<prompt> Human: Im curious if anything is different for those of us starting to earn a little later than others. I went to grad school and then did a postdoc, so about a year ago is when I started my first real job, at the tender age of 29. Starting the job I had about 1k in savings, 48k in student loans, and almost 6k in a retirement fund, which I rolled over into my employers 401k. My current standings are: Checking account 2400 Savings account: 500 HSA: 2380 401k: 27k maxed it hard for the end of last year to get match, already received full match of 50 of my first 7400 this year Roth IRA: 3100 opened early 2014 with 2013 contribution, no contributions yet for 2014 TD Ameritrade brokerage: 3500 down 1k on a couple stocks, naturally - should probably give this up until loans are paid off And the student loans! 18k at 3.25 and 19k at 6.25 I have been prioritizing the 401k because of the tax advantage. I dont really see a whole lot of savings from paying the loans much faster because I cant deduct the interest anymore with my income 94k plus up to 10 bonus. I try to be pretty diligent about budgeting but I live in the SF bay area and everything is a zillion dollars. Because I am both paying off debt and saving I like to use mint to track my net worth as a rough proxy of how Im doing. Ive gone up from -40k to about 2k now, so Im close to saving 50 of my gross pay. It sounds like a big fraction but can be frustrating to watch that number grow so slowly. For the rest of the year my plan is to try to contribute another 3-5k to the Roth so I can access some lower fee funds, and throw some extra at the higher interest rate loans. I felt like I was doing ok and making some decent progress but I started trying to find data on average retirement savings at different ages and found that Im about 200k behind people who started work in their young 20s and contributed earlier. I am wondering, since my money essentially has 10 fewer years to grow before my retirement, if there is anything different I should do? Lower risk than average? Higher risk? Dont go to grad school, kids.  <response>: Just stick with your target date fund for your 401k investment. You may be a theoretical 200k behind, but the number of 29 year olds with 227k in retirement accounts is exceedingly low.Keep your head down working hard and networking, and keep an eye out for new jobs. Obviously you just started working, but 92k for a postdoc in the bay area is quite low, and once you have a few years of experience Id expect you to quickly move up to the 150k range. As your income increases, if you dont inflate your lifestyle much, youll be able to save a lot and quickly catch up with the ideal for your age. 