Below are some recommended financial planning steps for grooms by age group.
In your 20s
Start building an emergency fund; begin paying off any student loans or other debt; and consider starting to invest in a retirement account.
If you can start investing early, then consider using a ROTH IRA or ROTH 401K where you invest AFTER-TAX dollars into the fund. Then you grow it for decades and pay no tax when you take the money out for retirement.
Peter Thiel, a tech billionaire and one of the founders of PayPal, famously turned $2,000 into $5 billion using a ROTH IRA. He will never pay taxes on that $5 billion because he invested after-tax dollars in startup shares using his ROTH IRA.
You have your entire life ahead of you, so invest focused on growth, i.e. mostly stock market ETFs (see the article on growing wealth for more on ETFs).
Don’t miss out! We’ve got several more decades to go!
Emmy Sobieski’s article continues on the HorseGrooms Community. Each decade is different, and she has suggestions for each. Sign up for free for the HorseGrooms Community. You don’t want to miss out!
This is NOT a financial, legal, tax, or investment advice.
This article is for educational purposes only. It is not advice. Why isn’t it advice? First, I don’t have the licenses necessary to advise you. Second, I don’t know your specific situation, which I would need to know in order to advise you (if I had the licenses, which I do not).
Whenever someone gives you advice, ask yourself these two questions above: do they have the credentials, and do they know your specifics? If either answer is no, treat their advice like a starting point of learning and not as advice.
Let these blogs serve as a starting point in your education, not an end answer. Only you can find your answers to your specific situation.
I love this horse community, especially the parts that come together to celebrate the majesty and generosity of the spirit of horses. I want to provide a starting point for you to learn and empower yourself with financial knowledge, and map your perfect journey through life.
My career: 32+ years as an institutional investor, specializing in technology stocks, corporate, and startup operations. I am an advisor and investor in public companies and private companies; authored the #1 Amazon Bestselling book $100M Careers: the 5 Fastest Paths to Wealth Beyond Your Wildest Dreams; am a financial coach through my $100M Career Amplifier program; have managed multi-million and worked on multi-billion funds; and have been a keynote and guest speaker for many events and podcasts, covering everything from careers, leverage, operations, and technology.
You can learn more on my LinkedIn page or my website.
