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I would say completely the opposite. :) Spend this time upskilling and doing interesting things. As a 19 year old you are not earning any real money, your 30 ye

I would say completely the opposite. :) Spend this time upskilling and doing interesting things. As a 19 year old you are not earning any real money, your 30 year old self will be earning a multiple of it (probably 3-4) and the cost of living doesn't increase at the same pace (until you get kids :) ) don't waste your time saving a couple of dollars now, just spend it and wait until you are earning enough money to save.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
nostrademons 12y ago
Compounding is much more effective when you start early. I recall a personal finance article where someone did the math out and found that a person who contributes $X monthly from the ages of 20-35 and then never contributes a dime to their retirement account will retire with more than someone who contributes nothing from ages 20-35 and then $X monthly for 30 years until they retire at 65. (I just plugged the numbers into CNN's retirement calculator [1] and verified that's correct...it's actually more like 32 for the cutoff point.) I do agree that upskilling is important, but many jobs that help you gain skills quickly also pay well. And the most crucial part is to keep your burn rate low in your 20s. This is the time when all your friends are living like grad students, because many of them are grad students, and it will never again be easier to live cheaply. Then work at a highly-paid professional job and pocket the difference. Your bank account will thank you when you retire. [1] http://money.cnn.com/calculator/retirement/retirement-need/ http://money.cnn.com/calculator/retirement/retirement-need/