22 Year Old Living in New York City

[CoffeeMoney]

Hello all,

I am happy to have found this site today. It looks like there is a very nice community here and I have a lot of browsing and learning to do.

I am 22 years old college graduate now working in Finance I.T. for over 1.5 years. I want to make sound financial decisions and avoid debt at all cost. Even though I am young, I want to make sure I make proper investments towards retirement before it's too late. With compounding and interest rate returns, every penny can make a difference.

Currently I am stuck paying off my loans amounting to "only" 24k. I have tried paying off as much as possible already, getting rid of my unsubsidized loans. I am making contributions to my 401k at 6% which is the max match at my workplace. My net worth according to Mint is still negative at -4k and my goal is to be positive by end of year if everything goes well.

-C

 

[MichaelB]

Coffeemoney, welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have your priorities straight. Good luck achieving your goal.

 

[braumeister]

Currently I am stuck paying off my loans

Welcome aboard!
My first thought is that prioritizing your loan repayments should be #1 on your list. Higher interest rate loans need to get paid off first.

 

[palomalou]

Welcome Coffee. You are going to be SO happy that you started thinking about this at 22 rather than the rather advanced age I did. Congratulations!

 

[FIREd]

Hey CoffeeMoney, welcome to the board.

Sounds like you are on the right track. Keep up the good work!

 

[Live And Learn]

Hi CoffeeMoney - welcome. I applaud your long term planning. I started planning for retirement at you age. I'm now approaching 50 and should be good to go in a year (or two or three - depending upon how brave I am !). Without that long term view I'm sure I wouldn't be where I am today. Keep up the good work !

 

[Ally]

Welcome CoffeeMoney. I wish I had been fortunate to have your wisdom at age 22! It's wonderful you are already planning for your future!

 

[truenorth418]

CoffeeMoney, welcome aboard. I retired last year at age 47, but if I have one regret it's that I didn't begin accumulating and investing sooner. I only got serious about it in my mid 30s. Be creative, keep focused on the goal, and you will get there in no time.

 

[CoffeeMoney]

Many thanks all for your support. I really appreciate it and I know I came to the right place!

Just created a new topic. Can't wait to keep learning and EARNING.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f30/i-want-to-be-free-of-debt-by-end-of-2013-a-62529.html