Ask HN: How did you invest your money when you started your career ?

I paid off my student loans very quickly (2 years into a 10 year loan at sweetheart interest rates), and then put most of my savings towards my retirement accounts. Roughly 75% went to index funds, the remainder to individual stocks, mostly as a form of entertainment.

Given that the timing for this investment was the last four years, I have of course been clobbered.

Had I been less aggressive at both of those plans, I would have mid five-figures extra to put into my business. I would not mind having the extra cushion, and it would ease cash flow issues this summer, but I don't think the presence of it would make a major difference in my life.

I do not have any regrets. Part of the discipline of investing in index funds is that we don't know when we're going to get clobbered, so we invest regularly and over long periods of time will get very close to the market's average return.

(I also don't regret paying my student loans early: I have a burning, passionate hatred of indebtedness. Even a comparatively small amount of money at a subsidized interest rate makes me feel like I'm owned.)

When I was fresh out of college, I put lots into a 401k. When I left that company, they mailed me a check (mistake 1), and my ex spent it to pay off her credit cards (mistake 2). It took me 5 years to pay off the IRS, and it was another 5 years before I worked at another company that offered a 401k. I had stupidly placed the funds into the company stock as a sign of company loyalty, which dragged down my returns in the 401k, but since my ex blew it all, that mistake meant she had 1/2 as much money to piss away as there could have been (she was in charge of handling the household finances which was why I didn't catch it until the IRS sent me a nastygram [mistake 3]).

Had I rolled it directly into an IRA, my retirement savings would be about 2x what they are now, and working for companies too cheap to offer 401k plans to employees for almost all of my 30s means that I have to put the max into 401k and IRA (for the rest of my working life) in order to avoid living under a bridge when I get too old to work.

Thank you all for scaring me sh*tless. I just started my career in digital marketing and I'm beginning to think about what to do with my money. I make 30k and I'm wondering what to do with the excess funds.