Have you looked into opening a simple Brokerage Account? then invest monthly payments into the S&P500 or Nasdaq. I would invest as much as you are comfortable with to really benefit from compound interest. When it comes to a 401k, I am a contrarian and really think 401k are a scam, I call a 401k a Life Deferral Plan...you can't touch that money until you are 59.5, you still end up paying taxes on them, just later on in life. And in my opinion, taxes will only go up from here as well. With a brokerage account and automatic monthly transfers into the S&P or Nasdaq, that money is there and can accessed whenever you want (although should be kept for retirement age if that's your goal). If one day you decide to invest in RE instead, you have that money at your fingertip.