I started saving with my first job out of college and with my first paycheck by maxing my 401k (15% at the time). This was the single best thing that I have done. I never saw the money from the first day I earned it, so I never knew what it was like to not have it. Heck, one day I was broke and the next I was making a decent salary minus 15% for my 401k. It was still a lot more than I was making the day before! I can't really say why I did that. My parents were always pretty good with money and I am sure I picked it up there. I would agree with DisneySteve about seeing my parents make the right financial decisions. I wasn't as fortunate as steve in regards to the stocks, and bonds, etc... but more along the lines of bargain shopping and clipping coupons and just being told "No - it costs too much. If you want it you will have to save for it." We never really talked stocks or any of that, so that will be one thing different with my children, but I guess I learned enough from watching to learn to save. From there, I just watched it grow and that got me excited to save more. Learning about compound interest and plugging some numbers in a calculator was about all I needed to then get really excited. I'm kind of a numbers nerd like that. I started saving as much as I could and investing it. I began to read personal finance books and now I am the one re-balancing my parents portfolio and checking in on my sisters as well.
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