Since I don’t have all the fancy 401(k) and pension plans since I left “Big Blue on Randolph Street” a few years ago… I’ve found myself a little concerned about my financial future.
I know, I’m 28. But I recognize that now is the time to settle good on a good investment strategy to get things on track for my future.
This is based on two facts of my career choice which I cannot control.
- I will make less money per year than my peer group. (In case you didn’t know being a youth pastor isn’t lucrative!)
- I will likely never own a house since we can’t compete with our peer groups income.
Thankfully, I started my 401k early. (Now I have 2 IRAs, a rollover and a Roth.) Kristen and I are out in front of our peers in that we had generous employers early. But that is all gone now. We have a single, highly stretched income and no matching contributions. I stock away a simple 5% of my income quarterly. [Keep in mind I have opted to stay invested in social security when I could legally opt out.]
Long story short, after listening to a good book on tape, I am going to take the advice of the Motley Fools and stop investing in mutual funds and start investing my IRA money in the markets. Starting this quarter (or next) I will divert my contributions to a proven winner and start dollar cost averaging a certain stock. Did you know that Coke has returned about 18% per year for the last 85 years? Why invest somewhere else?
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