There is one thing I see a lot of Junior Software Engineers do wrong when they are just breaking into the industry.

Going from being an incredibly poor college student to suddenly having a ton of money can be quite shocking. Once I actually started getting paid, I had no idea what to do with my money. I was living at home in order to pay for my college tuition while working fulltime. By the way, living at home was the best decision I ever made. (As an aside, I remember watching Tech Youtubers who said the only people who buy RTX 4090’s are losers who live at home with their parents. Still kind of salty about that statement).

I was able to save up over a years’ worth of very expensive California rent. I bought a gaming PC. I then built another gaming PC. I own an RTX 3080ti and an RTX 4090. But I also have a 401k match and my Roth IRA is now maxed out for the year. My car is a Honda Civic from 2016 that is completely paid off. I don’t carry a credit card balance.

I remember working with a Junior Software Engineer a long time ago that got the fat paycheck and he immediately bought an expensive gaming laptop. I didn’t do that. I waited MUCH LONGER than I needed to just to be sure I was good on money and made sure to buy the exact equipment that I need for the Software Engineering tasks and Video Editing that I want to do.

What all of you need to be very aware of is that millionaires are made through long term investing. Any amount of money that you can start putting into long term investments will pay off MASSIVELY. You want to aim for 40 years of compound interest growth. 40 years is the magic number. You get any amount of money into a long-term investment, and you let it compound for 40 years, and you will retire incredibly comfortably.

A very safe initial long-term investment is the S&P 500. I own S&P 500 Index funds with Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard. Why did I mix it up like that? I don’t know. Seemed fine. Didn’t think about it too much.

Anyway, my Starbucks that I ordered is here, and I have to chug some pre-workout and head to the gym. Happy Monday!