> 1. Invest in a well diversified portfolio that pays very low fees (vanguard funds for instance) 2. Do not try to time the market 3. Save as much as you can as early as you can - maximize your 401k/ROTH contributions 4. Never carry a balance on your credit card from month to month
I have to strongly second all of these; the issue becomes, once you've done them, what more can you do? You get to a certain age and realize you have most of your career behind you, or you'd like to have most of your career behind you so you can retire early - how do you get there? It's a problem that cuts across different aspects in life: what to eat, how to exercise, etc. Min/maxing, munchkining applied to real life. Is it any surprise that software engineers looking to squeeze the last possible cycle or byte out of their software do these sorts of things? But much like software, premature optimization is the root of all evil . . .
I have to strongly second all of these; the issue becomes, once you've done them, what more can you do? You get to a certain age and realize you have most of your career behind you, or you'd like to have most of your career behind you so you can retire early - how do you get there? It's a problem that cuts across different aspects in life: what to eat, how to exercise, etc. Min/maxing, munchkining applied to real life. Is it any surprise that software engineers looking to squeeze the last possible cycle or byte out of their software do these sorts of things? But much like software, premature optimization is the root of all evil . . .