Disclaimer: I am not an expert so do your own research.
Here is what I would do if I were just starting out and knew what I know now.
- Save up an emergency fund of at least 3 months of living expenses.
- Pay off all debt except low interest mortgage and student loans, manage these debts to lower my risk. That is refinance if needed to keep monthly payments low as possible.
- Save up more in my emergency fund of at least 6 months of living expenses.
- Start saving up money for retirement. Figure out when I plan to retire and how much I will need. Plan how much I need to invest each month to achieve my plan.
- Plan for education expenses for children.
- Once I had enough money to cover the previous things I would start to invest more and speculate on things. I would study up on how to do this while saving up. I use www.investopedia.com for a source for investing information.
The paper Value Investing from an Austrian Point of View by Chris Leithner has a good Austrian perspective on investing. Here is his lecture also.
