Not sure if your 401k is self-directed, but you can give yourself a lot of freedom with an IRA. Just get as much money as you can under that IRA umbrella, then there's a lot of creative stuff you could do from there. This includes a checkbook/self-directed IRA, which can own an LLC that can take on a life of its own. You could even buy real estate, crypto and operate nodes, etc. with it.
My 401K is through employer. The only thing I can meddle there is how aggressive the managing institution, T Rowe Price, directs my money.
There's definitely a lot more I need to read up.
I have mixed feelings about employer IRAs. I want to take the match, but at the same time, I don't like the fees and lack of choices and the potential anchor it creates. What I normally do is just go 100% into a stable value fund in my employer 401k, and then roll it over into an IRA when I leave the company with 100% of the principle guaranteed intact. If you have a side hustle, you can also get a self-directed 401k for that, and just put the minimum amount to get the employer match. From there you could put any remainder into that vehicle. I use E*Trade for all of it, and it was all very easy to set up.
Oh, I definitely put in the minimum to get the max employer match.
I just finished doing the financial records for most part of the year and I want to allocate a portion into an IRA. This would mean less into crypto, stocks, etc., but I'd rather diversify.