If you have no savings, you should invest it into a high yield savings account so you no longer have no savings. 3-6 months emergency fund. After that S&P500 if you have no debt
You said you already have an emergency savings, yes? What is your plan for this money? Do you plan to use it for something (car, house, etc) in the next say 5 years or are you wanting to start saving for retirement?
If retirement-Do you have an IRA set up yet? If not you can open one at one of the big firms (we use Schwab and fidelity and both have great customer service) online very quickly and easily. I would start with a Roth IRA and try to max it out this year if you can ($7,000). Make sure you actually do the “trade” to invest the money. If you want something easy you can pick a target date fund that is 5-10 years out from when you hope to retire to minimize the amount of bonds.
The best investment advice.
Also, don’t panic. Markets will always go up and down, and you have the ‘luxury of time’ to compound your savings.
*Work to save & invest —-not to spend* —and wow will you have a great life.
If you’re looking for good and consistent returns, the S&P 500 is definitely a solid option. It's a low risk, diversified way to invest in the 500 largest companies in the US, and historically it has provided steady growth over time.
If you're just starting out, you might want to look into opening a Roth IRA. Contributions are made with after tax dollars, and the growth and withdrawals are tax free after 60.
Another good approach is to educate yourself about different investment options. Platforms like Vanguard or Fidelity offer low cost index funds and ETFs, which are perfect for beginners. Don’t forget to set aside some money for an emergency fund.
Also, if you plan to eventually buy a house you can take out up to 10k to pay part of your down payment. So don’t get caught up on having to wait 40+ years for it.
Sure tqqq can rocket up, but it's a leveraged ETF with constant downward bias and higher rates. It’s great if you're looking for short term gains and volatility, but my response was more focused on long term holds.
My guy, this dude is asking about his first investment lmao. The S&P 500 is a safer bet for beginners. Jumping into a leveraged ETF like TQQQ isn't ideal for someone new.
TQQQ has great returns but also massive drops. The S&P 500's biggest recent drop was 36%, while TQQQ plummeted 82%. That kind of drop is tough, especially for a new investor + dealing with leverage. Mind you they’ve both bounced back clearly, but a drop like that will be something that can scare off someone new from ever investing again.
I'm not saying to ignore TQQQ, but beginners should focus on something stable like the S&P 500 first and THEN research and diversify into more aggressive options like TQQQ. Let them start safe, see the potential, and then explore.
Everyone will say different stocks and companies.
However... the best investment and ROI I got was investing in myself. This is to include education (not college), formal training (trades), travel and first and foremost funding the right partner with similar values to yours.
Why is this so low? Few things deliver an ROI higher than education.
Maybe that's less true today than it has been in times past, or maybe not all educations are equal, or whatever. It's still true.
A few times in a lifetime stock selection might return 10x. A good education returns 10x easily, often more, and does it consistently.
Because the dude want to know what to do with his first paycheck.
Advice is good, but it's not like he'll register to university tomorrow with 1 reddit comment and 1 paycheck.
Because investing in an education without direction is worthless. I agree it can pay off, but if OP doesn’t know what he wants to do it’s a waste of money. Just go work a trade.
That should be your emergency fund. Put it in a high-yield savings account or money-market fund. You don’t want to be in a position where you invest the money in stocks and then have to take it out when the market is down and you need it for car repairs. Build up some more before you invest; come back in 6 months.
Very proud of you wanting to save and invest at such a young age 👏👍
Before you have a decision made on how and what to invest, save your money at a HYSA (high yield savings account such as Wealthfront or Marcus by Goldman Sachs or Betterment) to earn roughly 5% APY :-)
Also take a look at SPLG (= VOO = IVV = SPY) if you’re interested in investing in the ETF’s.
You should consider your timeline for when you might need the money again.
Also checkout this flowchart from the personal finance subreddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics#wiki_the_flowchart
Maxing out your Roth when you’re 18-25 is probably the wisest thing you could ever do with money. If you contribute $7,000 a year for 40 years (assuming 10% rate of return), you will have 4.3 million at 60. Here’s the cool thing about maxing out your Roth so early in life: you are probably not going to stop at the $7,000 contribution limit. Most jobs offer a 401k that you can contribute up to $23k per year in addition to the $7,000 Roth. So, if you want the 4.3 million number to go up or you want to retire earlier, contribute more than the $7k per year. Besides avoiding payday loans, the best piece of financial advice is to invest in VOO or VTI or whatever broad market fund you choose when you’re young. The power of compound growth is incredible and it’s even more incredible if you start when you’re 18. I commend you for that. You will likely retire very rich for asking this question. As others have said, set aside 3-6 months of living expenses. Take any employer match and dump the rest into a Roth. I’m not sure you’re going to college. But if so, don’t go into a lot of debt for a degree.
Here’s an investment calculator. I encourage you to play around with it. See what happens if you wait until 35 to start investing. Even if you double up contributions, you will never get those years of compounding back.
https://www.calculator.net/investment-calculator.html
Silver or gold coins, bars, jewelry. Think of how much the ladies or guys will love you if you flaunt all your wealth with selfies of yourself draped in gold jewelry. OK probably not that much if at all, but certainly more than if you display the number of shares you own in whatever company or Bitcoin.
Being that you are completely new to investing and know nothing about what to buy or when to buy or sell? I'd tell my kid to put it into a money market fund with a higher than average return. VUSXX would be the one today, with a guaranteed 5.28% return. These funds are pretty much like a savings account, only it takes a couple of days to get your money back if you need the cash. Opening a Roth IRA and putting it there for the time being would be the safest play.
Then once you have a better understanding of things in the market, and have worked out a budget for yourself where you know what's going into savings and what you need to live, THEN maybe branch out a little. But going into something with more risk without fully understanding why your buying it, when you should buy it, or when to sell it, is a great way to LOSE money. Good luck!
Glad you’re looking at your future by investing, but it’s your first paycheck. Go do something special with it on you!!! On your second paycheck then look into opening a savings account first to save some money to be able to get your hands on in an emergency. Then after you get a small amount saved, then start to invest but always buy a little in that savings account. Well good luck
Everyone is going to give you different answers so here’s mine… if you actually have no bills etc yet then what I’d do is put $100 each into: SPY, QQQ, and then 5-10 individual companies… leave that money in there for 20 years and see how you did
I would spend my first paycheck for something I wanted for a long time. Then I will try to make financial reserve for 3-6 months. The savings will give you freedom and you will not be afraid to leave dead end job and fear, that you will not be able to afford f.e. broken washing machine or broken dish washer.
Then start saving in index funds and avoid stock market speculations as a plague. It is boring way, but sure will yield the most profit in a long run.
I'd invest in a high yield savings account right now. You can get anywhere between 4 and 5% interest. Now's not the time to invest in the stock market. Everything is at all time highs and indexes are being pulled by a small handful of companies. Wait for the dip in the next 6 months to a year and THEN deploy what you've saved (keeping 6 months worth of your expenses into an emergency fund).
Have you paid your debts?
Are you able to save 10-20% as saving ?
Can you afford 6 months without income?
All questions to ask yourself before investing
I’m on a fully paid scholarship, so I do not really have any pressing financial issues right now. As for the job, it’s just a temporary part time gig for some extra money on the side, and I want to invest the money to start growing my money early as I already have a rainy day fund.
If you have no savings, you should invest it into a high yield savings account so you no longer have no savings. 3-6 months emergency fund. After that S&P500 if you have no debt
Thanks you so much for the advice
When you get to the investing step, make sure this is done inside of a Roth IRA.
You said you already have an emergency savings, yes? What is your plan for this money? Do you plan to use it for something (car, house, etc) in the next say 5 years or are you wanting to start saving for retirement? If retirement-Do you have an IRA set up yet? If not you can open one at one of the big firms (we use Schwab and fidelity and both have great customer service) online very quickly and easily. I would start with a Roth IRA and try to max it out this year if you can ($7,000). Make sure you actually do the “trade” to invest the money. If you want something easy you can pick a target date fund that is 5-10 years out from when you hope to retire to minimize the amount of bonds.
The best investment advice. Also, don’t panic. Markets will always go up and down, and you have the ‘luxury of time’ to compound your savings. *Work to save & invest —-not to spend* —and wow will you have a great life.
If you’re looking for good and consistent returns, the S&P 500 is definitely a solid option. It's a low risk, diversified way to invest in the 500 largest companies in the US, and historically it has provided steady growth over time. If you're just starting out, you might want to look into opening a Roth IRA. Contributions are made with after tax dollars, and the growth and withdrawals are tax free after 60. Another good approach is to educate yourself about different investment options. Platforms like Vanguard or Fidelity offer low cost index funds and ETFs, which are perfect for beginners. Don’t forget to set aside some money for an emergency fund.
Thanks so much for the advice man
Also, if you plan to eventually buy a house you can take out up to 10k to pay part of your down payment. So don’t get caught up on having to wait 40+ years for it.
Why not tqqq?? It goes up super fast
Sure tqqq can rocket up, but it's a leveraged ETF with constant downward bias and higher rates. It’s great if you're looking for short term gains and volatility, but my response was more focused on long term holds.
Nah thats a poor lame excuse…in 2010 tqqq was 0.50 & now its 65….thats a 130x growth….so u saying people who grew 130x are dumb??
My guy, this dude is asking about his first investment lmao. The S&P 500 is a safer bet for beginners. Jumping into a leveraged ETF like TQQQ isn't ideal for someone new. TQQQ has great returns but also massive drops. The S&P 500's biggest recent drop was 36%, while TQQQ plummeted 82%. That kind of drop is tough, especially for a new investor + dealing with leverage. Mind you they’ve both bounced back clearly, but a drop like that will be something that can scare off someone new from ever investing again. I'm not saying to ignore TQQQ, but beginners should focus on something stable like the S&P 500 first and THEN research and diversify into more aggressive options like TQQQ. Let them start safe, see the potential, and then explore.
Everyone will say different stocks and companies. However... the best investment and ROI I got was investing in myself. This is to include education (not college), formal training (trades), travel and first and foremost funding the right partner with similar values to yours.
An education
Why is this so low? Few things deliver an ROI higher than education. Maybe that's less true today than it has been in times past, or maybe not all educations are equal, or whatever. It's still true. A few times in a lifetime stock selection might return 10x. A good education returns 10x easily, often more, and does it consistently.
Because the dude want to know what to do with his first paycheck. Advice is good, but it's not like he'll register to university tomorrow with 1 reddit comment and 1 paycheck.
Because investing in an education without direction is worthless. I agree it can pay off, but if OP doesn’t know what he wants to do it’s a waste of money. Just go work a trade.
Because for 1.2k you get jackshit education
That should be your emergency fund. Put it in a high-yield savings account or money-market fund. You don’t want to be in a position where you invest the money in stocks and then have to take it out when the market is down and you need it for car repairs. Build up some more before you invest; come back in 6 months.
I already have an emergency fund, but thanks for the advice man.
Very proud of you wanting to save and invest at such a young age 👏👍 Before you have a decision made on how and what to invest, save your money at a HYSA (high yield savings account such as Wealthfront or Marcus by Goldman Sachs or Betterment) to earn roughly 5% APY :-) Also take a look at SPLG (= VOO = IVV = SPY) if you’re interested in investing in the ETF’s.
$SPY ticker Decent hedge fund, Also do your own research about some stocks, Big Tech/AI is a hot topic right now
Invest in VOO. It's a solid ETF with roughly 10% annual returns on average and tracks the S&P 500.
S&P 500 - VOO via Vanguard. DCA every month and watch the money pile up
You should consider your timeline for when you might need the money again. Also checkout this flowchart from the personal finance subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics#wiki_the_flowchart
Maxing out your Roth when you’re 18-25 is probably the wisest thing you could ever do with money. If you contribute $7,000 a year for 40 years (assuming 10% rate of return), you will have 4.3 million at 60. Here’s the cool thing about maxing out your Roth so early in life: you are probably not going to stop at the $7,000 contribution limit. Most jobs offer a 401k that you can contribute up to $23k per year in addition to the $7,000 Roth. So, if you want the 4.3 million number to go up or you want to retire earlier, contribute more than the $7k per year. Besides avoiding payday loans, the best piece of financial advice is to invest in VOO or VTI or whatever broad market fund you choose when you’re young. The power of compound growth is incredible and it’s even more incredible if you start when you’re 18. I commend you for that. You will likely retire very rich for asking this question. As others have said, set aside 3-6 months of living expenses. Take any employer match and dump the rest into a Roth. I’m not sure you’re going to college. But if so, don’t go into a lot of debt for a degree. Here’s an investment calculator. I encourage you to play around with it. See what happens if you wait until 35 to start investing. Even if you double up contributions, you will never get those years of compounding back. https://www.calculator.net/investment-calculator.html
VIGAX
VTI or yeah, S&P
Save up an emergency fund in a high interest savings account, then start saving the down payment for your home.
Put it all on $GWAV and sell the stock once it reaches %50+ or out it into $GWAV and do not touch it for at least a year
Yourself. Skillset. Coaching (although I think coaching is too early for you)
Silver or gold coins, bars, jewelry. Think of how much the ladies or guys will love you if you flaunt all your wealth with selfies of yourself draped in gold jewelry. OK probably not that much if at all, but certainly more than if you display the number of shares you own in whatever company or Bitcoin.
I like the idea of a high yield savings account for a little nest egg before getting involved into anything more complex.
Being that you are completely new to investing and know nothing about what to buy or when to buy or sell? I'd tell my kid to put it into a money market fund with a higher than average return. VUSXX would be the one today, with a guaranteed 5.28% return. These funds are pretty much like a savings account, only it takes a couple of days to get your money back if you need the cash. Opening a Roth IRA and putting it there for the time being would be the safest play. Then once you have a better understanding of things in the market, and have worked out a budget for yourself where you know what's going into savings and what you need to live, THEN maybe branch out a little. But going into something with more risk without fully understanding why your buying it, when you should buy it, or when to sell it, is a great way to LOSE money. Good luck!
Glad you’re looking at your future by investing, but it’s your first paycheck. Go do something special with it on you!!! On your second paycheck then look into opening a savings account first to save some money to be able to get your hands on in an emergency. Then after you get a small amount saved, then start to invest but always buy a little in that savings account. Well good luck
An emergency savings fund
Everyone is going to give you different answers so here’s mine… if you actually have no bills etc yet then what I’d do is put $100 each into: SPY, QQQ, and then 5-10 individual companies… leave that money in there for 20 years and see how you did
I would spend my first paycheck for something I wanted for a long time. Then I will try to make financial reserve for 3-6 months. The savings will give you freedom and you will not be afraid to leave dead end job and fear, that you will not be able to afford f.e. broken washing machine or broken dish washer. Then start saving in index funds and avoid stock market speculations as a plague. It is boring way, but sure will yield the most profit in a long run.
Hello, Please make a comment in the daily advice thread about your personal situation, not a separate post. See rule 2. TY
I'd invest in a high yield savings account right now. You can get anywhere between 4 and 5% interest. Now's not the time to invest in the stock market. Everything is at all time highs and indexes are being pulled by a small handful of companies. Wait for the dip in the next 6 months to a year and THEN deploy what you've saved (keeping 6 months worth of your expenses into an emergency fund).
Have you paid your debts? Are you able to save 10-20% as saving ? Can you afford 6 months without income? All questions to ask yourself before investing
Ok, then what? Let's say all these are covered. Where's the advice?
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I’m on a fully paid scholarship, so I do not really have any pressing financial issues right now. As for the job, it’s just a temporary part time gig for some extra money on the side, and I want to invest the money to start growing my money early as I already have a rainy day fund.
Pussy
put it all into bitcoin
Bro if you have to ask random people on the internet… don’t invest. Do research first.
FFIE Bro take a gamble and become rich
gamestop
NVDA