Financial Advice for a 22 year old

[Janet H]

Pay off the plastic asap! Take it out of your wallet and freeze it in a gallon of water.
Thaw it out for travel, car rentals and other items you have to have plastic for. Move to a cash basis. You can use a debit card for those transactions that require plastic, but seeing it come out of your checking account on the very same day will most likely keep you disciplined.

Consider keeping only 10 dollars in your wallet (unless you have something special planned). If money burns a hole in your pocket, remove the temptation. Learn to take your lunch to work. For a little fun, run the numbers on lunch out daily. It's a LOT of money over time.

Keep the car so you won't have to get one during your mid-life crisis.

Be extra nice to the folks who are renting you space for cheap! Such a deal....

 

[eddieb]

Thanks Janet,
I'm still home with my mother, so the $200 helps her out with little things i guess. I know i have it good with the rent thing

 

[Gumby]

My advice? Find a good woman who shares your goals.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

My advice? Find a good woman who shares your goals.

And if you can't, do not settle for someone who opposes your goals. While LBYM, FIRE oriented
girls are very rare, there are plenty of middle of the road types who can be convinced. What you
must avoid at all costs is a keep-up-with-the jones, appearance-oriented type who will spend
down any sums you manage to save, rachet up spending to meet any income increases, and keep
the plastic fully charged. No offense meant to the ladies, I am sure properly money-oriented guys
are rare also, but my experience is from the other side.

 

[eddieb]

I am currently with my girlfriend of two years. This is her last year of college and she is relatively frugal. She does bargain shop, but she also must have her essentials. one thing that bothers me is that she buys Proactive face cleanser for $55 every three months or so. Besides that she does fairly well.

 

[bow-tie]

I am currently with my girlfriend of two years. This is her last year of college and she is relatively frugal. She does bargain shop, but she also must have her essentials. one thing that bothers me is that she buys Proactive face cleanser for $55 every three months or so. Besides that she does fairly well.

If that is her only vice.... suck it up and keep her. Trust me.

 

[thefed]

i havent had time to read the whole thread, but here's my .02


I was 22 when i discovered this site 2 yrs ago...and it's helped me immensly


You are already doing the 2 most important things I did : 401k to a match, then some sort of automatic investment.

You make enough $$ that I hope you are DUMPING money into that sherbuilder account. I also hope that you have no trouble maxing out a ROTH IRA at Vanguard yearly...only $4k.

I agree on selling the car, even at a loss, and getting something more practical....although if you really like it that much....keep it. just remember that the $10k you coud save could be $80-100k when you're 50!!!

I bump up my contributions to my various accounts regularly...$5 here, $10 therE
(weekly, bi-weekly etc). I figure i'll keep doing it until my bank account starts running low. Im still not taking $$ out of my checking faster than I put it in...so that means I can save more


Set a target retirement date now. figure out some rough expenses. then figure out what needs to be saved now to get there. And remember... $100 saved today is much much better than $100 saved in 5 years. DO IT NOW while you are young....stuff those retirement accounts full!!!

I was making $40k at my job, was able to contribute 12% of my gross to 401k, max my roth, save a few thousand cash every 6 months or so that i;d dump into a cd....all while paying a mortage, car, insurances, utilities etc. S you can surely save more!!!

There's no reason, with your expenses,that you couldn't save $20k per year. Run a calculator to see what that earns you in 20 or 25 years!

 

[peorth]

I am currently with my girlfriend of two years. This is her last year of college and she is relatively frugal. She does bargain shop, but she also must have her essentials. one thing that bothers me is that she buys Proactive face cleanser for $55 every three months or so. Besides that she does fairly well.

If she has an acne problem, then the $ is well spent. It's acceptable for women to spend a reasonable amount of $ to maintain herself, because it's for your benefit too.

You're in a better position that me when I was 22. I spent age 18-28 chasing kitty <cough> and blew most of my $ on DOT com crash. The only saving grace was that when I cashed out what was left (~$12k), I used it to buy a new condo in 1999 and its value almost tripled from 1999-2006, less now due to recent RE market decline.

If I were you, I'd pay off the CC, pay off the car, finish your education, and save some $$. Start looking at real estate around 2010 or after. If you plan to retire early in the US, it helps if you can get a good house with 15 year mortgage, and have it paid off.

 

[packrat44]

My advice? Find a good woman who shares your goals.

And if you can't, do not settle for someone who opposes your goals. While LBYM, FIRE oriented
girls are very rare, there are plenty of middle of the road types who can be convinced. What you
must avoid at all costs is a keep-up-with-the jones, appearance-oriented type who will spend
down any sums you manage to save, rachet up spending to meet any income increases, and keep
the plastic fully charged. No offense meant to the ladies, I am sure properly money-oriented guys
are rare also, but my experience is from the other side.

This is the real key to FI. Excellent advice. When I was 31yo I was casually dating 3 different women all 22yo. While all were fun to be with, only one shared my common goals. This one I married. Best move I have ever made, including financially. When forming a long-term partnership both members need to share common goals.

 

[jIMOh]

Get the debt down (pay off CC and pay off car). Do that ASAP. At same time try to get more money invested in both Roth IRAs and the 401k. Delay things like home ownership to make sure retirement is funded early.

You have around a 5-10 year head start on most savers. I did not start saving until age 25. I am 34 now.

Time is the biggest compounding factor for savings of any kind. Get money invested early and you should be fine.

 

[Texas Proud]

Thanks for all your advice,
The car I have is a new 2006 Mazda RX-8. Its a very nice car with great handling. Although it was a poor financial decision, I guess it's part of growth process, as some of you have mentioned. thanks again

Hmm.. not a great long term buy, but who cares... (I almost bought one, but did not like the bad gas mileage or the engine problems they were having back in 04.. don't know how they are now)

as I have said earlier, don't get so frugal that you miss out on some things... you only have one life and if this is what you like... DO IT.. as long as your long term financial goals are being met...

Heck I have two cars for one person... but I like my 6 speed TL and don't care that it cost me some money.. I LIKE IT!!!!

I also pay $17 per week to bowl... again, I like it..

I take international vacations every year (sometimes twice)... you guessed it..

But, I have a cheap cell phone (finally got one but could do without it), do not have cable, do not buy starbucks, etc. etc... So, decided what you really LIKE and do it, but get rid of all the other stuff that you do to impress others... you will not miss them.

 

[eddieb]

Thank you for all the advice. I am very happy to have found a site such as this. I wish you all good luck in life and thanks again

 

[Grizz]

Ok, you're young and can rebound from a setback, so with that in mind, start a business. Whether in your spare time or as your primary income. You never know, it could work out and pay off big time. You MUST work your butt off at it though. I'm 38 and FI because I took a chance early on. I have plenty of friends who are in the same or better shape financially because they took that one risk as well.

Don't do Amway or sell vacuum cleaners. Try to find a hobby or unique skill that you really enjoy using, think hard about where you think that you can go with it, and then go at it with everything you have. Being naive can work for you in that thinking "outside the box" is much easier if you don't know the rules. I guarantee you'll learn a lot about yourself through the process no matter how it turns out.

If that isn't for you, I'd study the stock market in great detail, find a stock that might be a little speculative, but not penny stock. Put several thousand (not borrowed money) into it, and win or lose, don't get out until you can't sleep anymore.

 

[AFloat]

There is some great financial advise here but I would advise you to have some fun NOW! Try to find something you really like to do. Try different things; work, travel, start a business, volunteer, go back to school... You have plenty of time to try and fail at lots of things and still retire rich.

My only hard advice would be not to have kids too early in life. Once you have kids you have a long term commitment (like a lifetime) and you limit you options. Spend your 20's exploring who you are and what you want to do.

Good luck and go out and enjoy life.

Frank

 

[eddieb]

Ok, you're young and can rebound from a setback, so with that in mind, start a business. Whether in your spare time or as your primary income. You never know, it could work out and pay off big time. You MUST work your butt off at it though. I'm 38 and FI because I took a chance early on. I have plenty of friends who are in the same or better shape financially because they took that one risk as well.

Don't do Amway or sell vacuum cleaners. Try to find a hobby or unique skill that you really enjoy using, think hard about where you think that you can go with it, and then go at it with everything you have. Being naive can work for you in that thinking "outside the box" is much easier if you don't know the rules. I guarantee you'll learn a lot about yourself through the process no matter how it turns out.

If that isn't for you, I'd study the stock market in great detail, find a stock that might be a little speculative, but not penny stock. Put several thousand (not borrowed money) into it, and win or lose, don't get out until you can't sleep anymore.

Hey Grizz,
I, along with my brother, started a T-shirt business for ladies about a year ago, index a couple boutiques in my hometown liked my idea and bought some, but never sold as enough to get money back on their investments. After that I set up a website for the business, but traffic is slow. I'm also in the process of getting information of big retailers in order to send samples. I was able to send a Sample to a Retailer who turned me down, saying it wasn't for them. I have not been able to invest as much time into the business due to work, school, and life in general.