<prompt> Human: I am a 19 year old college student working part time on the side. Im in Illinois if that matters. My employer offers retirement options to all employees, they will match up to 6 of my contributions. I have been contributing 9 of my pay to have it come out to 15 of my income. However, recently i told various people this and they urged me to contribute no more than what my employer matches, so 6. I thought this was silly considering that im getting by fine despite my 9 contribution which is making me better off in the long run, right? What do you guys think? Need expert opinions not the opinions of my relatives and coworkers that think they know everything.  <response>: If you can live comfortably on the remaining portion of your income, after you have contributed 9, then great! Keep doing it.. BUT! Check out other ways you can save outside of the 401k. Put up the 6 that your employer will match, and then see if there is another way you could use that remaining 3. It may or may not be worth it, but its certainly worth looking into. 