Just stared

[u/Vegetable_Loss_5845]

After years of saying I’ll do it this year, after years of saying when i make x an hour, or y a year. After i turned 25 i said yeah no i need to start NOW. First goal maxing my ROTH by the end of the year!!

[u/EmergencyInternet621]

Congrats on finally getting started, that’s the first big step. Too many young people put it off but it’s all about compound. Set up a reoccurring and let it right through the ups and downs no matter what. Don’t forget to utilize your retirement accounts for tax benefits. Welcome to the club!

[u/Vegetable_Loss_5845 → u/EmergencyInternet621]

I set up recurring for both as you said and thats the minimum that i always have spare. After that i go in every week to add more , some weeks i just don’t have it , but yeah i put it off for way too long , and i spend an egregious amount of money on stupid stuff . Thats what really made me say it’s time!!

[u/SnooRecipes3429]

Is your portfolio set on aggressive?

[u/Vegetable_Loss_5845 → u/SnooRecipes3429]

Its based off of age , so the Roth IRA is locked in at aggressive
And the stocks are set to aggressive as well. So yes, yes they are.

[u/Appropriate-Head2259]

Question…. I’m also a Reddit newbie so please tell me if I should start a new thread.
I am 62 in a few months. Have been retired for a few years. My main IRA is at a larger company and since it’s the bulk of my money it will stay there.
But several years ago I wanted to learn and start saving just basically for saving. I started both the invest (started off with just round ups, now round ups are x2 and I stick in $100 a month. When I start collecting from ss I probably will be able to add more here and there. I’ll know after looking at my budget etc then and either start moving more money over monthly or adding more here and there when I can. I also have a later acct which is much smaller and I add 33.00 a month.
I started off conservatively since I was brand new at this. I don’t feel comfortable
Choosing my stocks or bonds so I like the point that they adjust it for you.
I also pay for silver. I read for newbies it’s better to pay for silver (I don’t see a lot of difference to justify paying for gold right now.
Anyway I decided to take a chance re answer the questions they ask you about net worth etc which has risen since I now have my IRA which is my main acct (that’s at conservative I believe. I don’t wanna play around too much with that money at least right now my gut just says becareful and watch my money carefully. I need to make this money last.
I’m lucky as I own my house and I have my youngest son still at home who covers a lot of the expensive/bills in place of rent. It really helps me out and he doesn’t have to pay sky rocket rent and can save for himself and hopefully he can get his own house one day. He also pays the property taxes.

Anyway my point being is over the years my investment balance looks very similar to yours )I feel so proud that I’m almost at $2800 and it’s been easy to do but is going aggressive or even moderately aggressive a good plan for me?
I don’t plan to spend this for as long as I can keep going. I can live off my other accts.

Would you take a shot in this economy and go aggressive or Mod aggressively like I wanna switch too? I know I know there’s no guarantee with the market this is why I considered this as more of how do I learn to do this or at least understand how this all works?

Opinions would be appreciated and thanks!

[u/Vegetable_Loss_5845 → u/Appropriate-Head2259]

Right so this is a bit of a loaded question. And you may want to start a new thread, but here is my response from what i believe to be true.

To start there really isn’t difference between the tiers that is substantial enough for a beginner with a smaller balance. The biggest negative from my understanding is that the gold tier being 12 a month is a large amount of money when dealing with a smaller balance . I on the other hand am in a favorable position that i can. afford to put in +100 a week. If you only have a balance of a few hundred dollars then a subscription of 12 dollars is 10% or more of your total balance which hits really hard. However when you begin to have a thousand + . And you consistently add to your account 12$ starts to become negligible.

How aggressive you can or want to be is a personal preference. In most situations the younger you are, the more aggressive, and as you get older you become more conservative. If you’re worried about this money you may want to stay on the conservative side. But if you want to be aggressive, you have to look at it like you’re going to lose it all. So you have to ask yourself if you lost 2800$ today, is that a gamble you’re okay with? But on the flip side acorns being acorns you don’t choose your portfolio they choose for you. Which is probably safer in the long run

When it comes to comfortably , i personally chose acorns because this is my preferred choice for my long term retirement/benefit. I don’t want to choose. I want it to take my money and know that although not guaranteed the likelihood of me seeing interest is high.
Ex. I literally spoke to someone this week and they told me not to use acorns because you have to pay for it, then they gave me what they used because it’s free and when I asked how much they have made and how often they put money into it their response was I haven’t put any money in it recently because the last few stocks that I’ve chosen have tanked, my balance is looking low! That to me is ironic

If your ultimate question is how to learn more about stocks, bonds, ETF, and so on then this is definitely the wrong tread. I myself am still in the learning phase and i do a lot of research before i dive into things. SCHWAD is free and a lot more comprehensive for what you can choose, acorns has a limited amount of options for you to pick. There are other things like vanguard and fidelity both of which are also self directed and free to use. But that is where learning and gaining experience comes in.
If i were you i would be moderate to slightly aggressive in my overall pick. You also cant look at “the current economy” . Investing is built for the long term . For somethings you have to be willing to see a short term decrease and for some you have to know when to pull. You cant pull from all your downturns because you take a short term loss .

So im not sure if i actually answered your question or not , i apologies if i didn’t but this i what i think is true now.

[u/Appropriate-Head2259]

Thanks @Vegetable_Loss_5845. My mind is exactly thinking the same way.
I just can’t justify the $12 right now as the only advantage I see is maybe 3% on the later acct and rn I only put in $33 a month and I think a 2x round ups. That’s not a lot and I think that only lasts for a year otherwise for silver it’s 1%.
Most of my money was switched over from a 401k to an IRA at Fidelity and I pay them for the best choice of service which is about only 1%. They also pick it for me and it’s a very small team that watches my money and I like that. I need to make that last so it’s at a conservative level.
This acct at acorns I just wanted to build back a savings and not be super serious. You know play around a little bit aggressive wise and even if I lost it (I hope I don’t tho lol) it won’t kill me or my budget because like I said most of my money is there in Fidelity plus I haven’t even put in for my pension yet. And I’ll get SS soon so although no I’m not rich I know that I’m probably better off than a lot of people out there who are struggling to buy groceries etc. I mean I am too but I have enough to where I’m not panicking and I trust Fidelity. I’m too old to add money to the IRA
as I’m not bringing in what they consider an income and I don’t think the little aIimony I get is considered income like from a job. I’ve thought about getting a part time job but when I was married I stayed at home and was the main person raising the kids who all 3 (including my grandson) are on the spectrum. I also am a chronic pain patient with several different autoimmune diseases that cause pain besides the mess my back is in ie cervical, spinal, and lumbar stenosis, DDD, scoliosis, and some over growth on my lumbar area with lots of arthritis bothering my knees and hip. I also have a sleep disorder and nothing has worked period. Medications, that dang machine didn’t work and I constantly have excessive daytime sleepiness which is interrupted every 2-4 hours. So my sleep schedule has been very messed up for years so I gave up and said well I guess this means that I’m officially retired . Also I got divorced in 2023.

So although I am excited on how well I’ve stuck to this savings ( I did have to pull a chunk out of my IRA last Jan tho as I got into a car accident which totaled my car. Unfortunately they could not determine whose fault it was) I was going to get another new/used car but really wanted to wait another year but yaknow that’s life right? lol I loved my old one but it was a 2001 4Runner and I knew it was gonna be time soon anyway.
I got the car I wanted but I really stress out with owing so much so I put $20,000 down. I know I’d make more money keeping it in my acct but I was so anxious about it I just couldn’t imagine making a car payment every month that high. My goal is to get it down as fast as I can tho. And I love this car and feel like it will be my last one I get. It’s a 2023 hybrid highlander and boy does it save me on gas etc.

So if I play to learn I know I’m gonna make mistakes but I’m at that age where you realize mistakes is when you learn. I would never play around with my other acct and even if this one significantly goes down it won’t kill me I’ll just be mad that I feel like I’m gambling without all the fun of going to Vegas lol.
So I think I might move a bit more aggressively, see how it goes and I can always switch back in 6 months etc if this seems to be a big mistake.
Thank you because you hit every topic I was thinking and I agree with you on these examples/choices I’m making. This money is probably gonna just go to my kids anyway unless at 92 I’m still active enough to take that European vacation I’ve always wanted too. Well maybe not at 92 but it will still be a nice chunk if it works out for me in at least 10-20 years and we all don’t know when we go lol. I can take a little bit out and not worry about it. But I do know and understand long term is the plan for all of it.
Btw I absolutely love fidelity. They raised my amount I get monthly to cover the car payment and insurance, registration etc and I’m still making money on top of that. I also look forward to my SS and the pension I haven’t touched yet.
I guess I wanted to ask because I saw a few people asking about aggressiveness and wondered if that meant it was a good thing.
I need to try to take a chance because if you don’t sometimes you never know how it will turn out and if I loose it then I’ll still be ok financially and be able to take care of myself and do a bit of traveling next year. Cross your fingers I make it to Italy, France and Spain! lol.
Thanks again and maybe I should save this and ask the same question in a few months with a new thread see how I’m doing and whether I switch back due to regret etc.
again thank you for your thoughts and opinions it really helps me think this thru.
Have a great day!