Compound interest rocks. It's money making money without you having to do anything. Those of you who were here a year or two back when we had the RV bank giving like 10% interest ended up with accounts with billions of dollars. If you are like me and totally suck at investing or don't have the time to do the research, you can put the the money into an index fund and forget about it.
There are roth ira accounts where the money you put in is already taxed, but all your money you earn in the account is tax free when you take it out. Currently the max you can put in is $4k a year, but imagine how much money you'll have if you just put in that $4k a year every year for like 30 years. Say you earn 8% a year on your investment. After the 30 years, you'll have almost $500k from the $120k you invested and it's all tax free. Play with the
compound interest calculator and see for yourself
In addition to the money you put into the roth ira, if you work at a company that offers a 401k and they do matching of funds, that is like instant free money for doing nothing. And that money is pre-tax, so by contributing into the account, you are paying less taxes now, and also giving you even more cash for it to compound and grow. Even if your work doesn't have a 401k, you can set up a regular ira and take advantage of keeping some money away from the tax man.
It's never too early to start thinking about your future. The earlier you start the more time the money has to compound and grow. With people predicting social security going broke and less and less companies offering pensions, it's all the more important that you do your own saving. If you think it sucks having no money now, imagine being broke when you are old and feeble.