Starting out thread, hints, tips... anything really

[buns]

Thanks Karen, in terms of a budget, nothing really in place as such. I operate on a 25/25/40/10 spilt with any money that comes in, 25% for each of us, 40% towards the bills and 10% towards savings. This is our first year living together and that spilt has worked fine, although we probably could save more and less towards the bills.

I wouldn't worry about earning returns to much at 22. It's bloody hard to do, and takes a lot of time to master. Simply put you have better things to do and I'm thinking you are doing these things if your spending 50% of your income on things other than bills and savings - good work!

Pull out a simple spreadsheet, assuming you earn at least average wages and budget sensibly - assume you can compound savings at 10% from Age 25-40 and you will easily achieve net assets well over $1m at 40 years old. (if you cant do this calc you need to read more books)

Thats plenty of money, and yes if you start now that may turn into another 100k or so, but the difference between $1m and $1.2m is nothing compared to $1m and an awesome youth full of sweet times.

Kiwisaver will do fine whilst you invest in double brown.

When you get to 25-26 or can't handle the hangovers no longer, start reading up on investing. By then you will also have 4-5 years of exp behind you which will add to your knowledge and skills for investing. Don't enter a game when the odds are against you.