Since a lot of us here have expressed interest in not starving to death in a gutter, I figured I'd start a weekly thread to discuss financial matters.
Ground Rules
- Remember that we're all just Internet randos. Don't bet your life savings on a hot tip from this thread.
- Keep culture war in the culture war thread. Yes, global events may impact our personal finances, but that does not mean we have to incessantly harp on culture war aspects here. If you are going to discuss it, please stick to the practical impacts of it on an individual level.
- Be kind. Remember that everyone here comes from different circumstances. We all have different resources available and different risk tolerances.
- Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Better is better. Celebrate people when they take a step up and work to move their finances in the right direction. Don't flame out because they haven't followed what you consider the optimal path. Everybody has to start somewhere.

Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
The hardest part I feel is starting to save. The gapping maw of the future will be those who saved and invested and those who did not. This future inflation will crush future retirees. The current bull run of everything going up has spoiled a lot of new investors and honestly still looks like it has steam to continue to me.
My strategy is to split between index funds and ETFs and also buy some individual stocks I like or want to track. For funds I mainly check fees and past performance, for stocks I see whether they're making money.
For my stocks I'm heavier into Tech and much heavier into American companies. I only recently added an international index fund because of Hormuz, which might be backwards thinking.
Most investment advisors recommend having some international exposure. How much do you have?
My current is held is low like 1% of total invested things in an international index, but I've added it to my 401k and HSA elections at about 25% so it will increase as the year goes on.
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