You are Riley Carter, twenty-two years old and just starting your first job, at a logistics company in Columbus, Ohio. By noon on Friday 24 April 2026 you must hand back the form for your retirement plan, and its first box asks how much of every paycheck you will set aside.
The situation
Lindell Regional Logistics pays you US$40,000 a year as an operations associate. About US$2,560 a month reaches your account after tax and before any contribution, and the rent on your one-bedroom apartment is US$1,150. You have just paid the deposit and the first month. You have no student debt and no savings worth the name.
Lindell offers a 401(k), the most common workplace retirement plan in the United States. The company adds 50 cents for every dollar you contribute, up to 6% of your salary, but that money is only yours if you stay three years: anyone who leaves earlier forfeits all of it. You can contribute anywhere from 0% to 25% of salary, split it between the traditional account (tax deducted today; you are in the 12% federal bracket) and the Roth (taxed today, tax-free later), and choose among three funds. The form comes pre-filled at 6%, half of it Roth.
Tyler, two desks over, has set his to 0% until his car is paid off. Your mother, sixty-four and still working, did not start saving until she was thirty-eight; her advice is "put in as much as they'll let you." The plan only lets you change these boxes at the start of each decade, at 32, 42, 52 and 62. It is Thursday night and the rent is due on the first.