48 years old, currently have no investments. My net worth is my car and the clothes on my back, and I don’t ever want to be in this situation again.
(Edit: I don’t need to buy a house or anything whatsoever related to a house, so please don’t mention the “h” word in your response, it’s triggering me for tangential reasons. Let me be clear, I will NEVER care about real estate whatsoever, mmmkay? Just trust me when I say I have a roof over my head and it’s completely paid off, no property taxes, and No, I will never sell it, so the whole h-word" aspect of life is not a concern for me, k?)
Just looking for guidance where to invest this relatively small amount of money every month so in a few years when I’m older & frailer I’ll have enough for retirement. I don’t want it to just sit in my bank account, I want it to grow.
For reference, I’ve been living on approx $1500 per month for as long as I’ve noticed, so I don’t need much per month, and the sooner I die, the less retirement fund I’ll need, but we can never predict when anyone’s death will happen, so let’s assume I’ll live to 100 because I’m ridiculously healthy & an exceptionally good driver, never been in an accident, one speeding ticket in my entire life, no social life so I never get into risky situations, so let’s just plan for the possibility I’m going to live another 50 years.
The general advice goes like this; If your work offers a match on a 401k then contribute up to the match. If you have more money, max out an IRA. If you have more money, max out the 401k.
If your health plan is a high deductible plan with an HSA you can also contribute to this. They are designed for health expenses but they can also serve as an additional tax advantaged retirement account.
Beyond that you’d be investing through a taxable brokerage account.
As far as what to invest in, S&P500 index funds are usually advised since they tend to capture the overall average returns of the market. Target retirement funds are another option if you want a set it and forget it option that will rebalance to less risky investments as you near retirement age.