Business Insider
There are four questions every first-time investor should ask: Am I still paying off debt? What are my goals? How much can I afford to contribute? Do I have a 401 at work?This article is part of a series focused on millennial financial empowerment calledDuring Business Insider's Money Council roundtable in August, which is part of the Master your Money series, we asked financial experts if there were signs a millennial should start investing.
"There's no sense in investing in something that potentially could earn you 4% to 6% return over the year when you're paying 17%, 18%, upwards of 25% on a credit card," Roberge says.Spending and saving with intention is the foundation of good money management. With well-defined goals, it's much easier to make a plan and follow through with it.
With clear objectives for their money, Rodriguez says, investors can evaluate their time horizon, how much risk they can afford to take on , how much risk they can stomach , which investment accounts would serve their purpose, and the fees and taxes associated with them.A lot of millennials get tripped up on exactly how much of their money should go into investments, Joseph Edmondson, a certified financial planner at Equitable Advisors, says.