Actually, this year she switched hers to an IRA. The other issue we've run into is that there is some law that says (and I forget the exact details) 401k contr

Actually, this year she switched hers to an IRA. The other issue we've run into is that there is some law that says (and I forget the exact details) 401k contributions from the highly-paid employees can't be more than x% greater than the average employee contribution in the company. So if you work someplace where several other people are not doing 401K allocations, you get a "refund" at the end of the year (has happened to both of us).