Hi Liz,

I think it is the old problem between using the definite article and the partitive.

De l'argent = some money, or a certain amount of money

l'argent = the money you are talking about 

or all money in general as in ----> l'argent est sale, il faut faire attention 

If the example was chocolate or money it would be -

soit du chocolat, soit de l'argent 

both partitive 

de l' + argent because of the vowel.

I hope I have understood your query...