Nowai I wrote mine in a different order h:

 

as young as you are
you need to be putting in the max.

you'll thank me when your 65 and you not on a "dog food" diet

 

Some will say as much as you can others will put in as much as the company matches. I used to do as much as the company matches but 401k is only 1 of my retirement fund. I don't even consider it retirement fund. I have other investments for my retirement fund. Whatever I have in the 401k will be whatever the fuck I want to do when I retire fund.

 

I currently put in what my company matches. 5% which is 100% vested

 

Throw a bunch in that 401k. Match or not. It's pre-tax money. It's basically getting money for free because you get to save all of it and it reduces the amount of taxes you pay. Figure every $100 you put in to that 401k only reduces your paycheck by $70 after taxes, give or take. For a 25 year old that's $30 that can sit there compounding interest for 40 years and you only pay taxes at the very end of that 40 years.

But......don't necessarily max it out if you can't afford to. First and foremost make sure you have money to cover your expenses and putting some away in a savings account. Then you want some stuff tied up in investments that are somewhere in between the savings account and the 401k...more interest than savings but more readily accessible than 401k. Keep a good mix of short-, medium- and long-term savings and you'll be better able to respond to changes in need for money.

I'm not so much a fan of gambling investments, quick trading, whatever...there's money to be made but again it's not the most reliable thing. Do better at your job, make more money, invest well and you'll come out with fewer heart attacks. h:

 

5%

 

Making an appointment to speak to someone about my 403b. Bump this when I start

 

1) put enough to get full company match

2) max out roth ira (current 4k per year, up to 5k in 2008, iirc)

3) if you still have leftover funds, put more in 401k

 

Im putting in 30% . And I'm still ballin

 

i put in 7%, employee puts in 5%. possibly will be going to 10% by me soon.