Finance Advice Thread

How much do you have in savings for an emergency fund? [B]3 months minimum and work towards 6. If you're doing well go for a year. Put it in a high interest savings account that is separate from all your other accounts and auto-transfer money into it monthly. Check your banks fees and interest rate. Google "high interest low fee savings account USA"[/B]

How much are you locking away in a retirement fund? Either in your 401k or separate retirement fund that can be? [B]15% of your pre tax income is recommended. You have to beat yearly inflation from excessive money printed by the Fed. INVEST IN INDEX FUNDS. Actively managed funds perform worse than passively managed funds.[/B]

How much of your monthly income is dedicated to Daily Expenses, Holidays and Leisures? [B]If you suck at budgeting have separate checking accounts for everything and distribute your income appropriately. 40-70% daily Expenses. 5% Leisure. 5% holiday. Something like that.[/B]

Are you saving for a house? [B]Deposit your income into a high interest low fee savings account and auto-transfer that money into your separate accounts. Everything left over goes into a house deposit.[/B]

What kind of fees are you paying on your checking accounts, credit cards and retirement funds, ATM withdrawals etc.? [B]Get with a brokerage or a low fee bank that doesn't charge you bullshit fees. Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Vanguard have extremely low fees for retirement funds. Charles Schwab even has an option for a checking account if you open up a brokerage account with them to invest on your own. Minimal balance and investment required. The checking accounts has no fees, decent interest rate for a checking account and no ATM fees with refunded third party ATM fees WORLDWIDE. Also no foreign transaction fees when you travel. Get on it.[/B]

Also, if you plan on travelling, I would advise getting a transferwise borderless platinum debit card if you can't get a Schwab checking account (if you're non US or can't find some other way to avoid fees when travelling). You transfer your USD (or your countries' currency) into a bank account of the country you're going to at the best exchange rate possible with minimal fees. The debit card will then take money from that account to pay for your purchases. You also avoid any foreign transaction fees and shitty exchange rates.

This is all supposed to be pretty basic stuff I'm sure to some people but there are people out there that just go to the nearest bank (some big bank like BoA) and don't really know what they're getting into. Public school failed us when it came to financial advice. All it takes is for people to be made aware of all this to get serious about it. Never rely on the government to help you on this.

There's also a lot of new financial tech out there to eliminate fees and make investing easier.

Note: Not a financial advisor - just what works for me.

[IMG]https://media2.giphy.com/media/3oKIPuWNRHxeLJGgWk/giphy.gif[/IMG]
*taking notes*

[QUOTE=highwhey][IMG]https://media2.giphy.com/media/3oKIPuWNRHxeLJGgWk/giphy.gif[/IMG]
*taking notes*[/QUOTE]

Avoid debt.

I lived with mid 30 year olds that were in $20k+ worth of debt to coffee and drinks. It's pathetic.

I have a friend that put his vacation on layaway.

[URL="https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account"]Schwab Checking Account[/URL]

[IMG]https://i0.wp.com/thepointsguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Charles-Schwab-high-Yield.jpg?fit=2048%2C2048px&ssl=1[/IMG]

[URL="https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/high-yield-online-savings-accounts"]High Interest Savings Accounts Options[/URL]

Anybody got a sight on some sweet index funds?

My company matches 10% at 100% in the 401k program.

So if someone puts in 7%, they are really getting 17%.

Don't be in too much of a rush to own your first home.

Buy dogecoins

[QUOTE=egokiller]My company matches 10% at 100% in the 401k program.

So if someone puts in 7%, they are really getting 17%.[/QUOTE]

Great savings program - 401k is good because you can get it out at 59.5 years of age whereas other countries are at 65. Most people should be able to get a decent retirement at 59.5 years.

Also, companies that generally have their programs always have retirement funds with low fees. Gotta be as aggressive as you can when you're young. Max that shit out every year and limit the amount of tax money you give to the government.

For higher income earners, would be good to set up a personal retirement fund too to access even before 59.5 years of age. Increase your direct debits into it during a downturn.

10% is an incredible contribution rate. Good shit.

What would you say is a high interest rate for a separate savings account?

[QUOTE=Hawker]Great savings program - 401k is good because you can get it out at 59.5 years of age whereas other countries are at 65. Most people should be able to get a decent retirement at 59.5 years.

Also, companies that generally have their programs always have retirement funds with low fees. Gotta be as aggressive as you can when you're young. Max that shit out every year and limit the amount of tax money you give to the government.

For higher income earners, would be good to set up a personal retirement fund too to access even before 59.5 years of age. Increase your direct debits into it during a downturn.

10% is an incredible contribution rate. Good shit.[/QUOTE]

It is and i

[QUOTE=Charlie Sheen]Don't be in too much of a rush to own your first home.[/QUOTE]

I say the time to buy is when it

[QUOTE=ROCSteady]What would you say is a high interest rate for a separate savings account?[/QUOTE]

[URL="https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/high-yield-online-savings-accounts"]https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/high-yield-online-savings-accounts[/URL]

1.5-2.5% at the moment looks to be the best at the moment.Make sure there are no hang ups or fish hooks that could screw you. The one I'm in is 2.0% while another one was 3.0% but I'd have to give a 60 day notice to with draw the money. Not a good idea for an emergency fund you may need access to ASAP.

For example, take a look at the very first one Goldman Sachs Marcus. No fees. No minimum balance but you can only make a maximum of six transfers a month. Remember - this would be your emergency fund so you may not need to make the six transfers. It may not be a good idea for your long term holiday savings account but would make sense for your emergency fund.

It's not "that" much money to be honest but it's better than sitting in a checking account getting 0.00%. Convert the 2.0% into actual cash dollars instead of looking at the percentage. 2.0% on $10,000 of savings is $200.00. It's not gonna make you rich but that's maybe the cost of three car insurance payments? Or a monthly health insurance payment?

After emergency fund saving for awhile, you can start putting that emergency fund into some CD's to get a better interest rate.

I already have about six months of emergency funds so I'm planning to put three months worth of savings into a three month CD...if I need it well, I'll have my three months of liquid savings available to me and once they expire I can access the savings I put in a CD plus the extra interest I earned on it. If I continue to not need it, I'll keep reinvesting that three month CD over and over again.

A CD is a "certificate of deposit" if you don't know what it is. Your bank may have them but other banks and brokers have them as well. Look for the best rate.

Locked in $91k into my discover savings. Getting $150+ a month in interest. Feds dropped the interest rates for savings accounts but it's all good.

I should be hitting $100k any month now and then I'll be looking into other ways to invest.

[QUOTE=Draz]Locked in $91k into my discover savings. Getting $150+ a month in interest. Feds dropped the interest rates for savings accounts but it's all good.

I should be hitting $100k any month now and then I'll be looking into other ways to invest.[/QUOTE]

Nice and at that point you can start chucking it in some three month and six month CDs to get a higher interest rate and take those earnings and invest elsewhere - like index funds :lol . I remember you mentioning your salary earlier on your new job - that's some pretty intense saving at that level. :applause: