In early 20s and hoping for early retirement...?

Question

I’m hoping to get some realistic and sound advice on investing. I’m in my early 20s, and know that I would like to retire early, and be able to live comfortably along the way.
I understand that because of my age, I can take more ‘risks’ in the investment category (rather then just buying government bonds), but I’m not sure where to start. I’m to busy to invest on my own (ie; e-trade, etc) so, I would like to find a company with a great reputation and even better ‘consumer reports’.
If anyone knows of any good places to start, then please send the information on my way. Thank you! :-)

Answer 1

Put the maximum into your retirement accounts.

If you have a 401K, you can still put money into a Roth IRA usually.

If you have your own business, start a company retirement plan, and put as much as legally possible into it.

Your Roth IRA is for your TAX FREE GAINS. If you can turn it into millions, it will be tax free millions.

Remember that your biggest expense in life is taxes.

Answer 2

Here are my thoughts:

1) Does your employer offer a 401k plan? If so, are you investing in it? If not, I would invest in the 401k first. Try to max it out, if possible.

2) Open a Roth IRA (if your compensation doesn't exceed the limit). The max contributions for years 2006 and 2007 is $4000. You mentioned that you're too busy to invest and do the research on your own. Based on that, I would suggest index funds and/or life-cycle funds. Index funds follow a particular market index (i.e. S&P 500; Wilshire 5000, etc.). With life cycle funds, the overall asset allocation automatically adjusts to become more conservative as your expected retirement date approaches. For example, Vanguard's Target Retirement 2045 fund starts with almost 90% allocated towards stocks and the rest is in bonds. Over time, the portfolio manager of the fund will change the asset allocation of the fund to become more conservative, so the allocation winds up having more bonds and less stocks. Three reputable fund companies that offer both index and life cycle funds are:
www.vanguard.com
www.fidelity.com
www.troweprice.com

I would spend some time reviewing the above mentioned sites and choose the funds that best fits your objectives.

You can pay a broker to buy and sell stocks, bonds, etc. for you, but you may wind up paying more in commissions, etc. than necessary. Compare that to investing in no-load (i.e. no sales charges) mutual funds. Also, with mutual funds, the three companies I listed above also have automatic investment plans available (which is a good way to invest on a regular basis).

Good luck on choosing an option that works for you.

Answer 3

You sound like you are looking for a full service broker to manage your money. Unless you have $1M plus to invest today, this is not a good idea. You would be much better off to start investing every extra penny you have into low-cost, no-load mutual funds like those at Vanguard. They are one of the best companies in the business, have award winning education and the lowest fees with the best customer service. You can't really go wrong there.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Depending on your initial investment there are several good brokerage firms available anyone one of them could help you.

Personally I like index funds and Vanguard has a great one.

Subscribe to Kiplinger [ Hope I didn't misspell] Magazine, they are a great source to keep up with what's going on in the market. They also recommend different strategies and mention good brokers.

Answer 5

You have to be patient, learn how to invest the right way. turn off CNBC, when you heard on TV, it is already too late. Learn how to choose stock as the you pay for everything else in life. Paying at the cheap price and on sale in turn you can sell at the higher return at the later. Constant monitor your investment.

Yes you could learn invest by yourself. it is your money, you should know how to do with it. for starter check this site out.

http://www.pathtoinvesting.org/index_fla...
http://www.stockcharts.com
http://www.streettalklive.com section university. a lot amount of information. It will serve you well
I accumulate in good amount in 401k at the young age.I could share with you. when consider invest in stock market. you should consider basic 3 things:

fundamental analysis==(economic data,finincial health, management, business model, competetion)>>what to buy

technical analysis==(chart+indicator)>> when to buy

Sentiment/schycho analysis==>>mood of investor, Contrarian point of view.
Market cycle===>> check out book Trader Almanac by jeff hirsch will give you inside stuff
When you combine 3 thing, It is one of the powerful knowledge goinh with you for the rest of your live

At the age of 32. my 401k is amassed 75,000.00 and 30000.00 in taxble account. by follow simple rule

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Answer 7

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