What would you do in my situation?

You have the plan. Just stick to it.

Invest in low cost index funds. Historic broad-based yields cream every "expert pick" over time.
Managers who trade your account a lot are helping themselves, not you.

As you're young go 75% stocks/25% bonds.
Put 60% into a low cost US stock index fund, put yr 25% into a low cost US bond index fund, and 15% a low cost international stock index fund.
Then don't watch the market on a daily basis, don't listen to the screaming heads, don't, don't, don't.
You cannot control the day to day, but longterm is always up.

Always grab the company's matching money.

Set up a Health Savings account, now most can rollover, and it reduces your taxable income.

(In this, I'm assuming you also live life. Maybe not rolling big baller, but comfortably. Travel, enjoy nice things, etc. For cash.
So basically live below your means.)

+100. Investing doesn't mean you live on gruel and forego all worldly pleasures for some mythical 'someday'.
Causes folks to crash and burn.
Investing is to enhance security and enjoyment of life.

 

I'll just answer the questions you addressed to me.

S. Credit cards are a necessary evil in that people need something to establish a line of credit as well showing that they can pay their debt on time. Utility bills, financing purchases and credit cards are all part of that. Even if I have cash-on-hand, if the store offers 0% financing I will use the financing for the purchase so as to further increase my credit (payment history is reported). Getting your credit score above 900 will really help when it comes time to getting a mortgage.

2. The ROTH IRA is a vehicle you can open, make contributions to and take those contributions back out w/out penalty (you just can't touch the earnings). The big advantage to making contributions now is that they are taxed at your current bracket, which given your student status is going to be next to nothing. As long as you're annual income doesnt exceed $114k you can open a ROTH, but now would be more opportune.

3. If your employer is making a 6-8% contribution based upon your annual compensation (and not matching based upon your individual contribution), then you may be better off putting the first $5.5k in a ROTH IRA and the excess retirement investment in the 401k.

You say 70% Mutual Fund, but pay attention to the stock/bond/cash mix of the mutual fund. You'll be limited in the 401k to what your employer uses, so expense ratio is more/less out of your hands. But you can still pick based upon the holding. I tend to favor the 60/35/5 area.

As I always say, find the mix you're most comfortable with. I recommend asking your advisor about the ROTH IRA and get his professional recommendation (much better than some guy on the internet).

 

Stocks (blue chip) & or 3/2 home rentals.

 

I came to read through all of your responses again. Really great advice from everyone here and I appreciate it. I don't know what I was thinking retiring at 40-50! I was probably planning to work a gov. engineering job with earlier retirement and have a couple rent homes.

Updates since then...

I still don't have a 401K or IRA, and have been buying a little stock with my excess money. I'll be graduating in May and I've actually accepted a job earning more than I expected, plus bonuses, pension and benefits, and right close to home! I couldn't be happier with how it worked out and don't need to stress over the career fair this year. I am waiting to begin work to start the retirement accounts.

I've also applied for and started using a credit card. The card is for gas only and other small expenses, and I'm keeping the utilization below 10% each month and paying it in full.

@hypnotoad, do I need to open that IRA before starting work? I wouldn't have much to contribute at the moment for that tax advantage.

Thanks again everyone!

 

Was bouncing thru posts and realized the question was for me haha. @Chopper678, you don't need to open a ROTH IRA before you start work but your contributions are capped at $5,500/year and you can only contribute if you're earning <$117k [source]. I would still encourage you to explore your options with a ROTH, the contributions are supposed to be small and the tax advantage for you is you pay the taxes now knowing you can take the principal out at any time for when you're ready for purchasing a home and you'll likely be in a higher tax bracket in the future.