They say you shouldn’t try to keep up with the Joneses, but what about keeping up with those nearest and dearest to you? It’s hard not to compare yourself to your friends, especially when you’re thinking of retirement and the ways you’ll all interact in the later stages of life. With my friends, it was clear: I was behind. Some of them had inherited money, making their retirement a sure thing. Others had learned to invest more wisely than I had. And some still had started squirreling away in their early twenties, letting compound interest do its magic as they looked forward to vacations and freedom after 67. I, however, had only really started thinking about long term finances in the last few years. I put myself through college, and while I’m immensely proud of that, it meant that I didn’t have much financial flexibility in my 20s. Often, I was thinking about how to get by week to week, not about 40 years down the line. I suspect many Americans feel the same way. Once I realized I needed to find a way to play catch up, I started doing research. I found 3 ways to get to where my friends were. Maxing out my Roth IRA and 401k For many years, my only investment approach had been putting money into my 401k, but never the max. I didn’t fully understand the power of what my employer match let me achieve. Same went for my Roth IRA—I was constantly putting off putting the appropriate amount of money into it to live more fully in the now. I made myself get strict about putting in the max, even if it meant cutting back on nights out or skipping out on hobbies. It was a difficult and took discipline, but within the first 6 months I noticed a huge difference. Online TradingEver since the Recession in 2008, I’d been skeptical of dealing with the stock market. After all, I knew too many people—my parents included—that lost almost everything. And, as I mentioned above, I didn’t feel I had money to play with, let alone money to spare. After doing some reading, I realized just how much I was missing out. The thing that changed my mind was discovering Try2BFunded. Not only was I able to use their capital—up to $100,000— to get started with, it provided me the perfect tutorial on what to do and what not do when it came to trading stocks. For example, during the qualifying round with Try2BFunded I learned how to manage risk. After making a few mistakes—I’m looking at the BioPharma sector here—I built strategies to reel in risk and make things more straightforward. Setting Up A More Specific Raise Calendar What’s the best way to save more money? Earn more money. I’ve been with my company for a long time, but I found that I was behind on getting the raises I deserved. By making a calendar to check in with my employer every 6 months and recounting all that I’d accomplished in the last 6 months, I found I was able to escape the trap of only getting a 3% inflation raise every year.