<prompt> Human: I am a college grad and I have accepted a position at a company where I will be making 65k per year. After taxes, health insurance, contributing 6 into 401k which is about 4k matched 100, and putting 5k into my Roth IRA, my taken home is going to be approximately 48k.My three competing desire are this:1. I want to save aggressively and invest beyond just retirement fundsWhat would you consider aggressive saving? I really wanted to aim for 15k a year, but my other desires are making that number extremely hard to reach. Should I still feel good about saving 10-12k every year?2. I want to see my my long distance girlfriend monthly by purchasing monthly plane ticketsI am in a very serious relationship and would love to have the flexibility to hop on a flight to visit her. I am near a major airport, but the city she lives in is on the smaller side. This raises the price per ticket to around 450. This is a fairly large monthly expense. Should I feel guilty about spending that much, even though personally I am willing to put up the money? perhaps me and my SO can discuss splitting tickets 5050 in order to reduce that monthly cost significantly3. I want to live in an apartment that costs 1200mo.As a young professional, I want to be in the middle of things in downtown Houston, but that comes at a pretty steep price. This would come out to around 30 of my take home income going directly to rent alone. Is this too much?Thanks in advance for all of the guidance.  <response>: I want to save aggressively and invest beyond just retirement fundsWhat do you want to save for? 15k is only 23 of your gross pay or 31 of your take home. If you really want to save that, it should be doable with your income. I want to see my my long distance girlfriend monthly by purchasing monthly plane ticketsThis is 11 of your take home pay. A big chunk, to be sure, but you should not feel guilty if that is what you wish to spend your money on since you are debt free and saving for retirement before any money reaches your bank account. Of course, doing this in conjunction with goal 1 will be difficult, but not impossible. It all depends on what your values are and which goals take precedence.I would also recommend you look to credit card rewards for some free flights as well as to rack up some frequent flier miles you can use to cut that bill down. I want to live in an apartment that costs 1200mo.Here is where your goals start breaking down. This is 30 of your net pay. Your savings are 31 of your net pay and the plane tickets add an additional 11. You have now spent 72 of your take home pay, leaving you with 1,100 extra every month. This will have to do groceries, transportation, entertainment, dining out, household supplies, utilities, phone, internet, clothing, etc. I am not saying it cant be done, but because your reason for wanting to be in downtown Houston is not to be close to your job so you wont need a car but to be in the middle of things the temptation to spend and spend and spend will be high.My suggestion would be to take a honest look at your goals. You may wish to live the young professional life in Houston for a few years before moving closer to your work and then starting to save for those goals you have. If those goals you are saving for are more important to you than living in Houston, then find a different place to live. 