I've had a 401K since I was 21 (30+ years investing) and put the max in every year following the "normal" investment strategy (balanced mutual funds). And had company matching almost every year as well. This means I invested through the tech boom of the 90's and the recovery of 2008. At one point I left jobs and rolled the 401K into a managed IRA because I didn't have a job for a brief period. Now I have another 401K with another company, but I chose not to roll my original one into the new 401K because my IRA has better investment options.

TL;DR: Start investing as soon as you can, and by "investing" I mean the Warren Buffet way on the diversified mutual fund grid (cap vs valuation), and not this memestock/crypto B.S.

If you had a 401k when leaving a job, you can roll that into your IRA. A 401k has much higher limits

so you can put upto 401K into an IRA when you leave?

no, the savings vehicle at many workplaces is called a 401(k) (named after the section of the tax code that describes it). When you leave a job that offered the 401(k) you can take the money that was in it and transfer it to your IRA. This process is called a "rollover". 401(k)s have much higher contribution limits, can have money added to it by the employer (usually via matching contributions) and sometimes have methods to add after tax money to them.

The 6k limit is for a Roth IRA, which is only one kind of IRA.

Seems to apply to both:

> The 2021 limit for contributions to Roth and traditional IRAs is $6,000

https://www.investopedia.com/roth-and-traditional-ira-contri...

The limit for a 401k is higher, which is typically rolled into a traditional IRA.