Young and Saving!

[Clover]

Hello. I am 26. I am joining this forum due to it being the only one that seems to keep the spam and ads out along with offering some good advice to us novices. I have a decent amount saved up so far. My 401k as of last paycheck was a little over 20k and like everyones 401k its not performing well this year. The cash in my money market/checking varies from 2-4k throughout the month. A few years ago I started lending on prosper.com and have 72 $50 loans there with a average rate of 15% but after figuring in current and future projected defaults it will be in the neighborhood of 7%. I my new addiction is CD's. I have started purchasing CD's from ING in small amounts weekly to setup a rather fast paced ladder. I am interested in putting as much as I can away while I am making enough money to do so. I have slowly started to take funds from the lending account as interest and principle payments come in and direct them to my Etrade MM until I find a proper place for those funds. I am open to new ideas. Until I started buying CD's I haven't really thought of the real goal.. comfortable retirement. I know its a long way off and thought this would be a great place to pick up some tips form people that are after the same thing. From the posts that I have read so far my savings is small but I intend for it to grow rather fast. It has only been a few years since I first started saving and now its gotten addictive. Looking forward to sharing my savings strategies and hopefully getting some really valuable feedback.

Thanks everyone!

[saxquiz]

Welcome to the forum. I've got about 10 $50 loans on Prosper. No one has defaulted yet, but someone likely will according to statistics as you say. I've also found that saving is addictive once you get a little bit saved. My nest egg is in the ball park of yours (a little less than yours) and I've noticed that having money in the bank gives me gratification that I didn't have when I was spending all my money. I think about the interest it's gaining (albeit a small amount) and it's like getting paid to do nothing. Good luck in continuing to build your savings and hopefully in a decade or two you'll be living the dream.

[Coach]

Great start, Clover! I bet you're $19K or more ahead of the average 26 year old in retirement savings -- nothing small about that. Keep this up and in 20 years or so you'll have a really big number. That's how most of us here did it -- dollar by dollar, controlling expenses, contributing to savings out of every paycheck, and letting compounding do its thing. You are right, it is addicting.

Well done, keep it going!

Coach

[Vinnyfrombrooklyn]

I didn t know ING Direct had CD's