23 years old and ready to invest. Please help.

Well, depending on his circumstances the first thing he may want to do is investigate whether he’d be better served finding an employer that offers retirement benefits. Employer match on pretax income going into a 401k or IRA adds up.

If he is working as a contractor or is placed in a situation where he’s earning significantly more than other employers offering benefits are paying, then he can simply open his own account with any of the big brokerage firms, buy into an index fund monthy, and fight the urge to tinker.

quote:

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but what does broad market ETF mean?

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One that follows the Dow, S&P, etc..


Tell him to feed VTSAX and forget about it for 30 years.

I wish someone had instilled in me at 23 that keeping your cost of living down is a huge help to retiring earlier/better. If he can put the max into a Roth IRA each year and any more into a brokerage, he wouldn't realize he's missing the money and live on what he has left over each paycheck. This isn't necessarily what to invest in, but a mentality I wish I had at that age. I started really focusing on this 3 years ago (when I was 35). Every raise my wife and I have gotten since then, I've increased the amount we put into a brokerage account and it's growing really well. Just wish I had started earlier in life.

EFTs

SCHD

VOO

Our third child is 23 .. the older ones have saved for a while but this last one is a girl and well, she likes stuff.

However she now is required to put I think 7 or 9% into her retirement and the employer matches; 4 more years and she’ll be fully vested (requires 5).

She doesn’t make a ton of money but she also puts $100 into a Roth.

I’m pretty proud of what we’ve instilled into our kids financially.