5 ms·

One advice from my end is to cultivate the discipline to save and invest money. You will be surprised how much this one thing will put you light years ahead of

by kamaal 13y ago

One advice from my end is to cultivate the discipline to save and invest money. You will be surprised how much this one thing will put you light years ahead of many others folks by the time your turn 35 or 40. You will turn 35 and realize the past 1.5 decades went like a second, yet the the investments you made are bearing fruit during middle age. Time is on your side, the biggest weapon when it comes investments. Don't waste it. Keep loans away(unless your country has high inflation). Avoid credit card debt. Buy gold routinely. Try to get your self a own home to stay in, even if you actually can't stay in it(rent it out). Buy yourself a life insurance and most important of all investments by the time you turn 30 try to get married and have at least one kid.

thewarrior 13y ago
Buying a house in an Indian metro (without taking a loan) doesn't look too realistic for a person in his 20s.
- kamaal 13y ago
  No, but in any Indian metro you can easily buy a plot on the city outskirts for some money. Agreed that you may still need a loan. But that is likely to be in the figure of 10-12 lacs, given you have done basic savings in your early 20's. Also the inflation in India is close to 9%. Which means the principle you owe to the bank is losing value at the rate of 9% per annum, while your property value appreciates. Buying a car in your 20's is the worst mistake you can make. If you haven't made this mistake making 50% down payment to a plot in city outskirts should be a walk in the park. And the monthly gold saving schemes available with any big jeweller has helped people triple their money in as little as 5-6 years. Add to that the regular tax saving endowment insurance policies. In all if you have made your investments even with mediocre planning, you should end up pretty rich by 35.
joelrunyon 13y ago
> and most important of all investments by the time you turn 30 try to get married and have at least one kid. Why?
- kamaal 13y ago
  In my experience. And this may vary between cultures. The earlier you have kids, the earlier you will be through the responsibilities you have towards those kids. At least this is how it is in our culture(Indian). The later you have kids, their main years when they many need some help from you to support them/pay college fees etc will coincide with your retirement years. And those retirement years will be when you will have to work towards having hard cash savings. If you spend that part of your life, spending money and not saving for retirement- you are not likely to carry much into post-retirement years. Having kids early means, you can see duties through by the time you reach 50. Post that you can have responsibility free, happy retirement years.
  - spacehome 13y ago
    Using your own suggestions, wouldn't it be better to postpone children as long as possible, diligently save that money, and give it to you children 15 years later, after it's had time to compound? I'm not understanding your reasoning. You seem to labor under the assumption that if you don't have children to help while you're in your 40s, the money you make will magically disappear.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
  - Dewie 13y ago
    If you (generic you) are approaching the thought of having children with the mindset of "getting all that responsibility over with", you should perhaps consider if children is something that you want in the first place.
  - Fomite 13y ago
    If it's purely return on investment and not damaging your retirement, then you advice should be "Don't have kids".
  - joelrunyon 13y ago
    > Having kids early means, you can see duties through by the time you reach 50. That doesn't necessarily follow if you have several kids or you have lots of space between them. It seems you'd be better of just "not having" kids if you're simply trying to "get it over with."
reillyse 13y ago
I would say completely the opposite. :) Spend this time upskilling and doing interesting things. As a 19 year old you are not earning any real money, your 30 year old self will be earning a multiple of it (probably 3-4) and the cost of living doesn't increase at the same pace (until you get kids :) ) don't waste your time saving a couple of dollars now, just spend it and wait until you are earning enough money to save.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- nostrademons 13y ago
  Compounding is much more effective when you start early. I recall a personal finance article where someone did the math out and found that a person who contributes $X monthly from the ages of 20-35 and then never contributes a dime to their retirement account will retire with more than someone who contributes nothing from ages 20-35 and then $X monthly for 30 years until they retire at 65. (I just plugged the numbers into CNN's retirement calculator [1] and verified that's correct...it's actually more like 32 for the cutoff point.) I do agree that upskilling is important, but many jobs that help you gain skills quickly also pay well. And the most crucial part is to keep your burn rate low in your 20s. This is the time when all your friends are living like grad students, because many of them are grad students, and it will never again be easier to live cheaply. Then work at a highly-paid professional job and pocket the difference. Your bank account will thank you when you retire. [1] http://money.cnn.com/calculator/retirement/retirement-need/ http://money.cnn.com/calculator/retirement/retirement-need/
spacehome 13y ago
I will not mince words. Gold is a terrible investment. Historically, the price of gold matches inflation (plus or minus short-term variation). It doesn't do anything. Your lump of gold just sits there and is worth no more in a "real" sense 40 years from today. Any reasonable portfolio should be comprised almost entirely of stocks, bonds, and real estate, all of which have in common that they're actively working for you in the interim. Life insurance should only be purchased if you have dependents who depend on your income (not assets) and even then you only ever need term. This is definitely situationally dependent. The years of 18-35 are essentially what form the adult version of "you". The mathematics of the value of saving early is quite clear, but I argue that cultivating the best version of yourself during these years is vastly more important. Money is nice, but there's pleny of problems it doesn't solve. Why would you advocate getting married and having kids before 30? Women probably need to before about 35, when it starts getting increasingly difficult, and men can even reasonably wait another decade after that.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- tim333 13y ago
  I agree gold is bad - anyone in doubt check out the graph at the beginning of 'stocks for the long run.'(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ij02vzUijQM/Td6x_8jISdI/AAAAAAAAAPM/YCYbMqeawtk/s1600/RealReturns.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ij02vzUijQM/Td6x_8jISdI/AAAAAAAAAP...). Usually the best as an individual is real estate. Buy stuff you like that is not stupid overpriced with borrowed money. Come back 10 years later and the real value of the borrowed money will be down, property probably up. It's probably the most common way people get wealthy.
sumedh 13y ago
> Buy gold routinely. Warren Buffett would disagree.
shin_lao 13y ago
Keep loans away(unless your country has high inflation). Avoid credit card debt. Buy gold routinely. Try to get your self a own home to stay in, even if you actually can't stay in it(rent it out). Buy yourself a life insurance and most important of all investments by the time you turn 30 try to get married and have at least one kid. I'm sorry this is a very bad advice. If you, for example, start a company, you will make an order of magnitude more money that you could make by saving it. Also, I don't get the gold advice. Gold is generally an hedge when you have a reasonable amount of assets invested in other areas. Last but not least, being married and having kids is a matter of personal choice and lifestyle.

by kamaal 13y ago

thewarrior 13y ago

Buying a house in an Indian metro (without taking a loan) doesn't look too realistic for a person in his 20s.

kamaal 13y ago
No, but in any Indian metro you can easily buy a plot on the city outskirts for some money. Agreed that you may still need a loan. But that is likely to be in the figure of 10-12 lacs, given you have done basic savings in your early 20's. Also the inflation in India is close to 9%. Which means the principle you owe to the bank is losing value at the rate of 9% per annum, while your property value appreciates. Buying a car in your 20's is the worst mistake you can make. If you haven't made this mistake making 50% down payment to a plot in city outskirts should be a walk in the park. And the monthly gold saving schemes available with any big jeweller has helped people triple their money in as little as 5-6 years. Add to that the regular tax saving endowment insurance policies. In all if you have made your investments even with mediocre planning, you should end up pretty rich by 35.

joelrunyon 13y ago

> and most important of all investments by the time you turn 30 try to get married and have at least one kid. Why?

kamaal 13y ago
In my experience. And this may vary between cultures. The earlier you have kids, the earlier you will be through the responsibilities you have towards those kids. At least this is how it is in our culture(Indian). The later you have kids, their main years when they many need some help from you to support them/pay college fees etc will coincide with your retirement years. And those retirement years will be when you will have to work towards having hard cash savings. If you spend that part of your life, spending money and not saving for retirement- you are not likely to carry much into post-retirement years. Having kids early means, you can see duties through by the time you reach 50. Post that you can have responsibility free, happy retirement years.
- spacehome 13y ago
  Using your own suggestions, wouldn't it be better to postpone children as long as possible, diligently save that money, and give it to you children 15 years later, after it's had time to compound? I'm not understanding your reasoning. You seem to labor under the assumption that if you don't have children to help while you're in your 40s, the money you make will magically disappear.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- Dewie 13y ago
  If you (generic you) are approaching the thought of having children with the mindset of "getting all that responsibility over with", you should perhaps consider if children is something that you want in the first place.
- Fomite 13y ago
  If it's purely return on investment and not damaging your retirement, then you advice should be "Don't have kids".
- joelrunyon 13y ago
  > Having kids early means, you can see duties through by the time you reach 50. That doesn't necessarily follow if you have several kids or you have lots of space between them. It seems you'd be better of just "not having" kids if you're simply trying to "get it over with."

reillyse 13y ago

I would say completely the opposite. :) Spend this time upskilling and doing interesting things. As a 19 year old you are not earning any real money, your 30 year old self will be earning a multiple of it (probably 3-4) and the cost of living doesn't increase at the same pace (until you get kids :) ) don't waste your time saving a couple of dollars now, just spend it and wait until you are earning enough money to save.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
nostrademons 13y ago
Compounding is much more effective when you start early. I recall a personal finance article where someone did the math out and found that a person who contributes $X monthly from the ages of 20-35 and then never contributes a dime to their retirement account will retire with more than someone who contributes nothing from ages 20-35 and then $X monthly for 30 years until they retire at 65. (I just plugged the numbers into CNN's retirement calculator [1] and verified that's correct...it's actually more like 32 for the cutoff point.) I do agree that upskilling is important, but many jobs that help you gain skills quickly also pay well. And the most crucial part is to keep your burn rate low in your 20s. This is the time when all your friends are living like grad students, because many of them are grad students, and it will never again be easier to live cheaply. Then work at a highly-paid professional job and pocket the difference. Your bank account will thank you when you retire. [1] http://money.cnn.com/calculator/retirement/retirement-need/ http://money.cnn.com/calculator/retirement/retirement-need/

spacehome 13y ago

I will not mince words. Gold is a terrible investment. Historically, the price of gold matches inflation (plus or minus short-term variation). It doesn't do anything. Your lump of gold just sits there and is worth no more in a "real" sense 40 years from today. Any reasonable portfolio should be comprised almost entirely of stocks, bonds, and real estate, all of which have in common that they're actively working for you in the interim. Life insurance should only be purchased if you have dependents who depend on your income (not assets) and even then you only ever need term. This is definitely situationally dependent. The years of 18-35 are essentially what form the adult version of "you". The mathematics of the value of saving early is quite clear, but I argue that cultivating the best version of yourself during these years is vastly more important. Money is nice, but there's pleny of problems it doesn't solve. Why would you advocate getting married and having kids before 30? Women probably need to before about 35, when it starts getting increasingly difficult, and men can even reasonably wait another decade after that.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
tim333 13y ago
I agree gold is bad - anyone in doubt check out the graph at the beginning of 'stocks for the long run.'(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ij02vzUijQM/Td6x_8jISdI/AAAAAAAAAPM/YCYbMqeawtk/s1600/RealReturns.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ij02vzUijQM/Td6x_8jISdI/AAAAAAAAAP...). Usually the best as an individual is real estate. Buy stuff you like that is not stupid overpriced with borrowed money. Come back 10 years later and the real value of the borrowed money will be down, property probably up. It's probably the most common way people get wealthy.

sumedh 13y ago

> Buy gold routinely. Warren Buffett would disagree.

shin_lao 13y ago

Keep loans away(unless your country has high inflation). Avoid credit card debt. Buy gold routinely. Try to get your self a own home to stay in, even if you actually can't stay in it(rent it out). Buy yourself a life insurance and most important of all investments by the time you turn 30 try to get married and have at least one kid. I'm sorry this is a very bad advice. If you, for example, start a company, you will make an order of magnitude more money that you could make by saving it. Also, I don't get the gold advice. Gold is generally an hedge when you have a reasonable amount of assets invested in other areas. Last but not least, being married and having kids is a matter of personal choice and lifestyle.