Hello,

I'm entering my mid-20s, starting on a desirable career path, and ready to open a retirement fund before April 2013. The question I have is: IRA (favoring Roth over traditional) or 401(k) through my employer, which is a small nonprofit that offers no matching opportunities?

I'll briefly expand on the dilemma:
In my retirement investment research I continually come across the same priority ranking- Max out your 401k first, then open a Roth IRA...etc. The trend also implies that it's good to diversify your retirement funds with pre- & post-tax dollars; hedging your bets on the future tax rate when you withdraw.
My hesitation is three-fold. First, I have no matching opportunities and the company managing our 401k plan has an average rating, nothing amazing. Secondly, I am not "settled". There is a very high likelihood that I will move (therefore leaving my job) in the next 2-3 years. Third, if my end-goal is to diversify my retirement investments, and I predict that my current tax rate is most likely the lowest tax rate I'll ever have, doesn't it make more sense to open the Roth IRA first, on post-tax dollars, and open the 401k later, when there's a decent chance I'll have a better employee plan (The trend being that as my work experience improves, so should my opportunities for a job with better benefits.)?

Or....is it still better to open the 401(k) first because supposedly your investments should become more conservative as you get older; therefore a 401(k) would give me more money to invest aggressively right now, when the risk of doing so is lower....?

I don't know if that makes sense or not; understanding wealth management/investing is not one of my strengths (that's why I'm on LearnVest!). If you have advice, I'd appreciate it!
Thanks!