II had a couple of good friends tell me when I first got my current job almost 42 years ago. Hit the 401k hard while you're young and making a lot of overtime. I started out small but in a few years I started putting 25% in weekly,because it kept my taxable income down low instead of giving it back to the government. These two gentleman were self made millionaires. One of them's daughter has been my CPA for 40+ years too. Then when you retire you pay a lot less taxes on you smaller income.