Before contributing a penny more to your 401k you should read this article

I ran across this article this week in Time Magazine titled "Why It's Time to Retire the 401(k)" Here is the link:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1929119,00.html

Time magazine should be commended for writing such an article that goes against what I think is mainstream conventional wisdom. It raises a lot of questions that most people don't ask and 401k providers typically hide from or bury deep in paperwork.

I never understood why a lot of people put the 401k on such a high pedestal. The other thing that concerns me are the people in my generation who believe the only way they can save for the future is inside one of these government sponsored plans (See previous blog post). After dinner with a friend last night I think it may have something to do with what he called the "Subway Phenomenon". Here is how he described this Phenomenon:

Participating to your 401k, for a lot of people, is a lot like your coworkers asking you to go to Subway for lunch. You could tell them that you brought your lunch or you don't care for Subway and would like to eat somewhere else. Most likely though you just agree to go to lunch at Subway because you want to "fit" in and not look like a bad co-worker. Just like if a co-worker asked if you are maxing out your 401k and you said: "I don't contribute" or "I only do the match" or "I'm saving for the future doing something else".