3 ms·

Ask HN: What piece of financial advice made the greatest impact on your life?

3 points by DMell 4y ago

WheelsAtLarge 4y ago
Stop trading stocks. Use index funds. Ignore the ups and downs and make sure you add a set amount monthly. Pay yourself first by making your monthly investment before any other bills. Do it now and for the rest of your life. Don't sell until you retire.
- zja 4y ago
  > Pay yourself first by making your monthly investment before any other bills. You should probably prioritize rent, groceries, credit card debt, and other bills over buying index funds!
  - WheelsAtLarge 4y ago
    Pay yourself first is the best way to ensure that you save consistently. You have to figure out how to do it AND pay your bills. "What Does Paying Yourself First Mean?" https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/payyourselffirst.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/payyourselffirst.asp
ggm 4y ago
Increase my voluntary retirement fund (called superannuation in Australia) to the annual maximum before I was 40. ($27,000 p.a out of pre-tax income)
theGeatZhopa 4y ago
Good try Mr. Financial officer. Never ever you will know how I cheat hahaha Spend less, save more. The rest will come.
GianFabien 4y ago
Spend considerably less than you earn. Invest the difference.
mamonster 4y ago
1. The only way you can get really wealthy is by owning some sort of business. If you earn your company 20k more this year than last year you would be lucky to get even 5k of that. When you work for yourself that is an extra 80k plus to an acquirer, if not more. 2. Alpha is overrated vs beta. It should've been obvious after seeing baby boomers become rich by simply owning homes, but I only really got it during the last 3 years of low interest rates after a more senior trader explained this idea to me (who was around during the 2000s). It really is as simple as riding the trend till it doesn't work, and once stuff starts changing you can afford to sit it out because of hard you outperform. 3.Optimize taxes(i.e pay less).

3 points by DMell 4y ago

Stop trading stocks. Use index funds. Ignore the ups and downs and make sure you add a set amount monthly. Pay yourself first by making your monthly investment before any other bills. Do it now and for the rest of your life. Don't sell until you retire.

zja 4y ago
> Pay yourself first by making your monthly investment before any other bills. You should probably prioritize rent, groceries, credit card debt, and other bills over buying index funds!
- WheelsAtLarge 4y ago
  Pay yourself first is the best way to ensure that you save consistently. You have to figure out how to do it AND pay your bills. "What Does Paying Yourself First Mean?" https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/payyourselffirst.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/payyourselffirst.asp

ggm 4y ago

Increase my voluntary retirement fund (called superannuation in Australia) to the annual maximum before I was 40. ($27,000 p.a out of pre-tax income)

theGeatZhopa 4y ago

Good try Mr. Financial officer. Never ever you will know how I cheat hahaha Spend less, save more. The rest will come.

GianFabien 4y ago

Spend considerably less than you earn. Invest the difference.

mamonster 4y ago

1. The only way you can get really wealthy is by owning some sort of business. If you earn your company 20k more this year than last year you would be lucky to get even 5k of that. When you work for yourself that is an extra 80k plus to an acquirer, if not more. 2. Alpha is overrated vs beta. It should've been obvious after seeing baby boomers become rich by simply owning homes, but I only really got it during the last 3 years of low interest rates after a more senior trader explained this idea to me (who was around during the 2000s). It really is as simple as riding the trend till it doesn't work, and once stuff starts changing you can afford to sit it out because of hard you outperform. 3.Optimize taxes(i.e pay less).