Is this the right track to build net worth?
Hello, I am a first year analyst at a BB in NYC. I grew up in the Bronx which is where I still live (not at home, just close to it because I really don't care about living in Manhattan would rather save the money and commute).
Prior to starting FT, I had around 7k in savings + checkings (most of my intern money went to paying rent/bills at college (went to an ivy). I had an emergency family health issue with my grandfather, he is in (Europe) and contributed about 2.5k alongside larger contributions from my parents, older siblings, other family to pay for his surgery. Have absolutely no problem in contributing for this, family is family and I was close with him. The resulting financial situation I face is that after about 2.5 months on the job, I have around 6k in savings and 5k (1k of which is Roth IRA) invested in various ETFs and around 800 in a 401(k) (plus equivalent company match).
I am a bit worried about my financial future as this event shook if something like this were to happen to my parents, siblings or myself. We put up around 45k for my grandfathers surgery in a country where healthcare is much lower cost than the US (this was a very specific, expensive, and specialty surgery). Because of this, I feel like the best move would be for me to prioritize getting 20k asap in my savings. I was thinking of just putting all the salary I get that I do not spend in my savings (e.g 2k a month because I only pay around 800 for 1 room in a 2 bedroom with my friend and also contribute 800 to my parents (reality have around 2.8k excess out of 4.6k post tax)). At the same time, I am worried I will not be contributing enough to investments. However, if I do I save diligently, I will have my desired savings in 7 months after which I would feel more comfortable investing again. Is this appropriate?
So this might seem retarded, but what’s the point of an emergency fund? Why not dump it all in an IRA and only withdraw if an emergency happens? That way if no emergency happens, you still grow your wealth.
So this might seem retarded, but what's the point of an emergency fund? Why not dump it all in an IRA and only withdraw if an emergency happens? That way if no emergency happens, you still grow your wealth.
This question isn’t for you but for anyone who may give advice on this thread
Dealing with IRA is a pain in the ass and not as liquid. What happens if he needs the money RIGHT NOW? He’d be screwed
Market tanks + you lose your job = you have to sell your stocks off at a 50% discount to pay the rent
That's why you keep an emergency fund of ~6x monthly spending. Can be high yield savings, or if you have a bit more risk tolerance can be in some sort of investment grade bond fund. Definitely not in equities.
Fwiw - there’s an old saying that goes you should insure “ifs” and budget for “when’s”. If you’re worried about a health scare - if you don’t have the cash/resources to pay out of pocket, or IF something like that happened to you, it would financially impact you, you should probably look into some health insurance. (I’m not from the US so I dont have any solutions to provide unfortunately)
For “when’s”, i.e, retirement, home purchase, car, etc. Budget that into your plan. You make $X. Save an amount that doesn’t cripple you but an amount that’s enough to feel it. Make sure you save it every month. Savings first, spend next.
I have health insurance, it was moreso just the idea that there might be a situation where cash might be needed urgently.
What situation can you think of where cash might be needed urgently? I’m relatively conservative with personal finances, so I have a fair bit of cash on hand, but I’ve never needed a large amount in a 1-2 day turnaround. In this day you can basically have a credit card cover anything.
I view an “emergency fund” as money you can easily get that isn’t in an extremely risky investment (so if you needed it tomorrow it can’t be down 50%).
In my ~15yrs of work experience I can’t think of any emergency situations (and I’ve had medical emergencies, family emergencies, etc) where money was needed that quickly
I would probably be a bit more balanced in how much you have in cash vs investments. You can always split your investments into lower risk vs higher risk and make sure you have a decent amount liquid in your lower risk category.
obviously have not done a crazy bit of doomsday scenario planning, but like the one I just experienced- family emergencies abroad, etc. Sorry if I did not make it clearer in my post, I was moreso wondering if solely devoting my next few months of salary that does not go to expenses to build a small but decent sized emergency fund rather than invest the way I have been (90% of non expenditures) would be a poor financial decision.
But that’s what I’m saying, if you have $5k invested in a relatively low risk investment, how hard would it be to get that money in 2 days?
Unless you have restrictions on your ability to sell shares, or you are extremely risk averse, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just do that.
At most you are looking at a 2 day turnaround (market closed, have to place trade next day) - if that is an issue for you (turnaround needs to be faster?) then of course keep cash on hand.
This is a great point. The idea is to have access to cash/transaction-paying services and not necessarily cash itself. It would make sense to have a fairly high credit limit on a CC (or multiple CCs), and then sell some equities in a brokerage account for the remainder, or have some portion in a money market account. I get that have the cash itself does provide a lot of mental security (like being debt free), but that doesn’t mean you have to be sitting on low yield money when you can be yielding something much better that’s just as quick to convert to cash.
Edit: accidental double post
Emergency fund / liquid cash is always #1 priority - can keep it in your checking/savings (they’re the same thing), or in your personal trading account in a boring SPY etf or whatever
After that, you can focus on maxing the 401k or various retirement accounts
dont look at it as “oh by month 3/5/7” etc.. start thinking years. By end of year 1 you want x, end of year 3 you want y. Your bonuses will add up quickly
Also - see if you can get an unsecured line of credit, just to have as an option in case you need access to larger amounts cash. If you get into a pinch, it’s likely cheaper than a credit card and can provide you some quick liquidity in case of an emergency.
Might just wanna negotiate an RCF. I'm sure we can do LIBOR + an appropriate premium.
IB for ~9 months now.
Have 56k in savings (Robo)
Keep like 300-400$ in cash (bank)
Rest is credit card
Been working out so far
I keep about 1K in checking and 3500 in savings Cash. Everything else goes to investing. I will probably pull out some of my investments to buy a car this year, and will then replenish them over time.
Everyone on here has graduated into a bull market for most part but that one older analyst. Think of it this way your career is 30 years long or so. You are putting family first and understanding you are/will be family bank I was same basically when I was 2 years into my career. I had to bailout 2-3 family members with school debt planning or closing costs on home purchases. Sometimes there is more important things than building net worth asap in life. Even a boring SPY can still go down, should still be actively managed if this is emergency money for ppl you care about.
So while no its not the best way to build wealth out a young age, that would be buying crypto/qqq taking risk early. You should aim to Atleast get to 50% of your desired target in year1. The other 50% could be more risky or so, but unlike someone with no family obligations you should limit risk early on.
As mentioned you should always have an agreed LOC you can pull from the bank even if you never pull any money out. Cause you make a high salary and can handle some debt if needed.
Once you have more “more money” like the guy with 15 years in, then holding all your liquid assets in an SPY or so is easier cause you have lets say 300k, we fall 10% thats 30k. But you have 5k, we fall 10% and your dad needs 5k. You get the math.
Buying TQQQ after QQQ has dipped is a money printer
Anyone else have a Vanguard account and are unable to by TQQQ?
I've lost so much money over the last year by being too lazy to open a new account with a different brokerage
$150k of college fees in TQQQ in 2010 would be worth $24 mill now lol.
That’s why I made my Roth IRA 100% in TQQQ. It’s not much in there because of the 6k limit, but you might as well go as as high risk and reward as you can get because my time horizon is so long (literally like 40 years before I can withdraw) and you’re limited on the amount of money you can put in anyway so the “risk” factor really isn’t that high.
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