My Roth is through my job. It has 25 funds to invest in. In 2020 the top fund appreciated almost 59% the bottom fund was -1.66 percent. I manage my accounts and change investments several times a year. There is a big difference between up 58% and down -1.66%.

The top yielding fund (looking at the 10 year average) will double every 4 years. The funds averaging 6% will need 12 years to double. You might want to manage your accounts.

I agree with just about everything mentioned above.

I will add.................at 19 years old.........do not be conservative in your investments. Don't get led into "balanced" funds or similar. Jump right into the S&P 500 and/or maybe a little bit of the Russell 2000

X2 set up a automatic monthly deposit in a roth. 10 -15% of your wage should be invested. After a emergecy fund.

Dont get divorced. You'll lose a lot! LOL.

That's what my wife did during her employed years, me notsomuch, I was self-employed , so there's no "multi"
I think 15% is about right as a target goal. And as many have sated above invest it bi-weekly or monthly Place as much in early as you can, if life, wife, and or kids makes putting money in difficult later on, the money you've already placed in will continue to grow and compound.
With a Roth you can take out the money you've put in at no penalty, but you cannot take out any of the gain. So after a while a Roth may be able to be used as your rainy day fund. But it is better to have some cash or cash accounts for this purpose.
DO NOT BE AFRAID OF DEBT.
That is not to say fill up all your credit cards and yeeehaaa, but there are some debts that are OK
Say you've got a house mortgage at 4-5%, but you're gaining 10-12% in your portfolio. Why would you not apply extra monies to the portfolio to capture that growth as opposed to paying down the mortgage. You're sort of losing 5% on your own money.
Now if you have some emotional or inner feelings that you "gotta be debt free" go ahead pay it down, but on a purely economical basis it doesn't make sense.
Greencountypete has a good outline to follow, I would change the word "frugal" to "wise" in section 3. Just make sure you're not being "cheap", many times buying the best quality is more beneficial than the best price.
As for section 4 -that is the magic elixir. learn to do that and most things will line up quite nicely for you.
As for his section 5. if you follow 1-4 life will be Beer and Skittles!!!!
Good luck.

Absolutely invest that money. A Roth IRA is a great choice, especially at your age. Just sit down with a professional and ask them to teach you about the investments, and never put money in anything you don’t understand

You could fund your ROTH and not buy anything if you are worried about the market being to overvalued right now. Your money would sit in your account in a money market account for when you decide to buy.

This, and try to up it to at least $333 a month.

What does a money market account do, gain interest?

It seems all the investment advisors I see want to sell the client something. Anyone else notice that?

Not much interest

A money market account would draw interest. Interest rates are low now but the money would be there fir the next pull back.

Thanks.

I ask because I made a small roth today with contributions for both 2020 & 2021. Right now my funds are in but no specific contributions yet. Can't figure out how to make decisions on where I want the money using etrade.

Apple
Tesla
Amazon
Microsoft

Yes, a lot of them are like that. If your financial advisor is selling you investments and not helping you to understand your options and teaching you how they work, fire his butt and get a new guy. If your guy says you need to invest in something but doesn’t explain every aspect of it in laymen’s terms that you understand, fire his butt and get a new guy. Never, ever, EVER put money into an investment that you do not understand. Don’t do it because Dave Ramsey said to, or because bedros kulian said to, or some guy on youtube said to. Do it because you understand it and you are confident in it. And if your money sits for six months collecting 1% in a money market while you are learning and understanding, that’s perfectly fine.

lots of good advice here , wish i had invested my fur checks from the 70s , best thing a person can do now is invest early and often ,max it out when you are young an single , when you get married and have kid you might not be able to ,

X2, 3 and 4

This is every bit as important as the Roth IRA. When it comes time to get married, make sure the other person has similar ideas and goals as you do. Two people pulling in the same direction can go far.

Two people pulling in opposite directions are going to go nowhere.

Max out your Roth contributions without regard to market timing. Timing won't matter over the long term. Your Roth contributions are limited by law and that limit is below what you need to save for retirement, so other retirement investments are necessary. If your employeer has a 401K and matches some portion of your contributions, put in as much as you can but at least enough to get the maximum match. If you don't have access to a 401K then put the additional contributions in an IRA.

The other consideration is what to invest in. As a young man, given that all money earned in your Roth will be tax free when withdrawn, that is where I would suggest you have your more growth oriented (and therefore more risky) investments.

A question about Roth IRA's. What is there to prevent government from reneging on this tax free earnings thing? I"m guessing nothing, but go forward anyway and hope for the best when the time comes. If they change the rules downstream, change those that did it.......if you can?

there is not total guarantee but it has been good many people are invested in it possibly even the politicians.


sure if we go full commie , and everyone looses everything , however just because there is a chance that there won't be a future doesn't mean don't plan for your future. we have been on this earth a long time , empires rise and fall and more people have failed for lack of planning for the future than have lost their savings to end times or major turn over in government.