--- title: 4 Smart Money Moves I Made When I Got My First 'Real' Job — and How They're Already Paying Off description: "Last spring, I got my first-ever “big girl” job.\_Then life threw me some financial curve-balls." authors: - name: Kenadi Silcox role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/kenadi-silcox/ bio: Kenadi Silcox was a reporter for Money, covering careers and financial health. She graduated in 2018 from the University of San Francisco with a degree in journalism. at_money_since: 2019 articles: 97 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology former_staff: true published: '2020-02-11T16:29:34.000Z' modified: '2024-05-17T04:33:29.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - Apex4229 - best investment - first job - Guides - how to invest word_count: 919 canonical: https://money.com/first-job-best-investments-advice/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![20200211-Career-Investmemt](https://img.money.com/2020/02/careerinvestmemt.jpg) Last spring, I got my first-ever “big girl” job. It was a relief — I’d spent almost an entire year using my brand new journalism degree to wait tables, and I was on the verge of going broke. But earning a regular bi-weekly paycheck has its complications. When I was working in restaurants, the wad of cash I took home after every shift fluctuated from one day to the next. My money mindset was more “How do I pay for groceries tomorrow?” rather than “[how do I allocate this](https://money.com/easy-money-saving-changes/) for the entire month?” It was stressful, but it was simple. I knew I needed to get smart about my shiny new salary, so I set out to make major changes to my spending habits, and for the first time, invest in my future. And since I work for Money.com, I’m uniquely positioned to get schooled about my financial health on the regular. My bank account still isn’t in perfect shape (hello [student loans](https://money.com/student-debt-benefit/)), but there are a few concrete steps I’ve taken in the past year that have changed my finances for the better. From a crock pot to a personal investment account, here are four “first job” investments that are already paying off. ## **A solid “statement” outfit** Despite what you might imagine the dress code of a financial news publication to be, our office is pretty lax. Think business-casual; heavy on the casual. But after a few months of working, I realized there were a few scenarios where my usual sweater-jean-legging rotation wouldn’t cut it. On important days in the office—days where I had to network, or take part in an important meeting—I had nothing all that impressive to wear. My “formal” clothes were all a little too, uh, *collegiate*. I also realized that, with my new work schedule, half of the clothes in my closet were [no longer getting worn.](https://money.com/why-we-buy-clothes-we-never-wear/) By selling and donating clothes that only served one purpose (or in many cases, no purpose), I made space for items that were of better quality, more timeless, and more versatile. Best of all, I made about $120 from selling clothes second-hand — more than enough to buy a formal black dress I’m not embarrassed to network in. ## **Something For a Rainy Day** Shortly after starting my new gig, I learned about the importance of [emergency funds.](https://money.com/money-at-every-age/) I also learned that instead of putting money into a typical savings account—which has an average 0.09% interest rate**—**I should opt for a high yield savings account like [SFGI Direct](https://money.com/best-high-yield-interest-savings-account/) or Ally, which have 1.9% and 1.6% interest rates, respectively (I went with Ally since it was named [Money’s Best Online Bank](https://money.com/best-online-bank/) two years in a row). Next I had to figure out how, exactly, to fill that fund. The rule of thumb you've probably heard before is that you should put away 10% of each paycheck until you build up to 3-6 months’ worth of living expenses. But having never been an expert saver, I decided to start with what I knew I could afford and work my way up. I started by automatically depositing 5% with a goal of reaching 10% by my one-year work anniversary. As I became better at [managing my money](https://money.com/adult-daily-allowance/), and had more and more left over at the end of each month, I’d up the amount I was transferring to my emergency fund by a single percentage point. Now two months shy of my work anniversary, I’m already up to 10%. ## **High Quality Cookware** Since I had literally zero savings when I started this job, it should come as no surprise that I used to blow major portions of my paycheck on food delivery apps like Postmates (millennials, amirite?). I realized very quickly that in order to build up that emergency fund, I needed to be a better home chef. Let’s get real, I’m never going to be the next Barefoot Contessa, so I didn’t feel the need to invest in any ultra-luxurious Le Creuset cookware (although it is absolutely a "maybe someday" fantasy). But I DID find some durable, [high quality kitchenware](https://money.com/save-money-in-the-kitchen/)—a crock pot, a CuisinArt [food processor](https://money.com/best-food-processor/), and the Lodge-brand equivalent of a Le Creuset dutch oven I’ve had my eye on—that have been essential to getting comfortable cooking and meal-prepping at home. I still use Postmates a couple times a month, but I’ve halved my monthly dining out spending. And I actually know how to cook now. Kind of. ## **Personal Investment Portfolio** Knowing the ins and outs of the stock market isn’t part of my job description (thank god) but I do know that putting a small portion of my paycheck into my 401(k) each month [isn’t going to cut it](https://money.com/401k-target-date-fund-mistakes/) if I want to have a [nice retirement](https://money.com/fidelity-401k-account-how-much-save/), a house, and kids (gulp). Once you’ve put in enough to get your employer's match, [investing on your own](https://money.com/best-mutual-funds/) is one common next step to increasing your wealth. So I opened a [Roth IRA](https://money.com/retirement-investing-roth-ira-older/) and a [personal investment portfolio](https://money.com/how-to-invest-beginners/) through an online investment management service. Right now, I'm putting $25 into both each month, and plan on putting any earnings into my future dream home. If I were saving to buy a house a few years from now, it wouldn’t be wise to put this money towards investments, as there’s not enough time to actually ‘grow’ it. But since I have a long road ahead of me, and I’m already starting to see results from the “investments” I made over the last year, this is a gift to my future self. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/first-job-best-investments-advice/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Money Management", "item": "https://money.com/money-management/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "4 Smart Money Moves I Made When I Got My First 'Real' Job — and How They're Already Paying Off" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/first-job-best-investments-advice/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/first-job-best-investments-advice/", "name": "4 Smart Money Moves I Made When I Got My First 'Real' Job — and How They're Already Paying Off", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2020-02-11T16:29:34.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/first-job-best-investments-advice/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/first-job-best-investments-advice/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-17T04:33:29.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "4 Smart Money Moves I Made When I Got My First 'Real' Job — and How They're Already Paying Off", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2020/02/careerinvestmemt.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "20200211-Career-Investmemt" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kenadi Silcox", "url": "https://money.com/author/kenadi-silcox/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kenadi-silcox/#author", "description": "Kenadi Silcox was a reporter for Money, covering careers and financial health. She graduated in 2018 from the University of San Francisco with a degree in journalism.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2019/04/Kenadi-Silcox.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2020-02-11T16:29:34.000Z", "description": "Last spring, I got my first-ever “big girl” job. Then life threw me some financial curve-balls.", "abstract": "Last spring, I got my first-ever “big girl” job. Then life threw me some financial curve-balls.", "@id": "https://money.com/first-job-best-investments-advice/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-17T04:33:29.000Z", "wordCount": 919, "keywords": [ "Apex4229", "best investment", "first job", "Guides", "how to invest" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Personal finance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Investment management", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_management" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Self-help", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-help" ] } ] } ] } ```