23 year old student with 30k, what should I do with the money?

At age 23, with 30k is an achievement. i dont think i have 30k at that age.

You need calculate your cashflow and determine how much is your expenses.

You will den multiply the expenese with 6 months first, this amount will be your emergency funds.

However emergency funds will change..once u have more committements, your expenses increase, and thus u need increase your emergency funds.

Investing:

Understanding your risk profile: Are you low risk or high risk?

Passive or Active investing?

Passive: Robo advisors, ILPs, Etc

Active: FSM, IBKR, Ameritrade.

If you are just starting to invest, passive investing can be a good stepping stone for you.

Are you a growth person or dividend or both. From your question, you are looking at both and SYFE focus on REITs. If you are looking for growth den i will suggest ETFs that is in US or China.

you can start small according to your comfort level, learn investment along the way...

Hope it helps you.

#planwithcolin​​​

Hi Anon,

The amount of funds that you should have in your emergency funds really depends on your financial situation and monthly expenses.

The recommended amount is usually 3-6 months, but you may choose to save more or less than that, depending on what you're comfortable with.

You may want to consider this if you're either working a part time job or you're receiving allowance from your parents.

If your inflow of cash is greater than your expenses, I would suggest having a lower amount in your emergency fund.

This is because you can use the surplus in from your 'income' to put into your emergency fund and grow it along the way. This also gives you more money to invest and take advantage of your long time horizon to grow your money faster.

If you would like to know more about emergency funds, you can check out an article that I have written here.

Regarding investing, you will need to consider whether you wish to do a lump sum investment or a dollar-cost averaging approach.

If you do a lump sum, you will need more control over your emotions. If you invest all the money you have today, and the market plunges tomorrow, are you able to control your emotions and not sell to realise that loss?

If you can't take that volatility, I would suggest doing a dollar-cost averaging approach instead.