learn to invest

some friends/acquaintances & i are going to read suze orman’s book together. i just have to set the blog up. i don’t think the book goes very in-depth about investing, but at least i will be able to discuss personal finances with people in a similar situation as mine. most of the people i know either 1. live paycheck to paycheck & don’t think about $ at all or 2. make so much money that they don’t think about $ at all or 3. are my parents who pore over financial charts so much that sometimes i think they might as well get another job.

my dad gave me a gift subscription to kiplinger’s. it took a couple of issues, but it’s becoming more interesting. i almost feel like i have to approach personal finance as a new language. i keep hoping that i will learn the financial terms by osmosis, but i really should look them up & make some flash cards.

ingdirect says that i’ve been saving with them since 2002! in all that time i’ve only saved 1/30 of my pre-tax salary. no wonder i don’t have any money to invest with! the situation’s a little less grim if i take into account the loan i had to pay off.

& maybe i should work more hours & eat out less.

...a recession is a good time to buy stocks right? if you don’t need to cash out for a while? i would like to invest in green technology.

is investing really necessary for retirement? everybody says so & my parents certainly act like it is. i have made this a goal only because it seems like the financially responsible thing to do & because i am afraid of being old & sick & poor. i really have no interest/clue about finance. lots of people get by without investing in stocks right? hm.

so far i’ve attended a lecture at the library on investing & checked out a couple books (and returned them unread).