Agree with Slava. The best thing you can do no matter where you put your money, is to setup disciplined savings. Start at $25 when you're a kid working at your first McJob and increase it as you can. The biggest fallacy when I was in the industry was people my age who kept saying "when":
When I get my first co-op work term,
when I graduate,
when I get my first career job,
when I get married, etc.
What happens is often that:
Your work term money gets spent on beer and electronic toys
You graduate and spend your money on rent
You get a job and it goes to a car, clothes, a better apartment, and dating
You get married and now you have a mortgage, a new car, and for many kids on the way
Saying "when" is just a convenient and lazy excuse to help you avoid making tough decisions. Hold off on buying a new phone and save up for a year or pull out the credit card now and pay 19% interest on it? Pretty easy decision in my mind but loads of people aren't willing to wait for some reason.
Best investing for the future wake up call I ever had was working for an insurance company when I finished school. I was unsuccessful at it but I saw what you should and should not do. I'll never forget walking into one guy's house. He has in his 40s, had no real savings, and said "the government will take care of me." I left saying "that will not be me."
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