Madison MoneySports - Personal Finance Thread

[Sijray21]

I've focused on keeping debt low/non-existent and contributing as much as I can to my 401k while also building cash savings. I only recently invested in the stock market and it's more just for fun right now (i.e. I bought a few shares of Apple vs investing $5k in mutual funds or whatever).

My 401ks from past jobs were put into an IRA, which is invested in a mix of mutual funds.

This.

Investing is good when you have the extra cash to do so. Debt will kill that.

Having 6 mo in liquid savings for a rainy day fund then start to really kill that debt. After that you'll have more ability to distribute your money elsewhere.

I use mint to track net worth, spending, budgets, and cash flow. Awesome for being free.

The only 'investing' I've done so far is in my house. Purchase & renovations that have a good yield for return (kitchen, simple preventive maintenance, adding usable sq ft, and paying down my mortgage on top of the regular payment). I'll look into other investments soon though.