- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Help a young buck become a savvy investor
Posted on 10/30/14 at 9:49 am
Posted on 10/30/14 at 9:49 am
I've rarely posted here. I'm 24 years old and just 6 months removed from college and into the professional world. I'm trying to start saving now and want to sstart buying stocks.
Right now, I get paid $1,300 every 2 weeks after taxes. I live with my parents now so I don't pay rent, and my car is paid off, no student loans. So monthly expenses are minimal (gas, groceries, insurance). I've been experimenting with whatto put into savings each check, and right now I do about $800. I've found that I spend just about everything I don't put into savings, just bad habits. I've saved up a lot though. I'm going to open a Roth IRA at the end of the year, and put in $5,500 then start having money taken out monthly, to his the 6000 limit next year. I can't put money into my company's 401k yet.
So I'm thinking about investing in stocks. Start small and take $100 a paycheck and put it towards an investing account. Get my feet wet, learn a little on my own, and plus it would be a better way to spend my money than on the random purchases I currently burn through. Is this smart or should I go through a personal investor? Also, what site should I use to buy stocks and such?
Forgive me if I'm a noob and asking dumb questions, I really don't know much. Just trying to learn.
Right now, I get paid $1,300 every 2 weeks after taxes. I live with my parents now so I don't pay rent, and my car is paid off, no student loans. So monthly expenses are minimal (gas, groceries, insurance). I've been experimenting with whatto put into savings each check, and right now I do about $800. I've found that I spend just about everything I don't put into savings, just bad habits. I've saved up a lot though. I'm going to open a Roth IRA at the end of the year, and put in $5,500 then start having money taken out monthly, to his the 6000 limit next year. I can't put money into my company's 401k yet.
So I'm thinking about investing in stocks. Start small and take $100 a paycheck and put it towards an investing account. Get my feet wet, learn a little on my own, and plus it would be a better way to spend my money than on the random purchases I currently burn through. Is this smart or should I go through a personal investor? Also, what site should I use to buy stocks and such?
Forgive me if I'm a noob and asking dumb questions, I really don't know much. Just trying to learn.
5
Posted on 10/30/14 at 9:51 am to Tigerfan56
Go to vanguard . com
Buy as much VTSMX as you can every month
Be happy
Buy as much VTSMX as you can every month
Be happy
This post was edited on 10/30/14 at 9:51 am
Posted on 10/30/14 at 10:54 am to Tigerfan56
Stay at home as long as you can. Save save save. Invest invest invest.
Posted on 10/30/14 at 11:06 am to Tigerfan56
quote:
So I'm thinking about investing in stocks. Start small and take $100 a paycheck and put it towards an investing account. Get my feet wet, learn a little on my own, and plus it would be a better way to spend my money than on the random purchases I currently burn through. Is this smart or should I go through a personal investor? Also, what site should I use to buy stocks and such?
If you are only going to be doing $100 per month, you'll get killed with trading fees if you buy individual stocks using most sites.
For what you are talking about, if you don't go with an index fund, you might want to look into loyal3.com. You can invest smaller amounts and its commission free (the catch is that your trades aren't real time and the selection is limited to stocks supported by the platform, although there are many good choices that are supported).
I have my "real" account elsewhere, but I started using Loyal3 sort of as an experiment on myself to see how much money I could save without really noticing it. I have about $150 a month being invested automatically, and then I probably do another $100 or so each month as one-time investments (for instance, anytime I don't have to pay for a meal I'll invest $10 or $25 instead).
This post was edited on 10/30/14 at 11:07 am
Posted on 10/30/14 at 12:10 pm to Tigerfan56
@OP - save as much as you can and then try to save more than that. Put it into an index fund and then forget about it.
But at this stage of life the more important thing is to boost your income as much as possible.
But at this stage of life the more important thing is to boost your income as much as possible.
Posted on 10/30/14 at 5:02 pm to Tigerfan56
At OP - I was where you are about 4 years ago and wondering the same thing. Should I pick my own stocks, experiment, start small? I had lots of questions on what to do and honestly made it more difficult than it needs to be. Just keep it simple. Open a Roth IRA with Vanguard, Fidelity, or some other low cost broker, buy a target fund or total market fund and feed it every month until you max out for the year. I use Vanguard and their minimum is $1000 for one of the target funds. Join your company's 401k as soon as your able and put in at least enough to get the company match (more if you can).
Stock picking sounds cool but in reality it's extremely difficult to beat the market and you're better off buying an index fund.
Stock picking sounds cool but in reality it's extremely difficult to beat the market and you're better off buying an index fund.
Page 1 of 1
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News