Financial advice to younger me
Working for American corporations gives you access to a number of financial tools. Early in your career, it’s easy to not give these much thought. After all, there are so many new things to learn, and isn’t it more important to grow as an employee? Won’t that be more impactful (and financially rewarding) than min-maxing retirement accounts? Well, yes, but that is a false dichotomy. At most, it will take an hour or two to set up a retirement strategy that you can let run on autopilot. Initially the gains will seem small, but compounded over the span of a 20 or 30 years, the impact will be large.
Understanding these tools will also help you navigate job offers. When you don’t understand these tools it’s easy to hand wave missing retirement benefits when evaluating offers, like 401k matching or after-tax contributions.
401(k): An employer-sponsored retirement account that allows employees to contribute a portion of their salary. Many employers offer a match, essentially “free money” towards your retirement. There are two types: Traditional 401k and Roth 401k.
