Gyroscopic Investing

I am 53 years old and for a variety of reasons was a late starter in my 401K. I am married and my wife has done a much better job saving.
The permanent portfolio has really grabbed my attention. My first of many basic questions is when you talk about the pemanent portfolio, is that outside of 401K savings, or is that included?

My second question is this. Does it make more sense to max out the 401K or just do the 5% for the company match and do other things with the money.

A 401K can be utilized to great effect within a PP.  How much you contribute to it depends on what options are available in your 401K, but generally you want to take advantage of tax-deferred accounts to the maximum extent possible.  The general rule is that you want to put bonds, cash, stocks, and gold in tax-deferred accounts in that order (some put cash before bonds but in this low-interest rate environment I would not).

All plans should offer a stock fund, such as the S&P500, which will work perfectly for the stock allocation of the PP.  Most will also have something that is close enough for the cash portion, such as a stable-value fund (not perfect, but likely close enough).  The trouble is that few will offer a long term bond fund that is acceptable for the PP.  This can be a major issue since bonds are probably the first thing you would want to put in a tax-deferred account.  I get around this by using the brokerage option within my 401K.  Unfortunately not all plans have this option.  

Through the brokerage window I have all my long term Treasury bonds, and about 20% of my stock allocation in the 401K.  Most of the cash is in I and EE bonds, SHY in an IRA account, and CDs (the latter is somewhat "off the reservation" as the recommended investment is short-term Treasuries only).  Gold is a combination of physical and ETFs.

If the wife is also interested in the PP you should look at both your savings vehicles together when you construct the portfolio.

Pkg Man hit most of the points I would cover, so I will just say welcome to the forum.

Read "Fail Safe Investing" by Harry Browne for more PP info if you haven't already.  It's a quick read.