So this is sort of (ok, mostly) a brag post, but I just checked Mint and noticed that I finally cracked $100,000 net worth! What's more, it happened exactly five years after I started getting serious and tracking my finances. This is kind of a milestone for me, because I didn't come from a rich family, and I started out with thousands in student loans (though not as bad as some folks) and very little assets (the starting $1,500 was my guess of what my crappy car was worth).
There isn't any magic secret here, but if you just keep saving / investing, you will see growth over time. A few tips, most of which are pretty much standard advice in /r/personalfinance:
Wherever possible, set up automatic savings, so it comes out of your paycheck and you never have the chance to see that money and spend it. I can't stress how key this is for me. I try to set it up so I always feel "poor" in that after I pay all the bills, my checking account balance is a little bit tight. It encourages me not to waste money on nonsense, and if I have to transfer from savings for a big purchase, it makes me stop and think about it more.
Invest in low-cost index funds. If you're unsure where to get started, check out the resources in the sidebar, or the Bogleheads wiki. If you're totally clueless, the Vanguard Target Date Funds are a very sensible and easy place to put your money for now, while you learn more about investing.
Change jobs to get raises. Maybe in the olden days you could stay put at one company and get promoted with a big raise, but I've found my good raises come when I move companies. I usually stay at one place long enough to learn some new things and take on more responsibility with a fancier title, and then I use that as leverage to get a new job with pay fitting the title. I started out working in a callcenter answering tech support calls for $33k/year, and I'm now a software engineer making $75k.
>Change jobs to get raises. Maybe in the olden days you could stay put at one company and get promoted with a big raise, but I've found my good raises come when I move companies
Yeah, this is generally true.
>resources in side bar
So this is just plebbit copy pasta
Congrats I just cracked 6k at 21
>>1258311
Congrats I just cracked 75K + assests at 22
>tfw can't even get a 33k job with a bachelors in accounting
>tfw op saves so little on such a high salary
>tfw I've saved 16k in less time with much less money
>>1258321
Sure you did big guy
>>1258321
congrats I just cracked 225,000 at 29
>>1258253
Congrats OP. Keep on saving, keep on building, and keep on working. You're gonna make it.
>>1258360
I did though. You are just a poor retard.
>>1258308
You don't actually know what copy paste is do you newfriend?