the ones i have been involved in, i have got admit, hidden, i had hadden let me lay out the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 401k plan then i will tell you whether it makes sense to contribute more money to the 401(k) or somewhere else it is a tax deferred investment vehicle. you don't pay taxes on the income you put in, and then your capital gains grow tax free until you start withdrawing. suppose you are 30 and you started investing $5,000 a year in your 401k you should be able to generate a return on 7% per year. at that pace over the course of the next 30 years you will be contributing $150,000 tax free to your 401k because that money is able to compound year after year without any capital gains taxes. by the time you are 60 that $5,000 per year that you have been investing will be worth $511,000 if you had to pay taxes on the dividends and capital gains every year that number would be a lot lower, $110,000 lower. you only ever pay taxes on your 401k money once. when you withdraw. it is taxed as ordinary income since you will be retired by then most of you will be paying a lower