<prompt> Human: Hey guys I need some help with my financial life. Im 21 years old and began working for the railroad right out of high school. I just got promoted and Im trying to figure out what I can invest in that would be good in the long run.61k yearly salary. With medicaldentalvision plans. 400 car payment200 insurance100 phone bill. Thats mainly it. My parents arent rushing to kick me out which Im thankful for because Ive been traveling the world. I would like to know what I should invest my money into. Any ideas of something to get in on now while I dont have a ton of bills that would benefit me.  <response>: Congrats! The best investment you can make is on yourself. Retirement, education, etc. are the things you want to focus on right now until you get a better understanding on your finances. As always, try to follow this chart from top to bottom. A few comments:- Even though you dont have the normal expenses like rent and food, I would recommend building an emergency fund as if you did. A head start on an emergency fund would do wonders when shit hits the fan. Trust me when I say you do not want to skim on this stuff. Place the emergency fund in some savings account or CD ladder so that it can be accessible if need be.- Match your employers contribution. Thats free money that should not be squandered at all. If your employer does not match, then go to the next bullet.- Since you are a prime spot to get your financials in order, I would start paying down the car payment as fast as you can unless your interest rate is below the inflation rate about 3-4. Theres no point in carrying a car balance longer than it should be if your interest rate is higher than the inflation rate. - Once your car is paid off, then focus maximizing your 401k or a Roth IRA. If you have good 401k options e.g. retirement through Vanguard, have very low annual rates 0.04, then I would focus on maximizing your 401k. If not, then focus on building your Roth IRA first up to its maximum. - When either the 401k or Roth IRA is at its maximum which ever path you choose, then focus on builing up to the maximum of the other. - Once you got all that squared away, build a budget of at least 10k and then you can focus on building some passive income as stated in the sidebars of rinvesting and rfinancialindependence 