I wish I knew....

[Greg]

Working better on saving, and investing in a retirement. I have never been good at investing, or knowing/playing the market. Compound interest as well.

You're still plenty young, the more time you give compound interest to grow, the bigger the returns.

Here's what I will say.... and this isn't just for you, but anyone that wants to put away money for the future. START NOW! Seriously, quit putting it off and just start!

Commit so starting some kind of investment account ASAP, set aside a percentage to pay into it monthly. If you can, bump it up every year by 1%. You won't miss that money once you start paying in, trust me.

Once you start it, don't leave it alone.... and what I mean is tweak your investment mix, watch what is doing well and dump what isn't performing.

If you want to learn more about compounding interest, play around with a calculator and see what you could have. It WILL blow your mind and hopefully help motivate you to start right away.

Compound Interest Calculator

This free calculator also has links explaining the compound interest formula.

www.moneychimp.com

 

[Greg]

I wish I knew .... when I was younger, how many people get onto jobs/careers with a 'fake it till you make it' approach.

 

[N-Smooth]

I was going to say I wish I knew what I wanted to be when I grow up but I'll be damned, I still don't know

 

[TurboMinivan]

I wish someone had explained the power of compound interest and helped me start investing when I was in my early 20's.

THIS x eleventy billion. How I would phrase it to my (mythical) kids:

"Save and invest at least 20% of every dollar you receive in your entire lifetime, starting with your very first job."

 

[RockChucker]

I was going to say I wish I knew what I wanted to be when I grow up but I'll be damned, I still don't know

I thought you just wanted to be a rock crawler doing rock crawler things with your rock crawler friends? Seems cut and dried to me....

Financial literacy is the biggest one for me. Turns out knowing how to save and not over extend yourself isn't necessarily financial literacy (though that is better than many people). Learn investing and have 6+ months expenses rat holed away for a rainy day. Earn interest as much as possible and minimize interest you're spending.

 

[jeeper]

Brad paisley has a fun song about writing a letter to his younger self.

I don’t know that there is anything I wish I knew differently. I think I had a pretty good set of positive influences. Listening to the people around me a little better would have been smart.. but in reality, I listened pretty good for a dumb teenager.

of all the dumb things to regret though was a girl I never asked out in high school. I know nothing would have come out of it in the long run.. but I just never asked. Missed opportunities are the worst.

 

[Coco]

You're still plenty young, the more time you give compound interest to grow, the bigger the returns.

Here's what I will say.... and this isn't just for you, but anyone that wants to put away money for the future. START NOW! Seriously, quit putting it off and just start!

Commit so starting some kind of investment account ASAP, set aside a percentage to pay into it monthly. If you can, bump it up every year by 1%. You won't miss that money once you start paying in, trust me.

Once you start it, don't leave it alone.... and what I mean is tweak your investment mix, watch what is doing well and dump what isn't performing.

If you want to learn more about compounding interest, play around with a calculator and see what you could have. It WILL blow your mind and hopefully help motivate you to start right away.

Compound Interest Calculator

This free calculator also has links explaining the compound interest formula.

www.moneychimp.com

I actually did open up an IRA about Feb of last year, and have started with that and the investment portion of it, so luckily I have got the ball rolling there. Plus of course adding more money to savings as well.

 

[Kevin B.]

I just wish I'd known what I didn't know.

I still wish that, in fact.

 

[Houndoc]

To better appreciate those around me.