Drewmo: Good to hear you are interested in SAVING, instead of HOW TO SPEND. There are plenty of good sites to look at, but having read a ton of them, books, and talked w/ various investment gurus over the years, I think I have come to a rather boring conclusion: It is really very simple, if you follow the wisdom of some of the best long-term investors. (1) Time is THE VARIABLE that will do it. Make a simple spread sheet that shows some small amount of money which you can invest every year. The next cell increases your investment by a factor of, say, 1.08 (8% APR). In the next cell, add your small amount of yearly savings, and increase that new total by a factor of 1.08. Repeat for 30 yrs or so. If you aren't familiar w/ this, do it; it may amaze you. (2) Invest regularly, (monthly is fine) regardless of market direction or location. A couple guys got a Economic "Nobel Prize" type award for showing that market timing gets you a NEGATIVE 7% "gain". Forget what the market is "going to do next week, so I'll wait to invest." (3) Unless you want to spend your life studying companies, invest in indexed mutual funds. They are cheap (low operating expenses) and I DEFY ANYONE to find me a mutual fund, corn investment, stock, or whatever that will beat "the market" consistently for 20 to 30 yrs. Look up any of today's 50 "hot" mutual funds and see if they have beaten the S&P;500 for 20 yrs; I've done it time and time again, and there are precious few. The trick, of course, is to find them BEFOREHAND, not after the fact. Are you going to pick one of the 10% or so (I bet it's less, too) of the funds that beat the market, or one of the 90% that won't? If you find a mutual fund manager who will GUARANTEE you will match or exceed the market or he/she will supplement your holdings, please send their name. Good luck w/ that one. (4) Use your credit card like it is pouring nitric acid on your eye every time. Read John Bogle's books, or Peter Lynch; check out Motley Fool (if still around), Schwab, blah, blah. Read investment magazines for a while and you will see the same thing you see in hunting magazines; turkeys in the spring, deer in the fall, year after year. Been there, done that. I think it was Ben Franklin who said "I am more interested in the return OF my money than the return ON it." Be patient, and boring. A VP of Merril Lynch once showed me his portfolio allocation: 70% was in an S&P;500 index fund. Do you think he knows more about investing than me? Yep. I was delighted to see he thinks like me, but I wish I'd have met him 20 yrs earlier. With that diatribe, did I answer you question at all? Good luck. There is no magic to it; save instead of spend. j
