I've started learning how to invest. I have an interest in starting to sock away money for the family and for myself. Currently, my company pays no match to my 401(k) contributions, which is fine, but that makes me wonder how much benefit I get from doing a 401(k). Usually they're considered beneficial because you get the one-two punch of tax-exemption and "free" money from your employer, but I can get tax exemption by just throwing the money in an IRA and then I get to pick the funds and stocks that I want to invest in....
So I've started the process of learning. I know that a lot of people think I'm an almighty screw-up (and they'd be right, a lot of times I am) but I do believe that I'm being smart about this. I'm not rushing into anything, I'm saving little bits of money here and there so I can open an account with someone like Scottrade or ShareBuilder and I'm reading reading reading.
I feel like I'm looking down the barrel of some huge financial need soon and I don't want to get flat-footed. So I'm doing something about it...which I guess means I'm not such a screw-up after all.
