Hoot85

A Little Financial Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing

A bit of financial education can go a long way. I am in my early 20's, and have had to learn everything on my own. What I have learned in say, the past couple months, has greatly improved my situation. I used to live paycheck to paycheck. Now, making the same money I did a year or two ago, I have managed to rack up over 15,000 dollars with a brokerage account that started at 1,000 bucks with an online discount broker. Some of that money has been in the form of dividend checks, interest payments, as well as regular, bi-monthly deposits. Had I watched my parents to learn how to handle finances, I would have two seperate views: on my father's side, I would have learned how to become heavily indebted, and continuing to accrue debt to dig myself out of debt. On my mother's side, I would have learned how to stash cold hard cash in a coffee can, then bury it in the backyard. Neither of those would have left me where I am now. As long as the person learning never gets to the point of thinking they can "time the market", the more they learn the better.