What all you guys got?
A couple years ago I decided to quit being a consumer and learned to save 60% of my take home and maxed out my contributions to my 401k and IRA. I read a book by John C. Bogle, founder of Vanguard - its like the credit union of brokerage accounts - and never looked back.
I have friends that are financial 'advisers' that really aren't anyone's fiduciary and really are just salesmen, that preach time and time again to select a dozen or stocks and apparently try to time the market or figure out a formula on how to select these stocks.
What they don't understand and what Mr. Bogle hit on the head is that no one can time the market and no one can beat it. What we do know is to expect the US economy as a whole to increase gradually every year (there will be outliers but generally since the inception of the market this is true) so the best way to invest it is to attempt to match the market, not beat it.
I have all my retirement funds, and my $$ in brokerage accounts all sitting in low cost index funds that emulate the US economy (and a global fund) each around .20% expense ratio. I have 12 months of emergency fund built up inside high-yield savings accounts (american express bank) and am gradually rolling it over into I-Bonds to protect it from inflation (max 10k/year and can't withdraw anything the first year). I am allergic to credit card interest and annual fees.
What I don't have is hardly any material possessions, cable tv, brand new clothes, a vehicle (incredibly easy to do in a metropolitan area), don't eat out much, and cook everything from scratch. Any object I have serves a purpose or it gets donated. JayhawkSlant and Netflix are the only subscriptions I have outside of utilities/internet.
It's a lifestyle difficult/impossible for a lot of people but not really all that hard. I enjoy spending time at the library instead of ordering a book from amazon. Repairing or building something passes the time and keeps me from spending money somewhere else.
A friend of mine managed to save $10k and only makes $30k/year (where I live housing is really expensive unless you live in an area with open air drug markets and shootings). I make way more than he does but we are the same age (37) and will both retire retire early and live off of passive investment income, me likely way earlier, but he won't be 70 years old, still paying off 2 brand new lexuses in the driveway with an oversized house filled with crap that collects dust, struggling to meet the mortgage and credit card bills each month, waiting to collect a government mandated amount of money each month, if it even exists (SS).
The book I read was 'The little book of common sense investing' the first chapter is a five minute read and sums everything up without going into detail. I recommend you all go to a library and check it out if you're actively interested in saving and investing money, regardless of age.
A couple years ago I decided to quit being a consumer and learned to save 60% of my take home and maxed out my contributions to my 401k and IRA. I read a book by John C. Bogle, founder of Vanguard - its like the credit union of brokerage accounts - and never looked back.
I have friends that are financial 'advisers' that really aren't anyone's fiduciary and really are just salesmen, that preach time and time again to select a dozen or stocks and apparently try to time the market or figure out a formula on how to select these stocks.
What they don't understand and what Mr. Bogle hit on the head is that no one can time the market and no one can beat it. What we do know is to expect the US economy as a whole to increase gradually every year (there will be outliers but generally since the inception of the market this is true) so the best way to invest it is to attempt to match the market, not beat it.
I have all my retirement funds, and my $$ in brokerage accounts all sitting in low cost index funds that emulate the US economy (and a global fund) each around .20% expense ratio. I have 12 months of emergency fund built up inside high-yield savings accounts (american express bank) and am gradually rolling it over into I-Bonds to protect it from inflation (max 10k/year and can't withdraw anything the first year). I am allergic to credit card interest and annual fees.
What I don't have is hardly any material possessions, cable tv, brand new clothes, a vehicle (incredibly easy to do in a metropolitan area), don't eat out much, and cook everything from scratch. Any object I have serves a purpose or it gets donated. JayhawkSlant and Netflix are the only subscriptions I have outside of utilities/internet.
It's a lifestyle difficult/impossible for a lot of people but not really all that hard. I enjoy spending time at the library instead of ordering a book from amazon. Repairing or building something passes the time and keeps me from spending money somewhere else.
A friend of mine managed to save $10k and only makes $30k/year (where I live housing is really expensive unless you live in an area with open air drug markets and shootings). I make way more than he does but we are the same age (37) and will both retire retire early and live off of passive investment income, me likely way earlier, but he won't be 70 years old, still paying off 2 brand new lexuses in the driveway with an oversized house filled with crap that collects dust, struggling to meet the mortgage and credit card bills each month, waiting to collect a government mandated amount of money each month, if it even exists (SS).
The book I read was 'The little book of common sense investing' the first chapter is a five minute read and sums everything up without going into detail. I recommend you all go to a library and check it out if you're actively interested in saving and investing money, regardless of age.
