Key Points Your buffer for rent and necessities comes off the top, before the first dollar reaches a brokerage account. The cash reserve belongs in a high-yield savings or money market account. Automatic monthly contributions beat one big deposit, because they remove the monthly investment decision entirely. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Somebody I know is 19 years old with $21,000 sitting in a checking account. The kid wanted to know what to buy. That's the wrong question, but a fair one. The instinct is to jump straight to stock picking. That's what I did in 2004 , unfortunately. The correct first move is figuring out how much of that money is not actually available to invest. Missed AI’s "Act 1"?
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