investing

whenever i talk about investing, i feel like it comes across as though we have loads of money. well, we don't. you can invest regardless of your income. we choose to do it because we are able to right now, and we know there may come a stage in life (like, when we have a million kids we're trying to feed) that we are unable to continue doing so. so here are my suggestions.

if your company offers to match contributions to your 401k, DO IT. do the max amount they will match. this is free money. the more you contribute at a younger age, the better off you will be. dave ramsey has some chart that shows if you invest x amount from ages 20-30, and never again, it is exponentially better than investing 2x from ages 50-60. the longer you let your money grow, the more you will have.

we have an edward jones man. while we know a bit about everyday finances, we know nothing about investments. so basically we told him that we want to put a certain amount back every month (which is not very much), and he handles where that goes.

to be completely honest, i'm kind of torn on the issue of investing. i strongly feel that as a christian, i should depend on God to provide. i know He will provide for my needs. and jake and i are not the type to desire to go on extravagant world adventures in our old age. also, the idea of "retirement" is really not biblical. so for us, on one hand, investments are basically savings that are doing something (growing) rather than sitting around in a bank. they are something we could use should an emergency arise. on the other hand, jake may have to stop working at a certain age because of health reasons. he's very healthy, and so is his whole family, but with powerlifting, at some point his joints or something may decide they're no longer happy with him.

to summarize: we don't invest because we want a luxurious retirement; we invest because we feel it's a wise way to save our money for whatever the future holds. we invest through edward jones, contributing a certain amount every month for now. if your employer matches, you should contribute to your 401k. hope this has helped :)