Bottom line is this: you wanna get rich.

How do you get rich?

1) Earn more

2) Spend less

This, grasshopper:D

After you build up enough equity then, like I mention earlier, borrow against that and use that money to make more money. Remember, money makes money. Working hard doesn't always make you money but you earn a great living. I am still trying to get there, so you may only take this with half a grain of salt.

@25 and asking the question; you're already ahead of the curve. Well done.

If I could start over at 25, I'd probably dip my toe in like Aigel stated. By a place first. And put into the 401K. At least what your company will match.

Don't gimme that, Vash. You bought your place at a young age too, something like your 30s, didn't ya? Not easy to buy in the bay area due to the high prices

Yep, with the mindset that you are showing at your young age, you shouldn't have any problem saving enough for a very active, and rewarding retirement. You are so far ahead of the way most people treat saving for retirement, that you may be able to think about an early exit from the workforce.

I too, started at a young age, but was only able to just get the matching 3% with a slowly growing profile until a few years back when I cranked my 401K up to 20% plus the matching 3%. It is now growing by leaps, and bounds with another 13 years till retiremnet.

I have so many friends that are living for the day, and spending every dime they earn on toys for today, not a life for tomorrow. A good co-worker friend (45 years old) who also drives a brand new Silverado, and a new Hraley, is also building a new house that will be done a month or so. He was saying that he should probably start thinking about getting into the 401K in a company that he has been working for 22 years ! This is not being responsible to his wife, or his family, and sets him up for having to work longer than he wishes to try to maintain his lifestyle.

all the best planning in the world goes to krappola if you marry the wrong person..

(just putting it out there..okay) carry on.

i think i was 35. at 30 i said "NO" to a house in the Oakland hills for $209,000. now that was really stupid. :) that same house was untouchable when i turned 35..haha.

the oakland hills!! okay, no regrets. :)

hey red barron, I was exactly in your spot 17 years ago as a starting engineer. I have contributed max gov allowance to 401 since day one, and many years that is all I did. Still that has been enough to put me on track for retirement at a relatively early age (it helps that my company has good matching).

It wasnt until my mid 30s that I became a bit educated about roth IRAs. Since then I have contributed to mine (and wife's) most years. I think if you have extra income a Roth is a great place to start. If you can start building your roth account on top of your 401k you will be in great shape. I personally don't mess with individual stocks at all these days. I stick to index ETFs, industry ETFs, and to a lesser extent target date etfs.

My last non expert piece of advice is related to incentives and bonuses. You will probably find yourself getting decent sized single payout bonuses at some point. It is easy and fun to think of these as a good time to buy a new car or some other luxury. My policy with these has always been to spend say 5 to 10% of bonuses on something fun, but save or invest the remainder. This has probably been the best move I have made. If you can live on your base pay anyways, just treat any bonus pay as a gift to your retirement.

RedBaron, some charts for your review.

https://pensionpartners.com/put-these-charts-on-your-wall/

No - The best way is to think like a woman. You don't have to save at all. Just use your private parts for evil and monetary gain and you'll be set by the time you're in your mid 40's....

Damn. Nobody told me about the monetary gain part.
A perfectly good life, wasted. :D

Definitely max out the 401k match first before looking at other investment options, that's free money. After you max out the company match, then start looking around at other options to consider.