check out a roth conversion ladder if youre interested in learning more. If you make 100k at 26 you should come check out rfinancialindependence! Were all about putting our money to work to generate passive income. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. 