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Hey TL, serious business.
So, I'm officially beginning my financial life.
Working, paying for myself, and using my money intelligently so that I don't have to work nearly as much in my old age.
But how can I use my money intelligently when I honestly don't KNOW what the smart decisions are? I'm currently doing research and will begin by putting a couple thousand dollars into some form of safe investment (mutual fund, reliable companies) to start myself off, but I know that this is just the beginning.
I'm also going to be paying for college, cost of living, doing my little bit to support the family that I now live with, and just generally beginning life.
My current major goals are:
To focus on getting a better job, potentially starting with a part-time internship.
To commit to a simple investment plan to make that little extra bit of money.
To secure an education plan so that I get a degree in a field that pays well and lies within my interests in a reasonable amount of time.
I also have some side goals I'd like to attempt:
Video blogging about my progress and week to week experience. Maybe establishing a source of information for others to draw strength and information from.
Getting a better computer. I expect this to cost ~$1000, though I am also limited in that I will need to build two other computers (one for GF, one for her daughter). That's probably gonna be another $1,000.
Improving my general handiness around the household. I need to be able to fix leaks, patch holes, do electrical work, and all the fun stuff involved with managing a home (I can already do this, but I need to get waaaaaaaay better at it).
I'm going to begin by asking around at an Apple Store down in Center City what all they would require for a paid position as a Technician. I effectively did that job when I was living in Vermont, and Apple's manuals for computer repair are quite handy. Then again, they might not think I'm ready (hence intern-ship being a good plan, assuming better opportunities don't open up for me).
I'll be officially starting my first college course at CCP soon, I'm looking forward to that. Planning to use the first day (the 14th) to check out that Apple Store as well, and maybe talk with whoever is managing it. It's a bit of a commute for me to get to Center City, but I'm also commuting to my current retail job (selling shoes) that's paying me like 10$/hr thanks to commission.
It's going to be tricky working around family schedule with work and school, but hopefully I can make this all turn out well.
In any case, headed to work in 1 hour, where I will check if I can make the 20th of May available for the PhillyBarcraft event. I got horribly sick last time, when I was all geared up to go.
Expect updates in the near future, maybe even with video!
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look into a 401k first for investment then maybe a IRA. talk to your employer about what they are offering--especially since a lot of employers will help you and contribute to your retirement account. sounds like you are a part-time or low level employee so this may not even be an option through employer.
if you want advice from people, you'll need to give more information about your age, education and employment status. otherwise it will just be generic advice.
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Agree with dAphreak above. If you want to start investing, then it's usually 401K to get the company match (if any), then Roth IRA. If your company does not offer a 401K match, it's probably better to use a Roth first. Use a balence of mutual funds until you learn more about the market. But you need some money in the bank in terms of an emergency fund in case you have short term emergencies.
Perhaps others will disagree, but in your situation I would concentrate on college and doing well there. If you are taking classes, plus a part time job, plus a personal life, you will be pretty busy and I'm not sure how much money you will have left over to invest. Sure you'll gain some return by starting investing early, but the most important thing is to get a better job. If you are planning to transfer from CCP, you'll need good grades. I think you are really on the right track with an internship. Just try to figure out what you want to go into, and do your best to get there with the best grades possible in the shortest amount of time. Then hopefully you will be in a much better position, with better income to start investing.
As to the household stuff, you really just learn by experiance. I bought a few "how to" manuals and just tried to do projects. You're going to screw up and make mistakes but that's how you learn. For projects such as complex electrical work or plumbing, I hired someone.
Good luck!
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On May 10 2012 04:22 dAPhREAk wrote:
look into a 401k first for investment then maybe a IRA. talk to your employer about what they are offering--especially since a lot of employers will help you and contribute to your retirement account. sounds like you are a part-time or low level employee so this may not even be an option through employer.
I'm not sure if I want to look into that sort of plan with my current employer, because ideally I'll be employed somewhere else within the next 5 years that pays better.
if you want advice from people, you'll need to give more information about your age, education and employment status. otherwise it will just be generic advice.
For background (not soliciting advice, but just to give you a clearer picture), I am 19 years old. I went to High School and graduated with something over a 3.5 GPA in western Massachusetts, was dual-enrolled in college during my senior year at a community college, took one semester at the same after graduating, then moved down to Philadelphia. Somewhere around that time I was disowned by my family for my choice of a girlfriend, leaving me on my own in terms of schooling. More and more I'm seeing it as potential for learning -- something I might never have had if I had had that middle class 'free ride' through college.
I'm currently enrolled in one course (plan to turn it into two) at the Community College of Philadelphia. I'm taking Linear Algebra so that I can retake Calculus 3 (I got a D because I missed one of the major tests that then factored into my final, had I been present for that test I would have passed with an A/B), because the requirements for Calc III are different here.
I have been working a full time job since last November in retail. It doesn't pay incredibly well, but after being given a full time permanent position I've been making roughly $10/hr and $250-350 a week depending on hours. It's decent, it's money, and I'm grateful to have work (although I'm always looking up).
My main goal with college is to enter a four year institution and get myself a Mechanical Engineering degree to take advantage of my math/science aptitude that I've had for years (I also love creating, building, tweaking, and optimizing designs, plans, etc.).
On May 10 2012 11:08 ColdFusion7 wrote:
Agree with dAphreak above. If you want to start investing, then it's usually 401K to get the company match (if any), then Roth IRA. If your company does not offer a 401K match, it's probably better to use a Roth first. Use a balence of mutual funds until you learn more about the market. But you need some money in the bank in terms of an emergency fund in case you have short term emergencies.
I'm a-ok as far as emergencies go. Same thing I responded to dAPhREAk as far as the 401k goes, but the IRA might be worth looking into.
Perhaps others will disagree, but in your situation I would concentrate on college and doing well there. If you are taking classes, plus a part time job, plus a personal life, you will be pretty busy and I'm not sure how much money you will have left over to invest. Sure you'll gain some return by starting investing early, but the most important thing is to get a better job. If you are planning to transfer from CCP, you'll need good grades. I think you are really on the right track with an internship. Just try to figure out what you want to go into, and do your best to get there with the best grades possible in the shortest amount of time. Then hopefully you will be in a much better position, with better income to start investing.
As to the household stuff, you really just learn by experiance. I bought a few "how to" manuals and just tried to do projects. You're going to screw up and make mistakes but that's how you learn. For projects such as complex electrical work or plumbing, I hired someone.
Good luck!
Yeah, I just need to pay attention to my courses and I'll easily ace them to work on that transfer, the hard part is paying for college when I'm not privy to the requisite information for financial aid, I'll have to get in touch with my estranged family to ask them for information to fill out the FAFSA with, and they make more than enough for me to be ineligible for most aid until I'm 24 (assuming I understood the law right, this is more or less what I've been told).
I agree on the household thing, but due to the eh... complex nature of where I live (in the same house as my girlfriend, her mother, her daughter, our dog, and 5 cats), mistakes aren't really an option as far as home repair goes. 
Thank you very much for the feedback, you two, and hopefully I'll have some worthwhile content (in maybe a v-log?) to share next time I post. 
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EPT
