Hi Mary,
I would firstly like to congratulate you on taking the initiative to start saving at such a young age. You may not realize it but you have a very powerful tool behind you. And that is Time. If you can be disciplined and put aside your saving in the right investments using deferral and compounding you will definitely be able to retire VERY comfortably. Studies have shown that if you can save at your age $2,000 a year for the next 5 years ($167 a mo.) = $10,000 after 5 years. Invest it in the right account you will have a Retirement Nest Egg of close to $1M. That is because of the TIME you have compared to someone who starts much later in life. If you would like more information please feel free to contact me.

hi mary,
the best thing to do is figure out how much you want to save comfortably...

it's best not to be too strict or you'll lose interest...
if you're too lax then you won't save enough money...

Personally I like to have a few months where i chunk in all of the money I can into my savings... this gives me a feeling of peace of mind, knowing that I have enough to pay for emergencies and loss of income.

My question is: how much cash do you have left over after paying all of your college bills, your home expenses etc? If you've got enough then give some to yourself for fun, and then allocate the rest for your savings account.

Let me know how it goes...

btw... would you like to be part of our monthly savings challenge?

I am Mary Ruth, single at 21 and I am trying to balance my college loan payments and savings for retirement. I am wondering how I can do this more effectively in order to have enough money to enjoy life during my retirement. Thanks a lot.