Beginner investor looking for advice/ career advice/ etc.

[Gadea32]

Hello gentlemen and women!

I need some KNOWLEDGE.. Here is a quick break down and questions i have for y'all.

- 23 yr. Male
- Live at home
- BA in Business Finance

Monthly income $2150 (After Taxes)
Expenses $1,300

Please help with following questions!

1) Make $15 / Hour. Expecting a competitive wage of ($18  to $20 / hour) during annual review in Oct 2017 (unless promotion is achieved sooner). Should i wait till my annual review or explore opportunities? I feel i'm leaving $ on the table ATM.

**Company management is good. Environment is good. I get free food 3/5 days of the week. I work for a healthy meal delivery service as an Accounting Assistant.

2) Financial Stats...
-  $5.1k CASH (current emergency fund)
- $3.8K in Roth IRA w/ Ameritrade invested in Vanguard Index fund (VTSMX). Should i plug away at my Roth IRA each month ($50 fee each time i invest into Vanguard Fund through Ameritrade) OR save for a house OR both?

3) I feel needle is moving slowly. How to combat this feeling? Working on developing my patience... Thank you

[Financial.Velociraptor]

You have an almost 40% savings rate (GOOD!) and it should be going higher if you can resist lifestyle inflation.  I think you are in a pretty good place for just starting out.

I'd limit those 50 dollar Roth fees by adding quarterly or bi-annually instead of monthly.

Needle moving slowly?  Always keep in mind this is a marathon and not a sprint.  Slow and steady wins this race!

[Nothlit]

Why pay fees to Ameritrade to invest in Vanguard funds? You should look into transferring your Roth IRA over to Vanguard.

[SeattleCPA]

I know this is possibly a nearly forbidden topic to broach in a forum devoted to the idea of retiring early or earlier...

But if you're good at accounting,  because you're so young, I think your best investment might be to invest time and money in your skills and credentials and do what it takes to make, oh, say, $20 or $30 more an hour.

As just an example I happen to know a fair amount about, local CPA firms are just dying to find great staff and senior accountants. You'd want a CPA certificate to be in the club, but those jobs would be paying you probably a significant chunk more.

It'll not only be easier to achieve FI if you're making $75K instead of $30K, you might find the years of work to be more interesting.

[wienerdog]

$600/year in fees if you invest in a Roth once a month?  Do as the others have said switch to Vanguard.

For further knowledge read these from Paul Merriman and keep reading around here.

http://paulmerriman.com/how-to-invest-series-complimentary-download/