DeebieSkeebiesreal talk if you were a young broke ski bum but also wanted to extend their money somehow or at least consider investments or something for retirement, what would you dudes go with?
Lot of options depending on risk/reward level of comfort but basically it's never too early and no amount is too small to invest. When it comes to retirement you're better off investing $1000 at 20 than investing $10k at 55, time
In term of overall strategy, I'd start by maxing out tax free vehicles like roth IRA and/or roth 401k, so you'll use $$ already taxed for those and not owe a thing when you take it out, that's good because you're not making much now as a ski bum I assume. Tax deferred like traditional IRA/401k is only good if you're making a lot now and think you'll make less in retirement and/or you think tax rates will go down in the future (lmao). So I'd stick with tax free for now, and in terms of order, contribute to 401k until you meet the match, then max out IRA, then go back to 401k. IRAs have a lot more investment options whereas 401K are limited, but the match is free money so can't leave that on the table. Doubt you have a 401k if you're a ski bum tho, but it has a lower limit ($6k/year).
Once you have that setup in terms of what to invest in a lot of people go with low-cost index funds in a
lazy portfolio so you don't really have to think about it, just invest and re-balance once a year and that's it. Invest as much as you can over time and the magic of compound interest will do the rest.
Some might also look at incorporating some crypto in a well balanced portfolio, more risk, but more potential reward, can also look into staking and lending your crypto to get returns beyond simple appreciation (and keep it for at least a year to lower taxes on gains)
If you don't have a home yet, real estate is a great asset to have, you could save towards a down payment. Loans are great, rates are up these days but usually the 30 year mortgage is always the best financial move, don't pay more than the minimum and invest your money instead of making any additional payments, it'll usually yield more than your mortgage rate.
If you have money left, HypeBeast mentioned HSA/529, that will reduce your taxable income but that money can then only be used for qualified healthcare/children's college expenses so this has to be in your future to make sense, but probably not where you'll want to start anyway.
Now for safe investments, you have IBonds, it's government bonds so it's a safe as it gets, and tied to inflation so currently yielding over 7% interest. The only downside is that the money you put in is stuck for the first year, but after that you can do what you want with it, but you can only buy for $10k/year. One might want to use that as emergency savings as long as you keep some extra padding somewhere else for the first 2-3 years while you build that up. Then it's safe money that will keep up with inflation no matter what.
Take the time to research stuff, it's annoying especially at first when you don't know shit, but it's so worth it in the long run.
