General Adulthood, Planning for the Future: Business, College, Budgeting, Investments, etc! $$$ - General

[QUOTE=Tetsmega;49982432]If you're looking to save money purely for retirement or large first time purchases(like a car or house) and have a taxed income, I was recommended opening a Roth IRA account at someplace like Vanguard.com. I had a professor who has a whole video guide if you're interested. [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znTvlwbzMGk[/media] The only downside to using Vangaurd is the 5500 limit per year. So this is meant for young people who only want to set aside 2 digits per month. As you get older and get better paying jobs, you're going to want to max out the limit and open accounts at other places to increase your money in the future. Also, [B]the minimum for opening an account is $1000[/B].[/QUOTE] I've been wanting to do this for a long e, and will start funneling money into one as soon as my business is established. This is anexcellent way to grow some money over a long period of time.

I've also been told that Roth IRA's are great to have and best to start young if you can. My biggest problem with investing right now is I simply don't have the money to even start.

Have you guys started to get white hair and shit? Noticed since about a year back that I'm getting random strands of white hair, noticing more and more lately. Nose hair, facial hair, everything. I don't wanna grow up.

i've been getting white hairs since high school

Sometimes I can't tell if a hair is super light blonde or just white My beard is like a mix of (mostly) red, black, brown, and blonde hairs [editline]22nd March 2016[/editline] Sandy blonde hair + red beard, damn you grandpa and your irish heritage :angry:

[QUOTE=Swebonny;49983796]Have you guys started to get white hair and shit? Noticed since about a year back that I'm getting random strands of white hair, noticing more and more lately. Nose hair, facial hair, everything. I don't wanna grow up.[/QUOTE] I wish. I'm starting to worry I got the hair falls out genes of the family. My cousins side got all the silver fox genes.

How bad is my memory that I forgot about a $2000 savings account that I built up in grade 11? Back then I was getting shifts for days and with zero life expenses I could afford to split my income 50/50 between that account and buying a nice PC. Is there anything at all useful that can be done with it instead of earning a petty 2.5% interest, or should I just leave it alone as a war chest?

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;49984443]if its at 11 grand and you got something you need take what you need then leave it otherwise just leave it save it for a house or a car or emergency needs[/QUOTE] It's 2 grand, he built it up in [b]grade[/b] 11.

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;49984443]if its at 11 grand and you got something you need take what you need then leave it otherwise just leave it save it for a house or a car or emergency needs[/QUOTE] [quote=ScottyWired;49984359]$2000 savings account that I built up in grade 11[/quote] [editline]22nd March 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Revenge282;49984480][/QUOTE] fucking ninja'd

[QUOTE=Swebonny;49983796]Have you guys started to get white hair and shit? Noticed since about a year back that I'm getting random strands of white hair, noticing more and more lately. Nose hair, facial hair, everything. I don't wanna grow up.[/QUOTE] premature graying of hair has a number of causes. It can be due to stress, lack of essential vitamins and minerals, genetic causes, oxidative stress, problems with the thyroid or pituitary, and so on and so forth. Contrary to popular belief, stress doesnt actually cause premature graying of hair. The largest causes are due to either poor nutritional intake, or due to genetic predilection.

[QUOTE=ScottyWired;49984359]How bad is my memory that I forgot about a $2000 savings account that I built up in grade 11? Back then I was getting shifts for days and with zero life expenses I could afford to split my income 50/50 between that account and buying a nice PC. Is there anything at all useful that can be done with it instead of earning a petty 2.5% interest, or should I just leave it alone as a war chest?[/QUOTE] Is there an Australian equivalent of a Roth IRA?

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49984532]Is there an Australian equivalent of a Roth IRA?[/QUOTE] Is there a canadian version?

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49983646]I've been wanting to do this for a long e, and will start funneling money into one as soon as my business is established. This is anexcellent way to grow some money over a long period of time.[/QUOTE] I just wanted to say that if you do this and expect your money to grow as long as you're alive, don't be discouraged and cash out if there's ever a recession or stock market crash. You will lose a LOT of money. Don't stop funneling money into those accounts because they will recover in a few years and will compound your money higher than you can expect. Vanguard is also safe because I believe they default your stock portfolio to an index fund, which has a very stable growth. If and only if you have years of experience with being a financial consultant should you pick your own stocks. That's pretty much no one who wants to start up an account on here, but for those of you in the future who see this should [B]NEVER[/B] pick your own stocks. These finance managers spend 24/7 watching news of companies in order to minimize loss or maximize their gains on their chosen indexes. The average person can not do that nor predict that. Another note is that vanguard automatically switches your funds from stocks into government bonds in order to secure your money as you reach your age of retirement. Government bonds have a shitty interest rate, but you are guaranteed your money and the stock market will never effect it's total.

Indexes and never stop investing even in rocky times is basically the premise of the book "Elements of Investing" Keep calm and carry on.

Paper stocks are an area of high interest but little understanding for me. Property is relatively simple for me to understand. It's there, I can walk into it. I can analyze its value before buying, and predict with relative accuracy whether it will appreciate or depreciate in value barring sudden market shifts. Even in market shifts where property values fall, I know that in the long run I am likely to recover the value through the overall positive appreciation of real estate, and that a low market can actually be quite a boon to my particular field of investment given the number of great deals that become available. Paper stocks, though? Man, that is ethereal to me. I have no idea how to analyze a stock or predict my return. It feels like rolling the dice to me, and news articles about the world's best stock analysts only being marginally more accurate than Wall Street Journal staffers literally throwing darts at a corkboard covered in stock names does little to dispel that feeling for me. I definitely want to invest in stocks, since portfolio diversification is simply added security, but they would never be my primary investment vwhicle, personally.

Our radio stations here, on saturday play a financial advisors ad/talk show for most of the night. They talk heavily about investing when the market is down to make the best profits, they claim that's where most of the money in investing is to be had. I'm not a financial guy, so I don't understand it at all.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;49985418]Our radio stations here, on saturday play a financial advisors ad/talk show for most of the night. They talk heavily about investing when the market is down to make the best profits, they claim that's where most of the money in investing is to be had. I'm not a financial guy, so I don't understand it at all.[/QUOTE] That much I can totally understand. In a down housing market, property values fall, inventory increases, foreclosure rates spike, occupancy rates for rental units climb, etc. For an investor ready and able to pounce, amazing deals become available. Incredible margins can be achieved on cashflow properties purchased at a fraction of their value, and when the market does turn back around the equity in the property surges. We are in a high market right now in my city, which will be a boon to me as I estate lush myself as a real estate agent, but I hope to begin my career as an investor during a down market.

See, I've been trying to think about what you're doing and if it could work where I live, but i'm not sure. Our barrier to entry is absurd. Prices for the smallest of lots in prime locations(and I mean too small to fit a normal sized house on) go for millions of dollars. Our market currently suffers from "Shadow Flipping" and foreign "buy and hold" investors who own an incredible amount of housing but don't live in it so our prices just sky rocket every year. Eventually that bubble will break and I'd like to prepare for that, but until then, it's seemingly impossible to break into the market here. Like for instance, my 800 sq foot 1 bedroom apartment, for purchase, was over 160,000$. Owning another rental unit itself seems like a life time of savings.

For anybody who doesn't mind some light landlording and is considering buying a home or condo anyway, consider "House Hacking." This refers to buying a multifamily home such as a duplex, triplex, or even a fourplex and renting out the additional units to cover your living expenses and pay down your mortgage. If I were single, I definitely would have gone that route. The nice thing is that as long as it has less than five units, it is still considered residential property and thus can be financed through all the usual methods (though some banks are picky about financing multifamily homes).

I've been 18 for a few months now. Legal driving age here, how much would you guys recommend getting a license and a car?

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49985447]That much I can totally understand. In a down housing market, property values fall, inventory increases, foreclosure rates spike, occupancy rates for rental units climb, etc. For an investor ready and able to pounce, amazing deals become available. Incredible margins can be achieved on cashflow properties purchased at a fraction of their value, and when the market does turn back around the equity in the property surges. We are in a high market right now in my city, which will be a boon to me as I estate lush myself as a real estate agent, but I hope to begin my career as an investor during a down market.[/QUOTE] You should look around the Gulf Coast for cheap homes you can renovate and rent out as vacation rentals. We get wiped out by hurricanes every decade or so. We still got run down abandoned homes from when hurricane Ike hit. Lots of houses still available on the cheap that can be flipped and rented out for thousands [I]per week.[/I] And if they survived enough to not be considered a total tear down by now, then you know their structure is pretty solid if it managed to stay up during Ike. Since future catastrophic hurricanes are pretty much guaranteed, you'll never run out of beat up homes to buy! (just be sure your current properties can take a beating, too) Check it, yo: [url]http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3118-Avenue-N-1-2-Galveston-TX-77550/27644981_zpid/?view=public[/url] A comp rental right down the road from that shanty: [url]http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3324-Avenue-N-1-2-Galveston-TX-77550/27658132_zpid/?view=public[/url] [I]And those aren't even beach or waterfront.[/I] Check out these: (this one is not even renovated) [url]http://www.trulia.com/rental/3224204808-22903-Martes-St-Galveston-TX-77554#photo-1[/url] (this ones probably an extreme example, but [I]think of the possibilities[/I]) [url]http://www.trulia.com/rental/3099901223-23013-Gulf-Dr-Galveston-TX-77554[/url] Lot of homes waiting to rise like the Phoenix. [editline]22nd March 2016[/editline] If I had the money, time, and expertise, I'd definitely get into real estate.

[QUOTE=OvB;49985697]You should look around the Gulf Coast for cheap homes you can renovate and rent out as vacation rentals. We get wiped out by hurricanes every decade or so. We still got run down abandoned homes from when hurricane Ike hit. Lots of houses still available on the cheap that can be flipped and rented out for thousands [I]per week.[/I] And if they survived enough to not be considered a total tear down by now, then you know their structure is pretty solid if it managed to stay up during Ike. Since future catastrophic hurricanes are pretty much guaranteed, you'll never run out of beat up homes to buy! (just be sure your current properties can take a beating, too) Check it, yo: [url]http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3118-Avenue-N-1-2-Galveston-TX-77550/27644981_zpid/?view=public[/url] A comp rental right down the road from that shanty: [url]http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3324-Avenue-N-1-2-Galveston-TX-77550/27658132_zpid/?view=public[/url] [I]And those aren't even beach or waterfront.[/I] Check out these: (this one is not even renovated) [url]http://www.trulia.com/rental/3224204808-22903-Martes-St-Galveston-TX-77554#photo-1[/url] (this ones probably an extreme example, but [I]think of the possibilities[/I]) [url]http://www.trulia.com/rental/3099901223-23013-Gulf-Dr-Galveston-TX-77554[/url] Lot of homes waiting to rise like the Phoenix. [editline]22nd March 2016[/editline] If I had the money, time, and expertise, I'd definitely get into real estate.[/QUOTE] I'd have to do a lot more research into the area, though I would hesitate a bit to invest in an area that gets regularly rocked by superstorms for a number of reasons. The insurance premiums would be very high, and the the threat of losing your structure would be pretty stressful! Additionally, with these being vacation rentals, the high seasonal cashflow would drop substantially during the off seasons. I'm sure the numbers can still work, especially with others actively investing in the area, but I'd have to do a lot of homework to feel comfortable with it!

There's definitely risk involved with homes in storm areas, but the added risk could translate into more opportunity if it's keeping some prospective buyers away. I'm not sure about the insurance rates, and I was using that location as an example since it's local to me. I'm willing to bet there's a lot of similar opportunities for vacation rentals in Florida or other Gulf states. A thing to consider is while they are vacation rentals, not everyone does their vacations in the summer. You'll get a lot of snowbirds that come down in the winter to escape the cold since it's warmer here year round. Though it's definitely more active in the summer. I've heard of places having a year long waiting list you had to sign up for in advance. And if you can't get a tenant you can always spend a week there yourself and take some time off by the sea!

I know I missed the slow cooker talk earlier, but since we're on the subject of money more-less and this is related, I have an almost runaway food budget. I'm barely home and am usually either too lazy/too hungry/too busy to cook, so almost 100% of my food budget is either cheap microwave burritos or fast food or, worse of all, delivery food (I've spent 30 bucks in one night on [I]one[/I] delivery order not very long ago and that's just unforgivable). I thought slow cookers were more expensive but, lo and behold, they're actually quite cheap. Do you guys know of any good [I]very[/I] quick prep and "set and forget" kind of recipes for slow cookers that aren't incredibly expensive? [editline]amillionotherproblems[/editline] Also, I'm a full time student who works only around 16h/wk max, usually less. My truck is in constant need of repairs, which isn't surprising since it's a 2003 F150 with over 190,000 miles on it. The issue is, I want to get another car because I'm not very sure of the long-term health of this one and I do a shitton of long-distance driving, which becomes a problem because I'm throwing on a ton more miles, the gas mileage isn't that good, and if it breaks down in the middle of Canada I'm not quite sure what I'd do. There are a lot of problems I'm facing with this, though. For starters, either poor or no credit, no savings, and getting help from my mom for it is going to be minimal at best because we don't have a whole ton of money right now. The good news is I'll be able to work full time hopefully starting in May when classes end, assuming my old store back home will take me back, but that's only going to be $9.50/hr. The whole thing is very overwhelming. Do you guys know where I should start?

I have a few neurological disorders that has kept me from functioning properly in school and in society. I've always been freelancing by helping individuals/groups/studios/etc with film and TV-production. It's something I'm very good at. A place were I can feel safe, never do wrong and always be helpful, but the pay is not that good and the working scheduals are a real pain (get a call in the middle of the night to do that and this; a few weeks in row). I need a normal job which I've never had, but I'm terrified for not being able to fit in or do my job without being hindered by my lesser capabilities. I've never done a job interview, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to do the most common work, after the shit that's happened in college. They'll fire me instantly. I'm recieving a pay from some insurance money for people with disabilities, and is enough for rent and food to stay healthy, and it's on the minimal. I feel like a burden to society for not having a normal job, but I have no idéa how I'm going to be capable to do it. Maybe I should just try to complete a university degree (master, hopefully), and specialize myself for a position that is needed. Due to my lifelong situation, I've always been interrested in psychology and it's many forms; especially sociology and criminology. Maybe I should focus on that? And later on see what types of job positions that may require my service, while actually being good at it, and not be a burden for society nor the workplace. I've heard there are corporations that take advantage of people like me because we can become expertly addicted to certain topics, but it feels like a long-shot. To be completely honest, I am lost.

We Bird Men will always have a place in life.

If you're receiving pay for disability, most jobs - hopefully around where you are since we're not from the same country - will offer leniency in things like absences, time off, early leave, etc. etc. Jobs cannot discriminate against you once you're in the job if they're aware of your disabilities and the accommodations that you need. Schools also accommodate you if you know where to look. I wasn't sure I could get accommodation for my stomach disorder but apparently I can! So I would definitely look into disability in the work-place and schools around you. It's totally doable to find something that suits you and your needs! Just gotta do a lot of research.

[QUOTE=The bird Man;49986775]I have a few neurological disorders that has kept me from functioning properly in school and in society. I've always been freelancing by helping individuals/groups/studios/etc with film and TV-production. It's something I'm very good at. A place were I can feel safe, never do wrong and always be helpful, but the pay is not that good and the working scheduals are a real pain (get a call in the middle of the night to do that and this; a few weeks in row). I need a normal job which I've never had, but I'm terrified for not being able to fit in or do my job without being hindered by my lesser capabilities. I've never done a job interview, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to do the most common work, after the shit that's happened in college. They'll fire me instantly. I'm recieving a pay from some insurance money for people with disabilities, and is enough for rent and food to stay healthy, and it's on the minimal. I feel like a burden to society for not having a normal job, but I have no idéa how I'm going to be capable to do it. Maybe I should just try to complete a university degree (master, hopefully), and specialize myself for a position that is needed. Due to my lifelong situation, I've always been interrested in psychology and it's many forms; especially sociology and criminology. Maybe I should focus on that? And later on see what types of job positions that may require my service, while actually being good at it, and not be a burden for society nor the workplace. I've heard there are corporations that take advantage of people like me because we can become expertly addicted to certain topics, but it feels like a long-shot. To be completely honest, I am lost.[/QUOTE] Hows the local professional film scene there? Are there big budget movies coming through at least 6 months of the year? Because it's hard work, but it's good money if you can work for the local film union. That's my professional background, and a world I'm all together too happy to leave in the dust, but one I certainly miss for it's carefree attitude and the feeling of working in "The wild west" because even with regulations in place, film is one of the least regulated place to be a regular joe.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;49986900]Hows the local professional film scene there? Are there big budget movies coming through at least 6 months of the year? Because it's hard work, but it's good money if you can work for the local film union. That's my professional background, and a world I'm all together too happy to leave in the dust, but one I certainly miss for it's carefree attitude and the feeling of working in "The wild west" because even with regulations in place, film is one of the least regulated place to be a regular joe.[/QUOTE] I live in a place called "Trollywood", because it's the main center for enthuastic and creative minds. It's all about photography, journalism, and especially film and TV-production. It is possible to dig myself into a spot were I can get a full time job, but it requires a lot of work and patience to get a position. Like you said, they don't want any "regular Joes". The film world want individuals with certain charactaristics, that think different, especially the creative areas. But they have to see it, and therefore I'm doing freelancing, but it is so slow. That's why I fit in there, and I'll be 100% honest here: I am so obsessed by making films (not watching), so much that I am a golden tool to have, but it may even be dangerous for me, because I am litteraly working so much on it I kill myself mentaly. There's a union called "Film i Väst" ("Film in the West", swedish translations are weird). They fond a lot of studios because Sweden believes in a nation that motivates cultural explorations and expansions. You create your product from the budget they give you, and send it back to them for review, and than it might get sent to several places for film corporations to check out and hire. In just that area they create somewhere around 5-20 amateur projects a month, while 2-10 big budget once per year. While shooting a film takes only a few weeks, unless the weather and feaver hits you; so there's a lot of paperwork before and afterwards (atleast some kind of job opportunities?).

So up until fairly recently, I've been convinced I could hack it through life without going to college. I've never wanted to rack up the debt that you hear so much about. But I recently realized that I can't stand the type of work I've been doing, and I want to pursue a career that won't make me miserable. Since I've been avoiding college up to this point in my life, I know literally nothing about it. I really do mean that in the literal sense of the word "literally", too. I checked out a few local schools near me and it's a whole foreign world to me. I know we've got a lot of college students and graduates here, so is there anyone that would be willing to chat with me and help guide me in the right direction? I'm actually slightly embarrassed by my lack of knowledge on this subject, and I feel like I need to be almost babied, but anything and everything is appreciated.