OK, here's a piece of advice for you folks just entering the job market:
As soon as you can, invest in a 401(K) plan. Invest as much as your employer and the government allows. Hopefully, he will match some or all of your investment. If he does not, don't get all huffy. Just go ahead and do this for yourself.
This may all seem stupid to you now, but you will wake up one day and be, say, 40-something years old, and you'll have several thousands of dollars that you didn't even miss. And, if you're really, really smart, you'll start to figure the amount you saved in taxes. Unless you're a liberal Democrat who thinks we all need to pay more taxes. See stupid idea.