Important Personal Finance Steps to Take When Starting a Job

The Small Investor

Last night a friend invited me over to talk to his 23 year-old son about 401k investing.  He had recently started his first career-type job and was unsure what to do when faced with the packet from human resources.  With the help of his father he had initially enrolled in one of the target retirement funds, which is not a bad idea when you’re still learning and trying to get your bearings.  The issue, however, is that you can give up some return by being over-invested in income securities (bonds) when you’re too young with many of those funds.  You can do a little better by selecting funds yourself with just a little bit of knowledge.  Some things we discussed are:

1.  The most important thing is to get started while you’re young.  Every dollar you invest when you’re in your early twenties will be worth about $130 when you retire. …

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