[Slava]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I loath giving generic advice blindly, but all this talk about how much of your money to save, and getting bogged down in the details, is frustrating.

A simple starting point, that virtually everyone should adhere to, is that you should save a portion of your earnings. No, it doesn't have to be 50%. But the key is that you do it, and that you have it taken off your pay automatically, so that you can't simply make other choices whenever your really want to buy something (the 'pay yourself first' principle).

Despite what Polak and others might think, chances are that you will live into retirement. It's called life expectancy for a reason: because that is the statistical mean of how long you are likely to live.

I agree totally that you never know, and that it is important to enjoy the journey. However, the facts are that you probably will be around into retirement age. So you need to save some of your money.

Get in the habit of putting 10% of your pay away from the beginning. If you ask yourself if you can afford it, the short-term answer is always 'no'. So don't ask. Do it. And learn to live off 90% of your pay (just look at it as that is what you make).

If you do that (and keep doing it), that is the best first step you can take towards gaining a better foothold on your financial health.

Really good advice for a guy who loathes giving it!