Advice for a newbie

[Caniac4ever]

I have passed through here many times and have learned a great deal just reading and finding little things here and there that I can use. I'm at a place in my life now were I can start to do some saving/investing, so could use any advice anyone would have for me.

I recently paid off my loans and am debt free at 30. I own a reliable vehicle, rent a decent house for $650/month, and earn in the ballpark of $50k-$60k a year. My place of employment offers both a 403b plan and a 457b plan (no employer contribution) with the only options of having them through either Valic or Lincoln Financial. I have an emergency fund sitting in a Discover account earning 0.85% APY.

What would be the smart thing for me to do next? I'm not the smartest when it comes to investing and the like, but have done a fair amount of research and am slowly getting a grasp on some of it. However, I'm in need of some unbiased advice and by the looks of the posts on here, slipping over and signing up at my local Edward Jones isn't the smartest move. I am more than open to any suggestions on what and where to go from here... the more details the better!

 

[2035]

Welcome! I'm hardly an old pro, but I'd recommend sitting down with a fee-only financial advisor for a portfolio review. I'm a do-it-yourselfer, but plan to seek occasionally guidance around the 1/2 mill mark.

Also, I listen to Jill On Money, a fantastic podcast.


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[rodi]

An easy starter manual is the book "the Millionaire Teacher". Also, "The Wealthy Barber". Both are very readable and cover index fund investing, dollar cost averaging, etc... Once you've absorbed those, consider books like "The four pillars of investing".

With the retirement plans at work, look at the fees/loads and expense ratios associated with the funds. Small employers sometimes only offer funds with front or back loads, or very high expense ratios. (my husband's employer falls in this category.) If the funds are too crappy - you might want to do your investing in IRA or ROTH IRA accounts. The IRA is tax deferred - so depending on your tax rate - it might be a good option.

 

[dallas27]

Welcome! I'm hardly an old pro, but I'd recommend sitting down with a fee-only financial advisor for a portfolio review. I'm a do-it-yourselfer, but plan to seek occasionally guidance around the 1/2 mill mark.

Also, I listen to Jill On Money, a fantastic podcast.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

I don't think the OP has anything invested, yet.

 

[Walt34]

+1 on The Millionaire Teacher and Four Pillars of Investing. Add to those How a Second Grader Beat Wall Street, The Millionaire Next Door (a classic) and A Random Walk Down Wall Street.

Read and understand those and you will know more than most advisors, fee-only or otherwise. Then you can save the money for yourself.

 

[heeyy_joe]

Open a brokerage trading account. Invest in toilet paper.
KMB, PG & TIS are all good long term investments.

 

[REWahoo]

Open a brokerage trading account. Invest in toilet paper.

And risk being wiped out?

 

[aaronc879]

+1 on The Millionaire Teacher and Four Pillars of Investing. Add to those How a Second Grader Beat Wall Street, The Millionaire Next Door (a classic) and A Random Walk Down Wall Street.

Read and understand those and you will know more than most advisors, fee-only or otherwise. Then you can save the money for yourself.

Borrow those books from the library. Never buy them new. Since you get no match in your company retirement plan I would open a Roth IRA with Vanguard and max it out-$5500/yr. That's a good start. I don't know anything about Valic or Lincoln Financial. Look at the loads and expense ratios before investing. Only invest if there are no loads and expense ratio under 1%--lower the better. Good luck.

 

[rodi]

And risk being wiped out?

groan!

 

[REWahoo]

groan!

My work here is done...

 

[gauss]

My work here is done...

No job is done until the paper work is complete.....

 

[Caniac4ever]

Thank you very much for all of the thoughts and suggestions!