Mature posters: I'm 25, where should I be spending my money?

[ptrakarn23]

hook it up with some addy, oxy, and codeine...

 

[damnthosejs]

. You have any links on how much insurance I need?
that's actually a personal decision.

my only advice is that get a permanent life insurance that gives you a surrender value after you've finished doing the payments. the surrender value imgetting after I finished off my payments is more than what I paid for, so it's really a win-win situation for me regardless or not I get into an accidentor not (knock on wood).

with the kind of money you have I say cover your $%@ to the tune of $1 mil. Your payments will depend on your lifestyle, etc...kinda like shopping for a carinsurance. See a broker.

PS
I wish I went to Pharm school...I'm a tech .

 

[idealapotheosis]

Originally Posted by damnTHOSEjs

. You have any links on how much insurance I need?

that's actually a personal decision.

my only advice is that get a permanent life insurance that gives you a surrender value after you've finished doing the payments. the surrender value im getting after I finished off my payments is more than what I paid for, so it's really a win-win situation for me regardless or not I get into an accident or not (knock on wood).

with the kind of money you have I say cover your $%@ to the tune of $1 mil. Your payments will depend on your lifestyle, etc...kinda like shopping for a car insurance. See a broker.

PS
I wish I went to Pharm school...I'm a tech .


Thank you. I have a feeling once I get back home I'm going to have to sit down with my dad and his broker so we can talk things through.

 

[crimsoncloudattire]

Originally Posted by IdealApotheosis

Originally Posted by CuriousGeorg3

6-7k? what do you do for a living? just curious

Pharmacist

Welcome to the club

Anywho....I'm also a pharmacist, and have been at it for just shy of 2 years. I don't really ask for people's advice on things so keep in mindthat all my recommendations may not be necessarily sound advice.

1. 401-k...if nothing else, make sure you are putting in enough money to get the maximum match. My company matches the first 2%, so I contribute 2% of my payto that every paycheck. Nothing beats free money.
2. Write down all of your bills. Whats more, write down things that aren't even bills that you see yourself paying for on a fairly regularly on aweek-to-week basis, i.e. haircuts, drycleaning, gas for your car, groceries, meals out. Write all this stuff down and then subtract this from your bi-weeklypaycheck just so you can know how much actual 'expendable' income you really have left. I keep track of mine via yahoo notepad on my desktop. Peep:

Note also, that I have a list that says, "If fired tomorrow: how to cope"...If I were to expand that it includes things like trade down my G35 forsomething with a smaller payment, turning off my cable, downsizing to a 1 bedroom apt, etc. Yea, as a pharmacist, I enjoy a good deal of job security, but itnever hurts to be prepared. ALWAYS, ALWAYS have a contingency plan, because nothing is guaranteed.

3. Get to work on 3 to 6 months worth of Emergency Savings. I know it sounds easy, but looking at my numbers you can see how difficult it really would beafter you figure out you only have 600-800 left after each paycheck. After about 19 months at this, I'm just getting to where I feel comfortable. MyEmergency fund is around 13k.

4. Not taking an opportunity to make money is the same as wasting the money you do have. Maximize your potential for passive income. I can give you at leasttwo ways that I can think of. Feel free to enlighten me on any other ways you know.

4a. Get an high-yield savings account. I know, the yields on these are ridiculously low right now, but hell, they are still better than your local bank. Iuse INGdirect. This is just 1 of 3 accounts that I have there. I think I got close to $250 back from all three last year.

4b. If you are responsible enough, put everything on a Cash Back Credit Card. Its a good feeling to know that you are making money even when spending money. I use AMEX blue cash.

I also use Chase Freedom because they offer 3% cash back on the top 3 categories where you spend money. So I use it for wireless, fastfood, and utilities andeverything else gets put on AMEX blue cash. The strategy iswell-documented here at Free Money Finance Blog I know...if you are making 6-7k a month, then $250 froms savings and $750 from CC cash back doesn'tsound like a lot in a year. But just remember, this is passive income. You don't even have to think about this on a day to day basis and you'll reapan extra $1000 by year's end.

Add in some stock dividends here and there and you can make even more passive income.

I'd have more tips...but I have to run to work.

 

[mattmcd4free]

to the poster who is using yahoo notepad to keep track of your finances, you might want to look into signing up for mint.com. It's free and connects withall of your bank accounts, credit cards, etc and shows you exactly how much you're spending, what you're spending it on, how much money you'remaking and things like this. It's definitely worth checking out.

 

[idealapotheosis]

^ THANK YOU SO MUCH for the mint.com. I've been playing around with it for a minute and once I get my finances in order I will be using that site.

Last question for anyone who is still following, is an identy theft protection service worth it? Something like lifelock? I have heard of peoples lives beingruined because of identity theft and honestly it scares the crap outta me.

 

[battousai701]

this thread is very interesting

good post crimson

 

[grandaddypurp415]

here is a link that has at least helped me clean up and build my credit. I'm sure many of you folks have seen this site before.



http://www.creditboards.com/forums/




can anyone else post links to site with great information.