> HERE IS WHAT I LEARNED SO FAR. I'M NOT A FINANCIAL ADVISOR. RESEARCH THE THINGS I SAY. Most of personal finance can fit on a very small piece of paper. While

> HERE IS WHAT I LEARNED SO FAR. I'M NOT A FINANCIAL ADVISOR. RESEARCH THE THINGS I SAY. Most of personal finance can fit on a very small piece of paper. While the advice is slightly US-centric, I think it's fairly universal (it works for us Canadians): The original index card, pictured above, has:[9] 1. Max your 401(k) or equivalent employee contribution. 2. Buy inexpensive, well-diversified mutual funds such as Vanguard Target 20xx funds. 3. Never buy or sell an individual security. The person on the other side of the table knows more than you do about this stuff. 4. Save 20% of your money. 5. Pay your credit card balance in full every month. 6. Maximize tax-advantaged savings vehicles like Roth, SEP and 529 accounts. 7. Pay attention to fees. Avoid actively managed funds. 8. Make financial advisors commit to the fiduciary standard. 9. Promote social insurance programs to help people when things go wrong. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Index_Card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Index_Card For Canadians: 401(k) ~ RRSP, (Roth) IRA ~ TFSA, 529 account ~ RESP. The 20% seems high, (retired) actuary Fred Vettese recently came out with a good book, The Rule of 30: > Easy: Save an amount equal to 30% of gross income, minus the amount you are paying towards a mortgage or rent, minus extraordinary short-term expenses like daycare costs. > The rule aims to strike a better balance between competing financial priorities. It also makes it easier to decide how much to set aside each year, and is more realistic and achievable than saving a flat percentage of pay, especially during the expensive childcare years. > This is all about consumption smoothing – not depriving oneself of a standard of living during the years of juggling competing financial goals. It backloads the high savings rate to later years when childcare expenses are long gone and the mortgage or rent payments make up a much smaller percentage of your gross income. * https://boomerandecho.com/the-rule-of-30-book-review/ https://boomerandecho.com/the-rule-of-30-book-review/ Also, there is some 'rule of thumb' floating around that says who need 70% of your pre-retirement income. This is inaccurate as Vettese and others show: * https://findependencehub.com/qa-with-author-david-aston-about-his-new-book-the-sleepeasy-guide-to-retirement/ https://findependencehub.com/qa-with-author-david-aston-abou... * https://pmac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/07-02-series-aritcle-1-Aston-David-What-s-Your-Magic-Number.pdf https://pmac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/07-02-series-ari... If during working life you had/have a mortgage and kids, you may only need as little as 40%. MacDonald has published a bunch of research on this: * https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/library/newsletters/international-section-news/2017/may/isn-2017-iss-71-macdonald.pdf https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/library/newsletters/... * https://econpapers.repec.org/article/cupastinb/v_3a46_3ay_3a2016_3ai_3a03_3ap_3a627-676_5f00.htm https://econpapers.repec.org/article/cupastinb/v_3a46_3ay_3a...