Most of my friends are either graduating in the coming semesters or have already graduated this past year. Upon graduating and getting that first real world, grown up job you need to start thinking about saving money and planning for retirement. I recently read an article that said about a third of people younger than 35 think they will retire before the age of 60. There are various ways for you to achieve this. It will be hard but starting to save is important. One way to start saving is to enroll in your company backed 401(k). Most companies offer this to full time employees. Upon enrollment, they usually match your percentage of contribution up to a certain amount. This is a great way to start saving and also give you some future funds to rely on. This is just one of the many ways to start saving, but one that I feel is a necessity and your first option.
As far as investing goes, stocks are the most popular investments. In my opinion, most stocks are far to risky of investment. It all depends on how risk averse you are. To me, mutual funds or ETF's are a much safer and better investment. Most people don't know what ETF's are so I'll give you some advantages of them. The have a lower cost, tax features, and a stock similarity. Real estate is most people's biggest financial asset and investment. In the low economy, the importance of owning your house and having it paid off is a huge deal, and very crucial. Back to investing, currency is very popular right now. Currency trading takes a lot of research and a lot of work but it can pays huge dividends in the long run. Most people just load up on a bunch of the same stock, bond, or mutual funds. This is exactly what you shouldn't do. Diversifying is an absolutely necessary part of your financial portfolio. The term diversify means to reduce risk by investing in a wide range of assets or investments.
In summary, ETF's and currency are very popular aspects to your diversified portfolio. Everything depends on how much risk you are willing to have.
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