'm in my 20s, just starting a new job and I really want to get on the road to financial security. What's the best way to begin? --B.P.
For most people, holding down a job and earning a paycheck is pretty much indispensable forachieving financial security. So in a sense you've already taken the first step toward your goal.
But work alone won't do it. The security that a paycheck provides is, at heart, temporary. It lasts only as long as the job lasts. To attain financial security that won't disappear if your job does, you also need to turn your income into wealth.
So how do you convert the earnings from your job into savings, investments and other forms of wealth that at the very least can help you better weather life's inevitable ups and downs and ideally afford you with more flexibility and choices in life as well as a measure of financial independence? Here are three ways: