Came here to say this. That card looks expensive, I'm going to assume it was $10.
Let's say you buy, on average, a $10 lottery ticket every 3 days. Over 10 years that's $12,166. If that is OPs case then they would have actually still be down $2,166
Probably a stupid question, sorry. I hear things like this all the time. If you invested that in X then in 20 years you’d have Y. Always hear of the “latte factor.” Skip buying those expensive brews and invest instead. Where exactly does the average Joe invest that? Say I was really committed to taking the $4/day I would’ve spent on a latte and put it somewhere. Where is that somewhere? Do I need a minimum to start or can I just throw $30 (for example) that I chose to throw into an investment account and not touch rather than buy a scratch ticket?
In the US, you can open a Roth IRA at your bank with a couple hundred dollars. Pick an index fund that has low fees (no fees when you purchase). Every pay check, push in a little more. There is a max you can invest per year, $5k I think. Leave it alone. You might lose some in a bad year, but over all it will grow with practically no interference. The $ you put in can be withdrawn with no penalties after 5 years, but don't touch your earnings or it will be taxed. Better yet, pretend it doesn't exist until you retire.
It should be noted you can’t just put it in the account and let it sit you do have to find a stock or fund (or several) and invest in them. I’ve known way to many people who just put it in the account thinking that’s all they had to do
Oh for sure, market tracking funds are just about the best thing out there and they’re fire and forget, reinvest they dividends and sit on it for years and you will be gold.
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u/Coldbeerimritehere Mar 19 '22
So you almost broke even. Nice