Last part is true.

I've found my gut is often wrong. Poker, not so much but my gut surely told me not to skydive and that **** is a blast

Thanks dick, got a time machine?

What's a Roth ira?

Edit: I don't care

Said someone who is not starting on their career path in their 20s.

Before you jest, I *do* have an IRA and a 401k. But still, your take is way out of touch.

It's no more out of touch than those who laugh at an IRA like it's only something for the mega-rich who are already set for life. Most with even a median income for that age could afford it, assuming they haven't prioritized other things. Not that there's anything wrong with that either, but it's perfectly reasonable advice for this thread to say that anyone who can should at least consider it.

I think it is $5500 for 2018; $6000 in 2019.
/nit

My kid is one lucky little SOB as he'll be opening a Roth (doesn't know it yet) over the holidays and I will fund at least the first two years for him. I hope he has earned enough this year for me to put in the max--and that he will be smart enough to leave it in there for a few decades!

And I'm not even dead yet!

That nobody is actually paying any attention to what the **** you're doing.

I was in my 20s 10 years ago starting on a career path. I know what it’s like. I’ve been strapped for cash. Know what I did? Prioritized my spending. I invested what I could and stopped going out for dinners and drinks. So stop with the “woe is me, nobody understands” nonsense. We’ve all been there, champ. The point of this thread is to point out things we wish we knew when younger. One of those things is to make the sacrifices now for your future later.

But hey, you do you. But if you’re going to drink and gamble your money away for fun now, don’t be bitching and complaining to those who are richer than you in the future for not doing those things.

If it makes you feel better, I paid for my own college (second time thru with a grant and loans). And med school (with loans) - I'm paying off my last student loan for med school on the 20th of this month. And I'm retiring next year.

Which I can probably add to things that I wish I'd done when I was younger, but whatever.

MM MD

Its not at all. Except for dumb naive people, which is why so many people in their 20s ignore it.

Let's say you wait till 25 cuz you got to party hard those first couple years out of college.

You begin filling it out each year

You put $50 or $75 a week into a Vanguard Roth IRA in a target date fund.

When you get Xmas, birthday, and tax refund money you put it in there too instead of buying something you won't use 3 years from now.

If you max it out starting at 25 with a 8% return you end up with this:

At age 65 your account balance will be $1,568,120
You'll then be able to withdraw $136,018 annually, tax free, for 25 years.

Even if you start with $25 a week in your 20s cuz you are only making 30-40K a year, that likely will be the best financial decision you ever make given the tax implications of all those returns over the next 25+ years.

Kids of wealthy or well educated parents will have these setup automatically now a days - cuz the parents know how valuable it is. I didn't discover it till my 30s.

Good god, just when I thought your hot take couldn't get any worse.

Nothing about my attitude is "woe is me." My point was that I have lived a rather privileged life (middle class, no education debt, white in USA) and I still struggled to kickstart my savings snowball in my 20s. This was actually the first year I was able to max out my IRA. I have a lot of peers much worse off than I, putting myself in their shoes I can see how difficult it is to set aside $500 per month.

I'm actually in debt for the first time in my life due to coinciding medical and auto bills. For most young people, it only takes one major financial dent like this to put them in the hole forever. It's a much different economic climate than when you and I were starting out 10 years ago.

Yes, your advice is good. But, this attitude of "I know what it’s like. I’ve been strapped for cash" is a huge part of the problem right now. Look at you, it only took 10 years for you to turn into the grumpy old that barks about bootstraps.

We need a heaping dose of empathy for the, "Tough stuff, you shoulda started saving early like ME crowd." I say this as a member of said crowd. I still ***** at my older brother for not having a 401k with his company he's been at for 12 years.


So, I guess my "stuff you wish you knew" tip is to be more empathetic in general, especially regarding finances. If you're a part of the 99%, you're always only two steps from the gutter.

I'm just pointing out that a lot of things go into your ability to save other than discretionary spending behavior. I get that Starbucks is an avoidable luxury. But I also sympathize with being in your 20s and not wanting to live like a senior on fixed income.

LOL

This is easily the best time ever to be in your early 20s and starting a career.

You're high charlie

I’m not in the “99%” and if you honestly think things were a lot easier “for you and me” 10 years ago, you’re either lying or delusional. 10 years ago was the Great Recession. Remember that?

The point of my post, which you’re clearly missing, is that we all know it’s hard to save when you’re first starting out. So the nonsense belief that anyone disagreeing with you is “out of touch” is the REAL problem right now. Yes, life is hard. Yes, life isn’t fair. Yes, the odds are stacked against you. It’s that way now and has always been that way. So man (or woman) up and do something about it rather than make excuses to not make sacrifices.

And I’m happy to be a grumpy old man at such a young age. I’m sick of the whining. One can have empathy for others without supporting their excuses for staying in a rut.

EDIT: I didn’t have a privileged life like you did. So you can insult someone for making a life for themselves without the silver spoon all you want but it just proves my point that you really don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. You just feel guilty to have been privileged and now look down on others who expect people to be smarter with their money.

I'm pretty sure I would have far more regrets today if I had spent my 20's being frugal, sensible and responsible.

For some, that might be true and that’s the choice you made. For those who have an interest in creating wealth and a comfortable life in old age, the regrets of splurging your money on hookers and blow in your 20s weigh heavily.

I'm sure you'll be living life to its fullest as yet another early retiree riding around on your expensive motorcycle.

Problems are 1) you might not get there 2) you might be in no fit state to enjoy it when you do.

I don’t like motorcycles. Maybe a boat.

I’d rather take that small risk than the much more likely risk of getting old and not having enough for a comfortable retirement. Besides, if I die before that time, my family gets the money. If I’m too sick to enjoy it, at least I’ll have a nest egg for my medical expenses.

btw, I know we've moved on to Lifestyles of the Respectable and Dull, but I do want to point out that $500/month is 1/4 the take home pay of a median 25 year old.

Perhaps, or maybe you would be far more successful in life then you ended up now.

The benefits that our parents and even some of the really old posters on here receive now...ain't going to exist in 20+ years. Most people on this forum are highly educated and/or upper middle class. Yet a large portion of them will be stressed about finances/retirement/etc in the next 15-25 years.

The fact you can completely remove a core middle age concern that a majority of Americans feel by simply saving $25 to $100 a week in your 20s seems like a no brainer for "stuff you wish you figured out sooner in life".

It is not being frugal. It is being strategic and smart and allowing yourself to maximize your earnings in your 30s and 40s to be put to other things of value that can drive further wealth, happiness and success. It also can mean that you can semi-retire early in life while everyone else grinds away.

But the fact we're arguing about the value of discovering the power of compound interest earlier in life rather than later prob means all this explanation is a waste of typing.

The majority of people will get there.
The majority of them will be fit enough to enjoy it.
The majority will also likely have to continue working into their 60s/70s despite preferring not to.

All the retirement talk reminds me of one of the more important things I've learned. People who obsess about "saving for retirement" are generally miserable and hate their jobs. They're so anxious to stockpile money for retirement because they can't wait to stop working. What usually happens to those people is they retire at 65 or whatever and then have no idea what to do with themselves because their only life planning involved saving money. These are the olds who live in nice houses and drive cadillacs to/from the country club and spend their evenings eagerly trying to strike up conversations with telemarketers because they're so desperately lonely.

A better plan is to find a career that you actually like. Decide to be happy now doing something you like with people you like doing it with and don't ever want to quit doing. Then keep doing that and being happy until you keel over and die one day. Of course it's good to be financially responsible and have some savings in case of an emergency. But obsessing over what number you need to get your net worth to so that you can give up on life at age XX is just a dumb idea that professional financial planners like to spout so they can take more of your money helping you plan for retirement.

This is golden.

Get paid for doing what you like and it's as though you're not actually "working".

Often that translates to "your own business and being your own boss" but not always.

Understanding the importance of compounding interest and putting $500/month into a Roth =/= obsessing over retirement.

People can enjoy their jobs and still want to retire early. I’m the creative type and have a number of various pursuits I’d like to put more attention to when I retire. Quite the opposite of not knowing what to do with my time. Yet, I still enjoy my job currently.

And having a nice house, driving a Cadillac, and being a member of a country club sounds a million times better than renting a small apartment and grumbling about “unfair” rich people as you drive your 1996 Geo Metro to and from your dead-end job only waiting for the weekend so you can drink alone in your underwear bitterly reminiscing about all the fun you had in your 20s.