Asklemmy

If you can afford a house, try as hard as you can not to buy a house that you can barely afford with a 30yr mortgage. Limit yourself to a house where you can afford it with a 15yr mortgage. I did that in my 30s and now in my 40s I don't have a mortgage anymore. Obviously with the current housing market this advice won't help many.

To those people, I'd say: stop using a basic savings account. Get a High Yield Savings Account. They pay 3.5-4% interest at the moment. Zero risk, and you can even havd a card attached to it for spending. They're liquid. Got 1k sitting in savings? That's $35/yr free money you're missing out on. 10k? $350/yr. Best part? When inflation starts going crazy and the fed increases interest rates to control it, your money starts making even more money. Not enough to fix everything, but it does help a little.

If you can, max out your 401k. Put money in a Roth IRA too.

If you want to play with stocks safely use index funds. Something like SPY for the S&P500. 98% of day traders lose money. Every trade someone makes is measured against the market. The trade you made increased 2% in the last week? Well, the market was up 2.8%. It's like gambling and the market is the house. The market eventually always wins and everyone else loses.

I’m over 50 so apparently I don’t count. But if I did I would say maximize salary. Live below your means. Invest because compound interest is your biggest ally.

30-50 are most people's highest sarnings years, so if you aren't happy with your career, nows the time to fix it and get on a better path. Career changes get more difficult at 40 and 50.

Save even more than you think you can afford.

If you have IRA offered by your employer as a work benefit, try to contribute the amount that maxes out the employers contribution. This amount will vary by plan structure and also IRS limits. But basically you want to max out the amount your employer compensates you and even moreso for savings that compounds over time.

Consolidate and eliminate consumer debts.

If you need a car, buy used and let the first buyer take the depreciation hit.

Buy a house if you can afford to insure and fix everything that goes wrong with it also. Furnaces and AC and roofs are expensive.

If you plan to have a kid, start a 529 for their education now. Even if the contributions are small, time and compound interest is your ally here.

Don't get on TikTok or Instagram as it becomes an envy/peer pressure/consumption trap. I don't have the Amazon app on my phone either. I have to manually log in at a PC if I really need something from them. This reduces impulse purchases. Limit the Ubereats and Doordash expenditures also.

Set aside some time to understand how your pension and the tax system works.

It's dull as hell, but you will need it.

Lots of good tips in here already.

I would recommend checking out The Money Guys or Caleb Hammer on YouTube for some great tips with actionable goals.

Don't. Just don't. Ever.

At least contribute to your 401k to get the full match from your employer if offered. More if you can afford it. Time in the market is huge. Make a budget, have emergency savings. There’s little point in investing if an emergency happens and you have to withdraw your retirement at a potential loss, and that’s before penalties and tax. Take care of your body, especially joints. Be even a little bit active regularly. Figure out a decently healthy diet. These will help prevent health issues which can be expensive. Plus you might look better and feel better too.

All of this sound like too much? Pick one or two and try doing them consistently even if it’s half assed. Half assing something consistently for a long time is much, much better than putting in a ton of effort, burning out, and returning to old patterns. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Sorry I know that kinda veered into fitness but I see a lot of parallels in personal finance and fitness/nutrition. Both involve budgets and benefit from a plan and spreadsheets.