If you put off investing in your 20s due to paying off student loans or the fits and starts of establishing your career, your 30s are when you need to start putting money away. You're still young enough to reap the rewards of compound interest, but old enough to be investing 10% to 15% of your income.
It's Never Too Early to Start Investing
Spending every penny you earn when you're young is tempting, but investing at 18 or even earlier puts you far ahead of the game later in life. You could potentially grow your investments much more, and you'll have a better understanding of the financial system.
Note that past returns do not indicate future success. Of course, a portfolio of mostly stocks is generally seen as more risky, but 25-year-olds are often said to have a larger risk tolerance since they have more time to weather market dips and recover after losses.
Too many people get bogged down in life that they don't even start investing until it's too late. Luckily, getting started in your 30s still leaves you plenty of time to save for retirement and the future.
Twenty-somethings have some definitive advantages over those who wait to begin investing, including time, the ability to weather increased risk, and opportunities to increase future wages. Even if you have to start small, it's in your advantage to start early!
By starting investments early in life, one gains a key advantage – time. Investors who start investing in their 20s will have more time to grow their wealth, so they will be in a better position to reach all their financial goals easily.
If you are under 18, you cannot own stocks, mutual funds, and other financial assets outright. As a minor, you can make investments only under the supervision of your parent (or an adult) through a custodial account. Your parent will have to sign you up for a custodial account offered by an online broker.
When you're young, you generally want higher returns that stocks, stock-based mutual funds, or ETFs can provide – rather than slower-growing investments like bonds and CDs. Yes, there is inherently more risk in these types of investments, but remember: You're investing with a long-term mindset.
By age 25, you should have saved about $20,000. Looking at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the first quarter of 2021, the median salaries for full-time workers were as follows: $628 per week, or $32,656 each year for workers ages 20 to 24. $901 per week, or $46,852 per year for workers ages 25 to 34.
You'll rev your returns by starting early. Starting at age 23, you need to put away just $14 per day to reach $1 million by age 67. Wait just seven years, until age 30, and you have to increase that amount by 50%. Hold off until age 35 and you'll have to save more than twice as much as at 23.
Once you're ready to start investing, it's time to open and fund a brokerage account. Anyone at least 18 years old can open an online brokerage account. Those who are younger than that will need a parent's assistance. Parents can either open a brokerage account on their teen's behalf or set up a custodial account.
How much do you need to save in your 20s? As you embark on your career and set the path for future finances, your 20s is the time to set strong savings habits. Using the 50/30/20 model, you could be aiming to save upwards of $500 every month (or as close to 20% as you can).
You probably want to hang it up around the age of 70, if not before. That's not only because, by that age, you are aiming to conserve what you've got more than you are aiming to make more, so you're probably moving more money into bonds, or an immediate lifetime annuity.
Opening an Investment Account for Teens
If your child is under 18 years old, the most effective way to start investing for or with them is to open a custodial account. With this type of account, an adult "custodian" opens an account and can save and invest money on behalf of the child.
By age 25, you should have saved at least 0.5X your annual expenses. The more the better. In other words, if you spend $50,000 a year, you should have about $25,000 in savings. If you spend $100,000 a year, you should have at least $50,000 in savings.
The general rule of thumb is that you should save 20% of your salary for retirement, emergencies, and long-term goals. By age 21, assuming you have worked full time earning the median salary for the equivalent of a year, you should have saved a little more than $6,000.