I’m 27 and trying to get more serious about investing, but I feel like I only understand the basics and not how everything actually fits together.
Right now I mostly keep money in a HYSA at 3.25% with AMEX and just enough in checking for bills. My biweekly pay is usually around $3200–$3500. I do have student loans, but they’re manageable and I pay them monthly without any issues.
Where I’m confused is retirement/investing through work. I know there’s some kind of match, but I don’t fully understand if I’m in a Roth IRA, 401k, or what the difference even is in practical terms.
I also keep hearing people say to just invest in “VOO and chill” but I don’t really understand how that fits into a retirement account vs investing on my own or whether I should be doing both retirement contributions and separate investing
I guess my main goal is to build wealth long-term, but also not feel like I’m locking everything away until I’m 60.
If you were starting at 27 with this setup, what would you focus on first?
Edit: expenses are quite low, I can usually transfer $1500-$2000 after every paycheck to my HYSA