The Only 5 Things You Need To Know About Investing

[RDS]

Financial salesmen make you lose big. **** all of them. Instead do your own homework.

The vast majority of financial products are sold by people whose only interest in your wealth is the amount of fees they can sucker you out of.

Read more: If You Only Know 5 Things About Investing, Make It These

 

[Cardinal]

Warren Buffett is a great investor, but what makes him rich is that he's been a great investor for two thirds of a century. Of his current $60 billion net worth, $59.7 billion was added after his 50th birthday, and $57 billion came after his 60th.

I've always said that the first $300,000,000 is the hardest.

 

[molten_dragon]

There's some decent advice in there. The first point is the most important I think. I'm glad my parents taught me to pay myself first. My wife and I both commit 10% of our income to a 401(k). We didn't start immediately when we started working (we had college loans to pay off) but we started within 5 years, so we'll have a good long time to build up a nice nest egg for retirement. It's especially important to start contributing if your company offers 401(k) matching. That's free money. Who doesn't want free money?

 

[ChuckBerry]

I've always said that the first $300,000,000 is the hardest.

No kidding, the article implies that no one would know who Buffet is if he got started investing in his thirties. Horse****. He'd be merely fabulously rich rather than insanely rich, and still highly regarded for his wisdom.

That said, no doubt that if you start early you're better off. As of this morning I have $99,397.18 in my 401(k), with at least 20 years to go til my retirement (probably more like 25). Started pretty late (age 30) and stupidly took a pension disbursement at one employer and spent it, I bet that's going to cost me $100,000 ultimately when I go to retire (it was about $10,000)

 

[Cardinal]

No kidding, the article implies that no one would know who Buffet is if he got started investing in his thirties. Horse****. He'd be merely fabulously rich rather than insanely rich, and still highly regarded for his wisdom.

That said, no doubt that if you start early you're better off. As of this morning I have $99,397.18 in my 401(k), with at least 20 years to go til my retirement (probably more like 25). Started pretty late (age 30) and stupidly took a pension disbursement at one employer and spent it, I bet that's going to cost me $100,000 ultimately when I go to retire (it was about $10,000)

I got started even later (mid thirties) because I'm an artist and "artists" and "investing" aren't two words that usually go together. But they are now, for me at any rate, and I'm just cramming every damn penny into my sep-ira that I can deduct. Although mid-thirties is rather late to start, on the plus side artists never retire, per se.