hello! fellow 18 y/o barista here. i’ll give you a little insight on what i do with my paycheck.

I personally only have the IRA through starbucks, and put 5% of my paycheck (pretax!) in there per pay period. My reasoning with this low amount is that there are more immediate things that Ill need to pay for (college, apartment lease, car repairs, emergency fund, etc). I’d rather have more money accessible now.

HOWEVER, my banks savings account interest rate is absolute shit (0.01%). That means that the money is quickly losing value as it sits there waiting to be used. So, i looked around and found one that has a much higher interest rate (2.15% or something). This means that my money (though still losing some value) is a) accessible, and b) not depreciating as quickly as if it were in my home banks savings account.

Look around because each bank has a different advantage. Some of the major ones are Discover, Amex, SoFi.

While i’m not familiar with the starbucks specific savings account you’re talking about, i wouldn’t tie yourself to the company like that if you’re planning on changing jobs any time soon. It’s best to keep things as simple as possible.

Also also, look into getting a student credit card since you seem to be very money focused. build that credit by putting 30% of the credit limit on the card and paying it off immediately at the end of the month. Discover has a HYSA and one of the best student cards around.

I put $50 a check since it opened, and i cant see that money on my fidelity on my account, ima just give it time and see whats going on. i know that if you want the full $250 "bonus" you would need to be in the program for 1.5 years.

put your money in high yield savings account so you at least get some interest,

if you're 18 put at least the match into the roth 401k (my match is 5%),

(look into a roth ira to invest for your retirement.

i put 30% of my check into my roth 401k since my cost of living is low. (no car etc).