Taking Saving/Investment/Budgeting to the NEXT Level

Saving
#1

I am hoping to take my budgeting/saving to the NEXT level in 2022. I wanted to see what you would recommend and suggest to someone who is in their mid 20s that has invested and maxed out of their Roth IRA, 401k Contribution, HSA, and have a healthy amount in brokerage to continue working on their financial goals. I am not in a rush to buy a house, car or anything that would require me to make a huge purchase but I find that I can definitely be doing more/intentional with what I have. I find a lot of finance tips are to start those accounts, but for someone who already has them - what’s the NEXT thing I can start saving/investing/budgeting on? My goal in 2022 is to be very intentional about where my money is going as that will motivate and give me a piece in mind. I’m grateful I have the luxury to be able to spend right now for my current lifestyle but I’d like to be more intentional if there’s anything else I could do.

Right now I am spending a lot (more than I want) on food/dining out, shopping, mindlessly boredom spending and I really want to be intention about it moving forward - hard to secure a budget when you’re not sure what your specific goals are either. I live my life with a lot of flexibility (move in 2 weeks in new state, random travel trips, etc) so I think having structure works best with me.

Thank you so much in advance!

#2

I’d say there’s nothing NEW you need to do, unless you want to get into investment real estate. Instead, just do what you’re doing HARDER.

i.e. You can have billions in your brokerage account. Being in your mid-20s I assume you have less than a million. So I’d get going on that. I’d calculate your FIRE number and then put your numbers into the retirement calculator and figure out how much you need to invest to be financially independent at the age you want.

Then you get to make choices for your life. What do you want more, to eat out more or become FI even earlier. There’s not a wrong answer. The goal with money isn’t to die with the most in your bank account, it’s to maximize your life happiness. So you get to navigate how to do that for your life! :slight_smile:

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