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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: December 20th, 2023

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  • An index that either tracks the top 500 companies or the total market. Look up a 3-fund portfolio if you want to go a little deeper.

    Alternatively, max out an IRA if you haven’t already this year and are in a position where you won’t need that money until retirement.

    Edit: I realized I’m assuming a lot about your situation. So instead, here’s a general list of priorities that applies to more or less any situation. You should only proceed with a step if all the steps above it are achieved. Also keep in mind, I’m not a financial advisor just a random stranger on the internet sharing my personal financial strategy.

    1. Pay your future-self first. Establish regular contributions to your retirement account and HSA if you have one, totalling between 3-5% of your compensation or whatever your company’s matching policy is (That’s not free money, it’s part of your compensation package. Not claiming it is like waving a portion of your income).

    2. Pay off all debt since interest is essentially paying a percentage-based monthly fee for owing money and we’re not privileged enough for our assets to cover that expense.

    3. Build and maintain a liquid (cash) holding as an emergency fund. This isn’t for investing or expensive new toys, it’s insurance that will cover your expenses for 6-12 months. Put it in a high-yield savings account or money market since it will be a significant sum and inflation will otherwise reduce its value over time.

    4. Max out your retirement accounts, your company funded 401(k), your personal IRA, an HSA if you have one. These accounts have tax advantages that essentially mean you can put more money towards retirement than you could in an individual trading account. This doesn’t have to be one lump sum, you can divide it up into monthly contributions so long as you’re on track for maxing your contribution limits by the end of the year.

    5. Open an individual trading account with a broker (Vanguard, Fidelity, etc.) and invest in index funds (3-fund portfolios are reliable and low-cost). If you anticipate a significant expense over the next 10 years, i.e. a down payment for a house you can budget between this and the funds going towards Step 4 but keep in mind the tax advantages of retirement accounts means you’re likely missing out on some retirement gains.



















  • You seem to assume I’m arguing in favor of vegan cats.

    Whether or not a cat can thrive on a vegan diet is irrelevant to me as I don’t own a cat nor do I advise people on how to feed their cats. However, I do have a bias (as we all do) that tells me there is likely more nuance (which you did allude to in your original reply) than the general absolutist sentiment against the idea.

    That bias is informed by half-a-lifetime of experience maintaining a loosely plant-based diet myself and witnessing first-hand the fierce compulsion people have to push their uneducated opinions at the mere mention of a plant-based diet. In my experience, there are few other things that can so reliably stir people into a vitriolic frenzy than the suggestion of a plant-based diet.

    And to back up that bias, I now have my first negative comment after almost a year on Lemmy :⁠-⁠)


  • Frankly, you may as well be pulling all that out of your ass since the information you just provided is as good as useless without any reliable sources backing it up (and don’t bother providing any, I’m not here to educate myself on cat diet requirements. If I cared, I would ask a qualified professional not a Lemmy user).

    I’m just calling out the hypocrisy in this whole controversy. People do a quick Google search, read “obligate carnivore” in the title of some document and act as if they’ve got a college degree on the subject.