I second what people have said about 401ks and Roth IRAs. I would add that Vanguard Target Retirement mutual funds are the best for investors who don't know what they're doing; these are index funds with low fees, and they readjust themselves, so they're more forgiving of novice mistakes.

First off, set up a budget. Figure out your expense and your salary. Anything left over-well, contribute up to $5,500 into a ROTH IRA each year, Buy a stock like AT&T, reinvest the dividend and leave it alone.

when you set up a budget you set aside what bills you know you have to pay, then allow yourself some spending money, carefully, and anything left can go into savings

If you are still living at home 50%

If you are not paying rent, maybe save 50% for now. (IDK what your bills are.) You can earn more interest on your savings by putting some in CD's - Certificates of Deposits - as you accumulate cash you will not need for a while.

>> just read your comments. if you are faithful at 20% that is good.

Most of it, since it earns interest and your checking account does not, despite that the interest earned these days is pitiful. Check what kind of a checking account you have. There is usually a minimum amount you need to leave there to not be charged a monthly fee. Best to go into the bank and get the brochure that explains the various accounts they have and do what you need to do to not be charged a monthly service charge. Those add up rapidly.

There is no reason to have a savings account.

Interest is less than 1% and you can usually get the same interest with a checking account.

Bank of America has a free money management program created by the Khan Academy. You should go through it to start learning the basics. Then read Money magazine, Smart Money magazine and the Wall Street Journal for personal financae.

First, you need to join a credit union and close your bank accounts. Second, figure out all of your bills for the month. If you have credit cards you need to pay them off in full every month. If you can't pay then off then you're living beyond your means and throwing away money you haven't earned yet. You should not use them. It might take 2 months to figure this out. Once you have that number then you need to add $100 to it as a safety net. Every dollar over that amount should go into savings. Better yet, investments. I can't help you there because I didn't invest outside of my 2 pensions. I have been debt-free for 12 years and haven't paid interest or a fee on a credit card for 30 years.

You do not say what other expenses you have, Assuming that you do not have a car payment but do have a personal car you have insurance payments. If you are driving over the road and are out for long periods of time, you should not have a large rent / utilities cost for your home.

You will have living expenses on the road, including food and depending on the company the cost of parking at truck stops, There are also costs for laundry and things like showers at many truck stops.

One thing to look into is a gym membership. Planet fitness has a $20 a month membership that allows you to use their facilities at any location, and even if you just use them for showers you will save money over the cost of truck stops. If possible try to purchase at least some of your food at grocery stores rather than at restaurants or truck stops.

Look at your regular expenses and see where you are spending more money. You should try to transfer at least 50% of the money not used for regular expenses into savings. If you are bringing home $900 and your living expenses are $250 that means that you should put at least $325 into savings.

You may not want to spend your entire life on the road, so having the savings will allow you more options in the future

after you pay all your regular bills, transfer 75 % of the remainder from checking to savings on the SAME DAY each month, keeping some as emergency reserve for unexpected expenses, and be sure your bank is PAYING YOU INTEREST on the savings balance. Some banks also pay interest on CHECKING balances--ask at the bank.