1st) If your company offers a match to your 401k you need to put in at least up to what they match. If you don't take the match you are passing up free money. Think of it as giving yourself a raise!
It's pretty much a MUST! If they don't offer a match then don't worry about it right now. 2nd) You should have an emergency fund equal to about 6 to 8 months of your expenses - so if your expenses are $500/ month you want an emergency fund of about $4000.
This needs to increase as your expenses increase! 3rd) Once you have your company match set up and your Emergency fund then consider contributing to a Roth IRA. I'll leave it up to you to decide home much you want to put in, but your goal should be to max this out every year.
I think the max for this year is $5500 for people under 50. You might want to take a vacation or something so consider saving for yourself some extra spending money. Set up direct deposits into this account so that the savings are automatic.
4th) If your income goes up and you are contributing to the company match and you your emergency fund funded and you are contributing the max to your Roth IRA then consider going back and increasing the amount you contribute to your 401k. Or start contributing if they didn't offer a match. Every year when you get a raise increase your 401k contributions this is money you didn't have to begin with, so you won't miss it.
Happy Saving!
An IRA which invests in stocks. But you don't do that till you have 12 months of living expenses in an emergency savings account. This is necessary since 12 months or more is the length of time to find a new job.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.