@Svetlina There's nothing easy about this saving thing that's for sure.  What's hard for me is the fact that if I sign up, so to speak, for option one so much is out of my hands--hope I find a nice guy who can take care of me.  Or option two, forgo a family in order to have a little bit of control over my career and a little bit of my own savings.  I'd like to think that there's got to be other options say three, four and five that allows for some balance between option one and two.