First, one of my coworkers who will be retiring within the next 10 years recently attended a retirement seminar provided by our company. He mentioned to me tha

First, one of my coworkers who will be retiring within the next 10 years recently attended a retirement seminar provided by our company. He mentioned to me that the seminar speaker said that it should be young people going to these, because by the time you are 50, it's too late to make the changes which will have the biggest financial impacts on your retirement. I don't know what the future will hold, so I am maxing out my TSP (Thrift Savings Plan for US federal employees, like a 401k). I even front-load it, paying as much as I can in the first couple of months of the year, and leaving it at 5% for the rest of the year to get all the matching funds I can. By front-loading, the interest has more principle to compound for the rest of the year. I've also found several TSP websites where people get together to discus ways on maxing their retirement savings. I imagine there might be similar websites for people with 401k plans if you look. Because I'm at sea and have almost no expenses, I'm investing almost all of my paychecks which will help me achieve financial independence within a matter of years. I have a brokerage account in which I'm buying stocks. When you are younger, you can afford to take more risk with your investments. As you get older, you should be taking less risk, because essentially you can't afford to start all over. I also recently discovered Early Retirement Extreme (0). You don't have to be as "extreme" as the author, but there is some sound advice in there. I think it helps that I'm an INTJ like the author and most of the readers of the blog. You have to embrace the idea that saving is better for the individual than perpetuating debt. (0) http://earlyretirementextreme.com http://earlyretirementextreme.com