<prompt> Human: I need some general advice, as well as some specific plans to get stable for the next year or two. Here is some background info: I have around 8,700 in student loans. Interest on those will kick in May 2013. I have no credit card debt. I got a job making around 60,000 starting January 2013. Ill probably need to buy a car to get to said job. I have around 2500 in the bank now, and have a student job that will last till mid December. Ive been living on around 1200 a month, but I will probably bump that up to around 2000 a month so I can afford my own apartment and a car. My long term goals include retiring early, and probably immigrating emigrating out of the US. Are 401k things still a good idea in that case? I should probably at least contribute the max that my company will match? Should I prioritize paying off my loans above contributing to a 401k? At this income level, is it worth paying an accountant or someone to tell me exactly what to do with my money? Assistant: Dave Ramsey baby steps:1. Save starter 1000 emergency fund. Since you need a car you should probably buy the car first no loan! with the 2500. Then save the 1000 as fast as you can. Once you pay off debt you can save up for a better car.2. Pay off debt using debt snowball. List debts smallest to largest and pay everything you can on the smallest one until the smallest is gone, then move on to the next smallest. Since you only have the student loan, that makes it easy. From your budget you have 1747 extra so that makes you debt free in less than 6 months.3. Increase your emergency fund to 3-6 months of expenses. With your expenses and your extra money, that puts you finishing 6 months of expenses in 7 months. Congrats, you are debt free and have a fully funded emergency fund in a little over a year! Youre ahead of 99 of your peers and most of the general public.Steps 4, 5, and 6 are all done at the same time:Reddit formatting is messing up the numbers4. Save 15 towards retirement. Save in Roth IRAs and 401ks. If your company matches, prioritize the 401k up to the match and then put as much as you can in the Roth IRA max 5k per year, then back to the 401k if you have extra.5. Save for kids college. Skip this one until you actually have kids.6. Pay off your mortgage. Since you dont have one you can put this towards saving for a down payment or paying for a house with cash.7. Build wealth and give. At this point you dont have any debt and no house payment, continue to invest, enjoy life, and help out others.Dont pay an accountant. Personal finance is mostly about behavior. If you actually follow the steps above you will be successful. You may want to consult with someone about what to actually invest in once you get to step 4 but dont pay for general financial advice.Human: This is all really great advice, thanks.  <response>: Do not go into debt for your car, by the way. Save what you can between now and the end of your student employment - EVERYTHING you can. Use that money to buy a used vehicle, one that should last you at least a year. Dont worry about it being a POS, just pay cash for it once you decide on it. A car is NOT something you need to be in debt for, and you can easily save for nicer vehicles with a job paying that much. 