Getting the new car itch...

[Tommysalami]

Originally Posted by Mosaud1998

Dang, well I was able to enroll in my employer's retirement plan.

I started off by putting 3% per pay period. That's about $53 taken out of each paycheck. I'll probably increase that percentage after this year to see what my real ytd is.

I picked before taxes. Idk how I feel about ROTH. Along with the retirement account, I put $5k in the stock exchange in April 2020. That's long-term investments. Thinking about putting $600 into crypto currency and seeing how that works out. If I see it's going up, I'll put $300-$400 each paycheck into crypto.

Down the road, I'm hoping to buy some property and slap them on rent for passive income.

Here's what my potential growth looks like. The salary was roughly calculated.

I was told it's best to use Roth while you're making under 100k as your tax bracket now will probably be less than when you take that money out in retirement. You may want to consider Roth for that reason.

If your company will match your contribution, make sure you get the full amount they offer as it's free money and by far the best guaranteed investment return you can get. For example, my company offered a 50% match of my 401k investment up to 6%, so when I initially started working I contributed 6%. This is a pretty average benefit and your company may offer more or less.

How much extra you contribute to 401k depends on what your goals are. If you have short-term goals to save for a down payment on property, then save whatever else you can towards that goal.

You're young so you can afford to make risky investments now. Take advantage of living at home, cook for yourself so you're not wasting money eating out all the time, and keep driving what you've got. Then invest as much as you can. You'll thank yourself later.

If you have to ask a car forum if you can afford something, you can't afford it and you already know what the right decision is. Try to recognize when you're doing mental gymnastics. I do that kind of thing too. I thought about buying a beater car about a year ago. Decided instead to invest that money and now it's worth way more.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by Tommysalami

I was told it's best to use Roth while you're making under 100k as your tax bracket now will probably be less than when you take that money out in retirement. You may want to consider Roth for that reason.

If your company will match your contribution, make sure you get the full amount they offer as it's free money and by far the best guaranteed investment return you can get. For example, my company offered a 50% match of my 401k investment up to 6%, so when I initially started working I contributed 6%. This is a pretty average benefit and your company may offer more or less.

How much extra you contribute to 401k depends on what your goals are. If you have short-term goals to save for a down payment on property, then save whatever else you can towards that goal.

You're young so you can afford to make risky investments now. Take advantage of living at home, cook for yourself so you're not wasting money eating out all the time, and keep driving what you've got. Then invest as much as you can. You'll thank yourself later.

If you have to ask a car forum if you can afford something, you can't afford it and you already know what the right decision is. Try to recognize when you're doing mental gymnastics. I do that kind of thing too. I thought about buying a beater car about a year ago. Decided instead to invest that money and now it's worth way more.

I've got the option to do both ROTH and traditional 401k maybe I'll opt-in for that right now. I'm only putting 3% per paycheck into retirement. So, I'll put 2% into Before tax and 1% into ROTH.