Whatever you do - put 10% of you gross pay into investments starting RIGHT NOW. And bump it up every year by half your annual pay raise. And I do mean start doing a bit of research first thing in the am, do enough research to make an informed decision by Friday, then dive in Friday. Payroll deduction is best, but I am guessing that option is not available. I can't guarantee anything, but ask anybody on this board "If you had started at 18, investing 10% of your pay into above average risk stocks, how much would you have today?", I suspect the answer from each person would be "millions".

If you put 500/month into an anuual return of 8% for 40 years, you'd gross 1.8 million. If you bump that interest somehow to 10%, it becomes 3.1 million. That is assuming you never put more than 500/month in and you earn the yield monthly on the fund value. It is not adjusted for inflation and taxes. At that point, you could retire and live very very comfortably on the earnings alone, and leave the invested amount in your will to somebody or some organization.

If you wait 10 years to start, with the same strategy, the 8% return only grosses 756,000, and the 10% return grosses only 1.13 million.

Start today and don't stop kiddo.

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Thank You!
Fred
2009 ML350
2004 SL600
2004 SL500
1996 SL600
2002 SLK32
2005 CLK320 cabrio
2003 ML350
1997 C280 Sport