[Sniper]

Maxing out your 401K means exactly what it says... if your company allows you to contribute 18% of your salary, then maxing out would be putting 18% of your pretax gross into your 401K.

One of the most important pieces of the puzzle in deciding how you should allocate your retirement savings, is how much do you have saved today vs how much you will want to have saved in X years to actually retire on. Or put another way, what do you want your life to look like when you no longer have a regular paycheck coming in!

A secondary question is, how to bring in the money today, so that you can set aside the proper amount to live comfortably (as you define it) in retirement, and at the same time live a comfortable life today.