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[quote=Anonymous]You got this OP.

Here is some money stuff I wish I knew when I was your age. You will hear lots of financial advice. Disclaimer. This is not financial or legal advice. Just some rules of thumb.

You probably are not in a position to take on a lot of risk with your investments. Some basic things that you should keep in mind.

* First, be very sure you have a will and someone who can represent to the probate court that it is your last will and testament. You also need someone you can trust as an intended truste. Should something happen to you, you want your assets in trust for your two children. Your XH is likely to fritter them. You do not want him as trustee. This is not a complex estate planning issue. Your family law attorney can probably recommend someone to do this relatively inexpensively.

* If there is an employer match on your 401k, contribute enough to get the full match.

* Do not prepay the mortgage, you can beat 3% right now. You can always prepay in the future. Also, you are paying the 3% with pretax money.

* Avoid fees. Financial advisors push funds that have lots of hidden fees. That eats into your returns. A good plan is Fidelity brokerage and IRA. In the fidelity accounts buy Vanguard funds. Vanguard will hit you with weird fees in the brokerage accounts but their mutual funds and ETFs have some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry.

* If you switch jobs, roll the 401k from the old employer into a rollover IRA. It’s your money and you should control it as much as possible. Many small companies use bottom feeding fiduciaries to run their retirement accounts. With higher fees.

* you mentioned your parents put their money in a savings account. You can just buy a Treasury ETF and get a higher yield at no risk. Also, if you have some funds that are not in a retirement account, the interest on Treasury obligations is free from state and local taxes.
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