At what age did you start investing?

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pennstater2005
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At what age did you start investing?

Post by pennstater2005 »

I am curious as to what age some of the posters on this forum started investing? I am now 33 and started saving when I was 28 but not consistently until I was almost 30. I didn't go back to school until I was 25 and my increased wages helped me to be able to start saving more, albeit at a later age then I would have liked.
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Johm221122
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Johm221122 »

At 29, I started.I am 43 now
livesoft
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by livesoft »

Age 16 with first paycheck. I countersigned it and mailed it away to an out-of-state financial institution that I read about in the Washington Post business section.
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JDaniels
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by JDaniels »

Looking back, I guess I started "saving" when I was in grade school. Money from chores or odd jobs around the neighborhood would go to short term things I wanted. I started "investing" when I was 20 and starting my career. Finding out about something called a "401k" and choosing some fund called Magellan got my interest. Over the years I've certainly made some mistakes but I can't stress enough, especially to a young investor, starting early is the best financial decision I have ever made.
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Buckeye
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Buckeye »

Started saving a little at 30 and then stepped it up at 32..... but my networth didn't turn positive till I was 34.

I had a lot of fun in my 20's. :D
Dan_
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Dan_ »

My father talked me into a Roth IRA instead of a car at 16 :)
Conveniently, that was mid-2008.
abrix
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by abrix »

For some reason I learned to save at 15, with my first job, even though my parents are awful with money. I opened an IRA and started really "investing" with my first paycheck out of college (age 21).
chaz
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by chaz »

At 27 bought some common stock.
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nirvines88
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by nirvines88 »

401k at age 16 with first paycheck. Didn't really know what I was doing, but I followed the advice of my dad and went with a T. Rowe Price target retirement date fund. I recently rolled this meager holding over to a Roth IRA at Vanguard.

Taxable/Roth IRA at age 22 (this is when I started to actually learn about investing).
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stan1
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by stan1 »

My father bought us shares in Warner Communications (since they owned Atrai back in the late 1970s when I was about 10).

I know it would be heresy here on Bogleheads for a parent to purchase an individual stock on behalf of a child (and a few might even report it to child protective services), but dialing into an earnings call, reading a company's annual report, and watching an individual stock perform relative to the market index are definitely an educational experience for a teenager interested in business and numbers. I am not a parent, but if I was I would invest my child's college funds in index funds but buy a few shares of an individual company to teach him/her about a free market economy.
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bengal22
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by bengal22 »

15 yrs old with my first job - Savings and Loan Bank. Started accumulation with passbook, then CD's, company stock, 401 K's with mutual funds. But I got in the habit of peeling away some of my earnings early.
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Rich in Michigan
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Rich in Michigan »

Started saving at 16 when I got my first real summer job

Started investing at 25

Am currently 61
mlipps
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by mlipps »

My mom had me save 50% of my allowance growing up and put it into a passbook savings at the local bank. 25% to my piggy bank I could open every 3 months, and 25% to spend now. My allowance was always 1/2 of my age, but she started me at 2 and also deposited a little for my birthday and Christmas. I saved lots when I started working at 17 too. When I was in hs I put most of it into CD's which paid 3 or 4%. In November, just after my 23rd bday, I will hit 6 months at my first real job and get a 15% employer contribution to my 403(b).
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by HongKonger »

Started handing over 10% of my monthly income to a 'pension company' at 28.
At 38, realised I had been 'sold' a bunch of utter junk and extricated myself at a significant loss.
Educated myself and started investing at 39.
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pennstater2005
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by pennstater2005 »

Interesting posts so far. Very diversified answers!
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DualIncomeNoDebt
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by DualIncomeNoDebt »

Started around 19 with dividend-paying stocks, think I had an account with Brown & Co, which used to be an independent brokerage. Trades were expensive, something like $40 and were made either via broker or automated phone entry, if memory serves. This is when you needed to look up stock prices in the paper and they were quoted in fractions.

Uncle worked for Goldman Sachs many years ago (70s and 80s), gave me great advice. Long before LTCM, the dot-com bubble, or Enron/Worldcom/Qwest, he advised never trust Wall Street, brokers, or advisors. He was a believer in bonds and dividends, long before they became the rage the last couple of years in this ZIRP climate. He would explode if he saw what was going on today.
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Bulldawg
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Bulldawg »

Rich in Michigan wrote:Started saving at 16 when I got my first real summer job

Started investing at 25

Am currently 61
and by saving and investing at a young age, I would bet you really are " rich in michigan" ! :moneybag :D
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nodenuff2
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by nodenuff2 »

At 26 I was eligible to start participating in corporate pension plan but at 32 they also started a 401k plan and kept the pension plan. Lucky me!!! At 62 I am in a good place compared to other baby boomers.
2014 No. 42 2015 No.342 2016 No. 6 2017 238 2018 no. 175 2019 no. 144 6 year average 157.83. Proves I am just an average investor.What do I know? "Good bless America land that I love..."
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BolderBoy
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by BolderBoy »

Investing "some" at 41 (mostly just a glorified form of savings.)

Investing HUGE starting at 43 and consistently thereafter.

Am 62 now and mostly retired.
goldendad
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by goldendad »

I am 56 - started at 21.
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zaboomafoozarg
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by zaboomafoozarg »

Started saving cash since I was able to make money, but didn't realize I should be making full use of tax-advantaged investment until last year when I found this site. So, age 28. Wasted a few years of Roth and 401k space, so not bad, but still makes me mad sometimes. :oops:
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mhc
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by mhc »

My dad started a savings account for me at a credit union when I was 5. He would put in a dollar a week. I remember checking the monthly interest payments. I could add my allowance money to it.

When I joined the Army at 18, I save $200/mo for 4 years.
At age 20, one of my sergeants told me about mutual funds. Started putting $50 a month in 20th Century Growth fund. That was right after the crash of 1987.

Except for my college years, I have been investing in some form of mutual fund, stocks, or bonds since I was 20.
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Parthenon
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Parthenon »

Started saving at 15 after first job; Investing at 17 at third job when I could buy AT&T at a discount because I was an employee.

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Sunflower
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Sunflower »

28 when I landed a job that offered a 401k. I did it reluctantly because I wanted to spend that money but knew it was the right thing to do. A small contribution at first and then more and more. I'm 50 now.
DoubleDraw
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by DoubleDraw »

I started investing at around 22 years of age, I am now 29. I started a Roth IRA when I was 25 and got my first "real" job. One of my biggest regrets was taking some bad financial advice from someone older and supposedly wiser who told me I should wait to start an IRA because I may want access to the money.

I didn't follow the philosophy of this board and have been quite successful, but realize that perhaps a lot of that success is likely attributed to luck as much as anything else and am now trying to diversify my portfolio into more index funds for a better long term approach.
scrabbler1
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by scrabbler1 »

Depends on the definition of "investing."

When I was a kid, I was receiving a dividend check for owning one share of Ford Motor Company my uncle had bought for me shortly after I born, my mom told me. I deposited the check into a custodial passbook savings account my mom opened for me.

When was 16, I got my first part-time job after-school job and I opened up my own savings account (not a passbook one) to deposit my paychecks into.

As far as investing into a retirement account goes, I began with a 401(k) when I was 23 after I was eligible for it at my former company.

As far as investing into a non-retirement account goes, I opened my first one with Fido in early 1990 when I was 26.
cherijoh
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by cherijoh »

When I started my first F/T job, I began investing in the company's Savings Investment Plan (SIP) - this was the early 80's so it actually predated the 401-k! Company match was 1:1 for first 5% of income so I started there (why give free money away?); max was 15% which I worked up to by increasing my % investment every time I got a raise. (After the creation of the 401-k, the SIP plan transitioned over to be a 401-k). After I hit the max on 401-k, I started investing in individual no-load mutual funds and when the Roth IRA was introduced I started investing in that as well.

I am still investing the maximum possible in tax-advantaged retirement plans - I am hoping to have to stretch it out over a long retirement!

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JPH
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by JPH »

At 23 I got my first job with a pension plan.
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RenoJay
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by RenoJay »

Not sure I'd call it "investing" but at around age 19, in college, my roommate's friend's friend was working for a shady stock broker. He called me with the hot tip of the century...."Plants for Tomorrow." I invested $2,000 (which was a lot of money to me then) and thankfully resisted his pressure for me to invest more since it was a sure thing. Anyway, six months later with Plants for Tomorrow went the way of a weed being sprayed by pest killer, and I lost my $2,000, my dad introduced me to low cost mutual funds including a few index funds. That lesson was the best $2,000 I ever spent. Not sure why dad waited so long to help me out though.
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

Saving at 16. Investing at 19.
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Bee2
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Bee2 »

I opened a savings account in kindergarten - a special program with our local savings bank. The motto was, "save your dimes, and watch your dollars grow." I was fascinated by the concept of interest, which I saw accumulate in the passbook over time.

When I was about 11 or 12, my great aunt sent me a birthday check, and my dad advised that I buy some stocks. I went to the local stockbroker, and I went over his picks, and chose one. He had an old-fashioned ticker under glass in his office. After that I would faithfully look up my stock in the newspaper, watching the price wax and wane. I attended a few meetings of an investment club in my teens, and learned a little more about how to analyze a stock. In college, we had to make up investment portfolios and watch how they performed over a semester.

I'm 43 now, still saving and investing.
cheesepep
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by cheesepep »

Age 16. Bought AAPL at 32 and sold at 96 (not split adjusted). Wish I had kept it but I sure did make a lot of money back then.
Cash
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Cash »

My parents took me to the bank to open a savings account probably when I was 8 or 9. I put my allowance and yard-mowing money in there. I always enjoyed waiting a few months, then having the bank teller update the interest amount. Great lesson. After playing the stock market game in middle school, I contacted a local stock broker to buy some stock. I think it was a Raymond James broker. He suggested some Alger growth fund (good for him for even entertaining me, I suppose). I bought a share or two, but sold it probably a year later. Didn't buy another stock until I was in my early 20s and opened my IRA with Vanguard's 2045 fund (then I lost my way for a couple of years but came back into the fold before I started making real money).
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Sunny Sarkar
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Sunny Sarkar »

Age 30.

Bought first stocks with saved lunch money when I was 19. Do not consider that investing though - pure speculation by hearsay. Although it wasn't that much money, I was horrified by how much stress it was to be constantly concerned about stock price movements. One of my stocks actually went bankrupt. I guess I learned early that I had no clue about stock prices and also that I was not cut out for playing the stock market game.

Stayed away for a whole decade after that experience. Then, when I was 30, my company announced a 401k match. I wanted the free money, so I started a 401k, and I was forced to think about what to do with my contributions. I consider this the start of my investing life.
Last edited by Sunny Sarkar on Sun Aug 19, 2012 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Peter Foley
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Peter Foley »

About 26 or 27. I spent it all on a house down payment when I was 29. I started saving for retirement when I was 31. I'm 61 now and retired.
yeledbed
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by yeledbed »

My mother started a Roth for me when I graduated from college at age 22. I started putting my own money in by age 25, and I was maxing it (and my 401k) by age 28. I'm 33 now and have accumulated a respectable portfolio for someone my age. I'm kinda proud. :D
Balance
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Balance »

At either 18 or 19 a buddy of mine convinced me that Dell was a sure thing and we went in together and bought it on margin! We ended up getting burnt pretty big and then some. I was pretty scared after that incident but a few years after I bought some US Government Bonds and a Janus mutual fund. It wasn't until I hit 30 that I started index investing. I just hit 35. I too had a lot of fun in my 20's and wish I invested sooner on the right things :)
dennygt
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by dennygt »

When I was 16, my dad worked for the Detroit Stock Exchange. He got mad at me when I bought 10 shares of Michigan International Speedway, but it split 3 for 1 and doubled in price when I sold it, just before it went bankrupt. Roger Penske brought it out of bankruptcy a little while later, and the rest is history. An interesting side note - I worked for Roger in 1978, building his Indy car engines, when everyone went to the Cosworth DFX.
menlo
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by menlo »

I bought my first stocks when I was 19. But I didn't start "investing" until after I had read The Intelligent Asset Allocator at around age 26 or so.
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happymob
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by happymob »

Very late based on most posts in this thread.

At age 27 I received a ridiculous bonus that was 1.5x my base salary - I was sort of forced to invest at that time. I got an account with TD Waterhouse and did my best in my youthful ignorance and managed to run up my "investment" to 3x the principle in the .com boom and ended up with a capital loss that took almost a decade to work off in the .com bust. Fun times.

I only really became a Boglehead at age 36 or so, despite the fact that my parents are classic hypersavers.
Niko
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Niko »

Shortly after my 17th birthday I opened a Roth IRA. A few years later I started investing that IRA when I transferred the IRA from Wells Fargo to Schwab. I invested in a large cap, actively managed "growth" fund in May 2000. In December 2001 I decided to invest in Tyco. That was a few days before its scandal broke wide open. I learned very quickly about the market's vagaries. I finally saw the light and moved everything to vanguard and its index funds when I was 26.
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meowcat
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by meowcat »

I started my first 401(k) when I was 23. Some years later, (I'm 49, now) I realized I should have started saving more, sooner. What's the saying? If I only knew then......
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tim1999
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by tim1999 »

I started investing at 18, with a lump-sum of money I had been saving since around age 12 (when I started working) that had been kept in savings accounts/CD's until that time.
mptfan
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by mptfan »

I started saving when I was 16 and I opened a savings account, and I started investing in mutual funds when I was 27.
jonballs
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by jonballs »

Started putting a little back (~6%) into my first employer's 401k plan at 25, didn't really step it up until age 30 after the wife got through with school. Am 33 now and playing catch-up.
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Sheepdog »

At age 5 or so. My mother opened a children's savings account for me. It showed the magic of compounding. Then in WWII, as a 9 to 12 year old, I put savings stamps in books from which later, after $18.75 was accumulated, a $25 war bond would be purchased.
Beyond CDs, my first stock/bond investment was Wellington in about 1964 (before Vanguard was started). That was age 31. I also bought about then T. Rowe Price mutual fund. As part of my employment with PPG, company stock was available to purchase and earn through payroll deduction and company matching. That was beginning in 1960 (age 27)
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stemikger
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by stemikger »

I started at 30 and I'm 48 now. I wish I started earlier, but I know many that didn't start at all.
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Grt2bOutdoors
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

[quote="stemikger"]I started at 30 and I'm 48 now. I wish I started earlier, but I know many that didn't start at all.[/[/b]quote]

Quote of the day! +1 :beer
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donall
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by donall »

Early saver since teens, haphazard investor since 20s, focused investor currently and yes I wish I had know what I know now.
nothlit
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Re: At what age did you start investing?

Post by nothlit »

I've always been a saver, but didn't start investing until my first job after grad school, at age 24. I joined the 403b and began contributing enough to receive the full employer match, but wasn't maxing it out all the way up to the limit. Then at age 25 I opened a Roth IRA which I maxed out each year. Then at age 27 I began maxing out my 403b up to the full contribution limit. That was earlier this year.

I was fortunate to come out of college and grad school with no debt.
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