There is nothing that aggravates me more than my student loan debt. I should have managed my money better when I was an undergraduate. I had a full time, paid internship and really didn’t need to take out loans – but I did.

Today I’m lucky enough to have a great paying job that allows me to make my monthly student loan payments – which are not small. They almost equal my rent payment which also isn’t small since I live in a great condo in downtown Fort Lauderdale a mile from the beach. Despite being able to make my loan payments, I’m always looking for ways to help ease them.

Most of the programs I have come across aren’t really meant to help. They encourage you to enroll in programs that reduce your payment but increase your interest rate – in other words they increase your debt under the guise of helping you. The only thing I’ve really come across that helps is SmarterBucks.

You know all those silly rewards and cash back programs you’re always hearing about? Well there’s now one where the reward is actual cash that is used to make a student loan payment for you.

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Looking through my bank statement is depressing. One of my goals for this year, my 26^th year on this earth, is to increase my savings. This goal is particularly challenging given the student loan debt I’ll be paying for the next decade, but I know saving for the future is important since I’d like to retire someday.

I’ve got a small 401K and roth IRA helping my cause, but really with the amount I put into them I won’t be retiring off of those savings any time soon. I think my IRA made me all of $72.00 last year – whoo, I might faint from that return on my investment. Then again, that’s $72 I didn’t have before, and I do love earning money from doing nothing.

I spend a lot of money at restaurants

Back to my bank statement though. I was just scrolling through my purchases and couldn’t help but notice I seem to spend the most amount of money on eating out at restaurants.

With each debit from my account I recall a fun dinner with my girlfriends and a delicious dinner with my boyfriend that we split. Those are events I don’t want to cut out of my life but that money would be better spent elsewhere.

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I recently receive a Beta invite for Binksty, a new online software solution that helps you manage your student loans. Because I will need to start paying off my own student loans in just a couple of months I decided to get it a test drive … and I have to say it is awesome! (To sign up yourself use the promo code ‘ZENtified’ and you’ll get in the door faster!)

I’ll admit, while I was accepting my student loans throughout college I didn’t think much about saving the important documentation or what it would be like to pay them off. So for me, the really cool thing about Binksty is that I didn’t need to enter any information about the specific loans during the sign up process; however, all my loans still populated in my account based on the information I did provide (social security number, address, etc.).

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It’s never too soon to start saving for your retirement. It may seem like the Golden Years are a lifetime away, but 30 is right around the corner. If you can start saving now, I highly recommend that you do.

So where do you begin?

Does your employer offer a matching program?

The first rule of thumb is to check with HR and find out if your employer offers a 401(k) and if they have a matching program. A matching program is where your employer will match whatever contribution you make to your fund. So, for example, if you add $200 per pay check, the company will also add $200 per paycheck, meaning $400 will be contributed to your 401(k). Some companies will only match the contribution if you reach a certain threshold. If that is the case, find out what the threshold is and try your hardest to meet it. After all, the money they match is essentially free money!

Just be sure to read all the fine print. When a company matches your funds they often add stipulations such as you must be with the company for X number of years otherwise they can take their money back when you quit, or you must not take money out of your 401(k) before retirement otherwise they can deduct their matched funds and so on.

What is the right amount to contribute?

If your company doesn’t have a threshold or if you simply aren’t sure what amount to contribute, I recommend the 75-20-5 rule:

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