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The single most important thing you need in your financial life is excellent credit. Do you have a credit card yet? If not, get one, and then another one, and then another one. 3 is a good number of active credit cards to have. And never, ever, miss a single payment. Thank me later.
The single most important thing you need in your financial life is excellent credit. Do you have a credit card yet? If not, get one, and then another one, and then another one. 3 is a good number of active credit cards to have. And never, ever, miss a single payment. Thank me later.
Don't listen to this... Excellent credit is nice but it's more important to have cash in hand.
Sounds like you on the right track...start those retirement plans, and saving up a nest egg for car repairs, house down-payment, emergencies.
Next: spend some of that money and travel!...you guys are young and on a stable financial footing. Get out and see the world before you get married, have kids and have to spend weekends mowing the lawn. You can do it on the cheap and have alot of fun.
You are doing great! The only two things I have on you are my retirement savings ($11K+ in Roth 401K/IRA) and my income is higher ($4200/month). But I am 25 and would love to have the savings you have!
Open up a Roth IRA so that you can contribute post tax dollars into a retirement account to grow tax free. At your age, and especially at the current tax rates, you are more likely to pay more in taxes once you collect your retirement. I am not sure what the 403B is either but an IRA account is pretty much necessary for when you get older anyway, so may as well start now even if you don't contribute to it if you're focused on the 403B.
I first want to start out and say that this message board is very interesting and insightful. The members of this forum really put forth and effort to give personal strategy and advice, and I am very appreciative of all your help.
I also want to mention that I am very 'financially basic', AKA I really don't know a lot... But I am very interested and dedicate to learn!
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I am a soon to be 25 year old Registered Nurse, working in step down ICU at a hospital.
I am single guy (with a girlfriend who I could see myself spending the rest of my life with), living in an apartment with my 24 year old roommate. I have no debt. I drive a 2008 vehicle with only 56k miles on it.
My salary is $33.43/hr. I roughly make around ~ $1400 every two weeks, working as a 0.7 FTE.
Set Expenses:
Rent: $954 (/2): $477 + $40 parking: $517
Cable/Internet: $98 (/2): $49
Electricity: Varies as seasons change, never higher than $60 thus far, so let's keep $60/month
Gym: $29.99/month
Cell Phone: $62/month
Misc: Hard to gauge. Varies, but I'm not a huge spender/splurger.
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I love my job and life currently, but I know that in the future expenses will be greater when I say, own a home with kids, etc. Am I looking for a house now? No. Maybe in two years or so.
But I'd like to know what advice or things I should do now to help make retirement easier as I continue to grow up and develop as me.
My work offers an 403b (which I am finally getting around to learning in the next few weeks). It is something like they will match ~3% (like I said, I am stupid in this department and will learn more) while also offering a sort of 'defined' match once I am vested or something in that nature.
I am wondering, what could I do now to speed up the process? I don't know ANYTHING other than CD's.. and I know they give you paltry returns, so I am interested in learning about something with greater returns. Do I have the funds currently to take part in something else?
I'd like to think I am doing alright since I have a stable job with zero debt. I don't know how much money I'm supposed to 'have' at this age. I don't think there is a specific number, but I hope I am doing well.
Am I on the right path? What do I need to know? Yes, I AM stupid here, and am looking for any advice on how to make my financial future easier / comfortable.
Not contributing to retirement accounts is unwise. You will never get that tax-advantaged space back. If you contribute nothing now, you cannot "make up for it" later by contributing more, the IRS max amount you can contribute per year still applies.
Also, don't keep more than 6 months living expenses in cash unless you are going to buy a car soon. You are losing out on quite a lot of potential dividends and capital growth by doing so.
Finally, as for a house, don't buy one unless it is priced at less than 100 times your monthly rent. And never fall victim to the consumerist temptation to increase the size of your living space beyond 300-400 sqft per person. Anything more is a waste of money.
Then you are on track to a wonderful financial future! (Of course, don't forget health and disability insurance - these are important...)
Sounds like you on the right track...start those retirement plans, and saving up a nest egg for car repairs, house down-payment, emergencies.
Next: spend some of that money and travel!...you guys are young and on a stable financial footing. Get out and see the world before you get married, have kids and have to spend weekends mowing the lawn. You can do it on the cheap and have alot of fun.
Not everyone likes travel that much - don't be so presumptuous! I also encourage people not to travel too much because it increases your carbon footprint tremendously, especially air travel. I would probably never fly more than 20,000 miles a year even if I had a billion dollars and wanted to explore, because my conscience won't allow it. Climate problem is too urgent...
The single most important thing you need in your financial life is excellent credit. Do you have a credit card yet? If not, get one, and then another one, and then another one. 3 is a good number of active credit cards to have. And never, ever, miss a single payment. Thank me later.
No, the single best thing you can do is live your life in such a way that you don't even need a credit score at all, because you don't borrow money.
If you want something expensive, scrimp and save. And if houses are so expensive you can't save for them in 5 or 10 years, just rent and invest the difference in growth stock mutual funds. You will come out ahead in the long run. Ahead of the people who think you can't live without borrowing money!!!
You will thank ME later - not anyone who thinks you should play the debt game.
Really? How so? So stifling commerce will change this??
Not commerce in general - just the high-emissions sectors of the economy. Air travel is one of the worst. To be fair, though, coal-to-liquids processing is worse still.
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