When I was in college, I was usually broke and fortunately, I had a boyfriend who lent (or gave) me money for car insurance or whatever was the financial crisis of the moment. Luckily for me, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in that situation and now am very comfortable financially. Big purchases I am not running out the door to buy. My next one will be a car, maybe toward the end of this year, we’ll see.
I do Deferred Comp thru work. I won’t say what I have in there now, but after 15 years of anywhere between 3 and 10% contributions, it’s all added up nicely and I’m very happy. It’s been painless and you don’t miss the money. Actually, part of what you contribute would have been lost to taxes anyway.
@LuckyGuy: Once I was in a gas station and dropped a nickel on the ground. There was another customer who saw me ignoring the nickel, and he told me that his dad told him “you’ll never get rich throwing money away.” I then stooped to get the nickel and ever since then, I remember that and will pick up change on the ground. When I was young, my friends used to throw pennies on the ground, like they were proud that they didn’t need them. I never did that but how foolish was that?