<prompt> Human: Okay, my 401k hit 401K in terms of money in there. I am totally bragging, because, fuck, I find it funny and awesome at the same time. Now Im done bragging - I jut wanted to give some advice for you out there: Just automatically give the max. I started in 2000. My salary was 62,000. The max you could contribute then was 10,500 I think. So, I never considered myself having a salary of 62,000. It was a salary of 51,500. Note though that if you are in a low tax state or in a low tax bracket, a 401K Roth may be a better answer. Be aggressive but diverse. For the first 10 years, I invested half in large caps- an SP 500 Index that didnt do too well, and the rest in a small cap fund to balance it out. The small cap actually rode the early 2000s recession really well, and after 10 years, it was 60 of my portfolio. When my company got acquired, I later switched to an even more diverse portfolio, with more emerging stocks, world stocks, Russell indexes, etc. Basically 5 indexes instead of 2. Take advantage of company matching. This is a no-brainer. And here is the most important thing - Dont listen to loser poor people! Loser poor people are people who maintain a poor mentality that will keep them perpetually poor. Not to be confused with broke people, who may temporarily be out of money as I was once in a while Yes, there will be some fucker who think the world is going to end, that this latest recession is the downfall of American society. Im 35 - and Ive heard it all from the loser poor people. In the early 90s recession, the Japanese were going to buy us out and we would all be slaves to them, Mexicans would take ALL the jobs, and Generation X was full of slackers would be the first generation that is poorer than their parents. Then, in the early 2000s, terrorists would create a world where we could all die, and the Chinese would own us all. Then there is this recession, where America will magically fall apart again, and this time, Generation Y was full of entitled losers who would be the first generation that is poorer than their parents. These people are the ones, even though made a similar salary to me with similar experience, have maybe 110th the wealth, but 20 times the confidence that they are always right. Trust in the economy. I mean do the math. Personally, I contributed, what, 160K from my pocket - but it is now worth 401K. And since January 2000, when I started, the SP is up, what, 8? How does that work? Well, company matching, which average around 4K a year helped boost it. But obviously that is not enough. As mentioned earlier - I was aggressive and constantly investing. During the two recessions that I went through, the market went down, and dollar cost averaging in aggressive stocks helped tremendously. I didnt panic, I didnt withdraw, I stuck to the long, drawn out plan. Fuck, I think in March 2009, my 401K was something like 150K. Down from 250K just a year and a half ago. But that didnt matter - cause this is the long haul. So - hopefully some 22 year old is reading this and in 13 years, like me, will already be set for retirement.EDIT:So this has been great post - and I hope I got everyone thinking about the future by showing that continued contributions, even in a flat, lost decade that we just had - through two major recessions - can contribute significant growth. I know theres always these assumptions about getting rich that are based on 12 continuous return on investment from many books and advisors. I wanted to show that even in times like these, that is not the case. I was 22, broke, and in debt with a bit of school loans when I first started. Like a lot of people here. Now, unlike me, you guys will probably not go through a lost decade, and Im pretty damn confident that when you turn 35, a few of you will be worth way more even inflation adjusted than I am at age 35. Im sure I will see many of you years later in our retirement homes in tropical wonderlands.And to those Negative Nellies out there. Excuses are easy. Its easy to say, well, I dont make as much, so Im not going to save! Or, the stock market boom is over and I am going to lose everything. Or I got lucky. These are the Loser Poor People I was talking about. You can be broke, and you can set off to accumulate wealth, or you can be like these guys not just be broke, but be poor. Make special note of these people - cause hanging out with these people, listening to them, will cause you to be poor. The ones that start off with an insult, and then claim to know more than the rest of us are great at masking their own deficiencies. Fuck - my dad was one of these Loser Poor People - he made a good salary for 30 years, and for most of his life, had almost nothing to show for it. If you are broke, and want to be poor - listen to them. If you are broke, and want to do better, listen to ALL the success stories out there, and learn and adapt to your own circumstances. To all those negative people out there, we will see you in our retirement homes in tropical wonderlands, except youll be serving the rest of the current rpersonalfinance drinks.  <response>: You have a right to brag. Thanks for the great advice. 