Thank you Badger,

I did eventually find some talk about self directed 401k's on the Foolish 401k's board. I guess what I was looking for was some reassurance that these plans make sense for those of us that have the time to research stocks & have years to watch them dip & rise.

I am 37 years old and realize that leaving my money in the Vanguard funds would be the most conservative play.
However I would like to increase my risk level to maximize my return. I am only starting with $20,000 so I am trying to balance commisions vs diversity & returns.

Option 1 (most conservative next to Vanguard)would be to split my money among my top 4 established companies: CSCO, GE, IBM, INTC. (good companies but not likely to experience tremendous growth)

Option 2 (what I am leaning towards)is to split the money among a larger number of growth companies like ARMHY, BRCM, CMGI, JDSU, ORCL, MCOM, QCOM Plus GE, IBM, INTC & CSCO.

I'm not looking for anyone to advise me on stock purchases but I realize that option 2 would have the largest commision percentage and was wondering if others have taken this route and how they are doing vs the old reliable Vanguard index.