Saving Money

[bulldogmom]

My husband and I are in our early-mid twenties and want to start saving for retirement. I work for a small business with no retirement benefits, and his job offers 50% 401k matching. I want to start putting away part of every paycheck into a savings account. My long-term goals, besides retirement, include starting my own business. Saving money is hard, lol, and I'm wondering if it's more important right now for me to start my retirement account, or to start saving money for my "business". Thanks for any advice.

[odette]

Why not designate part for retirement, the other for business ?

[Briarpatch]

If your company matches your 401k contribution, you'd be crazy not to take advantage of that! Usually they'll only match a certain amount anyway. I'd put the minimum in to take the most advantage of that. Then, you should have about 3-6 mos. of income in a savings account (or cd or whatever). Once that's taken care of, start saving your your business! I wish I'd have saved more when I was younger!

[blue]

Seriously, go see a financial adviser.

[A1Mobile]

I highly recommend going to Dave Ramsey's website and find a elp for your area. They waive all fees because you are a Ramsey referral. There is so much to know with this economy that it's important to have a professional keep their eye on your future.

[bulldogmom]

Seriously, go see a financial adviser.

This will sound ignorant, but how much does would a financial advisor cost?

[sarahliz]

My local bank has a calculator thing that lets you calculate how long it will take you to save x amount of money over x amount of time and what it will be worth then if inflation stays the same. I am 23 and if I put $1m in a safe today, by the time I retire at 65 it will be worth less than 1/4 of that. CRAZY. I am still working on a basic safety net of savings but after that I will be in the same boat as you. Where do I invest my extra money where it won't be wasted!?

[BeeJL]

Check out ChooseToSave.org
It has a lot of good basic information and worksheet type stuff where you plug in your own numbers.

[A1Mobile]

This will sound ignorant, but how much does would a financial advisor cost?

It varies on how they set their fees.

[Helly]

Seriously, go see a financial adviser.

My thoughts, exactly.

[SwissNChow]

This will sound ignorant, but how much does would a financial advisor cost?

Less than mistakes will! Many financial advisors will offer free consults.

However, I don't know that you need one right now. The Dave Ramsey suggestion is a great one. There is nothing better than a young couple attending the Financial Peace University and getting off on the right foot. I can only imagine taking that step back in ny 20s. Most FPU classes run about $130. Through FPU, you will learn all about getting and staying out of debt, budgeting, saving, investing, etc. They are even offering a free seminar coming up in April in most areas of the country. It's definitely a worthwhile investment.

[stonelizard]

I am in a good position that my husband earns a comfy salary (for now!), but we have decided instead of having a pension, we are investing our money and growing a portfolio - it will work out at around 8-15% interest depending on what risk we invest in (so we are doing a mix!) we are doing this instead of a pension.

I also have a second "emergency" fund that I throw cash into when I can. I make and sell jewellery on a small scale so any profits go straight in there. It's quite low at the mo This is my emergency illness/laidoff/etc fund too. I have set it up so I can't access it on a whim. I am hoping over the next couple of decades to build a nice little nest egg seperate to our normal savings.

[D'tails]

My husband and I always joke that if financial advisors were so good, they wouldn't be working as a financial advisor We don't trust other people to make decisions about our finances. We are investing in real estate for our retirement and are in a good area to do so.

50% 401k matching is fabulous in this economy. Good luck with whatever you decide.