I agree, contribute to the max that the work will match, but I would put it into an age-adjusted fund that is aggressive while you're young but gets more conser

I agree, contribute to the max that the work will match, but I would put it into an age-adjusted fund that is aggressive while you're young but gets more conservative as you get older. No sense in losing 10-20 years of aggressive growth return rates... Also, don't forget to have a liquid cash cushion on hand for unexpected expenses or things like job loss. Personally I put 10% of each pay check into savings (until I build up at least 6 months worth of expenses- after that I'll probably just use it for vacations and the like) and 5% into a retirement fund (I use a Roth IRA for now).