I have a 401k and a savings account. My 401 got hit hard when I got my divorce, but I have it back up to where it was.. I would like to contribute more, but can't afford to.

I married my dh!!! He is so great with money. Before him, I had no savings and credit card debt, plus I took out student loans to pay for graduate school, which I totally did not need. I used them for school, but I spent my money frivulously (money that could have been used for school). When we got engaged, he helped my pay off my credit card and so I was debt free when I got married, then he made me set up my retirement accounts, which I never would have done. I am 30 and my best friend is the same age and she has nothing, her employer would match a 403b up to a certain %, but she still hasn't opened one, to me that is not taking free money.

Dh maxes out his 401(k) and has been for the past 18 years. I rolled over my 401(k) after I left my job and we also contribute monthly to a Roth IRA. Dh and I are both in our 30s and we do not expect anything from social security when we retire. Isn't Dave Ramsay the one who said "Live like no one else today so you can live like no one else tomorrow"? If I misquoted then sorry Dave.

We are only able to do retirement - it automatically comes out of my paycheck each pay period. Right now with a baby on the way, building up any general savings is getting kind of hard...

Some of you have probably looked into this more than me, but once our child is here I would like to put her money somewhere seperate from ours and start generating her interest and what not. I thought I read that if you put some types of accounts in her name, it will affect her eligibility for financial aid later in life. However, our income may be to the point where she would be ineligible anyways...what do you have for your children? I know I always had a savings account in my name with my parents name on it too.

We've got the 401K, but we keep having to dip in occasionally! We try to save otherwise, but have to keep using that, too!

My parents actually started my retirement for me when I was a small child, and it's an incredible gift and we're doing that for both of our sons as well as adding to it ourselves. We don't keep a lot in savings, we get a much better return with mutual funds and other investments.

My kids each have a 529 and a coverdell education IRA. And yes money in their name is looked at first for financial aid, but I figure I'd rather have my kids have the money than take out loans because I am sure that is all they would get. Plus they can spend the money they have first and if they run out, then apply for financial aid.

My husband and I both have 401K's at work. We also have money invested in Mutual funds as wells as a money market account and savings account. We also have savings accounts set up for both of our kids, but I would like to look into setting up some sort of education account.

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DS - 7
DD - 4

Since we are both teachers, some of our checks go into teacher retirement each month. I hear from retirees that is really not enough to live on though. That's all we have at the moment. We have a small savings account of around $10,000 and no college fund. Our oldest is in 8th grade so college is creeping up on us and it is scary.