Before I understood financial freedom and self ownership I setup a 401k because that’s whatever everyone said I should do, except my dad. My dad said I should just keep the money myself which I now understand he was 100% correct. I tried to pull the money out of the 401k and cancel the account and I was told I can’t do that because I’m not at retirement age. So basically my money is being held hostage and I can’t access it even though I’m the one who works for it. In short, financial freedom and self ownership are important.