02-20-2014, 10:38 PM
Welcome, Star. Nice to see another new face here.
I concur with all that was said above with a few further comments.
Make sure you set some aside as an emergency fund. The traditional planners say 3-6 month's income. I'm not sure you need that much yet unless you already have a family. Maybe start with 1-2 months and slowly add to it. This is for true emergencies such as a furnace blowing up or you lost your job.
As you start investing, make yourself a plan. What are your goals besides having lots of money - travel? philanthropy? owning a Bently? Add what criteria you're going to use to select stocks. Don't just buy because everyone else is buying it, it was touted on a blog (except here -- we're all from Lake Wobegon here) or because you received a "hot" tip. If you need ideas, Bob Wells and David Van Knapp discussed them extensively on Seeking Alpha. Don't worry about it being perfect at first. As you learn and get more experience, it will change. Then refer to it on your investing journey.
You've got a bright future. Good luck.
I concur with all that was said above with a few further comments.
Make sure you set some aside as an emergency fund. The traditional planners say 3-6 month's income. I'm not sure you need that much yet unless you already have a family. Maybe start with 1-2 months and slowly add to it. This is for true emergencies such as a furnace blowing up or you lost your job.
As you start investing, make yourself a plan. What are your goals besides having lots of money - travel? philanthropy? owning a Bently? Add what criteria you're going to use to select stocks. Don't just buy because everyone else is buying it, it was touted on a blog (except here -- we're all from Lake Wobegon here) or because you received a "hot" tip. If you need ideas, Bob Wells and David Van Knapp discussed them extensively on Seeking Alpha. Don't worry about it being perfect at first. As you learn and get more experience, it will change. Then refer to it on your investing journey.
You've got a bright future. Good luck.
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“While the dividend itself is merely a rearrangement of equity, over time it's more like owning an apple tree. The tree grows the apples back again and again and again, and the theoretical value of the tree doesn't change just because of when the apples are about to fall.” - earthtodan
“While the dividend itself is merely a rearrangement of equity, over time it's more like owning an apple tree. The tree grows the apples back again and again and again, and the theoretical value of the tree doesn't change just because of when the apples are about to fall.” - earthtodan