Comments on: Stock Market Investing Advice for College Graduates

By: TI @ Monevator

TI @ Monevator — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:14:57 +0000

Enroll in the company pension early, if your employer offers any sort of matching contributions. So many people in their early 20s assume they’re not going to stick around in their first or second job – but they do, and miss a few years of free, compounding money.

By: Mena @ NoMoreStudentLoans

Mena @ NoMoreStudentLoans — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:34:27 +0000

This is great. I actually did some of the things you listed. I guess I am off to a great start.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:24:58 +0000

I agree Jim. Many people even older people focus on trying to get good returns in the stock market and keeping up with stocks all day instead of focusing on trying to improve what they are really good at or doing a good job at work.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:11:30 +0000

A sports almanac perhaps?

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:56:42 +0000

Good advice. Too many young people I meet think they are better off in one stock rather than a diversified portfolio from a mutual fund. The thing is one bad move in you stock and you suffer a major loss. In a mutual fund, one down stock in a portfolio of dozens doesn’t hurt that much.

Save the “hot stock” picks for when you have a large portfolio and can afford to set aside some risk capital that you can afford to lose.

By: thomas

thomas — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:30:37 +0000

Unless that came with something that required medical attention, I think this might be poor advice.

By: thomas

thomas — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:29:41 +0000

Imagine you had a time machine and could give yourself just one good piece of advice after you graduated college, what would it be?

I guess it would be the winning numbers to the megamillions the drawing before it was won. Get on the 90s bubble, develop youtube, bet the next 10 super bowl champions in Vegas.

By: phoenix

phoenix — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:24:04 +0000

erm…can I go back to right after freshman year, and tell myself to FINISH college? Or maybe to senior year of high school and tell myself to take the Clarkson early admission, even with the loans, instead of the (closer to parents, paid for by parents) state school? In seriousness–don’t cash out the 401(k)!!! I was smart enough to contribute to one at my first job, but cashed out the 10k when I (left the job and moved) got divorced. And cashed out about 20k in 2004 when the company I worked for was bought out. Granted. I paid off some high interest debts, but still….

By: eric

eric — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:39:54 +0000

LOL…that’s errr…valuable advice Andrew…

But I like Jim’s point. Keep it simple.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Direct and to the point, but I can’t say I disagree.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:01:24 +0000

Don’t sleep with so many skanks.

By: WRXTuan

WRXTuan — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:48:19 +0000

Thanks for the tip, Jim. I just started working and I am following your advice right now. I’m 22, and I’ve just started with the Vanguard target retirement fund 2050 in my IRA and when I get my 401K, I’ll start the index funds there.

By: Matthew@IllSaveYouMoney

Matthew@IllSaveYouMoney — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:47:36 +0000

I’m about to be a college graduate myself and this seems like a good idea. Investing $1,000 wouldn’t really hurt that bad but hopefully it could generate some passive income. Maybe after working for a bit you could contribute more to the index fund and watch it grow. Like Jim said, it’ll be a small part of your net worth so it shouldn’t sting that much is the market isn’t going so well just as long as you have a steady job.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:42:11 +0000

‘Start socking away money in retirement accounts as soon as possible. The tax benefits and power of compounding cannot be beat.’ Btw, Im 35 yo right now.

By: Stock Trading

Stock Trading — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:37:28 +0000

I would say following the macro economic climate isn’t a bad thing and moving out of large well diversified positions into other large well diversified positions can be helpful at times.