Kate Matsudaira

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Good Stuff: My Favorite Financial Site

An old coworker of mine and I once argued about 401ks.  He said "Why would I put my money in that account when I can make more investing it on my own and don't have to wait until I am 65 to leverage it?"  Fair enough, I argued about the 3% employer match we had at the time (you essentially getting a 3% raise for storing away at least 6% of your pre-tax earnings--not so shabby).  He said it was a good argument but he didn't agree.  I still don't totally get his rationale as to why putting money in a 401k is not a smart investment decision (if anyone else does please feel free to enlighten me in the comments section), but I do know he was one smart cookie and one savvy investor.About a year ago he turned me onto a site, Financial Sense, and suggested I spend 10 minutes per day reading a few of the articles.  While I don't read it everyday I do read it frequently and I must say I have learned a whole lot about the economy and commodities.  This is the type of site they should make kids in economics classes read as literature.  Most of the articles are written by advisers or fund managers who are trying to win business with their thoughtful articles, but they offer up a lot of free and good information.  There are lots of opinions expressed on the site, but it is the type of discussion that you would imagine professional economists have with one another.  It is definitely interesting, and if you aren't super interested in finance and economics you probably think it is boring, but if you take the time it is a great resource.  I don't invest in commodities or currencies (yet) but if you do this is a great site to get lots of thoughts on those markets.