It might seem far in the future, but you have to start thinking about retirement on the first day of your first job—and by “job” that means any money you earn at any point in your life. From the time you start babysitting or mowing lawns to the orientation at the first workplace of your adult life, you need to make decisions about how much you will save for that far-off date when you stop working and how you will make the money grow over time.
MarketWatch recently spoke to a group of college students for the Barron’s Investing in Education program about how to start saving for retirement and they wanted to know about everything from investing mechanics to macroeconomic forces like inflation that will affect their long-term savings. Watch the video here Here’s the answers to the top questions they asked. If you want to create your own savings investment account, where would you even start? Like what funds with low costs, and what indexes? When you start earning money, there’s a hierarchy to follow that makes it easier to prioritize how to save a portion of it for later, and you should keep looking out as far into the future as possible.
If you have access to a 401(k) at your job, contribute up to the 401(k) match—this is free money, so before opening a savings or investing account, start there.
Put money aside for emergencies in an interest-bearing savings account. Get the highest rate on the market available, and move your money if a better …