What is Reddit's opinion of The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

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Exactly! "Terry Odean and Brad Barber, two professors at the University of California, did a study of 66,400 investors between the years 1991 and 1997 to learn how trading affected those investors' returns. They found that buy-and-hold investors outperformed the most active traders by a whopping 7.1% a year (before taxes)." (source)

Which ETF doesn't matter so much as why you are investing and what you expect to get out of it. Setting goals and managing them is more important than anything else.

I don't know where you live, but investing is more than just about buying shares in a fund. There are a lot of questions around income, budgeting, taxes, and retirement planning that you should figure out before you jump into the deep end. In particular, sorting out the tax-advantaged savings options (e.g. in the US this would be things like IRAs) is very important.

Some people become so obsessed with tracking ETFs that they collect them like Pokemons, thinking that more ETFs lead to higher returns. This isn't the case. I would argue that most people aren't really equipped to construct their own portfolios, and should instead just buy a target date fund, which is a kind of mutual fund (similar to an ETF, but with some advantages) that contains a complete portfolio in just one fund, with a risk level that automatically adjusts to your age; or at the very least an asset allocation fund (which is also a complete portfolio, but with a static allocation; examples include he AOR ETF, and Vanguard's LifeStrategy funds).

There's so much to cover here that won't fit in a single comment, so I recommend instead you do some reading. One of the best books I can recommend on this is The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. It's an easy read that tells you everything most retail investors need to get solid returns with low risk.

Buy this book. It's a simple primer and will answer all of your questions. The basic idea is just buy into index funds consistently, ignore the noise (the daily ups and downs), don't panic during dips, keep in the funds in a Roth or traditional IRA, and wait. Most any broker is fine, but Vanguard owns a lot of great index funds and it's easy enough to just setup monthly transfers. They even have a retirement target fund, e.g. Target Retirement 2060 is a single fund that will rebalance automatically without you having to do anything.

At 23 if you start now you can probably retire a millionaire in your early 60s. Google nerd wallet retirement calculator (but don't sign up for anything, it's not necessary).

I mean up until this stage of life your aversion to bonds was probably justified and served you well. You're getting older now, so it might be time to start curtailing that judgement (although you may have some years left). Bonds essentialyl are more stable, so on shorter term can be a better decision because they weather market fluctuations more easily, That being said, long term, they don't perform as well as compared to the market, so the opportunity cost to holding bonds generally outweights the benefit. This is the reason why you see people move more of their portfolios towards bonds as they get older

Yup, do some reading. Read about three fund portfolios. {Good book](https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365) if you like those types of things versus piece together a bunch of forum/blog posts.

If I'm understanding correctly, it doesn't sound like you can make any changes with your big items (rent, car loan), but if you really want to get frugal in other categories, I'd be happy to offer random tips. I use a finance planner that I made in Google Sheets to track my income/expenses, which has made it much easier to see exactly where my money is going with little effort. It's made analyzing my finances much more fun (I'm weird).

Not that you need to jump into it right away or stress about it, but I would definitely look into low-risk investing, and taking advantage of any 401(k) matching if your job offers it. If all of your savings is sitting in a savings account at, say, Wells Fargo, you're losing money to inflation. I wish I'd gotten serious about it in my 20s instead of my 30s! This book is a good place to start if you can get it from the library.

Como muitos já comentaram, investir em educação é o mais importante, porque isso deve te trazer muito mais renda.

Com a sua idade você já deve ter condições de ingressar em um curso superior em alguma faculdade perto. Se seus pais não tem condições de te manter ainda é possível fazer com algum projeto de apoio a permanência estudantil e renda a partir de monitorias ou estágios. Qual o curso acho que é uma decisão pessoal que você deve pesquisar o que prefere, e se não se adaptar dá para mudar depois.

Por fim gosto bastante desse livro dos Boggleheads para administrar finanças. Ele tem um foco em investimentos, mas também entra bastante em finanças pessoais, do tipo como organizar seu dinheiro, quando é importante comprar um seguro e afins.

I do think you should invest in BND. But I also think that you should try to understand what it is. Most of the complexities around bond relate to how the entire modern financial system operates, especially with regard to debt, but bonds themselves are simple to grasp. This is an excellent book that can teach you the basics, including everything else about how long-term investing works.

To gain a deeper understanding, I recommend the Boglehead book: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore et al. I always say that if you're not a hobbyist who wants to learn terms like "risk-adjusted return" and "reversion to the mean" — you just want to invest — then this is the only book you will ever need to buy.

> All the interviews I have seen with Jack Bogle have claimed that U.S. companies provide more than enough international exposure.

Bogle has always been flexible about international. In his book Common Sense of Mutual Funds (1991), Bogle recommended a maximum of 20% international:

Overseas investments—holdings in the corporations of other nations—are not essential, nor even necessary, to a well-diversified portfolio. For investors who disagree—and there are some valid reasons for global investing—we recommend limiting international investments to a maximum of 20 percent of a global equity portfolio.

When pressed in interviews, he admitted he wasn't an expert, and he pointed to the fact that Vanguard didn't agree with him. All Vanguard asset allocation funds such as LifeStrategy and Target Retirement Date use a three-fund portfolios (though they split the bond portion into US and international).

> Where did this 3-fund portfolio actually come from?

Taylor Larimore and the Bogleheads discussion board. The Bogleheads.org discussion board goes back to the 1990s when it was on Morningstar.com. Eventually Larimore popularized the term with the Bogleheads book in 2006, and then the later book The Bogleheads's Guide to the Three-Fund Portfolio.

Bogle himself never used the word "three-fund portfolio", as far as I know.

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. The book is designed as an introductory read but I still find myself pulling it off the bookshelf in the times of uncertainty. You aren't going to find any "get rich quick" schemes but it is engaging and will teach you what you need to know at this point, and many other points, throughout your wealth accumulation phase.

The Boglehead Guide to Investing is essentially the Bogleheads Wiki but in a more colorful and accessible format. I keep it on my mantle at all times and pull it down whenever I need to re-center myself. It's expertly written and a true gem for FIRE individuals who are non-technical people. Cathartic and reassuring.

I've actually never read any of the books. My parents work in Finance and my dad spent time with a brokerage for a while so I was kinda instilled with a curiosity for investments from an early age. That said, The Bogleheads Guide to Investing seems to pop up fairly regularly as recommended reading for new investors.

https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

For the basics of investing in low-fee funds, read The Boglehead's Guide to Investing. It'll answer most of the questions you ask here, and show you how to build a simple portfolio. The advice runs a bit on the conservative side, but it's easy to see how to adjust it if you want to be a bit more aggressive.

I agree with your friend's suggestion to be aggressive, however I suggest learning some on your own before you just blindly follow someone's advice. I found the Boglehead's Guide to Investing to be particularly helpful.

No problem!

Most people can't even think about these things because it stresses them out. That puts you on the right track. Now, you need to be intelligent with the next action you take.

Since you seem like you are looking to educate yourself, the best money you could ever invest is: https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

Very cheap (especially compared making financial mistakes). Invest in your own knowledge. So many people spend their whole lives working for money and never bother taking a week to figure out how money actually works.

Intelligent Investor could be a little hard for a someone new to stocks/bonds. Maybe read Boglehead's Guide to Investing first and then head towards Intelligent Investor after. http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

If you think you'll need the $12k in four years, a CD or US Treas. I Bond would be OK.

But, since you're young, I highly recommend putting as much as you can into an IRA (if you haven't put any in this year), and either holding the rest until next year to put into the IRA, or opening a brokerage account. If you go this route, before you move a penny (I may get destroyed on /r/investing for recommending this.. but) I highly recommend buying and reading this book. It'll teach you the basics of playing long in the market with funds / ETFs and building a simple portfolio. Compound interest rocks, and getting a head start at 18 would put you at a serious advantage if you start to think about retiring early someday!

You've got a handle on your TSP and IRA, so you might not be new to investing. But if you are, I really recommend reading The Bogleheads Guide to Investing. It explains the stock market, its history, and why index funds are the optimal choice. All the advice I'd received finally made sense once I read that book. It was my "teach a man how to fish" moment after being given fish for a long time before that.

I recommend reading The Boglehead's Guide to Investing which is one of the recommended books in the side bar. I read it around 6 years ago and then promptly purchased a copy for my brother and sister. I found it to be an easy and surprisingly not boring read.

It goes over the different manners of investing, some pitfalls and what to steer clear of. It discusses insurance, annuities, estate planning, and other large topics that you'd expect to tackle when arranging your financial life. Some topics are slightly glossed over like annuities since they can be so complicated, but still gives good information on what to look for or questions to ask.

Do you hope to stay in the US forever?

If not, where do you expect to end up?

What is your goal for this money?

You say you want a "safe conservative approach but one that's not as bad as the almost zero interest rate i get in this savings account", but due to the current macroeconomic climate, that is prettymuch impossible. Risk is always required for high returns, and currently risk is required for even small meaningful returns.

http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365 is one oft-recommended book for the layperson on investing.

Making that enormous amount of money per time and considering that he probably has already saved a lot, it's really stupid not to dedicate some time to learn about investing. He would get a gigantic extra return for just dedicating some time to studying. Consider how much means to get an extra 5% per year for investing in index funds instead of saving accounts (if he has let's say 5 millions, that already means 250 000 extra per year). Just reading this book may be enough: http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing is a great read for anyone looking to understand the "basics" of investment. It is based on John Bogle's investment strategy, the founder of Vanguard, who is very much a proponent of low cost, low maintenance index funds. If you're looking for something about solely picking individual stocks, day trading, or getting rich quick, this book is not for you. Check out the link below for more information.

http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

Not saving any of my disposable income - if I invested even 10% of what I earned in my 20's I'd own a house now that I'm in my 30's, but instead I'm just now trying to catch up with that train.

EDIT: For those interested in learning to invest, I'll share some resources below. As for how I invest - I have 60% in high-interest 5-year CD account (about 3.1% APY) and the rest in mutual funds (VMVFX and VTMFX to be exact). I am putting 10% of my pre-tax income into my employer's 401(k) (they match some of contributions) and am contributing maximum amount possible to my IRA. Finally I keep about 5% of the cash in a savings account which provides a relatively low interest rate of 2% (but I can access that money at any time).

What I'm excited about: moving my investments to ESG (responsible environmental, social, and governance) funds. These funds carefully screen companies for negative impacts in that area - for example, tobacco and alcohol companies would be excluded, as would oil companies, and fashion retailers that use unsustainable labor practices. One such ESG fund is run by Vanguard - VEIGX.

Tips for saving: learn about concept of paying yourself first - that means automatic deductions into a savings account that you can't easily touch that happen after each of your paycheck. This has been the key to saving - automating it so that it's not something I have to think about - like a mortgage or bill payment - makes sure I don't spend the money meant to be saved. Do some budgeting to figure out where your money goes - there's lots of tools online, like Mint, that allow you to easily break down spending by categories and even set a budget. Estimate your living expenses (rent, food, bills, transportation) and prioritize saving for a 6 months worth of living in case of a job loss or accident. Learn about lifestyle creep and always live below your means - buy used not new, avoid cheaply made low quality products, think twice whether you really need the thing you're buying, can you get it used, can you borrow it? How much is the thing you're buying a liability in terms of maintenance, insurance, etc? Prioritize spending on yourself (experiences, learning, self-development) rather than on things.

Relevant reading:

• FIRE calculator: https://engaging-data.com/fire-calculator/ (also see /r/financialindependence)
• Three-fund portfolio: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio
• Renting vs buying: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html
• Boglehead's Guide to Investing: https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365
• A Random Walk Down Wallstreet: https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/1324002182

Here is the mother of all lottery advice comments. I think /u/Rabid_Tanuki may have been inspired by it. It’s entertaining and worth a read.

However, I would point out that £1m is not actually all that much money. It’s a good amount, and it can guarantee you financial security for life if you play your cards right. But in many ways you aren’t in nearly as precarious a situation as the people who win £30m. Even if you did tell people (DON’T!), this still is only enough to buy MAYBE one house in a high cost of living (HCOL) area like London. Your new friends wouldn’t expect Jaguars, just free trips, parties and help with medical expenses.

Still, you need to be careful: it’s surprisingly easy to fritter away a million euros/dollars/pounds/crowns. If you know you have trouble keeping money, then it’s a good idea to get financial advice on setting up some kind of trust. Taxes are another thing to think about. Realize, though, that there are many people who have this much in a standard brokerage account just due to having earned and invested over time. Since this isn’t a stupid amount of lottery money, you could do much worse than just sticking it in some index funds, turning on dividend reinvesting, and forgetting about it. (Which funds? Getting started investing can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. By far the most important thing is to start. Read this book.)

The reason £1m is able to guarantee you financial security is because of something called the 4% rule. TL;DR: once this is invested, you can safely take £40,000 a year out of it, if need be. As you’re looking for a career in journalism, having a base income of £40k which you can rely on is going to come in REAL handy.

Congratulations: you’ve been shown to the front of the “[FI/RE](/r/financialindependence)” queue. (There’s a [UK version](/r/fireuk) too.) Now don’t fuck it up!

In terms of investing, What Can You Expect From the Market in the Long Run? is a nice post on the buying and holding strategy and why you shouldn't sell in down markets.

Investing can be pretty simple these days. Most of the advice on WhiteCoatInvestor (and for young professionals in general) boils down to the following (often called the 'Boglehead' approach, after Vanguard founder Jack Bogle):

1. Live below your means to save up enough money to invest.
2. Buy the following four low cost ETFs/index funds. The percentage of stocks you own should be roughly equivalent to 110 minus your age; the ratio of US to international stocks or bonds should be 70:30 or 60:40.

- ETF tracking the total US stock market - ETF tracking the total International stock market - ETF tracking the total US bond market - ETF tracking the total International bond market

1. Allocate as much as possible of the above into tax-advantaged accounts like a Roth IRA.
2. Keep living below your means so you can keep contributing to the above every month.
3. Enjoy having better returns than many professional investors!

I recommend the Bogleheads' Guide to Investing as a starting place. A Random Walk Down Wall Street does a great job in explaining why passive investing (i.e. buying and holding) is much better than active investing for the average person.

I highly recommend The Bogleheads Guide To Investing, it definitely gave me the understanding and confidence of index investing, plus, it's great to lend out to other people when they show interest in the topic.

As for how much of your starting income to set aside, the most important part is just to start it, and automate it.

• Start a Roth IRA at Vanguard
  • Roth IRA because your starting income is likely to be fairly low, which means you'll be in low tax bracket, so it's better to pay taxes on that money now, rather than when you withdraw it (which is how a Traditional IRA works)
• Set up an automatic transfer that happens after every payday
  • Note that you'll need to be confident the money will be there, so if you work for a smaller company where the paydays sometimes "drift", you might want to set up the automatic withdrawal to occur 1 week later than you expect to be paid
  • Also note that the Vanguard automatic withdrawal is often delayed by several days, I wound up setting up a separate checking account for it to withdraw from, and I have my normal checking account automatically transfer the money into my "investment checking account" each payday, that way I don't have to worry about whether my main checking account balance is before or after the Vanguard autoinvestment occurs
  • Choose an amount that makes sense for you, don't starve yourself, and don't frugal yourself out of fun... you are young and should still enjoy life, personally I recommend that people start with something like $50 each paycheck, but that obviously depends on how large your paycheck is, you can always adjust this later, and obviously you can make manual deposits to the Roth IRA if you have extra money you want to invest

Note the below is just my recommendation for what I would do if I were just starting out, you should absolutely determine your own investment strategy and risk tolerance (although you are young, so you can afford to be more aggressive than someone closer to retirement)

• Stage 1: (Optional) Every once in a while you can go into your Roth IRA and purchase the VTI ETF when you have enough in your Money Market Settlement Fund to buy a whole share.
  • Unfortunately you can't set up automatic purchase of ETF funds, so you'll need to go buy shares manually while you're in this stage
• Stage 2: Once you have $1000 in your Roth IRA, invest it into whatever the farthest out Target Retirement fund is (when making the purchase transfer from any ETF shares if you purchased any previously), currently it's their Target Retirement 2065 fund, this will get you into the market, with roughly 90% stocks and 10% bonds
  • You can then set up future automatic transfers to automatically buy more of this fund
• Stage 3: Once you get to $3000 in your Roth IRA, you can then invest in VTSAX (transfer from the Target Retirement fund to VTSAX), which is the banner fund for low expense ratio index funds
  • Update your automatic investment to go into this fund
• Stage 4: As you build more and more money in your Roth IRA, you can start to diversify your holdings based on your investment plan, find other funds that match your strategy and see what the minimum investment is (most are either $1000 or $3000), and when you have enough in VTSAX where transferring the minimum investment to a new fund makes sense, you can do so
  • Update your automatic investment to contribute appropriate percentages to each fund, depending on your investment strategy

Just to cover all the bases here for starting out:

• You should also be saving up money for an emergency fund, it's up to you to determine how much makes sense... if you're still on your parents insurance, and you can count on them for a safety net, you can be a little slower at building up this emergency fund
  • - Note (Advanced strategy): There is another benefit to the Roth IRA that I didn't mention above, which is that you can withdraw your contributions (but not any gains those contributions have made) from the account at any time, without paying an early withdrawal penalty or taxes. This means that you can technically use the Roth IRA to cover emergencies.
    • It's not "best practice", because you don't want to be pulling funds out of your retirement to cover emergencies, however if you have to choose between an emergency fund or contributing to a Roth IRA, I strongly recommend contributing to the Roth IRA and leaving the enough funds in the Money Market Settlement Fund to act as an emergency fund if you need it. This way you still have access to the money if you need it, but you're also getting money into the Roth IRA while you can. The $6000 yearly contribution limit seems like a lot now, but later in life you'll (hopefully) start maxing it out every year, so it's better to get the money in now and hope you don't need to take it back out then to leave it in a checking account where you might struggle to get it into a tax advantaged account later.
    • You should still make sure you have enough of an "quick access" emergency fund in a regular checking/savings account to cover immediate problems (overdraft on main checking account, need to fill up gas right before a paycheck, unexpected costs, etc.), as transfers out of your Roth IRA may take up to a week to show up in your checking account. Obviously you should also work towards eventually building a full emergency fund outside of your Roth IRA so that you can invest that money, rather than holding it in the money market fund, but when you're just starting out the Roth IRA can be a powerful place to keep the emergency fund until you can afford to contribute to both.
• In case you wind up at a job with a 401k match that you can participate in, you should participate in the 401k plan and maximize the match that you can get from your employer before you add money to your Roth IRA (but only after you have your emergency fund, since it's a lot harder and more expensive to try to get money from the 401k than the Roth IRA), this is basically "free money" that is considered part of the compensation you receive from your employer, so you definitely don't want to leave it on the table if you can help it.
  • 401k plans vary wildly, but generally speaking you're looking for index funds with low expense ratios. Since every 401k is different, you can always reach out (either here or on Bogleheads forums) for advice on your specific plan options.

Read the Bogleheads guide to investing. This honestly should be required reading for all Americans. The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470067365/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6tBgDbZ99RCSR

I recommend buying the book The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. In my opinion it's the only book on investing that the "average" person needs. It will tell you everything you need to know about mutual funds, bonds, IRAs, etc. While I could give detailed advice, my best general advice is to read and learn first, then invest. Too many people make costly mistakes early in their investing. Don't just dive into the deep end.

> I understand you should invest in a mutual fund which has a higher and more consistent rate of return

Obviously that is what we want to be invested in, but those are not the criteria for selecting a fund. Selecting a fund based on past returns is called recency bias, and leads investors into the trap of selecting funds based on poor understanding of what they are investing in. One should pick funds based on first principles, in my opinion.

The world of retail funds can roughly be divided into passively managed index funds and actively managed funds. Index funds track an index of stocks, often thousands of stocks in a single fund, and because they require little management, they have very low fees (typically less than 0.20%/year). For example, a popular type of index fund is one that tracks the S&P 500, which follows the 500 largest companies in the US (the top ones being Apple, Microsoft, etc.).

Actively managed funds, on the other hand, has a fund manager who think they can pick the stocks that will perform well in the future. They have high fees (often more than 1%/year, often much higher) because the manager charges for this expertise. While there are people in this sub that like actively managed funds, I would recommend against them. We have tons of data showing that actively managed funds underperform over time, and that most managers' past stock-picking successes don't predict future returns.

In other words, actively managed funds are an expensive crapshoot for the investor, whereas index funds like an S&P fund guarantees that you will always match the returns of the market. If you want a voice of authority on the matter, Warren Buffett thinks everyone should simply invest in an S&P fund (such as VFIAX at Vanguard or FXAIX at Fidelity). I agree with him, with minor modifications.

Again, this is all covered in the book. Good luck!

Bogleheads guide to investing

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470067365/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZExxFbB9HQ4G1

Short answer: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. Read it cover to cover and then join us in /r/Bogleheads to understand why investing in total market funds is the only sure way to invest.

Longer answer: As others here point out, it's important to understand and manage risk. You can't expect higher returns without taking on more risk. You can't expect 20-40% return from the market without preparing yourself for a possible 20-40% loss as well.

Since 1972, the maximum drawdown for the total market or an S&P 500 fund approaches -40%, and if you go back a hundred years (including the 1929 crash), it's more than -60%. If we don't anticipate any crashes, the annual average rate of return is expected to be around 7%. (Historically, the market has returned a smidgen over 11% per year since 1972, and a little above 6% since the 1800s.)

These are historical figures. We don't know what will happen. Investment companies like Vanguard are predicting weaker returns (4-6%) for the US the coming decade, and stronger returns (7-9%) from international stocks. Some are more optimistic. Those are projections and not predictions. The bottom line is that it's unknowable.

Now, you can make narrow bets such as clean energy or ARK funds and possibly get lucky. For example, right now the energy sector is up more than any sector. The XLE (SPDR Select Sector Energy ETF) is up 30% YTD, compared to just 8.61% for the S&P 500. The challenge is identifying such areas of the stock market before the surge happens, of course. Had you had predictive powers, you could have put all your money into a 3x-leveraged oil fund (NRGU is 113% YTD). But you don't, and you didn't.

Recent performance is only a weak indicator of future returns, and it's probably too late to throw yourself in with a fund which is already way up.

The only way to protect yourself from downside risk is to diversify. Broad-market index funds in equities and bonds.

Can you use a fraction of your money on higher-risk bets? Absolutely. Just be prepared for the possibility of a less-than-satisfactory outcome. You might not actually lose money, but you might get less than the S&P 500.

The three-fund portfolio is my choice. Total market funds give you complete diversification and exposure to all global markets. It's based on the teachings of Jack Bogle, co-founder of Vanguard.

To start to learning, the Bogleheads wiki is great, but I also recommend getting The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing, written by the guys who started the movement.

https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393330338

Great book on investing, for when you get to that point: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. You'll want to do something to avoid losing money to inflation. I think they just added a short documentary on Netflix about finances, too, though I haven't watched it yet.

- I thought I hated tofu, until I realized I just hated it when I actually tried to prepare it in a fancy way. I get it at Trader Joe's ($1.99/package) and just throw it in with pasta, or whatever I'm making, and I don't even notice it.

- Take a grain (ramen, quinoa, rice, couscous, etc.) and throw in some vegetables and protein (beans, lentils, tofu).

- If you know someone with a Costco membership, go with them and buy things in bulk that will keep (especially if it's on promotion). It will cost more than ramen, but you need some nutrition, too.

- I love the podcast Life Kit from NPR. They have a whole bunch on finance that I'd recommend.

I'd invest, but I'm biased. If you're new to investing, I'd checkout r/BogleHeads and potentially read The Bogleheads Guide to Investing.

​

Outside of that, the best thing you can do is invest in a skill that will increase the kind of jobs that you will be able to perform. Coding is/will be the typical answer but realistically it can be anything that interests you.

+1 to Bogleheads. Buy this book and never look back.

This is the book I used. I was in the almost identical situation as you, and this helped out a ton. Good luck!

The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing is a great place to start. https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

Index funds, nuff said.

For more info: https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365, https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393330338

Buy this book. Will likely be the best $20 you will ever spend.

https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

No problem!

One of my favourite books in that regard is The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing.

Not because it tells you what fund to buy (though it suggests some options) or how to get rich quick (it's not about that), but because it explains, in simple and thoughtful terms, how the average Joe and Jane can optimally invest their money without needing to be finance wizards, do day trading or options trading, or any of that jazz that requires a huge amount of time and effort.

That investment philosophy/strategy relies on low-cost, broad market index funds as opposed to stocks or actively managed funds, with a heavy emphasis on simplicity and reducing risk by taking emotion out of investing. Humans are often their own enemy with a tendency to panic and make rash decisions (such as, famously, selling in a downturn) instead of sticking to a plan, and passive index investing (as it's also called) is a way to mitigate that problem.

This philosophy is also one that doesn't come with any self-declared gurus attached that ask to pay or subscribe. All the information in the book is basically also available in the Bogleheads.org wiki, and there's no "secret".

Tangentially, I wrote this comment yesterday in /r/Bogleheads about this that goes into a bit more detail.

Bogleheads hands down.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

The danger of listening to gurus or self-professed experts is that they don't always give you a good reason why they say what they do, or don't promote a full understanding. Investors should use a well-founded strategy to construct their portfolio, not blindly follow what pundits are telling you to.

At least Bogle professed ignorance. When pressed on this, he admitted that this was his personal preference and that he wasn't an "expert" and that investors shouldn't necessarily follow his advice. He wasn't consistent about his advice, either. In his book "Common Sense on Mutual Funds", he wrote:

> Overseas investments—holdings in the corporations of other nations—are not essential, nor even necessary, to a well-diversified portfolio. For investors who disagree—and there are some valid reasons for global investing—we recommend limiting international investments to a maximum of 20 percent of a global equity portfolio.

The authors of The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing recommend 20% based on Bogle's recommendation.

It's worth noting that Vanguard — Bogle's company — never followed Bogle's advice. Since 2012, they've recommended allocating to global market cap weights because of the added diversification, and indeed that's the allocation that all their portfolio funds (Balanced, LifeStrategy, target date retirement, etc.) use.

If you look at other pundits, like Jeremy Siegel, many absolutely do recommend diversifying internationally. Siegel recommends 30%, and I believe has said that even a 50/50 split is reasonable.

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470067365/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_O-3BFbGD2027A

Highly recommended. If you’re like me your spending habits will change after the first chapter.

Só um pequeno detalhe que pode ou não ser importante.

O boglehead guide não é do Bogle.

https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

It looks corny, but read this book, The Bogleheads Guide to Investing. It walks you through how to come up with a low maintenance long-term investment plan through investing in mutual funds. It's pretty much just an ode to mutual funds - but for people like you and I who might be wary of playing the market on a daily / weekly basis without a lot of know-how, it's a good way to go. It also explains the basics like difference between different kind of stocks & bonds. I like to visualize the authors book of this sitting on a back patio in Florida drinking Arnold Palmers enjoying their retirement together.

https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

I suggest buying a book like The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. It will give you a good overview of getting started.

I think you have a couple options depending on your goals.

1. Save the cash for an emergency if you don't have enough of an emergency fund.
   
2. If you are willing to take risks and don't want to or cannot put the money in a retirement account, you could just buy a target date index from Fidelity or Vanguard. These funds are good options for people just getting started, and can be good for longer term if you want the lowest maintenance option. You could alternatively buy the US & International index funds (I put ~70% of stocks in US and 30% in international, but this is a debated subject. You can decide for yourself). The target date funds hold these funds within them, and automatically split your money between them and re-balance. The target date funds will give you a globally diversified portfolio in one fund. The individual funds have slightly lower fees and are more tax efficient, but you will have to re-balance yourself each year. You could always start with the target date funds and change later (but there may be some taxes due when you change, on whatever your gains are). Fidelity is probably your best bet with your amount of money.
   
3. If you want to take less risk, you can add the bond index fund to reduce your risk.
   
4. Did you earn any income this year? Are you willing to lock it up fore retirement? If so, check if you are eligible to contribute to the Roth IRA (you can withdraw contributions from Roth but not gains). You can open one and buy the above funds in it.

These are some of my thoughts. You should do a little more research and decide for yourself. Consider the risk you want to take, as stocks are very volatile and can go down 40%+ in just a few months. If you will panic and sell at the bottom, you should probably take less risk. If you need / want the money soon, you should take less risk as there is no knowing when the drop will come. Over 10+ year periods, stocks generally do better than bonds but it can be a gamble if investing for < 10 years.

This is a great crash course: https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

Here's the first $10 investment you should make.

no, it's a book. not very long and easy to read. https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

Sounds like you need an emergency fund if your work is sporadic. You typically increase you bond percentage as you near retirement to lower your risk levels. Considering you seem to have higher than average risk tolerance I would be 95 or 100 equities at your age. You should spend some time reading up on asset allocations. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Asset_allocation If you really want financial independence it's worth taking the time to understand asset allocations and choose one that works for you since no one knows or will work in your best interest better than you. If you are hoping to live on these assets for 40-60 years of your life you should be able to find the 10 to 20 hours of reading required to get the basics down. https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

The Bogleheads Guide is a way to go.

Forget financial planners. I had one for 10 years, a good family friend, but ended up spending far too much on fees, about 1.5% versus the overall 0.1% expense ratio I'm paying Vanguard now.

1. Read The Best Investment Advice You'll Never Get

2. Read The Boglehead's Guide to Investing

3. Go check out https://www.bogleheads.org/.

You should read the Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. You'll probably find out that you don't need a bank to manage your wealth.

Get a used copy of this: http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

I think your real issue is that you're over-weighting some types of risk (market crash) while under-weighting other types (inflation, missing large market gains). I'd suggest picking up a good book or two about investing and seeing if you can reason your way past the fear, which you admit is irrational. This is a good one to start with. Read this for a general introduction.

Here is the desktop version of your link

I disagree with the advice about giving your money to a financial advisor.

1. Sign up for Vanguard or Betterment and start making contributions.

2. Read a few books about investing. I recommend this one to start

3. If you still want to play with stock trading after that then it depends on how much money you are looking to play with. If it's just beer money then I guess robinhood is a decent choice - somebody else may know better than me though. I personally use TD. The app is decent (though I'll admit I haven't used any others). I have to pay a $6 commission, unless I'm trading certain ETFs, but the tighter bid-ask spreads make up for that.

4. Seriously, read some books. The software in your head is more important than the software on your phone.

Te recomiendo este libro. Está pensado para la bolsa de EUA, pero aplica también para México. https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

Resumen:

• Nadie puede predecir el futuro basado en indicadores del pasado.
• Muchos analistas financieros tampoco tienen idea de lo que están haciendo.
• Cuando alguien más maneja tus inversiones se llevan una muy buena tajada del ya bastante limitado margen de ganancia.
• Aún los fondos de inversión activos más exitosos del momento pueden ser los que les vaya peor en el futuro.
• Los índices como el S&P 500 dan mejores rendimientos a la larga que la mayoria de las casas de inversión y con un costo menor.

> So basically mooch off of your parents

i wasnt mooching, is there some defined date you should move out? the only thing i mooshed was food, electricity and water, if i paid them for that, it would be like at most 100 bucks a week, and i would have if they wanted it, i even asked. they wanted me to get into the property market. totally not what "mooching" is

> have no life

had a great life, just usually had mates over for beers or at their places, went out sometimes but not that often. i also went to SEA once a year, cheap holiday and i love their culture. i guess some people have extravagent tastes, i dont.

> take a gamble on an investment fund that may or may not actually give you much return on investment.

I actually been really into making my money work and did a ton of research on how to invest money, i made some big mistakes, lost 14k in the GFC, that was 70% of my capital at the time, i realised whati was doing was stupid. so i researched how to do it properly. i drew a great amount of inspiration from this book, i encourage you to read it https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365

> Completely unrealistic for quite a large portion of young people.

live with their parents till at least 30? i moved out when iwas 27, rented a cheap place with my gf and bought at 29. i was very frugal when we moved out, all my furniture was bought from a church sale, i funished my place for 100 bucks. where do you draw your number a "large portion" how can you quantify that, od you have studies or figures to back this?

honestly, the amount of replies to my frank situation without any vitriol just makes me wonder if you are just this really angry guy/girl at high house prices and people who got in. i admit iwas lucky to have my parents but it was me who was frugal and i still had my fun.

just relax, save your money, learn how to invest it well and not worry about how ull never buy a house, the market will right itself again, its in a huge bubble at the moment.

If you're looking to save in the long run, this is a bad choice. You wouldn't cover inflation, and the purchasing power of your savings would be ravaged over a long timespan. http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/

I'd recommend doing some research and educating yourself, OP [edit: OP of the post, not the comment above me!]. Knowledge is power, and the dedication to learn how to properly invest will more than pay for itself down the line. The biggest factor to long-term investing is time, and you've got plenty of it.

Edit: hang out in /r/investing and get a book. I'd recommend the Bogelhead's Guide as a starting point

Read this book before you do anything. It's short, easy to read and understand, and could possibly be one of the most important books you'll read in your entire life. At 17, if you understand and apply the concepts outlined in this book, you could enable yourself to be very wealthy some day.

It's not exactly the answer you're looking for but it's the answer you need if you don't already know all of this stuff. I sure didn't at 17 and if I did, I'd probably have an additional digit in my net worth. I can't recommend this book enough, especially for a young guy like you. Trust me; just read it.

EDIT Seriously, buy and read this book. Like, now! The other commenters are offering mostly good advice but it sounds like you need at least a refresher on the basics of investing, and this book is perfect for that. I GUARANTEE that if you read this book and haven't had any other real education on the subject, you will feel empowered and in control, having learned how investing really works and how to do it correctly.

Nobody knows how to "help it grow faster". You understand that it is invested in the stock market, cash, or bonds? Each of those assets have their own risk. You need to understand the risk and your own tolerance. You also need to understand your investing goals.

If I were you I would stick it in a "balanced" option in your 401k plan. Then go check this book out of the library and decide what to do once you know a little more.

This book explains why mutual funds are generally a rip-off and index funds are better.

When you're ready to invest, take a look at TD's e-series funds. They have the (as far as I know) lowest MER of anything you can get easily in Canada.