Overcoming Debt, Achieving Financial Freedom

Chapter 10Invest for Future You

It was my first day of work as a junior associate at the law firm I would call home for the next six years. A human resources staff member handed my colleagues and me a stack of papers to review and sign. One of those sets of papers was for employee retirement benefits. I skimmed the pages and saw unfamiliar terms: 401(k), brokerage, index funds, match, vesting schedule. Instead of asking my firm's benefits department or a colleague to explain what I had just been handed, I smiled, nodded, and put the papers away inside my desk.

I didn't touch those papers for two years.

It wasn't until I started becoming financially literate that I realized the importance of the forms I had been handed. I had missed the opportunity to start investing two years sooner because I had been too embarrassed to ask. But I have learned to give myself grace. My parents had never invested and had never spoken about investing. None of my friends spoke about money, let alone investing. How could I have known?

Fast forward to the present and investing is one of my favorite personal finance topics. I didn't understand the meaning of “make your money work for you” until I started investing. Investing consistently has been key to making my money grow and building a six‐figure net worth.

Thanks to the knowledge that I gained from and encouragement that I found in personal finance books, podcasts, and social media, I finally opened my retirement investing account through my employer. ...