For young people in their mid 20s, saving money can be an afterthought. Once car payments, insurance, gas and rent are paid, we often have barely enough cash left for a case of cheap beer and a sandwich on a Friday night. This doesn’t mean you have to forego saving money.

According to msn money, by saving just $2,000 a year for 40 years starting when you’re 25 (assuming 8% interest on savings, a virtual pipe dream this day and age) you’ll have over $560,000 by the time you turn 65. By starting at age 35 and saving for 30 years? That figure plummets to $245,000.

Here are a few simple tips to help you stop spending and start saving.

1. You Need Money to Save Money: Life would be better if we could start saving money without changing our lifestyles, but it’s not going to happen. You’re going to need to cut back if you want to be comfortable in your golden years. Start brown bagging it to save money on lunch, always buy generic brands at the supermarket and look into public transportation to ease high gas prices.

2. Save with Clicks, not Bricks: Taking out a savings account in the same bank that held your checking account used to be a matter of convenience, now it’s just foolish. While the state of the economy means you aren’t going to be getting good rates anywhere, the best rates available are all online. Banks like ING Direct operate solely online to avoid the overhead that traditional brick and mortar banks have to pay. This allows them to offer you a higher interest rate.

3. Don’t Get in Over Your Head: The trend is dying down, but several years ago every amateur investor and their brother decided that the quickest way to an easy dollar was through day-trading; making short term stock purchases, hoping the share price went up, and dumping as soon as they made a slight profit. Take a look at the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial average. Stock prices are floundering and you’re no Gordon Gekko, so put down the etrade account and leave the trading to Warren Buffett.

4. Look for an IRA with an Employer Match: IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) are a great way to save money. The cash is taken out of your paycheck pre-tax where it is allowed to sit and collect interest until you finally hit retirement age. Many companies have programs where they will match your contribution up to a certain percentage of your overall pay (usually 1-2%). IRA’s aren’t sexy, but there is no better way to prepare for your future.

5. Don’t do it Unless You’re Ready: There are a startling number of Americans who are currently riddled with horrible debt. If you’re one of them, there is a better than average chance that the money you’re earning on interest with your savings is less than the money you’re paying in interest on your debts. Before you start saving make you're credit-card debt free.

In an ideal world, everyone would start saving by the time they’re 25, put more and more into an IRA, create college funds for their children, and be able to retire at the age of 65 to 70. Of course, real people have credit card debt, car payments, student loan payments and mortgages. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t start putting a little money away in advance. After all it is your future.