Jay Bazzinotti, No one is perfect... but I am as close as you can get without a prescription ;-) I am a frustrated writer and storyteller. I love the quote from Edward Everett Hale, the famous Boston gadfly. He said "I am but one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something and I will not let what I cannot do stop me from doing what I can do.".
526 upvotes by Matthew Lengenfelder, Viola Yee, Achmad Gazza Putra, (more)
Here's a thing that my financial adviser told me that I have never forgotten and tell every young person I can:
When it comes to saving for the future or for retirement, all of the money you earn in interest is made in the early years of your life, not the final ones, and you can never make up for that later.
You have an amazing advantage at your age -- time to take advantage of the compounding of interest. DON'T BLOW IT.
You can make a small sacrifice and still enjoy your life today. By making small sacrifices you can save 500 dollars a month. In the meantime you should be contributing to your IRA and 401K or other responsible retirement vehicle. You will still have money to blow on toys and if you do nothing else, save that 500 dollars a month. Save it in a Vanguard no-load S&P index fund and save it whether the market goes up or the market goes down. The beauty of the Vanguard S&P fund is that over the kind of time you are speaking of, nothing has beaten it as an investment. It does not require much, if any balancing. (when you turn 50 convert half the funds to S&P index bond funds) You don't have to watch it constantly. Just keep that money flowing into it every single month and you will have almost a million dollars saved in addition to any other retirement vehicle by the time you are 65. You should review the right funds with your accountant but look at VLGSX, VTMSX and VTTHX if you are too lazy and just want to get on with it. You will not lose over time, unless the world comes to an end or the US collapses.
You WILL get old one day and when you do you will need money -- lots of money. And 40 years from now the world is going to be a MUCH harsher place than it is now. You really need to prepare for that.
If you want, look up the "Rule of 72" and see how compounding works for you.If there was nothing else I could tell you, it would be these things. Don't wait -- time is not your friend. You will forget the silk shirt you buy today, but you will never forget being forced to eat dog food when you are 65. At 8 percent interest, which is what Vanguard funds I selected pay out over 20 years, the doubling period is 9 years, therefore, that 6000 dollars you invest at 21 would double 5 times by the time you are 65 to $192,000. If you wait til you are 30 to start putting it away you will lose $96,000. Obviously YMMV because the market goes up and down, but it's A LOT of money.
EVERY SINGLE THING YOU DO TODAY IS PREPARING YOU FOR THE LIFE YOU WILL LIVE TOMORROW.
When it comes to saving for the future or for retirement, all of the money you earn in interest is made in the early years of your life, not the final ones, and you can never make up for that later.
You have an amazing advantage at your age -- time to take advantage of the compounding of interest. DON'T BLOW IT.
You can make a small sacrifice and still enjoy your life today. By making small sacrifices you can save 500 dollars a month. In the meantime you should be contributing to your IRA and 401K or other responsible retirement vehicle. You will still have money to blow on toys and if you do nothing else, save that 500 dollars a month. Save it in a Vanguard no-load S&P index fund and save it whether the market goes up or the market goes down. The beauty of the Vanguard S&P fund is that over the kind of time you are speaking of, nothing has beaten it as an investment. It does not require much, if any balancing. (when you turn 50 convert half the funds to S&P index bond funds) You don't have to watch it constantly. Just keep that money flowing into it every single month and you will have almost a million dollars saved in addition to any other retirement vehicle by the time you are 65. You should review the right funds with your accountant but look at VLGSX, VTMSX and VTTHX if you are too lazy and just want to get on with it. You will not lose over time, unless the world comes to an end or the US collapses.
You WILL get old one day and when you do you will need money -- lots of money. And 40 years from now the world is going to be a MUCH harsher place than it is now. You really need to prepare for that.
If you want, look up the "Rule of 72" and see how compounding works for you.If there was nothing else I could tell you, it would be these things. Don't wait -- time is not your friend. You will forget the silk shirt you buy today, but you will never forget being forced to eat dog food when you are 65. At 8 percent interest, which is what Vanguard funds I selected pay out over 20 years, the doubling period is 9 years, therefore, that 6000 dollars you invest at 21 would double 5 times by the time you are 65 to $192,000. If you wait til you are 30 to start putting it away you will lose $96,000. Obviously YMMV because the market goes up and down, but it's A LOT of money.
EVERY SINGLE THING YOU DO TODAY IS PREPARING YOU FOR THE LIFE YOU WILL LIVE TOMORROW.
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