Hey,
I have a few questions about setting up a good financial plan. Personal finance or money management has never been a real strong point in my skill set; but seeing my parents retire with almost no savings was a real wake up call. I've started reading some books, rich dad poor dad, automatic millionaire and a few others. This has led to so many investment options I feel a bit overwhelmed. Especially since I'm still constantly trying to focus on my career at the same time. Most my time is dedicated to learning new materials to better myself to increase my income, I'm a graphic and web designer; this leaves me with little time to keep up with the market or be some avid day trader or become a real estate investor.
I'm 28years old, current salary is 60k, I have 401k at my company and I do the full 6% they match. I have a Orange savings account I auto-save to as well monthly. But in terms of other mutual funds or investments, nothing. I don't have day to day spending, except public transportation. I cover half the mortgage with my brother and food/utilities. I also have a monthly car payment and student loans; after everything I still have roughly $500-700 left in my account.
After doing some research I'm thinking of just opening a Vanguard account. I've read some advice against this notion, advising to avoid investing until my emergency fund is covered or until I have more cash on hand. But with the market being so low, I feel like I'm going to miss this opportunity to buy.
sorry for the long paragraph, I'm just trying to provide a clear scenario of the situation. But going with the above information, What direction would you take? would you focus on paying the car and student loan off before investing? or spread everything out? What form of investments would you consider? Mutual funds? ETF's? or just focus on certain companies and build a portfolio on my own slowly? or should I just stick with whatever I'm doing currently, focusing on 401k, saving to my MMA.
Thanks in advance.
I have a few questions about setting up a good financial plan. Personal finance or money management has never been a real strong point in my skill set; but seeing my parents retire with almost no savings was a real wake up call. I've started reading some books, rich dad poor dad, automatic millionaire and a few others. This has led to so many investment options I feel a bit overwhelmed. Especially since I'm still constantly trying to focus on my career at the same time. Most my time is dedicated to learning new materials to better myself to increase my income, I'm a graphic and web designer; this leaves me with little time to keep up with the market or be some avid day trader or become a real estate investor.
I'm 28years old, current salary is 60k, I have 401k at my company and I do the full 6% they match. I have a Orange savings account I auto-save to as well monthly. But in terms of other mutual funds or investments, nothing. I don't have day to day spending, except public transportation. I cover half the mortgage with my brother and food/utilities. I also have a monthly car payment and student loans; after everything I still have roughly $500-700 left in my account.
After doing some research I'm thinking of just opening a Vanguard account. I've read some advice against this notion, advising to avoid investing until my emergency fund is covered or until I have more cash on hand. But with the market being so low, I feel like I'm going to miss this opportunity to buy.
sorry for the long paragraph, I'm just trying to provide a clear scenario of the situation. But going with the above information, What direction would you take? would you focus on paying the car and student loan off before investing? or spread everything out? What form of investments would you consider? Mutual funds? ETF's? or just focus on certain companies and build a portfolio on my own slowly? or should I just stick with whatever I'm doing currently, focusing on 401k, saving to my MMA.
Thanks in advance.
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