Most 401(k)s have at least one S&P 500 or US total market fund with low expense ratios. If anyone out there reading this doesn't know what that looks like, feel

Most 401(k)s have at least one S&P 500 or US total market fund with low expense ratios. If anyone out there reading this doesn't know what that looks like, feel free to email me with the options your company provides and I can help you choose the right one. Like the GP says, this stuff is important, and if you set it up now you'll thank yourself later. Re: getting 15-20%: there will be years that you can do this (heck, the S&P 500 returned 32% in 2014) but I certainly wouldn't count on getting those returns long-term. Consider that if you have $500k today and are able to successfully invest it at 20% returns, you'll be a billionaire in under 40 years. There are people who have done it (Warren Buffett and perhaps a few others), but if you're one of them you probably have better things to be doing with your time than posting on Hacker News. :)