<human>: Hello PF,

I'm a recent grad who just started my first "real" job.  I have recently become eligible and signed up online for our 401k with transamerica.  My company does provide a "discretionary" 401k match which from my understanding is completely based on how well the company performs.  During my talks with other employees I was able to figure out that last year the employer matched 3% of employees contributions (not up to 3% of employee's salary) which seems to be a pretty small match.

Since registering for the 401k I took a quick peek through the funds that are available to me and they seem to be pretty poor.  My investment knowledge is limited to my lurking on these forums however.  The lowest ER fund is Transamerica Partners Stock Index Ret Acct at .58.  The next lowest ER's are .79, .84, and .90 with only 6 total funds with an ER below 1.0.

My question to PF is whether or not it is worth it invest in my 401k when there is potentially no match or a very small match and the funds seem to be poor.  Should I set up an IRA with vanguard where it seems I would have better, low ER investment option and max that out prior to contributing to my 401k?

Give me a shortened version of the text
<bot>: 401k fund options and match seem to suck to my amateur eye. Should I max out an IRA prior to considering contributions to 401k?