I’m 18 years old and just starting college. My college is being paid for by my family so I don’t really have any major expenses and I’ve been working minimum wage for a while and have about ten grand saved up. If you were in my shoes, where would you start and how would you begin to use that money in order to make more?
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10k is nothing.
It’s more than most 18 year olds have. And it’s enough to startinvesting and building wealth.
For a teenager? It’s HUGE, even with inflation.
If they put it in an ETF, and add to it regularly, and add more in proportion to their salary as they work for someone else after college, they’re going to retire a multimillionaire even at just 5% year over year. And that’s the safe way to do it.
u/Slatt_29, your best bet is to put it into an ETF that tracks the stock market and keep adding to that over time. THIS is the nest egg that will let you take risks in other parts of life. If you want to become an entrepreneur, go make some more money and play with that money.
Or take 1k from this money and experiment with buying stuff cheap and selling for a profit or even dropshipping some item from China or whatever. That’s your play money - you’ll learn a lot and the majority of your capital will be safe. You’re in an enviable position that your parents have your back regarding the big expenses. Leverage that to get the business chops you need: Alex Hormozi did a great bit on YouTube about how college students can make 10k easily, for example, but there are plenty of options to make money even while you have a full time job or school obligations.
The thing is, whenever you make money, be sure and SAVE and INVEST a good chunk of it. Don’t put all of it into the business. EVER. Because businesses can and do fail, sometimes through no fault of the owner (well, that’s debatable). Having money safely earning interest every year is what makes you unstoppable.
Thank you so much boss. Really helpful advice and I appreciate it. Which ETF’s would you recommend ?
Mmm - never take investment advice from some random person on the internet. For all you know, I could suggest you “invest” in the latest crypto scam. No, don’t do that. If anyone tells you they’ve got an investment that yields super high returns … really take that with a giant pinch of salt and preferably just walk away.
I’d recommend educating yourself. You have lots of time before you hit retirement. Study personal finance as a hobby (a second hobby after those entrepreneurship goals!) and act upon the lessons you learn. Don’t get into debt. Don’t follow charlatans like the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
The book I’d actually recommend is Ramit Sethi’s “I Will Teach You To Be Rich”. He’s also got a weekly YouTube show/podcast with the same name. I like what he’s saying there - it’s not just about blindly saving or “making more” or sticking to a budget or eating beans and rice so you can save an extra buck. His focus is two fold:
- Figure out what your ideal “rich life” would look like
- Set up simple automated systems and processes that will get you there
He’s not telling people to have 5 different bank accounts and to check their spreadsheet every day and to stick to a budget. Rather, he recommends simply watching the larger trends of how your money is growing (or not) and acting to quickly course correct where necessary.
He’s had people from different backgrounds and different current wealth status on his podcast, and it’s really inspiring how straightforward getting to a million (many times over) can be if you just start early and set up those automated systems. Listening to those episodes, and to the ones where people have made poor financial choices and now are trying to course-correct are absolutely eye-opening and are great for thinking “how would I handle this if I were in their shoes?”
You’ve already got multiple factors in your favour, indicating you’re on the right path:
- You’ve already saved 10k as a high school student [this is the biggest tell - you respect the money you’ve earned]
- You’ve got minimal expenses right now, thanks to your parents
- You’re getting a good education, again, thanks to your parents
All of this means you’ll likely wind up in a high paying job, or will strike out into entrepreneurship if that’s the right path for you, and you’ll likely stick to it until you make it succeed.
So just take your time, figure out what ETFs make sense for you, and start planning for that rich life you’re going to have in the not so distant future. :D
You are the best. Thank you so so much
You can go by me, I’d cheat by looking at the college I was going to and seeing what networking possibilities there are. I’d use the business I plan to start as the subject of course assignments.
Being a student in a school, I would be embarrassed at failing “student” before I ever attempted anything more ambitious.
That’s just me. You do you.
Index funds and crypto. Buy some BTC and ETH now and you’ll likely be very wealthy when you’re older. Don’t invest more than you can afford to lose. Keep your crypto safe.
I don’t think anyone can answer this question, because there really isn’t a universal answer. It really depends on a lot things - what is your risk tolerance, how involved you would like to be, maybe you have some special knowledge or connections…
But if you just want to put your money somewhere and forget about it, start buying small amounts of S&P500. Historically, it’s been the most reliable investment and you don’t really have to do anything else. Just give it time. In the mean time, spend some time getting some knowledge or improving yourself.
At this point, I think the best ROI for you would be focusing on your studies and networking. And if you have any spare time, get a gym membership and some books you’re interested in.
Keep on working and do a bit of travelling.
If you decide to go to Uni then you might need more money.
Consider doing online businesses where there’s little or no start up capital and acquire online skills to execute these projects/business ventures.
Keep the money 10K will go fast. Put it in a high interest savings account
Emergency fund.
Do you want to be an entrepreneur with that ten grand?
Find a problem. Talk to the people around you: What are their pain points in life? At college, there will be many people around you, unfortunately most of them are students or faculty, and education is a very slow business to grow. So you may want to get in touch with more diverse folks ;)
Figure out how to solve said problem. Not all problems are easily solved even with today’s tech. There are some great Y Combinator videos on ‘what startup ideas work’.
Check with folks if that solution actually solves their problem. Prepare to be surprised, pivot, and ask again… many times.
Create a landing page, small ad campaign, and get market validation. Then you can recruit a couple friends or freelancers to build it. Ah, make sure you have contracts. Don’t be like the Winkelvoss twins.
But really, make sure you’re enjoying your college years. Good luck!
Invest it in an index account and forget about it. Then focus, on school.
REIT funds
It would be great to start networking with students that have same interests ( business ideas and business overall ).
Being 23, just finished college and that’s how I did it. I was passionate about marketing and I tried an agency that didn’t worked at all and now I’m in e-com with over 2k orders a month.
I started with 400$ and made an investment of 4k in the next months ( I live in a country where 400$ is minimum income/month, idk about you). So 10k might be great or not.
The only regret I have is I didn’t have so much fun in college because all i thought was how to make money, but we have time.
I am from india, thinking of getting into e commerce. I have a full time job and won’t be able to quit straight away. Can you please suggest how to make product selection, I am ok with not great margins initially but I want momentum.
Put it in your checking account and go get some girls.
You aint getting far with that…
Start businesses for $0-500. Train your brain to become an asset
Invest 5-10% of your income into gold, including some of that 10k, store it at a bank, or in a safe place outside the bank. Golds price is extremely unchanging, and when it does vary it typically increases, it’s also a great fail-safe for a rainy day, you really can’t go wrong with it. Don’t hold large sums of money in physical cash or at a bank, it loses value quickly and unpredictably at times, it’s a liability. Instead…
…invest when you have the money so you can make money, “Money today is worth more than money tomorrow.” Invest in things that earn you money in the long run, such as a house, education, or a business, these things are assets which are positive to your net value.
Lastly, I’m not to immersed with this one, but I would look into ROTH-IRA’s, high-yield savings accounts and other investments that help gain traction towards retirement, that’s where a lot of your income should be going if you don’t plan on having a business and just a normal career.
Sure, invest in crypto and stocks, but crypto is high risk, and stocks are complicated, but if you’re down for it try it out.
Also network, talk to people and expand your realms of knowledge via listening, it’ll benefit you for getting great jobs and starting a business if you’d like.
Do a lot of research, find a niche market, focus on solving a pain point for a specific group of people. Then sell that product/service and see if it’s profitable. Can’t find that by asking strangers on reddit though.