An extra few bucks

[lotterels]

Hi,

I am 24 years old and live in South Africa. I recently managed to save a relative amount of money, approximately US$3200 when converted from ZAR.
I am recently started changing my habits to save money, but now I don't know where to next. I do not know how to make the money work for me? I don't have any loans that need to be paid off. Any advice will be appreciated. 

Regards,

[NewbieFrugalUK]

Hiya - firstly welcome, and well done on saving some money! I think once the switch in attitude is done, the rest mostly follows. However, I think the rules in SA are really quite different from other places wrt investing etc  -are there any other Mustachian Saffa's out there with any advice? Be wary of just going to a financial advisor, as their fees/ cut can eat into your returns.

[Overseas Stache]

I don't live in SA but have been there many times. I don't know anything about investing there but you might just look into a CD at the bank. Here in the DRC, which is different than SA for sure, the banks are giving 6% on $ CD account for 1 year term and 7% on a 3 year term.  These kind of rates are unheard of in the USA but it may be possible to get something close to that in SA.

[Garnacerous]

Most Mustachians will recommend putting that money into a Vanguard IRA, specifically one that follows the S&P 500 index. It's the most "hands-off" investment with the highest typical return and lowest fees that we've come across. As you learn more about stocks and investing, you could take a closer look at individual stocks to build a more specific portfolio, but only with a good understanding of the higher risk.

I'm also not 100% sure what vanguard's policies are for international investors. My advice is coming from an American perspective.

[Bob W]

Good job.  My advice is to save more.