Save up a sum of money. Open a fidelity investment account. Fidelity does not have a minimum balance account requirement. Learn a bit about no fee index funds. These are low price per share but offer the benefit of investing in the whole stock market. Things like Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund or Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund. These types of funds give you a broad investment profile with low price and reduced risk. Continue to add money to your investment account on a regular schedule. Do NOT take money from the account to buy luxuries. The benefit you have at age 18 of being in the market is time. Any amount of money you have in the market for an extra 10 years will grow leaps and bounds more than you would be able to afford to put in directly. You can also look to set up a Roth IRA for your retirement as well. You can put up to $6,500 per year into a Roth IRA account and invest it. Do this early and often and let the money grow and future you will be living a comfortable life. I am not a fiduciary and talk to your family before you listen to an internet stranger, but this is what I do/did and my retirement should be fairly comfortable. Good luck and have fun.