“Managing Your Money 101” by Dave Cortright 🔸, Rebecca Herbst

I started working in tech at 24, coasted for the last 4 years of my full-time career, and achieved financial independence (FI) at 46. Here are the basics everyone should know to optimize their finances. The money you save by making wise choices will bolster your financial security and increase the amount you can contribute to effective causes.

[I am American. I’ll try to be as general as possible, but some advice might not apply to other countries. All disclaimers apply.]

I’m writing this because anyone can achieve early FI if they are smart and consistent with their finances. And that freedom will allow more people to work on things the world needs without compensation constraints.

Passive income is the ultimate goal

—therefore—

Start investing now; be smart and consistent

Like the adage about “the best time to plant a tree”,

Start now, invest a portion (10–20%) [...]

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Outline:

(01:07) Passive income is the ultimate goal

(01:11) --therefore--

(01:14) Start investing now; be smart and consistent

(01:41) Invest in Low-Cost Index Funds

(03:18) Max out your employer retirement match

(03:36) Max out pre-tax retirement investing

(04:00) Turn on automatic reinvestment

(04:17) Dollar Cost Averaging reduces volatility

(04:37) Set a beneficiary on all of your investment accounts

(04:46) 25× what you spend each year invested = retirement

(05:25) Paying off debt is usually the best way to invest

(05:49) Never carry credit card debt

(06:10) Other recommendations

(07:45) Further reading

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.

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First published:
May 12th, 2025

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ca2w7AL7hm9fp7RnF/managing-your-money-101

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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