A Balanced Financial Plan
Don't Ignore Any of the Classic Financial Planning Steps:
You've learned about safety, liquidity, and growth, but the element that can drastically effect your financial future is proper diversification
The Key Steps to Financial Freedom
Also take advantage of 401k plans with matching funds programs. Ensure you have an up to date will and as your situation warrants investigate the use of revocable and irrevocable trusts. If you would like to use a more in depth series of financial planning worksheets to chart you future, the Dept of Labor has an excellent set located at http://askebsa.dol.gov/SavingsFitness/Worksheets. If you register on their site you can save your data for up to a year.