Quote:
Originally Posted by Scanner
While I definitely 100% agree with the grandmotherly advice being offered here of save, save, save. . .there is a conundrum that exists for a 15 year old.
Let's say she is able to squirrel away $1000/month for 3 years into savings - it will probably disqualify her for any financial aid for college as she will have amassed probably in the neighborhood of $50,000 for college.
Could we perhaps be more specific for her?
Would putting her money into a Roth IRA shield not only taxes but allow her to qualify for financial aid on forms for college?
As far as careers, you will have to narrow it a bit - if you are interested in healthcare, you can ask DisneySteve or I (I think InDebtinDC is in healthcare too). Or are you interested in technology? Sales as someone said? Academia?
You have to define "good career" for us.
To a male, it may mean "I wanna be my own boss and make lotsa dough."
To a female, it may mean, "I want job security and an ability to have maternity and benefits and raise a family" (teaching).
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Investing causes tax problems and financial aid problems. I would agree the OP should do some research on these issues as appropriate. I would not suggest the OP avoid saving to learn about these issues though.
I was clueless on taxes when i started investing at age of 23. 12 years later I am much smarter for the mistakes I made. I would suggest to the OP it is OK to make mistakes investing (I did), just learn from them and move on.
As far as careers, I would suggest OP follow their heart. The most common attribute of successful people is they are good at what they do. Being miserable in a day job because it pays lots of money is no way to live a life.
The investing world, IMO has known limits. We all use the same investing world, so to find someone who's only skill is "making money" by investing is not the goal of investing. It is a calculated way to transfer burden of income from employment to retirement. I haven't met anyone which complained they had too much money in the bank yet. Savings and setting money aside is a good thing.