Let’s Get This Bread 🍞 in 2024!
Investing 101: Kick off the new year by planning for your future
HAPPY 2024! 🥳
What I love even more than the holiday season is all this new year energy. January gives us a chance to create new goals and redefine ourselves.
Fun fact: The top 4 New Year's resolutions for Americans were ALL about saving money! That’s according to a recent survey where respondents listed these reasons:
emergency fund
retirement
kids’ education and
big purchases
I don’t know about you, but from a young age I was told to save, save, save. Fill up that piggy bank, kiddo!
But here’s the thing: saving is SO overrated! In 2023, the stock market average was over 24%, while even the best high-yield savings account (HYSA) wasn’t paying more than 5% APY.
That’s why my new motto is, “Save a little here, invest a lot there!” (By “here” I mean your HYSA and by “there” I mean the stock market.)
Too many people think they have to trade stocks or read stock charts to be a good investor 🤑, but I’m here to tell you it takes extreme luck to make it big like the GameStop millionaires of the world.
Now, why would you leave your financial future up to chance?!
Here are 3 investments accounts (straight from chapter 7 of my book Mind Your Money) to help you plan ahead in 2024:
401k: Does your job offer you a 401k retirement plan right now? If you’re not sure, make it your business to find out this week! No, seriously. This is a big deal. Find out whether you 1) get a company match, 2) have index fund options inside the 401k plan, and 3) what are the fees for investing in this plan.
Vocab lesson: the fees are called “expense ratio.”
If you’re on a tight budget or an intense debt payoff journey, try contributing just 1% or 2% more than you did in 2023. You won’t feel it as much as you think, and small, consistent deposits go a long way!
Roth IRA and/or Traditional IRA: In my book, I call the Roth IRA “the G.O.A.T.” because it has amazing tax benefits and makes an incredible tool for passing down tax-free generational wealth in your family. If your income is too high to contribute, then you can fund a Traditional IRA and then do a Backdoor Roth IRA so you can still lock in all those tax benefits! Wanna learn more about this? Check out my webinar on IRAs! It’s on sale for just $70. Note that the 2024 limit just increased to $7,000 for those under age 50, and $8,000 for over 50.
Brokerage Account: Whether or not you’ve got the investment accounts above, you should still open up your very own taxable brokerage account. This is like a special savings account that gives you access to the stock market with your cash deposits! You can buy bundles of stocks and/or bonds called funds, to make investing easier.
Vocab lesson: There are different types of funds, such as index funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds.
These can hold hundreds or thousands of stocks, bonds, or a mix of both inside. That means automatic diversification for you. Nice! Note that mutual funds were way more popular back in the 70’s and 80’s when they had no competition. Now, ETFs and index funds are the cool kids on the block because of their much lower price tag!
WHERE SHOULD I INVEST? The good news is you really can’t go wrong with any major discount broker like Vanguard, Fidelity or Charles Schwab!
Happy Investing! 📈💸
Yanely aka MissBeHelpful
P.S. Here are some things I’m loving ❤️
Podcast: This is Uncomfortable from Marketplace
Book: First Gen by Alejandra Campoverdi
Workout: 305 Fitness
Skincare: Pure Jojoba Oil
Music: OSOCITY Soca Mix
Movie: Bank of Dave on Netflix
TV Show: The Devil's Plan on Netflix
Meal: Dave’s Killer Bread toasted, almond butter, banana, and a drizzle of honey
Passtime: Duolingo
Let’s connect on Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn
Check out this new podcast I’m hosting, called Financially Inclined from Marketplace! It’s perfect for a teen or college kid in your life looking to learn money lessons we don’t get in school. You can also listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!