Understand compound interest, how money grows over time. Learn to maximise your interest rate on savings and minimise interest rate on debts. If you have enough savings for an emergency fund, start investing excess savings into investment options that meet your personal risk threshold. Low risk options exist with high average yields (about 8%) like low fee ETFs tracking S&P 500 or other market indexes. My superannuation fund (retirement fund) has an average annual return of 12% for the past ten years, yields higher than this could impart higher than average risk of negative returns. Starting as early as you can lets you reap the benefits of compounding interest, snowballing income. Note that as interest rates go up, stock market returns usually decrease. If buying US stocks, make sure you DRS them otherwise you don’t own them. I’m not a financial adviser, I’m just savvy with retail investing
This flow chart is Australian but should loosely apply elsewhere too
Understand compound interest, how money grows over time. Learn to maximise your interest rate on savings and minimise interest rate on debts. If you have enough savings for an emergency fund, start investing excess savings into investment options that meet your personal risk threshold. Low risk options exist with high average yields (about 8%) like low fee ETFs tracking S&P 500 or other market indexes. My superannuation fund (retirement fund) has an average annual return of 12% for the past ten years, yields higher than this could impart higher than average risk of negative returns. Starting as early as you can lets you reap the benefits of compounding interest, snowballing income. Note that as interest rates go up, stock market returns usually decrease. If buying US stocks, make sure you DRS them otherwise you don’t own them. I’m not a financial adviser, I’m just savvy with retail investing
This flow chart is Australian but should loosely apply elsewhere too