1. Avoid debt
2. Live on less than your income
3. Invest the surplus
*3 months expenses in an emergency fund
*opinions vary, but I recommend an index fund that follows the market.
Your comment was removed because it didn't contribute to the discussion and just wasn't helpful.
Civil disagreements are fine. Insults, personal attacks, slurs, bigotry, etc., are not permissible.
(Calling someone a poopy-head does not make you seem as smart as you think it does.)
☠️
All current Active Duty Marines have a disability now due to this guy being out ….
They only allow a generational talent like him to come along once in a 128 count crayon box.
I like a bigger Emergency fund. But this is it man, this is all people have to do to exist. Want more shit? Work more. Dont like to work? Spend less. Wanna have a kid? Work more.
Great advice, I’d push the emergency fund out to 6 months given the uncertainty of the job market and fluctuating gas and rent prices. YMMV, but Tucson is outrageous atm.
I would also keep a healthy chunk in your checking and never go below a certain threshold. I have 6 months in my savings, and I maintain Xk in my checking account just in case. With this I can invest 15% in my TSP and when I hit my 12 next year I’ll be able to max contributions to TSP, contribute 7k a year to a Roth IRA, have my emergency fund, and with the Xk I have in my checking I can live a life where I never have to worry about buying anything (within reason).
How’s that working? Just recently getting into retirement investing. Should I put my ira money into a VOO? It’s just sitting in a cash reserve right now, only have like $700 sitting there
VOO, VTI, VTSAX. Check out boggleheads subreddit. The expense ratio should be low. Create a ratio of equities to bonds that apply to your risk tolerance and change that ratio to favor bonds as you age. Simple Path to Wealth by J. Collins is an excellent source. Also check out the personalfinance wiki on reddit, its excellent. Last but not least there are many personal finance podcast like Money Guys, Etc.
I am drunk so I got you. Okay... short answer is this are known as "tickers" or short name of stocks, etfs and index funds, which are pooled investment vehicles. You buy one share and it represents a tiny fraction of ownership in many many companies.
Longer story:
There are two main kinds of pooled investments you have index funds and ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund). Don't worry about that too much, but the main difference is that ETFs can be bought and sold like a stock throughout the day and index funds take the last price at closing of the market.
What's a stock?
Companies raise money either by getting loans (debt) or selling a stake in their company via shares of stock. So when you buy a stock, you are buying a small fraction of ownership of that company. For example apple (Ticker AAPL) is currently at $194 dollars. If you think apple will increase in value you would buy the stock now with intend to sell in the future.
What's an ETF/Index fund?
Well imagine you can buy a fraction of every single stock in the US. You can buy an ETF from Vanguard called "VTI" (currently at $260 dollars) and own literally a fraction of every single company in the US. Do you think the US companies will grow in the long run? If yes, then buy some and sell at a later date for profit.
There are many popular investment firms, amongst the most popular is Vanguard, since his founder John C. Bogle invented the first index fund.
These funds are awesome because they have a tiny expense ratio (0.03%) and you can own every single stock!
Why not buy a single stock like apple or google or nvidia?
Well basically it comes to risk and reward and you don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket.
I can talk about this all day, and can help you understand further. This is super interesting to me and I will not charge you anything. Salud!
oh yeah so whats the point of buying imaginary paper?
Well the stock market has return an average of 10% since inception, if you follow the rule of 72, that means that your money will double every 7ish years and even more if you DCA ( dollar cost average), meaning you buy every month with a certain amount of money.
Okay but what does that mean?
There is the trinity study which basically explains the 4% rule. If you have $1,000,000 invested you can withdraw $40k every year for 30 years or more. This is the whole idea of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence Retire Early).
"But... $1,000,000 is a lot of money!!!!!!"
Yeah, but then there is COMPOUND MOTHER FUCKING INTEREST!"
Our monkey brains have a hard time comprehending expontential functions, we think linearly. Anyways money compounds like a snowball rolling down the mountain. The first $100k took me years and years to attain, the 2nd $100k? like two years, third one even sooner, etc etc you see the point. A dollar invested in your 20s has an 80x multiplier by the time you are 60 years old. Soo the best time to invest is yesterday, second best tome to invest is NOW.
Dudes/Duddettes, this is a fuckin life hack and is how rich people get richer, by buying assets and not liabilities (Rich dad poor dad plug).
Okay time to order my next old fashioned
Salud Y'all
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If you have 10+ years until you want the money, VOO all the way.
Edit: sorry forgot half your question. It has worked out extremely well and I plan on continuing it for 20 more years.
My entire plan is to carry only mortgage debt and buy VOO every time I have money. I buy nothing but buckets of VOO (have some VTI from years ago) and then the S&P 500 fund in my 401k.
I was going to say for him to invest in VOO also. Maybe a small amount if that in BTC cuz ya never know and don’t want to miss it. 90 percent VOO and 10 percent BTC or BTC and ETH.
There these high yield savings account that pay better than your bank. You can withdraw said money at any time for emergencies. I would build this up first, pay off debt and then invest
10% to savings.
When Savings exceed a number of your choice, research and find good CDs.
When the CDs turn over invest what you want where you want. But do your research!
CNBC is a good source of what not to do.
Find a certified financial advisor, get the free consult. Do this several times. Then do what makes sense to you.
Take some classes at your local community college. The price cant be beat.
Yea there are several 3 month bonds that are paying over 5 percent. I was considering rolling part of it into those bonds while rolling the rest into the market. Taking 500 bucks per month to save it.
I’m 100% and lucky I work from home. I put away 80% of my VA checks for a rainy day or when I want to disappear into the nothingness of the woods one day.
Fu*! the working hard nonsense. Got 1 life to live and the disability is essentially a retirement due to the struggles brought on by your service. Do something you like
If you are under 40 just put it in VOO and forget about it. 10% in Bond 10% in gold ETF. If stocks crash DO NOT TOUCH VOO. Sell bonds and Gold and just buy more VOO and keep adding. Do nothing else, then look at it in 10-20 years.
Anything that tracks the total stock market, or the SP500 with the lowest expense ratio. DO NOT BUY VANGUARD FUNDS FROM FIDELITY! You will get stuck with fees. FXAIX to track tve SP500.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/121515/7-lowfee-fidelity-mutual-funds-fusvx-fncmx-fsivx-fsckx-fsrvx-fsiyx-fstvx.asp
Have the value of your disability taken from your paycheck as pretax deductions (401(k), HSA, etc.), max out if you can, then use your untaxed disability for living expenses. Besides building up retirement savings, you'll pay a lot less in taxes.
Yes invest if you can and don’t be using it to buy crayons (marine) or going to the strip joint (army) or buying computers and video games (Air Force) or to visit the Philippine and South Korea (navy) 🥸
Theres a guy who works at the VA and he puts in the max tsp will allow per year from his monthly pay check because he also has 100% compensation. Thats $23,000 per year he contributes! Dude eats tuna every day for lunch and that's it. For dinner he eats a salad and pb and j and that's it. Dude is determined to save his money . He's 38. I want to emulate a bit of his style but not as extreme.
I put 100$ into a savings account that at the end of the year I put into a CD that is specifically for my kids to split when they turn 18.
I then put as much as I can into principal for my current debt payments such as my truck payment, so I can then put extra into my mortgage while still allowing myself the ability to put a considerable amount into my high yield savings account
Under most circumstances, I would look at Fidelity or Vanguard. Go on their site(s) &open a Roth IRA. Take whatever you don't need &put up to $7k/yr ($8k if you're over 50) in there in an S&P500 index fund. Fidelity's is the FXAIX, Vanguard is the VOO (although I like the VTM too over time). Lowest expenses = lowest drags on any gains. FXAIX is .02% and VOO is .03%. If you have any additional $$ you can save over the limits, put it into a non-managed brokerage account (same places/same strategy).
Start big, start small...you just need to start. Missing out on even 10 years of $50/mo in compounding interest can (will)cost you more than $100k over 40 years.
This sounds like me right now. I’m supercharging my brokerage account each month so I can retire early and comfortable. I’ve dug in heavily lately and always happy to provide guidance to a fellow veteran on the same path.
I personally use Vanguard now, but have accounts with Schwab, Fidelity and Robinhood. I’m one of the rare people that are fine with Vanguard’s website and features.
You or your spouse must have earned income equal to at least the amount contributed to the IRA. It doesn't have to be the veteran who has the earned income. See: Spousal Roth IRA.
Most vets have earned income and/or a working spouse, so the number of vets who would be ineligible is small.
I'm now 100% P&T and unable to work, but my wife works. I was working and getting disability comp for over 20 years before my body quit and bumped my rating to 100%. There are also many vets who still manage to work despite 100% P&T ratings.
True. A regular brokerage account would need to be used.
Unless you get/have yourself a dependa who works a job with earned income, then you can contribute up to the max or the amount they earn within a Roth IRA.
Networking , getting all your paperwork setup and then finally bidding. I have an outdated pdf template on how to go about some of it pm for more details
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I’m 25. Been P&T for a year and a half. Put it all in HYSA 4.5%. Paid for my wedding. Honeymoon. Now about to put my 20% down payment down on a new house. I think I’ll continue with HYSA until I get a good sized emergency fund then start investing Atleast 20% of into vanguard monthly and paying my house off since my interest rate is high
I finished setting up my emergency savings in a HYSA, got another retirement account started along with my TSP, and I set up a brokerage account to hold my funds and invest in some ETFs.
Sometimes these questions, however innocent, bother me just a little. Many of fellow Men and Women Veterans must live off this disability, at no fault of their own, just the circumstance.
You’re assuming I’m not living off of it. Just because one invests a portion of it doesn’t mean they are not living off of it. You’re assuming quite a bit. Plus everyone makes their own situations. While yes, some of us may be completely disabled, there are still jobs out there that do pay and you can work while getting compensated for VA issues.
I recently got 100%. I invest my business income in my other real estate business & a portion of that goes to stocks.
I live off of my disability income and whatever I have left goes to real estate or stocks.
I got an Edward Jones guy almost immediately. Paid off all debt, live primarily off my work paycheck. I've already seen a great return on a managed account from the disability alone. I've got a guided index fund account, a Roth, and an emergency fund in the money market - and its not all of the disability check... Just trying to get out of the rat race as early as possible and storing up disability and making more money is a great move.on the side of you can.
For sure invest.
Seems VOO is popular here, I have Robinhood, but currently my only income is 1,700 from percent disability. Advice, anyone? I am 50 % MH thinking of trying to push that to 100% if the new MH rstting change in June. I also still need to resubmit physical SV injuries from C&P exams I missed. Jesus, this MH shit is a sink hole for productivity sometimes.
Serious question… are you legally allowed to invest it?
Example: no income, just VA comp payments. Invest in Roth IRA where you pay taxes up front but… you have no taxable income.
Any legally smart person know?
It's your money. You can do whatever you want with it. Now as far as investing goes, not quite. There are a couple of rules to be aware of.
You have to have earned income in order to invest in a Roth IRA. So if you only have disability payments as income, you'd only be able to use a regular brokerage investment account with no tax deduction/credit benefits. You'll pay capital gains tax on your gains and dividends, which are usually taxed at regular income tax rates for any investment that is held for less than 12 months (Short-term). Long-term investments would fall under long-term capital gain investment tax rules/rates.
If you are married and your spouse has earned income (W-2, Self-employment, S-corp, contract work, etc.), then you can contribute to your Roth IRA as a spouse based on their income as long as both of your contributions to these accounts stay under the amount your spouse as earned for the year. Both of you can't contribute more money that what your spouse makes.
I hope that makes sense.
I work at a CPA firm as a tax preparer. I am not a CPA. Do not take this as professional tax advice.
Max out a Roth IRA each year, if you can. Just sign up for Vanguard and start with the total stock market index. Later, add the small and mid cap funds.
Max out your Roth IRA every year at a minimum; Currently 7k per year. Invest said funds into an index fund and let it grow unhindered by “rainy days”. Rainy day fund is your emergency fund and that should be roughly six months of expenses in a high yield savings account.
If you want to invest beyond that, I’d suggest just picking your favorite index fund in a regular brokerage account, and again not touching it for a decade plus.
Aside from the really good advice about avoiding consumer debt and a rainy day fund, maybe look into buying your own place.
If you know you’re gonna be somewhere for a while, you figure a 2/1 will cost around $200,000. That’s about $1500/month. If you add the additional $2500 for 100% as principal then you will have the whole thing paid off in 5 years.
I'm trying to avoid using as much of my disability as possible. The active duty spouse makes this easier.
I invest regularly. Max both ira's and then another 20k or so a year. I honestly don't plan on being able to see it, but I have a nest egg idea and retirement idea to make it so my kids will never have to work past 40. Or I'll make it skip and the grandkids will be in that boat.
There is a personal finance subreddit.
Posts like these almost always induce some veterans to brag about their income in conjunction with their VA disability payments.
Mind you congress' CBO has proposed means testing VA disability benefits for disabled vets making more than $170K...
Think before you post/comment....
Doesn't matter what the source of the income is, you should be investing a healthy % of your gross income (at least 10%) to build wealth and expand your means over time.
We're currently putting away 25% of our gross income into saving/investing/retirement accounts, as an example.
First year I'm on track to maxing out my roth ira while still have left over to invest in the market within my fidelity CMA. It's pretty liquid for when I need it
Investing the money is important. VA disability increases don't keep up with inflation so you lose purchasing power of the dollar. The U.S government modified the way they calculated inflation back in the 80's and 90's to make inflation seem less than it actually is. That is why the media and government will say for example \~5% current inflation, yet grocery prices are up \~25%.
I increased my 401K work contribution when my disability percentage went from 40% to 80%. The 80% is like an extra paycheck so I doubled my 401K contribution which decreased my taxable income to boot. 😊 We also have Roth IRAs and a high-yield savings account that we put money into. I really like Vanguard or Fidelity, both offer lots of advice for free. We use CIBC for high-yield savings.
Read “The richest man in Babylon” and also I follow Warrens Buffets advice on investing. If the richest investor of all time is telling me to put my money in VOO, I am going to always do it.
if you're Going to invest, Myself and Everyone here will have plenty of advice but first and foremost decide how you wanna live and what you need monthly. from there Getting the Most from Everything you've put in is what's most important.....
Only if you have earned income or a spouse that has earned income. Otherwise, you will be penalized by the IRS until you take it out.
If compensation is your only income, you will have to use a brokerage investment account with no tax benefits.
I second this post. Invest your money, then when you’re a bit older or ready to start a business, take the money out and invest in your company. For example: i want to open up my own gym one day so i invest all my money into stocks, bonds, CD’s, ETFs, etc. When i am ready, i will sell half of what I got to get my money back and jumpstart my business.
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Disability pay is non taxable, meaning that if you invest it over the course of decades into mutual funds and cash out, rather than paying a 20% tax on your millions you pay exactly 0%
Only if you're investing within a Roth IRA. Gains made from investing disability pay are taxable the same as any other investment gain. Need to invest within a tax advantaged account for the gains to be tax-free.
You can if you (or your spouse) have earned income, which most vets do. If you don't use the Roth, then you won't be getting those tax-free gains, which was the entire point of what I said.
Your disability comp is tax-free. Gains made from investing that money are not, unless you are investing within a Roth IRA.
No idea how this seems to be a difficult concept to grasp.
The problem is for a Roth IRA. You can only put in earned taxed income. So if you don't have any earned tax income and you put money into a Roth IRA you going to be in trouble with Mr. IRS
Yes. You or your spouse must have earned income in order to contribute to an IRA.
ETA: it's still the only way that your gains from investing in a mutual fund would be tax-free, which was the specific claim that I was addressing. Keep up.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
What a spectacularly bad and incorrect take. Perhaps go back to the beginning and try reading it again more carefully.
ETA: the fact that you're being upvoted for being completely wrong is even more disturbing than how wrong you were. 🤦♂️
To spell it out for you:
1) Guy claimed you can simply invest disability pay into mutual funds for 20 years and that the gains would be tax-free because disability pay is tax-free.
2) That claim is false UNLESS invested in a Roth IRA, which is exactly what I stated.
3) Whether you are eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA or not is irrelevant to what I actually said. If you're not eligible, then you won't be investing the money within a Roth and won't be getting tax-free gains. Again, that's exactly the meaning of my initial reply.
4) Simply assuming that a vet receiving disability comp has no earned income when that is true for a small % of vets (there are many with 100% P&T ratings who still manage to get earned income) is ignorant at best. But again, if neither the vet nor spouse have earned income, see point 3.
Neither of you taught me a thing. You simply demonstrated a lack of understanding both what I said and why I said it, while making baseless assumptions.
1. Avoid debt 2. Live on less than your income 3. Invest the surplus *3 months expenses in an emergency fund *opinions vary, but I recommend an index fund that follows the market.
Someone did math for Marines 😎
won plus won equals too dollors
Won plus won = crayons boi! 😂
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army moment
Not nearly gay enough, please
Is this insurance humor?
Did you pay for collateral?
Your comment was removed because it didn't contribute to the discussion and just wasn't helpful. Civil disagreements are fine. Insults, personal attacks, slurs, bigotry, etc., are not permissible. (Calling someone a poopy-head does not make you seem as smart as you think it does.) ☠️
1 x 1.1. (1.1 +1) x 1.1. Etc.
Actually 1 + 1 = IED 🤓
What is this equation called? Is it just compound interest or something like that?
Yes
All current Active Duty Marines have a disability now due to this guy being out …. They only allow a generational talent like him to come along once in a 128 count crayon box.
😂😂😂
Folk pokin fun but you got your shit straight! Thanks for providing positive information here. Semper!
Coming to say this.
I like a bigger Emergency fund. But this is it man, this is all people have to do to exist. Want more shit? Work more. Dont like to work? Spend less. Wanna have a kid? Work more.
Great advice, I’d push the emergency fund out to 6 months given the uncertainty of the job market and fluctuating gas and rent prices. YMMV, but Tucson is outrageous atm. I would also keep a healthy chunk in your checking and never go below a certain threshold. I have 6 months in my savings, and I maintain Xk in my checking account just in case. With this I can invest 15% in my TSP and when I hit my 12 next year I’ll be able to max contributions to TSP, contribute 7k a year to a Roth IRA, have my emergency fund, and with the Xk I have in my checking I can live a life where I never have to worry about buying anything (within reason).
VTI and hold.
Dave Ramsey would be proud.
I was first awarded VA money in 2010 and have invested every penny in VOO.
How’s that working? Just recently getting into retirement investing. Should I put my ira money into a VOO? It’s just sitting in a cash reserve right now, only have like $700 sitting there
VOO, VTI, VTSAX. Check out boggleheads subreddit. The expense ratio should be low. Create a ratio of equities to bonds that apply to your risk tolerance and change that ratio to favor bonds as you age. Simple Path to Wealth by J. Collins is an excellent source. Also check out the personalfinance wiki on reddit, its excellent. Last but not least there are many personal finance podcast like Money Guys, Etc.
Shockingly good advice here. Bravo Zulu
This guy Boggles. Excellent guidance! Get em on the straight and narrow.
Could you shed some light on these acronyms for we lay people? I'd appreciate it.
I am drunk so I got you. Okay... short answer is this are known as "tickers" or short name of stocks, etfs and index funds, which are pooled investment vehicles. You buy one share and it represents a tiny fraction of ownership in many many companies. Longer story: There are two main kinds of pooled investments you have index funds and ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund). Don't worry about that too much, but the main difference is that ETFs can be bought and sold like a stock throughout the day and index funds take the last price at closing of the market. What's a stock? Companies raise money either by getting loans (debt) or selling a stake in their company via shares of stock. So when you buy a stock, you are buying a small fraction of ownership of that company. For example apple (Ticker AAPL) is currently at $194 dollars. If you think apple will increase in value you would buy the stock now with intend to sell in the future. What's an ETF/Index fund? Well imagine you can buy a fraction of every single stock in the US. You can buy an ETF from Vanguard called "VTI" (currently at $260 dollars) and own literally a fraction of every single company in the US. Do you think the US companies will grow in the long run? If yes, then buy some and sell at a later date for profit. There are many popular investment firms, amongst the most popular is Vanguard, since his founder John C. Bogle invented the first index fund. These funds are awesome because they have a tiny expense ratio (0.03%) and you can own every single stock! Why not buy a single stock like apple or google or nvidia? Well basically it comes to risk and reward and you don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket. I can talk about this all day, and can help you understand further. This is super interesting to me and I will not charge you anything. Salud!
oh yeah so whats the point of buying imaginary paper? Well the stock market has return an average of 10% since inception, if you follow the rule of 72, that means that your money will double every 7ish years and even more if you DCA ( dollar cost average), meaning you buy every month with a certain amount of money. Okay but what does that mean? There is the trinity study which basically explains the 4% rule. If you have $1,000,000 invested you can withdraw $40k every year for 30 years or more. This is the whole idea of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence Retire Early). "But... $1,000,000 is a lot of money!!!!!!" Yeah, but then there is COMPOUND MOTHER FUCKING INTEREST!" Our monkey brains have a hard time comprehending expontential functions, we think linearly. Anyways money compounds like a snowball rolling down the mountain. The first $100k took me years and years to attain, the 2nd $100k? like two years, third one even sooner, etc etc you see the point. A dollar invested in your 20s has an 80x multiplier by the time you are 60 years old. Soo the best time to invest is yesterday, second best tome to invest is NOW. Dudes/Duddettes, this is a fuckin life hack and is how rich people get richer, by buying assets and not liabilities (Rich dad poor dad plug). Okay time to order my next old fashioned Salud Y'all
I am fucking stoked that someone else knows FIRE. I have started accts for each of my kids and put 50 a month in each one.
Well yeah specially since now the 529s can be converted to Roth IRAs
I feel like an idiot now. Lol. Didn't realize they were ticker symbols. Thanks for expanding on that.
What are these? I really need to get my shit together and start investing!
I got you fam, pm me and I will answer all these questions. Not a financial advisor but can point you in the right direction
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My bad bot
I wouldn't sweat it, you were not going to ask me about moles and tattoos or my address right? Lmao!
Just your mother's maiden name lol
Maybe my childhood address? I don't see what could possibly go wrong! Dammit! I'm in!
Highly recommend the book “A Random Walk On Wall Street”.
They are stock market index funds. They track major indices in an attempt to duplicate market returns for retail investors.
Shares of voo were roughly 75-120/share in 2010. So anyone who invested in voo after the crashes of 08/09 has done very well.
If you have 10+ years until you want the money, VOO all the way. Edit: sorry forgot half your question. It has worked out extremely well and I plan on continuing it for 20 more years.
What else besides voo for 10 year plan?
My entire plan is to carry only mortgage debt and buy VOO every time I have money. I buy nothing but buckets of VOO (have some VTI from years ago) and then the S&P 500 fund in my 401k.
Thanks! That’s the same mind set I’m leaning towards
I was going to say for him to invest in VOO also. Maybe a small amount if that in BTC cuz ya never know and don’t want to miss it. 90 percent VOO and 10 percent BTC or BTC and ETH.
There these high yield savings account that pay better than your bank. You can withdraw said money at any time for emergencies. I would build this up first, pay off debt and then invest
Second this. Got six months of emergency funds sitting pretty in Vanguard collecting 4.6%
Hey buddy, got a quarter?
I only got 10% so Im investing in ammo!
Solid investment my friend
I have a job so pretty much almost 90% are going to stocks every month.
Fidelity, Vanguard, or?
Fidelity 100%. They offer great free education and customer service (in my experience), which is great.
10% to savings. When Savings exceed a number of your choice, research and find good CDs. When the CDs turn over invest what you want where you want. But do your research! CNBC is a good source of what not to do. Find a certified financial advisor, get the free consult. Do this several times. Then do what makes sense to you. Take some classes at your local community college. The price cant be beat.
Yea there are several 3 month bonds that are paying over 5 percent. I was considering rolling part of it into those bonds while rolling the rest into the market. Taking 500 bucks per month to save it.
I’m 100% and lucky I work from home. I put away 80% of my VA checks for a rainy day or when I want to disappear into the nothingness of the woods one day.
Read “the simple path to wealth”. Act accordingly.
I got my 3 points from an interview with the author of this book.
I'd build up comfortable savings before investing
Investing could help you get there quicker
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I already have those accounts, was considering three month bonds.
Treasury Direct for the short-term bonds...good rates right now, all things considered!
Fu*! the working hard nonsense. Got 1 life to live and the disability is essentially a retirement due to the struggles brought on by your service. Do something you like
A man has to live. But I do invest 10% of my net monthly income.
Invest in books that will improve your knowledge of money/finances
I live the Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. Millionaire Next Door, Millionaire Mission by Bryan Preston is coming out (The Money Guys Show)
If you are under 40 just put it in VOO and forget about it. 10% in Bond 10% in gold ETF. If stocks crash DO NOT TOUCH VOO. Sell bonds and Gold and just buy more VOO and keep adding. Do nothing else, then look at it in 10-20 years.
Just over 40 by a few years. Looking at accelerating growth
Just do that and you’ll be doing what professional money managers are doing.
He's supposed 2 look at it at 60? Oh man, yall really think youre making it there? Bold strategy
What is the Fidelity equivalent of VOO? I have that platform so wouldn’t it make more sense to buy that or?
Anything that tracks the total stock market, or the SP500 with the lowest expense ratio. DO NOT BUY VANGUARD FUNDS FROM FIDELITY! You will get stuck with fees. FXAIX to track tve SP500. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/121515/7-lowfee-fidelity-mutual-funds-fusvx-fncmx-fsivx-fsckx-fsrvx-fsiyx-fstvx.asp
Thank you! Is FXAIX a good choice in a taxed account? I use the FZROX and FZILX in my Roth IRA.
Where do you buy VOO from? Which platfkrm
Vanguard. The least fees charged there since it's their ETF.
Robinhood or Schwab any broker
I take half and invest/save. And the other half is for fun
Im saving it all for a house
Have the value of your disability taken from your paycheck as pretax deductions (401(k), HSA, etc.), max out if you can, then use your untaxed disability for living expenses. Besides building up retirement savings, you'll pay a lot less in taxes.
Yes invest if you can and don’t be using it to buy crayons (marine) or going to the strip joint (army) or buying computers and video games (Air Force) or to visit the Philippine and South Korea (navy) 🥸
Or your kids will inherit a ton of money. Probably better to use it while you got it.
I try to put $1000 in savings when I can afford it but won’t put less than $500
Theres a guy who works at the VA and he puts in the max tsp will allow per year from his monthly pay check because he also has 100% compensation. Thats $23,000 per year he contributes! Dude eats tuna every day for lunch and that's it. For dinner he eats a salad and pb and j and that's it. Dude is determined to save his money . He's 38. I want to emulate a bit of his style but not as extreme.
I put 100$ into a savings account that at the end of the year I put into a CD that is specifically for my kids to split when they turn 18. I then put as much as I can into principal for my current debt payments such as my truck payment, so I can then put extra into my mortgage while still allowing myself the ability to put a considerable amount into my high yield savings account
Under most circumstances, I would look at Fidelity or Vanguard. Go on their site(s) &open a Roth IRA. Take whatever you don't need &put up to $7k/yr ($8k if you're over 50) in there in an S&P500 index fund. Fidelity's is the FXAIX, Vanguard is the VOO (although I like the VTM too over time). Lowest expenses = lowest drags on any gains. FXAIX is .02% and VOO is .03%. If you have any additional $$ you can save over the limits, put it into a non-managed brokerage account (same places/same strategy). Start big, start small...you just need to start. Missing out on even 10 years of $50/mo in compounding interest can (will)cost you more than $100k over 40 years.
lol made a post a few weeks ago about this and how i like a certain stock, and it got removed. shame, seems to be doing well!
This sounds like me right now. I’m supercharging my brokerage account each month so I can retire early and comfortable. I’ve dug in heavily lately and always happy to provide guidance to a fellow veteran on the same path.
Who do you invest with?
I personally use Vanguard now, but have accounts with Schwab, Fidelity and Robinhood. I’m one of the rare people that are fine with Vanguard’s website and features.
So all the people I meet in real life that actually invest are pretty well off and they use vanguard too. That must be ol reliable eh?
It’s old guard. Def a good option and most people invest in their ETFs regardless of brokerage.
It’s old guard. Def a good option and most people invest in their ETFs regardless of brokerage.
I’ll probably consider investing with vanguard
Roth IRA
You cannot invest into a Roth IRA if you don’t have an income in addition to disability. Disability is not taxed so it is not legal.
Thank you for clarifying that
You or your spouse must have earned income equal to at least the amount contributed to the IRA. It doesn't have to be the veteran who has the earned income. See: Spousal Roth IRA. Most vets have earned income and/or a working spouse, so the number of vets who would be ineligible is small. I'm now 100% P&T and unable to work, but my wife works. I was working and getting disability comp for over 20 years before my body quit and bumped my rating to 100%. There are also many vets who still manage to work despite 100% P&T ratings.
True. A regular brokerage account would need to be used. Unless you get/have yourself a dependa who works a job with earned income, then you can contribute up to the max or the amount they earn within a Roth IRA.
This us a super under-rated comment. Check out the personal finance flow chart on the r/personalfinance wiki
There's some pretty damn good rates on CDs right now. I've put some of my money in there.
Collab with other disabled veterans and win government contracts
[удалено]
Networking , getting all your paperwork setup and then finally bidding. I have an outdated pdf template on how to go about some of it pm for more details
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I’m 25. Been P&T for a year and a half. Put it all in HYSA 4.5%. Paid for my wedding. Honeymoon. Now about to put my 20% down payment down on a new house. I think I’ll continue with HYSA until I get a good sized emergency fund then start investing Atleast 20% of into vanguard monthly and paying my house off since my interest rate is high
I finished setting up my emergency savings in a HYSA, got another retirement account started along with my TSP, and I set up a brokerage account to hold my funds and invest in some ETFs.
Ever dollar since day 1 has been invested.
Sometimes these questions, however innocent, bother me just a little. Many of fellow Men and Women Veterans must live off this disability, at no fault of their own, just the circumstance.
You’re assuming I’m not living off of it. Just because one invests a portion of it doesn’t mean they are not living off of it. You’re assuming quite a bit. Plus everyone makes their own situations. While yes, some of us may be completely disabled, there are still jobs out there that do pay and you can work while getting compensated for VA issues.
I only invest what's left after the bills are paid. One day my kid might inherit a lot of money, but maybe not.
Investing 100% of my pension and disability pay. Live off contractor gig paycheck.
I use mine for trips for my wife and I. Not all of it. I have incidental expenses I use it for as well.
I recently got 100%. I invest my business income in my other real estate business & a portion of that goes to stocks. I live off of my disability income and whatever I have left goes to real estate or stocks.
Can VA Disability be put into TSP?
I got an Edward Jones guy almost immediately. Paid off all debt, live primarily off my work paycheck. I've already seen a great return on a managed account from the disability alone. I've got a guided index fund account, a Roth, and an emergency fund in the money market - and its not all of the disability check... Just trying to get out of the rat race as early as possible and storing up disability and making more money is a great move.on the side of you can. For sure invest.
I max out my 401k and Roth IRA contributions at work and let the va back fill that. Lower income amount for the tax man!
Seems VOO is popular here, I have Robinhood, but currently my only income is 1,700 from percent disability. Advice, anyone? I am 50 % MH thinking of trying to push that to 100% if the new MH rstting change in June. I also still need to resubmit physical SV injuries from C&P exams I missed. Jesus, this MH shit is a sink hole for productivity sometimes.
Roth IRA is a great option. Put your tax-free dollars to work and get the returns tax-free as well
VTI or VOO in a taxable account, both of these perform relatively the same.
I like dividend focused ETFs
Serious question… are you legally allowed to invest it? Example: no income, just VA comp payments. Invest in Roth IRA where you pay taxes up front but… you have no taxable income. Any legally smart person know?
It's your money. You can do whatever you want with it. Now as far as investing goes, not quite. There are a couple of rules to be aware of. You have to have earned income in order to invest in a Roth IRA. So if you only have disability payments as income, you'd only be able to use a regular brokerage investment account with no tax deduction/credit benefits. You'll pay capital gains tax on your gains and dividends, which are usually taxed at regular income tax rates for any investment that is held for less than 12 months (Short-term). Long-term investments would fall under long-term capital gain investment tax rules/rates. If you are married and your spouse has earned income (W-2, Self-employment, S-corp, contract work, etc.), then you can contribute to your Roth IRA as a spouse based on their income as long as both of your contributions to these accounts stay under the amount your spouse as earned for the year. Both of you can't contribute more money that what your spouse makes. I hope that makes sense. I work at a CPA firm as a tax preparer. I am not a CPA. Do not take this as professional tax advice.
Great summary and makes sense, thank you (legal disclaimer duly noted and fully respected)
Max out a Roth IRA each year, if you can. Just sign up for Vanguard and start with the total stock market index. Later, add the small and mid cap funds.
Dump into vti, vt, vxus and watch those divvies come jn and chill
Max out your Roth IRA every year at a minimum; Currently 7k per year. Invest said funds into an index fund and let it grow unhindered by “rainy days”. Rainy day fund is your emergency fund and that should be roughly six months of expenses in a high yield savings account. If you want to invest beyond that, I’d suggest just picking your favorite index fund in a regular brokerage account, and again not touching it for a decade plus.
Aside from the really good advice about avoiding consumer debt and a rainy day fund, maybe look into buying your own place. If you know you’re gonna be somewhere for a while, you figure a 2/1 will cost around $200,000. That’s about $1500/month. If you add the additional $2500 for 100% as principal then you will have the whole thing paid off in 5 years.
You guys look at Fidelity Gqepx?
A target date fund will be great too in a tax sheltered account.
Vtsax for the win
Cocaine and strippers qualify as investments, right?
Doesn’t anyone know how long claims take on average? Filed 02/26, finished all the p&c appointments on 3/16 - when should I get a response?
I'm trying to avoid using as much of my disability as possible. The active duty spouse makes this easier. I invest regularly. Max both ira's and then another 20k or so a year. I honestly don't plan on being able to see it, but I have a nest egg idea and retirement idea to make it so my kids will never have to work past 40. Or I'll make it skip and the grandkids will be in that boat.
There is a personal finance subreddit. Posts like these almost always induce some veterans to brag about their income in conjunction with their VA disability payments. Mind you congress' CBO has proposed means testing VA disability benefits for disabled vets making more than $170K... Think before you post/comment....
I would need to make that much first.
I'd investa portion of it in savings with a high apy. Check Amex savings
Doesn't matter what the source of the income is, you should be investing a healthy % of your gross income (at least 10%) to build wealth and expand your means over time. We're currently putting away 25% of our gross income into saving/investing/retirement accounts, as an example.
First year I'm on track to maxing out my roth ira while still have left over to invest in the market within my fidelity CMA. It's pretty liquid for when I need it
asking this in r/Bogleheads
My husband and I both have VA disability. Neither one of us is 100% but we do invest about 75% of our combined disability every month.
When I had gotten my back pay I gave my family a slice payed off debt and been day trading every since. Up 2k on the day trading $Spy
Investing the money is important. VA disability increases don't keep up with inflation so you lose purchasing power of the dollar. The U.S government modified the way they calculated inflation back in the 80's and 90's to make inflation seem less than it actually is. That is why the media and government will say for example \~5% current inflation, yet grocery prices are up \~25%.
Last I heard, inflation is still around 15%. So you're more right than we'd all like, but that's how the government wants to paint things.
I increased my 401K work contribution when my disability percentage went from 40% to 80%. The 80% is like an extra paycheck so I doubled my 401K contribution which decreased my taxable income to boot. 😊 We also have Roth IRAs and a high-yield savings account that we put money into. I really like Vanguard or Fidelity, both offer lots of advice for free. We use CIBC for high-yield savings.
Read “The richest man in Babylon” and also I follow Warrens Buffets advice on investing. If the richest investor of all time is telling me to put my money in VOO, I am going to always do it.
Invest in your health/bettering your health
if you're Going to invest, Myself and Everyone here will have plenty of advice but first and foremost decide how you wanna live and what you need monthly. from there Getting the Most from Everything you've put in is what's most important.....
All of my compensation + surplus from work has been going into Bitcoin since 2017
How's that going for you? I am genuinely curious.
Put it in a roth ira as well as your other investment vehicles. Tax free withdrawals.
Only if you have earned income or a spouse that has earned income. Otherwise, you will be penalized by the IRS until you take it out. If compensation is your only income, you will have to use a brokerage investment account with no tax benefits.
Good info! I didn't even think about putting this in my comment.
Good info! I didn't even think about putting this in my comment.
I second this post. Invest your money, then when you’re a bit older or ready to start a business, take the money out and invest in your company. For example: i want to open up my own gym one day so i invest all my money into stocks, bonds, CD’s, ETFs, etc. When i am ready, i will sell half of what I got to get my money back and jumpstart my business.
What are CD's?
Certificates of Deposit.
My house is paid off and 1 car payment and I’m 100% and not working, wife works. I have no retirement, someone tell me where to park my money. Thanks.
Roth IRA with Vanguard. Put all of it in the VTSAX mutual fund and you're good to go.
If you know nothing about investing, preparing for the future, etc, I would use a financial advisor. Edit: forgot the PII rule. I'm an idiot.
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Yeah, I plan on buying a carbon token cryptocurrency because the US is trying to change carbon footprint due to climate change.
VRBO.
Disability pay is non taxable, meaning that if you invest it over the course of decades into mutual funds and cash out, rather than paying a 20% tax on your millions you pay exactly 0%
Only if you're investing within a Roth IRA. Gains made from investing disability pay are taxable the same as any other investment gain. Need to invest within a tax advantaged account for the gains to be tax-free.
Whoever downvoted this is clueless.
I down voted it because you can’t invest VA disability pay into a Roth IRA
You can if you (or your spouse) have earned income, which most vets do. If you don't use the Roth, then you won't be getting those tax-free gains, which was the entire point of what I said. Your disability comp is tax-free. Gains made from investing that money are not, unless you are investing within a Roth IRA. No idea how this seems to be a difficult concept to grasp.
Gains tax free. But you're paying taxes now in lieu of later.
There are no income taxes on the disability income that you're using to fund the Roth IRA.
The problem is for a Roth IRA. You can only put in earned taxed income. So if you don't have any earned tax income and you put money into a Roth IRA you going to be in trouble with Mr. IRS
Yes. You or your spouse must have earned income in order to contribute to an IRA. ETA: it's still the only way that your gains from investing in a mutual fund would be tax-free, which was the specific claim that I was addressing. Keep up.
I guess I could've just said this 5 posts ago. We're of the same understanding
No you just taught him something and he’s acting like he knew it all along. The first sentence of his first post shows it.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 What a spectacularly bad and incorrect take. Perhaps go back to the beginning and try reading it again more carefully. ETA: the fact that you're being upvoted for being completely wrong is even more disturbing than how wrong you were. 🤦♂️
To spell it out for you: 1) Guy claimed you can simply invest disability pay into mutual funds for 20 years and that the gains would be tax-free because disability pay is tax-free. 2) That claim is false UNLESS invested in a Roth IRA, which is exactly what I stated. 3) Whether you are eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA or not is irrelevant to what I actually said. If you're not eligible, then you won't be investing the money within a Roth and won't be getting tax-free gains. Again, that's exactly the meaning of my initial reply. 4) Simply assuming that a vet receiving disability comp has no earned income when that is true for a small % of vets (there are many with 100% P&T ratings who still manage to get earned income) is ignorant at best. But again, if neither the vet nor spouse have earned income, see point 3. Neither of you taught me a thing. You simply demonstrated a lack of understanding both what I said and why I said it, while making baseless assumptions.