(Part 2) Top products from r/personalfinance

a credit history means that someone lent you money and you paid it back. that's it. it's not mysterious. if you made responsible, on time payments you have a high credit score. if you were not responsible, you have a low credit score.

your credit score can be important. but don't make your credit score the most important thing in your life.

someone else asked another question here today, bragging about their 800+ credit score ... yet they spent $19,000 on a new car when the value dropped to about $15,000 the minute they drove it off the dealer's parking lot. they were so focused on the credit score as a sign of success that they didn't care that they'd thrown $4000 down the toilet with the purchase of a new car that depreciated in value so much so fast. this is a perfect example of what I mean by not making your credit score the center of your financial life.

something like 25% of Americans don't have credit cards, so it's not that unusual, really. I have 1 card that I use only for Amazon purchases, netflix and my phone payment. this gave me a good credit score, but that wasn't really my intention. it was just a side-effect. I had some trouble with online purchases and Amex has a good history of helping resolve disputes.

you can get a mortgage without a credit score, you need to find a place that does what's called "manual underwriting." this means they personally verify your job history, payments to landlord, etc, rather than simply relying on your credit score.

i guess what I'm saying is be careful and think about what you're doing. don't simply listen to your friends, who are probably broke, tell you how important and sophisticated they are by 'building their credit.' the truth is that people with high wealth, lots of money in the bank and investments, actually tend to avoid debt. see this book for more details: https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Acting-Rich-Living-Millionaire/dp/1118011570

I think that sort of forgetting about the inheritance is maybe the best thing you could have done.

most inheritance is wasted.

you knew you were over your head, so you did nothing and went about your life as normally as possible. many people wouldn't have the discipline to do what you did. they'd have bought a new BMW, flown to Cabo 8 times, etc. and now they'd have only $15k left and be kicking themselves wondering where it all went.

I think you're trying to honor your grandmother's memory, and don't want to screw it up. is so, that's the right attitude. and I think you have the right foundational skills. you also live frugally, you made wise choices with your education etc.

if you want to visit a financial adviser, I'd recommend a few things.

• first, shop around. visit multiple people until you find someone who makes you feel comfortable.
  
  
• second, look for someone who is more a teacher and less a salesman. they shouldn't bully you, pressure you, or talk to you like you're inferior. they should use their education and expertise to give you advice and help you decide. don't do something simply because an MBA tells you. do it because you understand it and think it's a good idea.
  
  
• keep it simple. one of professor thomas stanley's findings (see below) was that most wealthy people have investment strategies of almost brutal simplicity. they don't go for the fast buck, get rich quick. they invest slowly, steadily and consistently over a period of decades. they rarely invest in anything other than mutual funds and property.
  
  
• finally, don't mention that you're sitting on half a million during the first consultation or two. you want someone who's gonna give you good advice, respect your time and goals, and take you seriously as a client, whether you've got $4000 or $4million to start investing.
  
  > She was by no means living a fancy lifestyle
  
  most millionaires are actually very frugal. you might want to go to the library and see if they have copies of Thomas J Stanley's books. he was a professor who studied finance, specifically high-wealth people. he basically found that you can either be rich (lots of cash or investments) or you can look rich (fancy lifestyle, cars, etc). many who earn high incomes are actually broke, because they're spending all their income on status items, high-end new cars, huge houses in upscale neighborhoods, boats, etc. they're so busy trying to look rich that they don't have cash left over for savings and investing. in contrast, people like your grandmother are truly wealthy specifically because they lived modestly, didn't care about impressing anyone, didn't go to the country club, and made a priority of building wealth.
  
  his first and maybe best known book was "The Millionaire Next Door." one of his findings was that there were more millionaires in blue collar/middle class areas than in upscale/white collar areas. why? because doctors and lawyers etc are under more pressure to live a fancy lifestyle. nobody expects a farmer or a plumber to drive a BMW and send their kids to private school. so if a farmer and a lawyer both earn good incomes, who's actually more likely to save and invest? That's right: the farmer. https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1478299059&sr=8-4&keywords=thomas+j+stanley
  
  I also like his book Stop Acting Rich. https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Acting-Rich-Living-Millionaire/dp/1118011570/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478299059&sr=8-1&keywords=thomas+j+stanley
  
  and stanley's website. he died only last year. http://www.thomasjstanley.com/publications/

if you want to be rich, do what rich people do: avoid debt, avoid status spending, save and invest a large percentage of your income, and be sort of a tightwad. read this book. it explains how wealthy people actually live. it's one of the best books I've ever read in my life; the culmination of the author's decades of research (he was a professor who studied financial habits). basically he found that truly wealthy people (money and investments and property) have different habits from the popular conception of "wealthy". truly wealthy people don't buy new luxury cars, Rolex watches, etc. http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Acting-Rich-Living-Millionaire/dp/1118011570

so my advice if you want to be prosperous is this:

• get rid of the car. prosperous people do not buy used cars. new cars depreciate in value. in a few years that car will be worth $10k but you'll still owe $14k on the loan. if you want to prosper, do what rich people do: buy a quality used car, and pay cash for it.
  
  
• you didn't mention savings or investment. general rule of thumb for rich people is they've consistently invested a substantial chunk of their income day in and day out for their entire working careers. 10% or more is standard.
  
  
• for example: if you invested half of that weekend fun money, it'd grow to over $400,000 in 30 years. if you also invested another half of the restaurant money, it'd push you over $500,000. double-check my numbers here: http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm EDIT: forgot to mention that this assumes an average of 10% annual growth rate; this is very realistic as the US stock market as a whole has grown an average of about 10% a year over the last century. there are plenty of mutual funds that have this kind of track record, or slightly better.

Ownership of a corporation is through shares of that corporation, where investors (individual or institutional) may own one or more shares of the company.

Owning shares gives investors certain benefits and privileges, including dividends (a portion of the corporation's profits which are distributed to shareholders), and voting rights (one vote per share, which is why you always hear about owning "51% of the company" -- if you own 51%, no one can outvote you).

Many corporations are privately held, where a small group of people own all the shares. They decide, as a group, the rules on when and how shares can be sold or new shares created.

Many other corporations are publicly traded, on stock markets like Wall Street, where the general public can buy and trade shares of the company.

Publicly-traded corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to their owners, the shareholders. That generally means that corporations try to maximize their shareholders' returns by maximizing profit. You maximize profit by extracting the most money you can from your customers.

With investment companies, this leads to a conflict, because the investment banks have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders, not to their customers. One consequence is that the mutual funds sold by these companies have very high fees and expenses, reflected in the expense ratio, because that is how they maximize their profits for their shareholders.

Vanguard, founded by Jack Bogle, has a unique corporate structure which circumvents this problem. All shares of Vanguard are collectively held by Vanguard's own mutual funds, which Vanguard sells to its customers. That means that when you invest in a Vanguard mutual fund, you are buying part of Vanguard itself.

This also means is that, while Vanguard, like every other corporation, still has a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders, its customers are its shareholders. Consequently, maximizing profits for their shareholders requires minimizing their customers' expenses.

It also means that Vanguard's customers have a stake in ensuring Vanguard's success, since they are also the company's owners. Vanguard still needs to recruit talent and pay competitively with other investment companies. Vanguard must make money, through fees and expenses which, again, are reflected in their funds' expense ratios.

These two competing forces help to find a balance, where Vanguard funds have expense ratios which are as low as possible, but not so unreasonably low that Vanguard is unable to do make enough money to be competitive.

Jack Bogle wrote a book about mutual funds, presenting a compelling argument that minimizing expenses is the single most important thing you can do to maximize your return, and the only way to minimize expenses is to avoid the costs associated with active investing, and stick with index funds.

Around here, we like Jack Bogle, and we like his company, because we agree that low cost index funds are the only way to guarantee your fair share of the market return.

I'm finishing up school as well, and have recently gotten into personal finance. I read blogs like The Simple Dollar and Get Rich Slowly on a daily basis. They have large, search-able archives and are full of free information and tools that relate to personal finance. Wonderful resources.

If you're looking for good books to read I'd like to recommend The Millionaire Next Door. By far my favorite, this book completely changed my thinking about personal finance.

Some others:

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need

The Boglehead's Guide to Investing

The Automatic Millionaire

See if your library has any! Oh, and here's a longer list from GRS:
Building a Personal Finance Library: 25 of the Best Books About Money

If I were you, I would put as much money towards college as you can. The less debt that you have the better in the long run. I'd also open an IRA. If you were to put in $10/month now, it would drastically compound later. Here is a [link] (https://research.scottrade.com/KnowledgeCenter/Public/Calculators/RothVsTraditionalIRA) to visually show you compounding.

I'd also suggest [this] (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0547447256?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage) book. It's $10 and is well worth the money.

It's great to save for retirement and not have debt but no one has mentioned budgeting. Learning to budget is really important.

I'm 25 and started saving a few years ago. I get to go out for coffee and drink with friends when I want, but I still save 1/3 of pay checks for retirement/ savings.

Instead of buying lunch 5 days a week at work, I bring my own lunch 3 days a week. Let's say a meal is $7.

$7X5 days=$40/ week. $40x52 weeks= $2,080/ year.

$7x2 days=$14/ week. $14x52 weeks= $728/ year.

That saves me an extra $1352 to go out, to travel with, to pay off debt or to retire. Buying coffee at Starbucks daily is great but adds up.

You can work smart now and enjoy retiring at 50 or travel the world simply by being smart about your finances.

1. Vanguard is a low cost provider, yahoo finance can show you the expense ratio for any fund you are interested in -- I would decide on the 'type' of fund desired first (s&p500, total US stock market, international stocks, sectors, specialty), see what Vanguard has to offer, then compare their ER with other funds.
   
   
2. The only funds I know that all have lower ER's than Vanguard are the funds within the federal governments 401K (the Thrift Savings Program), but you need to be a federal employee to access these.
   
   
3. Withdrawal fees are up to the individual fund, if you withdraw too quickly some funds will charge a fee (ie <1 year or whatever). If a fund has no withdrawal fees at all (ie even after 1 day) then the fund runs the risk of being 'abused' by higher frequency traders and the cost of servicing these individuals will be paid by the fund's other longer term investors, so that is a business decision up to the managers of each fund.
   
   
4. In a mutual fund, you will pay capital gains taxes for each actual withdrawal (and there are mutiple complex ways to calculate how much tax you owe -- you must keep very good records to know if what is being reported to the IRS is accurate), but also each year you may have to pay taxes on imputed capital gains and dividends, even if you reinvest those distributions in the same fund immediately (ie if the mutual fund company reinvests them for you). The fund will send you a 1099 each year listing your imputed capital gains (ie gains the fund generated internally by trading stocks over the year) and dividends -- and you pay the taxes (even if you did not get the money distributed to you but it was kept in the fund). If you own an ETF, generally you should not have to pay capital gains taxes unless you actually sell shares -- but there may be exceptions!). Also some mutual funds (especially index funds) try to be 'tax efficient', meaning they try to not generate imputed capital gains that you will be taxed on each year.
   
   
5. Research has shown that if you have a chunk of money to invest, you will do just as well to invest all of it at once if you spread the money out, as with a market-wide index fund. If this is of concern to you, read about 'dollar cost averaging'. This approach means you decide to invest a fixed amount of cash in the market (ie in the S&P500 or some other broad index fund) each month or quarter, whether the market is up or down -- just buy the same dollar amount of shares. If the market is down that month, you will get more shares for your $$, if the market is up, you will get a smaller number of shares -- but it will average out and it is considered to be a reasonable approach to a lifetime investing program.
   
   
6. The problem with 'timing' investments is you have to be very smart, and have to be right twice -- once when you decide it is time to invest, and a second time when you decide to sell. Most real humans can't be this smart or knowledgeable, so 'dollar cost averaging' makes more sense. Research has shown that humans who invest in mutual funds don't do as well (don't earn as much) as the mutual fund itself -- the people try to outsmart the market and buy and sell at what turn out to be the wrong (or not the best ) times, so the return of real humans who use specific mutual funds tends to lag (be lower than) the reported fund return itself -- we think we are smarter than we are, we watch the news too much and panic. We sell when we should buy and buy when we should sell.
   
   My suggestion: go slow, read some books on investing. I read this book 30+ years ago and it was helpful. There are many others! Advice from /r/personalfinance can also be helpful in a general way.

I felt the same way as you last year. I am now 25 and feeling competent with my financials by reading this book https://www.amazon.com/If-You-Can-Millennials-Slowly-ebook/dp/B00JCC5JKI and all the books it recommends.

I highly encourage you to get to a point where you feel comfortable with what all the terms are and what you can best do for yourself. It takes time to understand it all but your livelihood is worth it!

If you look up "if you can how to get rich slowly" into google, the top link will be free 16 page pdf laying out what you want to read up on and investing strategies.

Congrats OP! This is great advice. You may also want to check out http://www.bogleheads.org/, read the wiki, the forums, and ask questions there. There are some really smart and experienced investors on that site and they will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

I'd also recommend a few good books. Here are three of my favorites:

http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381759382&sr=8-1&keywords=a+bogleheads+guide+to+investing

http://www.amazon.com/The-Four-Pillars-Investing-Portfolio/dp/0071747052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381759409&sr=8-1&keywords=four+pillars+of+investing

http://www.amazon.com/The-Intelligent-Asset-Allocator-Portfolio/dp/0071362363/ref=pd_sim_b_1

I'm in a similar position. I don't have a huge emergency fund because I know in a real dire emergency I could always call up my parents. I'd rather pay my loans quicker than work for years to build an emergency fund and I have the luxury of that. If you have any kind of safety net like that you might want to do the same.

So here is how I do it:

• Emergency fund (up to a couple months of living expenses)
  
• 401k up to company match (mine doesn't match right now so i skip this)
  
• Student loans (what you can pay over min payment, target high interest loans)
  
• Roth IRA (can only put away 5,500 in this a year)
  
• Short term savings (or apply any extra not used for living expenses to loans or more to 401k if you like)
  
  I think you should throw as much money as you can at the loans without skipping on your 401k and possibly a roth IRA. Those loans are guaranteed to lose you money at their interest rates.
  
  You should also make sure the funds you choose on your 401k are low expense ratios with no loading fees. There is some good info on this in the sidebar.
  
  This book looks a bit cheesy but honestly it spells everything out in simple terms and it's meant for recent grads. I grabbed it off my roommates bookshelf one day and ended up reading it cover to cover. It really re-states much of what anyone on this subreddit would tell you.
  
  Best of luck, sounds like you have a good start on things!

$600 for food for two people? You guys must enjoy some serious eats :)

Never having touched the IRA is great news. VTIVX is a great fund, with low expenses and index allocation that is rebalanced for you as time goes on, with the investments becoming less risky as you get closer to retirement. For folks like you who don't have the time and/or interest in learning about investing this is about as good as it gets. You don't have to do anything except keep investing as much as you can. You'll be able to retire early if you wish just by contributing ~25% of your income to the fund and letting it grow.

Keeping the 12k in cash is okay. That's enough to cover emergencies or give you an opportunity to take advantage of potential opportunities you might miss if you've got all your money stashed in illiquid investments.

I'd probably put your monthly excess cash into savings, then when your income goes up and your debt is paid off you can increase your monthly contribution to the IRA. When you're ready you can look into buying a home instead of renting if it makes financial sense to do so. If it were me I'd cut the food/transportation/rent budget a bit and work to get rid of the debt immediately, but I'm a nitpicker.

As long as you don't let your lifestyle and consumption habits inflate when your income increases you should be well on your way to financial independence, and if you choose, early retirement.

If you want to get a basic idea of the principles of investing you should buy William Bernstein's If you can. At 27 pages in length it's a quick and easy read.

Get Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich out at the library. There's an interesting chapter or two in there about the way housekeeping agencies make it hard on their crews. I think it was Merry Maids in the book.

She is definitely better off working as an independent cleaner (and can make her own hours.) I mean, if a homeowner is willing to pay $125 for three cleaners for two hours, one very efficient person can probably do the same work in a few more and pocket 100%. Well, minus materials, etc.

Even if that doesn't appeal and she's busting her hump for less than minimum wage, a different job might be a better way to go.

don't do anything until you're comfortable with it an understand it. if all you understand is a simple savings account, stick with that. don't let anybody pressure into doing anything.

the best advice I could give you is to read a copy of Thomas Stanley's book Stop Acting Rich. He was a professor who studied high-wealth people. lots of great advice on how to live well below your means, manage the money wisely, and not waste the money trying to impress people. The absolute worst thing you could probably do is start living the high life, buying high-end cars, joining the country club, etc. it's easy to imagine someone squandering ten million dollars that way and regretting it the rest of their life.

https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Acting-Rich-Living-Millionaire/dp/1118011570

• Open the Roth and fund it for last year and this year, don't miss the deadline, get the money in there...if you ever need the principal you can pull it back without penalty.
  
• Next read this: The Four Pillars of Investing and allocate your funds and build a plan to ensure you will have enough money for retirement.
  
• you have a unique opportunity to create a lot of wealth. once you create your plan use the extra to have fun or invest in real estate or whatever else.

I've really enjoyed Financial Fitness Forever by Paul A. Merriman and Richard Buck. Mostly about investing, it's laid out really well, written in a conversational tone and delves into some of the emotional aspects of investing behavior.



Also, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias ironically contains quite a lot of advice other than just investing and he has a great sense of humor. I haven't read the updated 2016 version - mine is from 2002!

Baby Step #7: Build wealth and give!

Once your financial house is in order—all debts are paid off, emergency funds are fully funded, retirement contributions are maxed out, then the only thing left to do is keep finding ways to build wealth and enjoy it.

I've been reading a book this week (almost done) that has really helped me think of some things I can do once I get to that point myself. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki really harps on the idea that money should work for you, instead of you working for money; the trick is to find creative ways to make that happen. It's got me really excited to get my debts and savings squared away so I can move on to the wealth-building stage!

Edited to add: In response to your remark about chasing income increases… read the book linked above! Don't just make it your long-term goal to keep finding ways to work for more money, when you could be finding ways to get money working for you! It's not right for everybody (it might not even be right for me), but the sooner people think about it like that, the sooner they can try it for themselves, the better their chances of achieving it!

Since you're under age, see if you can get a custodial Roth IRA opened with your parent(s)' help. I'd strongly encourage investing in a low cost, diversified index fund.

​

If you don't know what an index fund is:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/indexfund.asp

​

A good book - might take some time to get through - that explains index investing:

https://www.amazon.com/Common-Sense-Mutual-Funds-Anniversary/dp/0470138130

​

Also, well done for making investing a priority at your age. Future you is grateful!

Can I make a couple of suggestions? First, read "If You Can: How Millenials Can Get Rich Slowly" If you don't want to pay the .99 for it on kindle then you can also find it as a PDF online (the author wrote it to be free.). It's very well reviewed by just about everyone (including the NYT and Forbes).

https://www.amazon.com/If-You-Can-Millennials-Slowly-ebook/dp/B00JCC5JKI

Second: Start an IRA. Yes it's harder to get money out, but it will mean you don't have to use that money for college.

Third: Think about what will make your life easier in the next five to ten years and save towards those goals.

I like this book. It's short, simple, quick read and lines up well with the /r/personalfinance principles.

Maybe get her something fun though too, as useful as that book is, it's still a book about finance haha.

The best ones are of course free, and both this subreddit and bogelheads have a wealth of knowledge. I try and watch a tutorial or read a story a few times a week on both


For how to create and stick to a budget as a young professional, I like Dave Ramsey. He has tons of good rules of thumb and pitfalls to avoid that will be useful for the rest of your life. He's a bit conservative though, and I don't necessarily agree with his cash only, no debt strategies.


https://www.amazon.com/Total-Money-Makeover-Classic-Financial/dp/1595555277/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480449960&sr=8-1&keywords=dave+ramsey


Suze Orman is another great author for younger people, especially when tackling big things for the 1st time like home ownership and loans


https://www.amazon.com/Money-Book-Young-Fabulous-Broke/dp/1594482241/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480450023&sr=8-1&keywords=suze+orman


My top suggestion though is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It's not as direct as many other personal finance books, as its more general advice on how to steer your financial life, but itss an incredible book


https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480450131&sr=8-1&keywords=rich+dad+poor+dad

So you have a great start!
Question why do you want to invest in options, and with the how did you loose 25% in 6 months with the brokerage account? I'm guessing you are in individual stocks?

You are young and time is on your side instead of taking a gambling approach with individual stocks and options I would suggest opening another vanguard account for your taxable investments and just put it in an index fund, let compounding start to work for you.

Here is a book I really liked on active vs passive investments.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Four-Pillars-Investing-Portfolio/dp/0071747052

Also out of curiosity how are you earning 30k while going to school?

Get this book from the library:

http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681

Read author's AMA

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/23d7n9/

If your library has it, watch the documentary Paycheck to Paycheck by HBO

Keep in mind that you are 18 now but your opportunities for better jobs are significantly stymied without postsecondary education. And your opportunities for postsecondary education are significantly stymied by isolating yourselves from the parents.

When I started investing I didn't know jack shit. Now I make between 30-50k year just in growth and dividends. I started with this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Investing-Lessons-Every-Investor/dp/1118484878

It's a short book, a 1 day read. You'll come out being very very skeptical of "financial planners" and investment bankers who want a piece of your action. It walks you through all the scams, types of accounts, tax benefits, etc. This stuff is all super confusing and they do a nice job of explaining it.

Once you read the book, this will make sense: You might want to think about migrating what you have left over for saving into a Roth IRA over time. (there is a $5500 limit per year/per person and you need to have a separate roth for both you and your husband) Then your growth is tax free.

​

​

Try to spend as much time continuously working as possible. This may take a number of sacrifices to do. Depending on what part of the film industry you may be waiting for jobs, or you may have one of the jobs where you just fly to the next project elsewhere in the world.

If you are in one of the more mobile jobs do that. The more time you continuously work the better off you'll be.

Now if you have reasonably consistent income you need to keep your expenses down and not accumulate debts. The reason being you need to save as much money as you possibly can.

Any retirement fund benefits need to be taken. The remainder needs to be invested. Those investments will be what generates your income.

My recommended reading to learn how to be a good passive investor is The Four Pillars of Investing.
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-Portfolio/dp/0071747052/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450552472&sr=1-1&keywords=the+four+pillars+of+investing

You may want to consider shares that consistently pay dividends and bonds. This is not always the best long term strategy but knowing the film industry this may be a safer option for you.

I've been sleeping on a Zinus Memory Foam 12" Mattress for over a year now and it's quite comfortable. Truth be told before this I was sleeping on a very very expensive tempurpedic and I have trouble telling the difference between them.

Investing in a good nights sleep is crucial, sleeping well is very pivotal to keeping a healthy mind and mental state.

You are currently invested in super high fee funds that will end up costing you $1000s upon $1000s over the life of your investment. You are losing almost 3% of your returns to Expense Ratios/Load Fees on every single fund you are invested in. You need to get out these now. Edward Jones is robbing you blind.

Current Portfolio

Investment|Ticker|Expense Ratio|Deferred Load|
:--|:--|--:|--:|
Invesco High Yield Municipal Fund Class C|ACTFX|1.59%|1.00%|
Natixis Funds Trust I Oakmark International Fund Class C|NOICX|2.09%|1.00%|
American Funds SMALLCAP World Fund® Class C|SCWCX|1.90%|1.00%|
American Funds New World Fund® Class C|NEWCX|1.88%|1.00%|
John Hancock Fundamental Large Cap Core Fund Class C|JHLVX|1.81%|1.00%|


Use a fund analyzer tool such as this (may not work in Chrome) to determine the difference in fund costs in expense ratios.

For example, let's compare your SMALLCAP fund (SCWCX) against Vanguards SMALLCAP fund (NAESX).

http://imgur.com/a/XxXSy

If you made a $10,000 investment and held it for 20 years @ 5% returns, the Vanguard fund comes out significantly ahead by $5,855.94 due to an additional $3,367.21 in fees from SCWCX

Let's also talk about the deferred load fee (sales fee) of your funds. This means that your Edward Jones advisor is going to get 1% of your funds value every time you sell a share. At this time, with an initial investment of $22,000 this means you're going to lose $220 the instant you sell.

Financial Advisors

You are currently using a non-Fiduciary advisor from Edward Jones.

A non-Fiduciary Advisor's entire job is to talk new investors into buying funds with load fees (Front/Deferred). This is how they make all of their money. While it's completely legal for them to benefit off your lack of knowledge, and recommend sub-par funds to invest in for their profit, it is super scummy. In the future, you'll want to look for No-Load mutual funds to avoid paying the advisor a sales fee.

While most people can do just fine without an adviser, with just a little bit of research, if you absolutely WANT to have a financial advisor, you need to find a Fee-Only Fiduciary. Fee-Only Fiduciaries are not allowed to make any type of commission off your investments and will give you unbiased advice. You can go here to find fee-only fiduciaries in your area. If you go this route, I would recommend speaking to a few different fiduciaries. While all of their advice will be unbiased, it doesn't mean it is all the same quality of advice.

Here is a great infographic about what a Fiduciary is.

Where To Go From Here

1. Transfer all money from Edward Jones to a low-cost provider such Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab.
   
2. Decide on whether you want to manage your allocations manually (go to step 3-4) or let a target retirement fund (skip to step 5) do it for you.
   
3. Read the 3-fund portfolio wiki on Bogleheads
   
4. Read If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly. The Kindle edition is $0.99 without PRIME and free with PRIME.
   
5. Take your research from 3/4 and Invest in low-cost index funds to build good portfolio diversification OR select the target date fund at Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab that meets your retirement age (set it and forget it)
   
   If you are unsure how to do step 5, even after reading the information in 2/3, post a new topic for help and tell us which low-cost provider you selected.
   
   
   
   Side Note: Dave Ramsey is fantastic for getting people out of debt, but his investment advise is notoriously bad. Get investment knowledge elsewhere.
   

Here are the first two I read to get you started, I'll see if I can't dif up the others:

• The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need
  
• The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
  
  
  And yes, I opened up my Roth through Vanguard which was super easy!

I recommend you read up on index investing. This is a good book:

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0470830069

Also understand the power of passive investing. Another good book:

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0470592206/

At the very least read the first recommended book. I feel that index investing is the best way to go, but you should do your research and decide if you think it is as well.

I was in your position a while back, and this book did a great job of helping me start making sense of personal finance. From there, I went down a rabbit hole of reading pretty much everything from the PF reading list.

>I am pretty good with computers

There you go! Dedicate as much free time as you have to studying to get an A+ Certification, then start searching around for local IT/Helpdesk jobs. Once you're in and get some experience, there is all sorts of room for promotion. It all depends on the time and effort you put into it.

As far as what/where to study, there are a ton of resources out there. Professor Messer has a whole series of totally free videos for not only A+ certification, but most of the other major certifications as well. You should also pick up this book as it covers just everything you'll need to know for the exam plus a lot more.

Not to discourage investing, but at 15, I'd focus on general personal finance knowledge. A youth-oriented book like Suze Orman's offers a lot of just good general knoweldge. You can find all of it online of course, but having a book is nice because without it, you might not know what to search for. You want to have a handle on saving and debt management before you learn the ins and outs of stock allocation.

If you do still have extra money to invest, I'd still recommend a book, just for the 'guided tour' factor. You can learn a ton on the Bogleheads wiki, but any site with that much information may be overwhelming for brand-new-to-investing people.

You could probably get a dresser super cheap or even free on craigslist. Used beds don't seem like the greatest idea to me, but you could get something like this setup for not too much money. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4N3QJ1
https://www.amazon.com/Zinus-SmartBase-Foundation-Replacement-Noise-Free/dp/B006MIUM20

I've had a few dashcams and always remove them when I'm out of the vehicle for more than a few minutes. The easiest to remove is the Rexring and the image quality is above average. I also had the G1W-C (capacitor version), but the housing cracked and the ball on suction cup assembly eventually seized. The Rexring build quality is much better than the G1W-C, although I think the G1W-C video looked a little better.

For retirement accounts in particular, I would highly recommend The Elements of Investing by Malkiel and Ellis.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Investing-Lessons-Every-Investor/dp/1118484878?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

It covers the optimal strategy for how everyday people should invest for retirement: a diversified portfolio of low-cost, broad index funds. It also gives a list recommended funds from various institutions (Vanguard, Fidelity, etc.). If you frequent this subreddit, then the majority of it will sound very familiar. But it's a good introduction for the uninitiated.

I suggest Andrew Tobias's The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need. If you read it through it should give you a grasp of the basics, but won't give you more than you need (which can get you into trouble).

Aside from that, I would focus my energy on keeping spending low and trying to find higher-paying jobs and/or additional job(s). Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937/

My wife and I bought this mattress and this bedframe in January and we love it. You can be in a nice bed for a few hundred bucks.
You can't afford anything fancy that you think you need, and a bed is not an emergency.

I'm rereading the book Get a Financial Life which taught me about a lot of the things I never learned at school or from my parents. It's a good place to answer your questions about what to do with your money, and these are the basics you can teach your son over the years. It helped me out immensely ~10 years ago, would recommend. Maybe it's even at your library for free.

You can get your certification in about 30 days depending on what knowledge your already have now if you really buckle down and take this serious.

• Read Ch1 Mike Meyers book
  
  
• Watch the corresponding videos on YouTube by Professor Messer. Messer's videos are in order of the CompTIA exam objectives not the book, so you'll have to jump around a bit.
  
  
• Do the practice questions at the end of Ch1. Don't just figure out the answer to the question, but instead be able to explain why the other answers are incorrect. Try to create a question for each possible answer - this turns 20 questions into 80. Re-Read any portion of the chapter you have struggled with. You should be getting 90% or higher on the practice questions
  
  
  
• Repeat steps with the remaining chapters of the book.
  
  
  
• Take the practice exam at the end of the book.
  
  
  
• Based on your results of the practice exam, re-study the portions of the book you struggled with. TechExams has additional study material/practice tests. So does Skillset. Take as many practice tests as you can. Again you should be shooting for 90% or better.
  
  
• this is a great book too.
  
  More info here
  
  
  Do a chapter a day and you'll finish the Mike meyers book in 30 days or less if you read more.

Here's the ones I like:

• All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren
  
• The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman
  
• Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
  
  However, I highly recommend not buying them but borrowing them from the library and just taking notes on what you find interesting. Otherwise, it is $15 per book that you will read only once.

Definitely DO NOT consult a financial advisor or anyone who's going to charge you money to help you invest anything. You're getting ripped off if you do it. I honestly cannot believe people here are recommending that.

Very simple: Put you money throw the flow chart. This chart does a good job of explaining the steps, in order, you should follow. https://i.imgur.com/lSoUQr2.png

After paying down any debt, securing your emergency fund and enrolling in 401K, you have more options to do your own thing. But you should still keep it simple, at least at first. I recommend a quick read of this breezy book: https://www.amazon.com/Second-Grader-Beats-Wall-Street/dp/0470919035

It explains how you can set up a basic 3-fund brokerage portfolio. Only after you do all these things should you look into more "specialized" investment vehicles like real estate (though a solid real estate ETF options are OK to include in your brokerage portfolio) or crypto or stupid shit you're going to lose money on.

Read a book you trust on the topic. Below is a book I read when I was 15. I am currently 26 and I already have much more saved for my retirement than my parents do. To this day I follow what I learned when I was younger.

I recommend this one, but any is fine as long it focuses on long term investment and not short-term stock guessing.

https://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Portfolio-Investment/dp/0071747052/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KXH0G78FMN6VG7WDAZJG

Here is what is happening:

Your financial planner gets kickbacks for selling insurance policies. He wants you to have lots of money on hand so you can buy insurance policies so he can collect kickbacks.

This is why most financial planners are awful people. They take your money, say they are going to help you, then fuck you on behalf of their corporate pimps.

Drop the financial planner and figure this out yourself. You can use this personal finance subreddit, but if you need things in a book format, I recommend Get a Financial Life. This is not the last book you'll read on personal finances, but it is an excellent first book. You can finish it over the course of an afternoon or two, and it will help you understand all the basic things you need to know, from mortgages to car notes to insurance.

Read this short (27 pg) booklet with some adivce If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly

Shows some basics to saving. Its simple, but not easy. I think its free on his website too. Just a quick guide of how to

The younger you start savings the better off you'll be. Even if it's just a little every day.
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-power-of-compound-interest-2014-7

READ: The Richest Man in Babylon

READ: Rich Dad Poor Dad

Do this, and you'll be ready to be on your own.

I bought a queen memory foam mattress on amazon for $229 and it's amazing.

Let him keep the mattress and buy a new one. I bought this a few months ago. Cheap, fast shipping and the best sleep I've ever gotten... And it's new!

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need remains one of the best explanations and tutorials about the stock market and investing

• First of all congratulations. It's terrifying and awesome to become a father.
  
  
• Get 30 year term life insurance today. You are going to sleep better knowing this is taken care of. No "cash value" life insurance. TERM!!
  
  
• Read some books, The Millionare Next Door, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Financial Peace any of the etc. These books will give you some contradictory advice but they'll also give you the information to make your own decisions.

Buy yourself (or go to the library) a copy of John Bogle's "Commons Sense on Mutual Funds". Great book and you will learn a lot from it.


http://www.amazon.com/Common-Sense-Mutual-Funds-Anniversary/dp/0470138130

Try to target 6-12 months of living expenses. Call this your emergency fund.

Do you have any debt? Pay that off next.

Third, try to invest money in tax advantaged spaces, (IRA, Roth IRA, 401k).

Plenty of good books out there on investing and personal finance. I favor the book below:

The Index Card

Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated
https://www.amazon.com/Index-Card-Personal-Finance-Complicated/dp/1591847680

​

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Common-Sense-Investing/dp/1119404509

Read If You Can. The PDF is free online and it will only take you an hour or so to get through. Then read the books that are recommended at the end of each section. You will then know more about investing than 95% of people.

Millionaire Teacher is the book I wished that I had read before I started investing and that I like to recommend to beginning investors.

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is the book that opened my eyes and set me on the right path.

I'd suggest this book as an easy starting place. https://www.amazon.com/Index-Card-Personal-Finance-Complicated/dp/1591847680

Congrats of taking responsibility for learning about finances? As you get older you'll realize that many adults have awful finances, know next to nothing about money, and just hide it very well. The fact that you're asking means you're already ahead of a lot of people.

Disclaimer: I haven't read it, but I've heard good things about Get a Financial Life.

I have these two brand new, and they are excellent:

• Queen Frame: $79: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006MIUM20
  
• Queen Mattress: $179: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005A4OP8Y

What if 5 years from now you want a house for yourself? You will not be able to get a second mortgage. Will you kick out your brother to sell that house? You might benefit from reading this book http://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-When-Take-Control-Your/dp/0310247454

First step is to determine your time horizon. From there, you can determine how much risk you want to take on. If you wont need the $2,000 until retirement, then you can afford to be rather risky and go 100% into a stock market index. If you're going to need that money at graduation, then you're probably better off putting that money into a savings account and investing in some personal finance books.

I recommend The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need as recommended by Mark Cuban.

http://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256

>I must admit this challenge has opened my eyes in so many ways I could probably write a book.

You would really like Nickel and Dimed

Read rich dad poor dad. It is easy to read and teaches you basic concepts of money and investing. The main point of the book is to make money work for you, not you working for money. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011

Cheap mattress here. Free shipping. You can just throw it on the floor.

https://www.amazon.com/Zinus-Memory-Green-Mattress-12-Inch/dp/B00Q7EPSHI

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q7EPSHI/

$229 for a queen with free shipping. Only $199 for a full.

My own advice would be to start early (you're doing that) and to go with no/low fee investments. This will make a huge difference over time.

You might also check out the personal finance book "The index card," and the video "How to Win the Losers Game."

A "rule" I have heard over and over is keep a 6 month emergency fund. If you cut it down to that you free up 80k, I enjoyed this book. http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Teacher-Wealth-Should-Learned/dp/0470830069

TL:DR. put 80k into an index fund.

I thought this one summed up many things nicely:
Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
http://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256
Contrary to it's name, it has more to do with personal finance than investing.

I highly recommend this because it's a really accessible read, and it go over some things that are beyond investment https://www.amazon.ca/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256

Now that you're married (congrats) you need to focus on yourselves more so than ever... may I suggest a book "Boundaries" http://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-When-Take-Control-Your/dp/0310247454 that you both read and discuss as to know how and when to help those around you

I'd recommend looking at the book How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street or A Random Walk Down Wall Street if you're starting to invest.

Short answer: just do it. I wouldn't try too hard to guess the future of the market.

https://www.amazon.com/V1-Dashboard-Recorder-G-Sensor-Recording/dp/B00X528FNE

does not function well in a hot car. I park in a garage at home and work. Easy to set up and use.

You start here.

This is the most succinct, most comprehensive, clearest book on the subject I've found to date.

The Elements of Investing was the first book recommended to me by a friend, and it taught me ridiculous amounts in about 150 pages. You could tear through this in a day and learn volumes full.

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1118484878/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You may not have been alive fifteen years ago.

But if you like to read "personal finance"....you really NEED to read these.

Peter Lynch

https://www.amazon.com/One-Up-Wall-Street-Already/dp/0743200403

https://www.amazon.com/Beating-Street-Peter-Lynch/dp/0671891634/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=


Andrew Tobias

https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466002617&sr=1-1&keywords=andrew+tobias

My stepdad is a financial advisor and he recommends this book for young people: Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in your 20s and 30s.

Looks like the price is now $229 - but here you go!

I seriously cannot recommend this mattress enough. It is both firm and super soft at the same time. We call it our "heroin bed" because it is so comfortable you sleep like you're on heroin. Our previous mattress was a fancy, $2000 Vera Wang pillow top, but after trying the Zinus we will never purchase another mattress again.

Rich Dad Poor Dad
https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011

Regardless of whether you should take a second job, it's just none of their business. Set up some boundaries with your family. Check out this book.

Read "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" (http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393340740)

Put it in something like this.

Add this to your reading list. https://www.amazon.com/Common-Sense-Mutual-Funds-Anniversary/dp/0470138130

Read the book Millionaire Teacher.

Read this book

https://www.amazon.com/Second-Grader-Beats-Wall-Street/dp/0470919035

Spend a hour reading it, and you will know all you need to to manage a $500K portfolio. It's really simple (you only have to spend an hour once a year re-balancing) and your total investment expenses will be under 0.20 %.

You could start with: https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937

Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner
reviews

This is what I got.

About a month.

This is the book I studied with this book, I did the first 15 chapters took the first test, studied the second half and took the second test to get my cert.

If you're just starting out, this book REALLY helped me.



http://www.amazon.com/Money-Book-Young-Fabulous-Broke/dp/1594482241/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417882348&sr=1-1&keywords=young+fabulous+and+broke

I use a Rexing V1.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X528FNE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Went through two black box g1w's, they are garbage. Charging/power USB ports become disconnected from mainboard after a few months.

I got this one during a flash sale it was$75 then. It's not like crazy long battery but will last long enough for you to shop.


Rexing V1 Car Dash Cam 2.4" LCD FHD 1080p https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X528FNE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_kFX6AbT3WTTQR

The only investment book you need is: https://www.amazon.com/Second-Grader-Beats-Wall-Street/dp/0470919035

Establish a 6 month emergency cash fund. You might have that already.

If you have a job, open a Roth IRA at a broker, and fund it to the maximum. Your IRA should be in the S&P 500 (index fund) as you have suggested.

After you have exceeded your maximum a year, open a second account at the broker, and put your money again to the same index fund.

Your advice is biased by personal experience and anecdotes (2008). Real estate is not the great investment vehicle you make it out to be and even if it were, you could just buy REITs. Investing in a diverse portfolio has always outperformed all other investment types when viewed over the medium and long term and this even includes recent market crashes. Here are two books which used evidence collected from the inception of the stock market system to prove me right:

https://www.amazon.ca/The-Four-Pillars-Investing-Portfolio/dp/0972488987
https://www.amazon.ca/Random-Walk-Down-Street-Tenth/dp/0393340740/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458589681&sr=1-2&keywords=random+walk+down+wall+street


edit: punctuation.

If your mom likes books buy her this:

http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681

The entire book is about how difficult it is to pay basic expenses while being on minimum wage.

Also, can she borrow the balance from her parents (your grandparents)? If that was the case she could pay "rent" to pay them back. You are right to be concerned. She is on a path to potentially lose it all. It's a story of many Americans.

I've got this one - https://www.amazon.com/V1-Dashboard-Recorder-G-Sensor-Recording/dp/B00X528FNE - No complaints so far. It's already paid for itself many times over, as the repairs from this one accident are shaping up to be around $5,000 and we'd still be trying to get it out of the insurance company if we didn't have that video proof.

Read the book Boundaries. It really helped me to start saying no to people when they would ask to borrow money, which ruins relationships many times.
http://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-When-Take-Control-Your/dp/0310247454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396383021&sr=8-1&keywords=boundaries

Everyone else covered all the other stuff well except a bed. the fuck is wrong with ya'll?

a futon? a futon mattress? air mattress??? fuck that shit

A good nights sleep is as important as eating, you don't need to spend all your money on it either.

Bed, blanket, sheets, and pillows: ~$350

metal bed frame: http://amzn.com/B006MIUM20 or http://www.walmart.com/ip/Spa-Sensations-Steel-Smart-Base-Bed-Frame-Black-Multiple-Sizes/15739163

mattress: http://amzn.com/B005A4OP8Y or http://www.walmart.com/ip/Slumber-1-8-Mattress-In-a-Box-Multiple-Sizes/14225185?


note: I've had this set for a year, great buy. fuck futons.

another note: if tying to decide between a twin, full, or queen size mattress. get a queen. even if you have a tiny room you'll have a big bed. never get a king (or cal king) size mattress unless you have a permanent home, those things are a hassle to move and/or get rid of.

'nother note2: buy the sheets the same size as the bed, but buy the blanket/comforter the next size up it'll make all the difference on an extra cold night or when someone else is in bed with you.

'nother note3: don't get a used bed. you only need to encounter bedbugs once for you to consider setting your entire apartment on fire. even if that doesn't deter you just imagine sleeping on a pile of someone else's shedded skin and dried sweat.

You and your wife should read a book called Boundaries. It's required reading for everybody imo, but especially newly married couples who are struggling with over-involved/intrusive parents. What your FIL is asking for is completely and utterly out of bounds, and you would be taking on enormous personal/familial risk and stress if you agreed.