I'm not trying to be condescending, but as someone who works as a financial professional, I highly suggest that you take some business and finance courses before you graduate from school.
First, of all, do me a favor and don't assume everyone on here is a young thing still in school with no idea about the world. (Not to mention some people in school have quite a bit of knowledge about the world and finances anyhow.) I graduate several years ago (several years before you did, FWIW) and have quite a bit of my own experience managing my finances and income.
The mentality you are supporting is exactly why Americans are accumulating so much debt that our economy can't even sustain itself.
Second of all, that's a gross overstatement of your point and almost off the point. I never advocated irresponsible spending or debt accumulation. I think people are accumulating so much debt because they want it all now and use credit cards irresponsibly. I mentioned buying a home (somewhere to live and get tax breaks along with it) and putting ones kids through college. Hardly the "bigger is better, buy buy buy" mentality you seem to think I'm espousing. Plus, if people put their money into savings they can access, then they won't need to use credit cards to buy things along the way. A FAR better idea than accumulating credit card debt, we can all agree on that.
If you cannot afford to max out your 401k, which is completely understandable for a large majority of the population, at the BARE minimum you should contribute enough to take full advantage of your company's 401k matching benefit.
And finally, I fully understand the benefits of investing as fully as you can into your 401K as early as possible (do it in your 20s, you'll get to financial places you'll never end up if you wait until your 30s to start, etc.). And not putting in as much money as you can to take advantage of your company's match is throwing away money...in most cases. Although to be fair I can think of two situations off the top of my head that make that idea irrelevant.
The first is where you need to be vested in your 401K for some # of years or you don't get any of your company's contribution. If you're planning on leaving before the time is out, then not contributing up to the full company match limit is NOT throwing free money away. Assuming you're still saving/investing that money, then you're still doing alright for yourself. Sure, it may not be investing the before taxes amount. But if you're going to leave the company soon, it's possible you're leaving to go do something else that will require some money in hand (like for a wild example, applying to and relocating to attend school).
The second is in a case where the company automatically puts some amount of money into your 401K regardless of whether you put any in or not (yes, there are companies like this). In a situation like that, it might not be a bad idea to look at your short and long term goals and figure out if you'd do better to invest your money (at least in part) in ways in which you can get it out in the nearer term, if needed.
All that said, I stand by my initial assessment that it doesn't matters a rat's patootie how great your retirement portfolio looks if you don't have a safety net of savings to fall back on in hard times right now. And if you don't properly allocate money into investments you can use in the nearer term (even 20 years down the road is near term when we're talking 401Ks), you'll incur all kinds of penalties by dipping into your 401K. And that would be seriously NOT smart.
I know that none of that was helpful, but thought that maybe my only undergrad debt would make it seem less daunting?
