What is the ideal financial progress for anyone?

[Fishindude77]

A few opinions:

Live someplace the cost of living is reasonable. It's near impossible to get ahead in some high cost of living metro areas.

You need a good job for starters with good pay, good health insurance and a good 401K retirement plan. Go to work someplace where you like and trust management and where you believe there is opportunity for long term growth, then stick it out. I do not agree with the concept of jumping around job to job every time a few more dollars are waved in front of you.

Max out your 401K retirement plan or save at least 10% of your income in it.

Buy a house way cheaper than the max they will loan you, do a 15 year fixed loan with at least 20% down payment and get the place paid off soon as possible. Stay there and fix it up to your liking.

Don't borrow money against your house on a home equity line and put it back at risk.

Don't borrow money for cars, pay cash.

Only use a credit card if you can pay it off every month.

Get a side gig going with excess cash to generate more income and build wealth; rental property, your own business, etc.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

investing in a car, house, insurance etc.

Just a little reminder-- When investing, one hopes for a profit. Getting a car, a house, and insurance is usually more a type of spending than investing.

Otherwise, we might speak of "investing" in a haircut, a snow blower, a kitchen table, a movie room for the house.

[bjl584]

I don't think there is an ideal way or answer. We all make mistakes, and we all can tell a story about how we should have done something different.

Taking a broad approach of living below my means and saving and investing on a regular basis has worked well for me.

[Nika]

I always cringe when someone says "investing in a car". It is only an investment if you have a fair chance to expect that a car will go up in value as years go by. Very few do (some classic cars, and that is a risky investment and is only for those who can afford to lose that money). Otherwise, a car is just a purchase, not an investment.

Insurance is something you buy to protect your investments, or your family. It is not an investment in itself.

So the only item on your list that goes under investment category is the house.

Also, I would consider some mutual funds, especially inside tax-advantageous retirement accounts.

[Jovanny]

Why don't you consider opening a savings account with a credit union? They offer really good savings options and other perks. I have my account with Greater Central Texas Federal Credit Union.

[snafu]

Smart people create a plan for themselves. At the end of each year they write out a statement of their Net Worth [tons of examples on-line] and set goals for the upcoming year. If you are just starting your career and income, I suggest that you live within your means by dividing your income into standard segments...pay yourself 1st, 20% to savings, 50% to needs accommodation/utilities/food/transportation/clothes [for example], 30% to 'wants' including entertainment, fun, vacation, [non essentials].

There are lots of critical points to establish now that will avoid serious financial mistakes that are really tough to overcome in the future. The point is to be in control of your money so that money doesn't control what you can and cannot do in the future. Step 2 is to establish an Emergency Fund. Life throws challenges and the security of having a minimum of $ 1,000. in an easily accessed, savings account gives you something most people don't have.

In my opinion avoiding paying interest is incredibly important particularly for consumables. If you don't pay your CC balances by their due date, your are paying interest for gas long used up, meals and entertainment enjoyed weeks or months ago, clothes you rarely wear or electronic toys that become obsolete etc.

[FLA]

Taking a broad approach of living below my means and saving and investing on a regular basis has worked well for me.

me, too. And the thing that worked out the absolute best was starting out at 22 paying 10% (or more as the years went on) into my 403B and Roth IRA. Paying myself first was always how it went.

Wanted a house? Had to be below my means so I could keep saving. And this was 150k less than what the bank said I could "afford". Wanted a car? again had to have zero effect on my savings bottom line. And I saved hard for those two things first so I had large deposits to put down. My car payments had to be below $200 and be able to pay it off in less than 2 yrs. I made mistakes, like buying a Prius that was going to take me an extra year to pay off and it got totaled before I could break even on high cost vs great mileage. But I learned from that stuff and it wasn't disastrous.

when you live below your means, to me, life is much more pleasant and you know you are making your future that much easier.