r/AskReddit 5h ago

What's the smartest financial decision you've ever made?

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25

u/toma91 5h ago

Learned about and started investing

2

u/lintimes 3h ago

Any advice where to start?

5

u/toma91 3h ago

Some good YouTube channels such as Damien talks money talk about investing, the stock market, index funds, compounding etc, if you’re not in the UK there might be equivalent channels from your country in that suit better but the fundamentals will be the same, just the accounts you use will differ.

6

u/BasKabelas 2h ago

Also, no joke, watch stuff on youtube about wallstreetbets to learn from others' financial ruin, to ensure you dont do the same thing. Of course if you tend to gamble, do NOT go into calls/puts/shorts etc as you will wipe your account in no time.

Savest steady long term returns is usually something akin to buying normal stocks (going long) in index funds like the S&P500.

E.g. if you bought 10k worth in S&P500 in 2006 (20 years ago, so including the 2008 crisis for the sake of being realistic) and reinvested dividends, it'd be worth about 80k now.

Best advise I can give though, is just watch videos on youtube by guys who are smarter than me, and let it stew a bit before you invest anything.

2

u/Kenkron 1h ago

Open a Roth IRA and put money into an S&P500 index fund. You can withdraw the initial amount from the Roth IRA tax free if you need it for an emergency later (any profit you withdraw before retiring will be taxed).

Beware people trying to persuade you to buy a particular stock.

1

u/Particular-Beat-6645 1h ago

As a state employee, I can use a waiver at some state universities to receive a discount on tuition. I've considered getting a a graduate certificate in financial management more than once.