I want to start saving and investing, but I have no idea what I'm doing and reading all this information is giving me whip-lash

Submitted by cheejiburga t3_1004djv in personalfinance

Hello! I'm 19 years old and I currently work full time as a front desk agent. I've been looking into investing and retirement plans for a few months but everything is still so confusing to me. I'm getting a headache reading 20 different answers and all these options and IRA's and everything. I hope this subreddit could give me some advice and answer some questions I have. I'm new to all this and I haven't placed any money anywhere yet.

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So I opened an account with Betterment, since I saw good reviews for them. I was going to use them to save up for a trip to see my bf in December, save some money to help my parents when they're older, and then one for general investing in the future. Like for a house, new car, etc. I've looked at their IRA's for retirement and I have no idea what I'm looking at even though it's been explained to me 20 times. My employer doesn't have a 401k plan (that I've been told of, I'll ask her tomorrow), so I heard it's best in that case to open an IRA account. Is that true? And if so, my bank (Regions) has investing options as well, could I use my bank? Is it better to use my bank or something like Betterment?

Now, I don't bring a lot of money in monthly. Most of it goes to bills, and paying my car monthly, and helping my family out, so I didn't want to put in a lot but just little by little to get me started. For Betterment I was thinking of putting $5 in to each account bi-weekly. Would that be a good start?

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I know it's all up to me in the end where I want to put my money, but before I did anything drastic I want to hear from people who are more experienced in the world of finance than I am. Any advice?

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Edit: I'm so appreciative of everyone trying to help me understand how this all works. It looks like girlbossing my finances this year will not be easy lol

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Comments

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MarcableFluke t1_j2fq2oj wrote

Replying to cheejiburga (#1,252,825)

You can't contribute more than $6k towards IRAs each year (at your age). If you want to contribute more towards retirement, you could use a 401k if your employer offers one. Otherwise, you would need to use a taxable brokerage account, which isn't tax advantaged.

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magnolia888 t1_j2fr5c7 wrote

Replying to cheejiburga (#1,253,448)

Yes. You can contribute up to the maximum each year. Some people space it out through the year. Some people contribute a lump sum in January.

To make it even more confusing you have until April 15 (whatever tax day is) of next year to contribute for the previous year. So for 2022, you have until April 2023 to make a contribution. For 2023, you have until April 2024 to contribute.

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k_lena t1_j2frgfz wrote

Replying to cheejiburga (#1,253,448)

You can make an IRA contribution for 2022 until tax day (April 18, 2023). And also - the 2023 IRA contribution limit is going up to $6500. (2023 contribution can be made between January 1, 2023 until tax day - April 15, 2924.)

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AdditionalAttorney t1_j2frny9 wrote

Replying to cheejiburga (#1,253,630)

When you say any type what do you mean?

An investment account is an account like now checking is an account.

You can open that account at different brokerages like fidelity, vanguard, schwabb. And betterment. Those are all accounts not different types.

You can also open a Roth IRA at these brokerages

Similar to how you can open a checking account at Bank of America, ally, TD bank etc

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cheejiburga OP t1_j2ft1f0 wrote

Replying to AdditionalAttorney (#1,254,075)

I think I misread some stuff. I think I mean like, whatever is taxable. I read in the link up above that if I don't have access to a 401k to use a taxable account. Aren't IRA's considered taxable? Sorry if I'm making this more confusing..

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MarcableFluke t1_j2fug6g wrote

Replying to cheejiburga (#1,255,145)

401ks and IRAs are special tax advantaged accounts that are intended for people to use for retirement. That's what the tax advantages are for.

A taxable brokerage is just an account that you use to invest money like you do with 401ks and IRAs, but there are no tax advantages.

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cheejiburga OP t1_j2fvnv9 wrote

If it helps at all, you can explain anything to me like I'm a newborn baby

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