Congratulations on starting so young!
Look into a Roth IRA v/s traditional IRA. Your local library is a great resource!
If you have a 401-K, it makes sense to at least match your employers contribution.
And...there's nothing that says you can't stash away and invest after tax $s in a taxable account.
My taxable accounts are much larger than my tax-deferred ones.
When I started investing (For me it was when I turned 30), I selected 3 of mutual funds (large domestic, international, short term bond) and enrolled in an automatic investment plan with direct deduction from my bank account. It was the best thing I did. I never saw that money and it grew very nicely over the years.
Read a good investment book like William Bernstein's 4 pillars & pick a good asset mix and funds to support it and do the Automatic Investment.