1.Loans - You can get financial aid which does need to be paid back, but it does not need to be paid back until after you graduate and typically has a very reasonable interest rate.

2. Grants - Check with your local educational institution to see which Grants are available in your area and to you and which ones you qualify for. This is free money for you, it does not need to be paid back and there can be many many different qualifications for these from simply being a specific race, to a specific profession, etc…

3. Scholarships - These usually require some sort of application often including a writing assignment of some sort. Again these are free money that do not need to be paid back but they have some specific requirements that must be met and you will typically have to compete with others for them.

It is entirely possible for you to pay for your college education between grants and scholarships, if not you can always finance the rest but regardless you should check with your local College and they can help you look into what you qualify for(but ultimately you will need to do the work). Some will allow you to also use the money for living expenses etc… so you don’t have to work.

Personally I worked full time and attended College, it was incredibly difficult but obviously I made it through :). You can easily double your income by taking this route, once you recieve and official education you will make more money at which point again you can start to look at how to invest for retirement.

Bruno - Typically to answer your question you would take the law of 7’s into account. Basically what this says is that at a 7% interest for 7 years your investment will double. So you will need 250k by age 48, 125k by age 41, 62.5k by age 34 etc… This is of course assuming no additional contributions by you. The short answer is to put away as much as you reasonably can

There are also some other advantageous aspects of the 401k that can be considered depending on your holder. For me I can pull a loan out on my 401k if needed without having to pay taxes(since it’s a loan and being put back in). Here is the upside to this. My financial institution always gives a reasonably rate(why wouldn’t they it’s my money) but the real kicker is that all interest from the loan gets paid back into my account. There are obviously some limits to what can be taken out etc… but say you wanted to buy a new car, you could simply pull the money out of your 401k to purchase the car and simply pay cash for the car, you will still have the loan but since it comes out of your 401k all interest is paid to YOU, not to some other financial institution. Since you are likely to buy a car anyways this is a great way to pay for it as though you were paying cash and still helping increase your 401k, without hindering your lifestyle in any way.

It should also be noted that once you start to get into more reasonable jobs your employer will often offer some sort of employee contribution matching for your 401k investments. While this exact contribution varies it is a great way to again add free money into your 401k account(for most you will need to be “vested” with the company).

Anyways, it is great advice to start early. I started earlier than most and while I am doing ok at the moment my math shows that I am still quite behind what I need to be at in order to make the 2 million goal by age 55. I guess it’s time to step up my investments again.

Oh and for interest rates, you will find that banks are not where you should be looking for good returns on your investments. Find a 401k plan to work with, typically through your company. I also recommend looking at Vangaurd as they have done very well for me. But be sure you diversify your accounts. If you put all your eggs in one basket and the basket breaks you are screwed. Mix up your investments between high risk, medium risk and low risk, exact percentages will vary depending on the individual and the amount of time you have to work with.

Recently, i tried to get a broadband internet connection to my home so that i can start up an online business. Guess how much it cost? A kool $1000 USD just to set it up and $60 USD every month. How much do you pay to blog?

I refuse to believe I am the only person that can’t afford to put away “only” $23/day.

Any suggestions for the poor folks out here?? In Canada we have Old Age Pension, but our government has been very adament in letting our generation know it won’t be there for us when we hit retirement. Looks I’ll be working until they put me a wooden box!

When I was that age (long long ago) the only advice available was your parents or a grey man in a grey suite at the bank… and what teenager is ever going to listen to them?

This is a good and simple plan, and the younger members should try to impliment it, if nothing else take me as an example of what not to do..

I went to college and got qualifications.. thinking that this would be a good investment in me (a great ROI, you might say) - unfortunately at the end of the course I realised it was something I was not so interested in after all (amazing how college can suck the fun out of something) and then due to the volatile nature of the inductry I was in went from job to job to job only getting minimum pension provision, with some gaps in between (I worked in contruction, which in terms of volatile short term projects is not so disimilar to IT I would say?) I now work in another industry which is a little more stable, and can now make better provisions however…I am looking at not being able to afford to retire without making some massive changes to my finances - which is and will continue to be painfull right up to the last….

So - plan early.

I want to start looking for a mortgage soon so most savings will be eaten up by putting down a deposit but from there the saving will hopefully begin.