Investing

One of my kids reached out to me the other day and asked if I could help her move some money from her checking account into something that would 'make her rich'. I said she might be getting ahead of herself if she thought there was a 'make me rich' place to put her money, but can you blame her when all she hears about on social media is Roaring Kitty of GameStop fame, or all the Bitcoin millionaire success stories? I explained how her best bet was to start with the basics and make sure she had all the important things (i.e. tried and true) set up before thinking about looking at high reward, yet high risk options for putting her money. Here we talk briefly about those tried and true options.

Knowing a few simple formulas can help you better understand how money works.

A week into my soul-sucking first job out of college, I hatched a brilliant retirement plan. Simply make a million dollars, dump it into a savings account, and live like a king on the interest. At a whopping 5% interest rate back then (similar to 2024), I was set to rake in $50,000 a year without lifting a finger. It all made perfect sense...until I really dug into the 'simply make a million dollars' part of the plan. A bit daunting at first once I ran some calculations to determine how long it would take to make, let alone keep, a million dollars based on my meager salary. I realized I had to do more than just save money, I had to let it grow. Grow to a million!