In a 401k, you have tax deferment, and in some cases employer matching contributions to some degree. But, the trade-off is that you only have a few investments you can invest in, with most 401k administrator plans. A handful of mutual funds, etc.
In a regular stock brokerage account OR an IRA at a stock brokerage firm, you can invest in most any individual stock, mutual fund, ETF, etc. that you wish. The IRA can be pre-tax or after-tax (more on that from your broker or CPA).
LI directly makes recommendations for regular stock brokerage accounts and IRAs, etc. And I give my general/broad insights for 401k’s like cash levels and a mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500 for levels of interest for entries and a strategy as when to get back into it. That’s in the February monthly issue and in the last couple of weekly videos before this Thursday’s. Hope that helps.