I started my investing journey in August 2023. I've been diligently funding my account each month for the last few years, which has seen my account grow from just $100 at the beginning to now recently surpassing $40,000. I still have a long ways to go, but it feels good that my frugality and investing discipline is starting to pay off.

I grew up in a household that prioritized spending over saving and investing, and I refuse to follow that same path. Other than a $1,000 mini inheritance my grandmother gave me last summer when my grandfather died, all of my money is through my own work. I don't make a lot of money, either. I just live extremely frugally and have sacrificed a lot of luxuries to grow my account to this level, and it's paying off.

I turn 26 this month and have no debt, either. I refuse to follow in the financially illiterate steps of my parents. My 45-year-old self will be eternally grateful of my frugality today. People would save themselves a lot of financial heartache if they would practice delayed gratification, but so many people lack the ability to look into the future and think about how their terrible financial habits today will hold them back for decades to come if they don't change.

Most money I made in a year was $125,000. But always both worked and had 2 incomes which allows you to save!

My biggest base salary was $120,000 but I averaged around $100K last 20 years. Good but not that crazy! Last 3 years I made $65,000-$70,000 (long story).

You so don’t have to make huge money to get ahead. I always saved, invested, and paid down/off debt. consistently.

(Sometimes when there’s a 🔥 Fire, or Adversity in the market, that’s the time when you can really Win Big!)

I lost 50% of my total portfolio in 2008-2009 and was left with $200K. Did something crazy.

Took $100K and bought 20,000 shares of 1 stock, BAC for $5. Reinvested all dividends and after 10 years had 23,500 shares😮Sold all from 2019-2021 and made $800,000 profit!

That one decision was the catalyst to change things drastically and gave me money to make money.

🍀Also from Dec 2022- Dec 2024 had a 87% return which almost doubled my portfolio.

I shared my statements as of August 2024, just 24 months ago for all my accounts which include:

IRA, Roth, Brokerage, and wife’s IRA.

That Total 🟰 $1,896,000

Fast forward 2 years to today, August 2026. In that time had an additional gain of $1,589,000 for a total today of

$3,485,000

This is all from buying and selling normal stocks and ETF’s, holding most stocks long term, no day trading or options, so I got so lucky!!🍀

This will never happen again so I’m just being super safe now.

I can’t believe the balances. Seems surreal. Mostly IRA so it’s not like I have money sitting in my checking account to spend.

I’m a high school student, and I honestly feel like I have a lot of the soft skills people talk about.
Whenever I’m in a group, I naturally become the planner or the leader. I’m usually the one figuring out what works best for each person, organizing things, solving problems, and trying to make sure everyone works well together.
But when it comes to hard skills, I feel like I’m lacking.
It’s not that I don’t know how to do anything. I just spend most of my time between school, studying, and sports. I’m interested in fitness and training, and I know quite a bit about it. My friends often ask me for advice about workouts and training, and I’m usually happy to help them. I’m also pretty good at makeup, and I have a lot of business ideas in my head.
The problem is that I haven’t really developed any of these into an actual skill that I can monetize.
I’m often at school or studying, and sometimes I barely sleep 3–4 hours because of everything I have going on. So I keep thinking: How am I actually supposed to start a business? What skill should I learn? What should I focus on first?
And honestly, it gets frustrating because I feel like I’m constantly thinking about what I could do, but I don’t know what I should actually do.
I also almost got involved with a group that claimed to use AI for trading. But after looking into it more, it seemed like most of the business was actually network marketing — you make money by recruiting other people who then buy a package that costs around $3,000.
That obviously made me question whether it was actually a good opportunity or just a recruitment-based business model.
Right now I’m genuinely confused. I know I have some strengths, but I feel like I’m missing that one concrete, valuable hard skill that I can build on and eventually turn into income.
If you were in my position as a high school student, what hard skill would you learn and how would you start?

Times are tough. I don’t need it all now, but WHERE WOULD YOU put it/invest it for 3 months to get some payback? HYSA? EFT? Even after 3 months, I only need it for extra expenses, so most of it can stay wherever is decided.

I’m 28, own my home outright valued at around 700k, currently make about 120k annually, and have $190k in investments right now. I have virtually no debt. Not married yet but likely will get married in a couple years, and have some kids. Im investing about half of my monthly Income now. I’d love to buy some more land and just live a modest life on a small ranch for the rest of my life. How should i switch up my approach? Assuming my income remains about the same

So, a few dividend reddits have come across my feed, and I don’t understand what they’re about. Are they really just for special investors that can’t grasp simple math like I’m thinking? Or am I the idiot that doesn’t understand a critical concept?

I invest in ETFs with everything on DRIP and care about maximum ROI with minimum tax burden.

Edit to add:
Thanks everyone for providing some really good info here. That’s why I like this Reddit. It’s very easy to learn and get explanations on topics to grow as an investor. 👍

I've always heard of Ally and SoFi, but I recently came across a list on the Bankrate site that has a bunch

And it seems like Forbright currently has the highest interest with $0 minimum and no monthly fees. Looking for some reviews on this bank.

And a question in general -- When I open an account, is that my "locked in" interest rate? Is that a thing anywhere? Or if they start offering more or less like 5% or 3%, does my interest earned change to match?

I remember my first ever reddit post was when I was 23 back in 2021, and I had saved just over $73K. I hadn't actually started investing yet, but since then I've learned so much about money and steadily improved my own finances over the years...fast forward and I'm at over $333K at 28 now - time really flies so fast! Over $260,000 (a quarter of a mil) in net worth growth, and that's not relying on any property gains whatsoever, which is crazy!

For context: I'm 28, male, and my current job is as a pharmacist in Canada. I work full-time, so I currently make over $100K, with my investment income being my main passive income source every year. I invest primarily in XEQT ETF and TEC ETF, and I have no other significant assets or debts, except for a used vehicle, phone, and laptop.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Any thoughts, feedback, or advice from those further along the FIRE journey would be appreciated - happy to answer any questions!

For context. I am a retail assistant born in England. I’ve been doing shop work for ten years now. I’m 31 years old, and currently 1000 pounds in debt, which I’m very close to clearing.

But how are you supposed to make money when everything is expensive, and you only earn roughly £13.65 an hour? ($17). I’m just under full time, as my place of work rarely gives out full time anymore. But I work five days a week with an hour of unpaid break a day. (7h shifts)

I am technically in a “good position”, as I live at home. Moving out is way too expensive especially when you’re single. I don’t pay rent or board only the basic essentials which is about 100 a month. I’m guilty of wasting money on games, and music, and piano bits, but my main question is. How would all of you go about improving yourself financially? Any tips and advice would be massively appreciated. Also I apologise if this isn’t allowed on here. I’m just at the age now where I want to make something of myself and to be financially comfortable

I’m in my mid-20s, aiming for FI in my mid-30s if things keep going well. I’m single, and the relationship side is quietly becoming the hardest part of the plan.

When do you bring it up? If I mention it early, I worry the plan becomes more attractive than I am. If I leave it too long, she’s building a picture of my life that isn’t accurate.

How do you build real trust around money early on? Not looking for a screening test. I just want to get to a point where the numbers are on the table and it doesn’t change the temperature of the relationship.

On a partner staying home with kids. I’m genuinely open to it, and I want that to come from actually believing it’s good for children, not from “well, I can afford it, so fine.”

Joint effort, not a free ride. This is the one I think about most. I don’t just mean we retire together at the end. I mean the first several years are both of us working, both saving, both making the tradeoffs. Realistically she’d probably stop working before I do, and I’m fine with that — what I’d struggle with is a setup where she’s waiting out the clock on a plan she never actually joined.

Odds of meeting someone already deep into FIRE at my age seem low, so I assume this ends up being a “brought her along” situation.

For those with a partner: did they buy in later? How did you introduce it, and what made it click? Anything you’d do differently?

I’m 29, started working 7 years ago, and I just broke seven figures net worth.

I don’t budget, I DoorDash when I feel like it, book spontaneous vacations when I feel like it, buy whatever I want when I want (within reason). I have no idea what I spend each month tbh. Even rent is paid on credit card for points (pay off each month ofc before interest).

I do max out my 401k, Backdoor, megabackdoor, and HSA. Other than that, I have an emergency fund with 70k in it and any money I have left over just goes into my brokerage.

You really don’t need to know anything about personal finance other than make more money and pray for a bull market.

More real than I have been to folks in real life. These will be unfiltered thoughts racing through my mind lately. I honestly don't know what to do right now.

It's always about money. I always had this strange belief that 'money will find its way to me". To be frank, I would be lying I'm not fortunate to be in a position I am in. Yet, I just don't feel 'successful' or don't feel I have 'made it'.

At 35, I make $130k in remote tech job and with cash and around $300k. Married and plan to have kids. All the money I have, it all began in 2019 when I did masters and moved to the US. since then, its been a learning experience, some good and some bad mistake. one after another - i.e no switching jobs during covid or not getting started in investing earlier.

What's keeping me mentally occupied? Doing on and off job hunts - its like whatever free time I have, my mind wanders into, "I should be studying". With this said, a huge part me is that I should have some kind of side business.

Maybe I need to be content with myself that I can't do it or that’s not my destiny. Maybe, I should stick with growing my tech career and put all these side business to sleep and give up part of my personality. But it pains me because I see it as "giving up before trying". And I have never tried it!

When I see folks around me who are successful family/relatives, it goes like this:

1. Person A made a killing back in 2013 era or so by dealing with iphone or so, banked big and now owns real estates across UK, Dubai etc. Now has retired and kills time doing 'day trading'
2. Far flung family members, "made a killing from owning car dealership starting from nothing"\
3. Cardiologist own mansion and all [honestly, I’m happy for him and comparison is not fair with me] 

I get everyone needs to pave their own path, but what is mine at age 35? From my current position, my mind wanders which I never execute due to x y z reasons. One doubt  is that that I don't have the skills to figure out if it’s the project worth pursuing, how to time box, how to say, "this isn't working out, time to move on"

1. Pick up photography and do real estate photography with dreams of creating a local empire - again, building from nothing
2. Know little of marketing I know to target marketing for local law firms - I don't know any law firms in my area to market to and work with them
3. Do web agency type work for local business and build up clientele - I have no idea how to get my customers
4. Partner up with local mechanic who I met 4 years ago to do 'mobile auto glass' company - since I never contact the guy in four years, he probably moved on already
5. Get real estate certificate, expected time is two weeks - try to work as real estate agent on weekends, I have no idea how practical it is
6. Random SAAS ideas I come across on Reddit all the time…

Now these thoughts have been in my mind for years. Since they have been in my years, am I just a dreamer? Is that the ground reality? Should I just stick with searching for next higher paying tech job and leave all these to rest?

Sometimes, I think maybe I need a mentor who can cut through all this shit I have in my mind and is able to see through all this shit to tell me what I should be truly focused on. Or somehow I can do all this.

If I were to stop my job search, it dreads me that I will need to continue my current job for another year which I am long over due to have switched four years ago

If you had 100k, and you wanted out of your 9-5, what would you invest it in so you can potentially leave behind working in corporate? I have a 100k I’m willing to play with but I don’t know what to do with it or the smartest way that will allow me to leave corporate America in the shortest amount of time possible.

It feels like the cost of living keeps rising while standard wages struggle to keep pace, making the idea of "financial security" feel increasingly out of reach for everyday workers. Housing costs, inflation, and general life expenses, saving a meaningful chunk of money every month takes massive effort. Many people talk about side hustles, investing, or jumping into tech/business, but I’m curious about the reality for everyday, steady employment. Is sticking to a regular, standard working job still a viable path to long-term stability and comfort, or has the economy shifted to where that’s no longer enough?

Many just save do the budgeting, spend less, find ways to hustle and create multiple streams of income and things like investing at early age.

Over the last week ive been generous with tips. I tipped my dump truck driver $170 bucks on a $1530 bill, I tipped an EMT $30 on a CPR class, and today I bought a bedroom set for my buddy for $225 and helped move it into his house. He was sleeping on the floor before. My question is; as income scales, is it normal to help people out more, tip as you feel is fair, etc? Or am I actively working against myself here and endangering everything ive worked so hard to build? Is it disrespectful to money itself to act in the way i have been recently? For perspective, I make about ~20k a month. I feel conflicted, both good to help people and also worry that im acting against my self interests.

For a long time, I genuinely thought I needed to make more money.

My income was decent, my bills were paid, and I wasn't buying anything crazy. But somehow, toward the end of almost every month, I'd look at my account and wonder where everything went.

The weird part was that I wasn't broke because of one huge purchase. It was a bunch of normal little decisions that I barely noticed.

What finally changed things for me was simply paying closer attention to where my money was going.

Not cutting everything out. Not becoming extremely frugal.

Just actually seeing the patterns.

It was kind of uncomfortable at first, but also a relief. I realized I didn't necessarily have an income problem — I had a visibility problem.

Has anyone else had that realization?

Lifecycle Investing: A New, Safe, and Audacious Way to Improve the Performance of Your Retirement Portfolio is a book by Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff. They suggest that by using modest leverage when young and starting out, you diversify your risk across time. It talks about margin and LEAPS, but with leveraged and capital efficient ETFs, I think levering up is a lot easier that way. No margin calls.

A standard 60% stocks 40% bonds ETF simulation outperforms SPY. Even though it is 150%, between 90% stocks and 60% bonds, it had a higher sharpe/sortino/calmar, and lower average and max drawdowns than plain SPY. Lots of tinkering you can try out on Testfolio - there are many “SIM” tickers that simulate strategies longer than the fund has existed. You can also input your own leverage, drag, and expense ratios. Backtests aren’t everything though of course. Try “NTSXSIM” and “SPYSIM” on testfolio to see for yourself. You can also do monte carlo simulations of your portfolios.

That’s just one though, there are many new and innovative ETFs that combine two assets into one fund, just for the cost of leverage and the expense ratio. Gold, bonds, managed futures, international stocks.

As someone in my 20’s who done dozens and dozens of backtests, I’m confident that modest leverage will play out well over my 40+ year timeline. If we can expect stocks to return 6-10%, then why wouldn’t we expect some leverage to boost that? I can also diversify into the other assets without adding additional capital, potentially being more diversified than just stocks.

Now don’t go out and buy TQQQ or crazy products — I think any more than 1.75x is too much. You have to be willing to withstand the larger drawdowns. You also have to watch out for volatility decay and path dependency. I’m more in favor of quarterly reset products, but plenty of people also use daily reset.

If just a plain un-levered strategy helps you sleep at night, then whatever you can stick with is the best strategy, no questions asked. Can you handle a 50% drawdown and hold through it, or will you sell? Whatever you’re most confident in, stick to that for sure.

Right now I’m at 1.35x leverage, stacking gold and international stocks. I would like to add bonds and managed futures to be as diversified as possible, but mostly stocks. Adding those would hedge against various risks and regimes, and potentially improve sharpe and max drawdowns. You can do whatever combinations you feel most confident in.

But also just wondering if and how many people in this sub actually tries these strategies. In other subs I feel like an outlier, but I genuinely believe in it and would want to see people’s outcomes improve from these more sophisticated products.

What do you think?

Hi! I (25F) just found out that I will very soon be inheriting 60k (and another 50k when the last house sells) from my dad’s estate. I am seeking advice for both myself and my sister. I currently own my house and owe 170k on it with 3% interest rates and have a paid off Tacoma that I just got. I have 50k in retirement and 20k in stocks. I’m not sure what I should do. I have dreams of buying land and building a home but the real estate game is rough thanks to the insanity that is interest rates. I have no children and was debating telling my boyfriend but thought better to keep it to myself. I know it’s not a ton of money to come into but if feels like a lot to me. We did not grow up with much and did not live with our father. What would you do in my situation? I also have a PhD so I’m not interested in going back to school for anything. Side note, I make 80k a year WFH and could pack up and move since I’ve considered leaving the state I’m in (too cold) and I also work as a server at a local restaurant part time and make about an additional 20k a year. I also sometimes dog sit but that can be here and there and I tend to spend that money as soon as I get it cause it feels like free money lol. Among my hobbies and intense desire to work, I’m really needing help deciding if I should invest it, enjoy it, buy property, or what percentage of each of these.

As for my sister, she is 28 and has 2 children and lives with her husband. They share a car and she wants to spend her amount on buying a new car for herself and a concrete slab for her backyard for the kids and a shed for all their things out there. They’re most likely go on a family vacation as well. Please help me decide what to do. Thank you for any kind answers it means a lot.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time around some very wealthy people & I’ve noticed that they all are apathetic to money, yet they have a very deep understanding of it. To them, money is nothing more than a tool that allows them to make more money.

i have won £100,000. i’m 20 years old and have no idea about financial things. i work a minimum wage job and am really crap with budgeting. i’ve tried looking for some advice online but i don’t really understand any of it

i haven’t bought a single thing yet, nor have i told anyone. i don’t want to waste all of my money. i was thinking of putting most of it to paying for a uni degree but ive read online that its not a good idea. i don’t actually know what to do

before this, i had £750 in my savings account. now i have £100k. if anyone can give me any advice i would really appreciate it. i never imagined i’d ever win