For any 18 year olds and teenagers wanting to know how to make money, how to save money, and how to invest. This is about what to do when you turn 18 years old and you can totally prepare even earlier than that! Enjoy!
If you’re interested in learning how to take control of your finances and start becoming an investor like Warren Buffett, check out my free PDF guide.
These are all the things I did when I was 18 that I consider to be best practice and that I sincerely believe will help you be financially successful too! None of this content is sponsored so be sure to verify anything websites are advertising about and determine if it makes sense for you.
First: Get Jobs!
This helps you not only gain money (earned income) but helps you to develop a critical skill set of the ability to sell. You’re learning to not only sell goods and services but also yourself so that future employers will hire you or you can rise up as a leader and influence others. If you work at a public company, it might give you the opportunity to invest in their stock investment program.
Second: Open a Credit Card!
If you can be responsible to pay your credit card balances in full every month, this helps you to build a solid credit history and reach a great credit score in due time. By having a credit history, you can qualify for more credit cards and loans in the future, and you’ll get better loan interest rates than others who don’t have good credit or don’t have any at all. Check out Nerdwallet for some good ideas, this is what I’ve done to research what cards made sense for me. Aside from any student loans you might have to get, please try to avoid having debt at all costs!
Third: Open a Roth IRA!
It’s never too early to start saving up for retirement! The power of compounding of your saved money gives you such an advantage by investing your earned income and not gift money from relatives in a Roth IRA because it can help you achieve financial freedom and retire earlier than someone who started saving and investing later in life. Open your Roth IRA at a reputable brokerage firm like Fidelity, Charles Schwab, or TDAmeritrade because they’ve got robust customer service tools and can help you get started. The Invested Book (2018) by Danielle Town and Phil Town is a wonderful guide about how to invest like legendary investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. I wish this book existed when I was 18 to build a great investing foundation.
Fourth: Get a Money Market Account!
This pays better interest on your saved money than a regular old savings account, so money market accounts are like a better savings account. Check out Nerdwallet for some good ideas!
Fifth: Get Scholarship Money!
If you’re planning to go to college, get as much scholarships as you can because it’ll help you to avoid the fate of so many millennials who are loaded with student debt. This will make it easier down the road to pay down less student loans, or not have any at all. You can google “best scholarships” or “easiest scholarships to apply to” that are not as complicated so you can apply to as many as possible. Another tip not mentioned in the video: I went to a great public state college so this also helped me save by not having private university tuition costs!
Sixth: Get a Used but Reliable Car!
When you’re teenager, you just need to get from Point A to Point B and you want to try to minimize any mechanical or electrical issues with your first car because all kinds of things might happen to it. My parents convinced me to get a used, reliable, affordable car instead of being tempted with a BMW 5 series. I’m grateful my used car got the job done and lasted me 7 years, saving me lots of money!
What do you think? If you have any questions, let me know in the comments! Check out more of my videos to learn more details about the Roth IRA and the best of my personal finance tips you can adopt in your life!
All of us are on the journey toward financial freedom, and I look forward to making more investor friends. Add me on Instagram: michellemarki.