Ask HN: Software Devs – How do you manage your savings?

3 points by pinkunicorn 10 years ago | 3 comments

I've recently graduated out of college and have been working in the industry for a year and half. While I might've spent a portion of my salary earned so far, I'm starting to think about what I should do with the money that's left back. As of now, I haven't given any thought to it and its just sitting there in my Savings account earning a 0.5% interest.

I would like to know how you've invested your savings to do better than 0.5%. Any resources of pointers to learn about investing is also highly appreciated!

brudgers 10 years ago |

{random advice from the internet}

Savings is about saving money. The point is to have the money that was saved later. 0.5% return is better than losing money. Always.

One way to look at it is saving $1000 a month in something that has a 50% chance of a 15% return [1] is really hard. Saving $1500 instead of $1000 a month is a lot easier and is likely to produce better returns.

Another way to look at it is that if the goal is to figure out a way to use your money to get other people's money, you're up against people trying to figure out how to use their money to get other people's money. Those people do it all day long every working day and have enough chips to buy any pot you're in. Remember that the goal is to have money later. It's not to optimize returns this year. It's not about returns at all really. It's not a competition.

If there's a binary model, it's high frequency trading at one pole and dumb luck at the other. A great way to achieve wealth is to select rich parents. A great way to achieve a small fortune is to start with a large one and go up against high frequency traders.

Good luck.

billytetrud 10 years ago |

Honestly, investment takes a lot of effort and sifting through the myriads of financial traps trying to find something with a good return you can be confident about is more or less a crap shoot. Unfortunately, the stock market and similar investment methods often aren't worth it. I went with investing in myself - starting a startup and using my savings to bootstrap. If you're a good software engineer, that's well within your reach.

pinkunicorn 10 years ago | |

This was mostly my opinion too. At this stage of my career, I feel like investing in myself and learning as much as I can is the best thing I can do.