For those of you who are some what wealthy or succesfull

[thetruthintheformofhiphop]

Ok so im a junior in highschool(in 6 days) so i have a bunch of people and teachers and stuff telling me what they think i should do. But the truth is that, i know i can do what i want, i have to much determination i cannot fail. So my questions are:

 

1.Does it matter what college you go to or as long as you go to college.

 

2. Are stocks a cool way to invest your money.

 

3.Is getting money different for everyone.

 

4.am i to worried about this, im a junior in high school with ok grades. do i still have a clear view before the fog starts to set in.

[shes2smart]

1.Does it matter what college you go to or as long as you go to college.

 

Depends on what field you're going into. Generally speaking just the fact that you have a college degree is good enough to get you in the door. After you've been in the working world for a few years, what you've done on the job will be more important than where your degree came from.

 

2. Are stocks a cool way to invest your money.

 

If you are talking retirement saving, stocks are the only way to save money and keep pace with or outpace inflation. The sooner you can start socking away money, the better off you will be when you get older. There are lots of good, easy-to-understand books on investing that can explain the basics to you. Look in the library.

 

If you don't have the time/inclination to constantly research and babysit individual company stocks, mutual funds are the way to go. In a mutual fund, the investment company chooses a selection of individual company stocks that match the fund's goals. Investors then buy shares of the mutual fund.

 

I'd recommend reading a few books about investing (again, the library is your friend). Even if you don't understand everything in the books, you will still be able to get some ideas of how investing works and why the sooner you start the better off you will be.

 

3.Is getting money different for everyone.

 

I'm not sure what you're asking here. I work in a profession that is notoriously low-paying, but it's what I love. However, through a combination of frugal living, careful management, a very non-materialistic outlook on life and an early start saving I do have a rather sizeable sum stashed away for retirement. More than a lot of people my age, less than others. Suffice to say that even though my income is moderate, I manage to save something along the order of 20% of what I make (combination of retirement & general savings) and live on only 80%.

 

When I was single, my goal was to get it to a 50/50 saving/living on mix. Never quite made it (best I could do was 25/75). My husband has some unavoidable large expenses (alimony, child support) that make my 50/50 goal unattainable for now, but maybe some day....

 

4.am i to worried about this, im a junior in high school with ok grades. do i still have a clear view before the fog starts to set in.

 

Again, I'm not sure what you're asking here. It is never too soon to learn how to get good at managing the money you do have or are earning at this point. Learning to live within your means is a good lesson to learn. There are people my age who haven't learned it yet and they are going to be in for a rude shock down the road.

 

My husband works for a bank in their credit card division. He sees the end result of bad money management every day. Understand this -- credit cards in and of themselves are not bad or evil. It is the mismanagement and poor use of credit that gets people in trouble.

 

Anyway, I think at your age basic budgeting would be a good thing to learn about and focus on. In terms of career field, if you're not sure what you want to do yet, that's normal. Try to learn a little about a lot of different things. The things that you find most interesting are the areas you will want to explore in depth and consider working in later on. Never, ever do a job you dislike just because it pays well. I don't care how much it pays...it won't be enough to compensate you for all the hours you will waste hating it.

 

Which brings me to a final point....money is nice. It can make your life comfortable and give you options that people without money don't have. However, it is not everything and it is not the important thing. Your most valuable commodity is TIME. Money comes and goes...if you spend it, you can go earn more, but time...once it's gone it's gone and you don't ever get it back.

 

Like Suze Orman says, "People first, then things, then money."

 

You might want to check some of her books out of the library.

[Angelus]

A job only gets you so far. In life there are four ways to make money as well as only four types of people in the Business world.

 

Making Money: YOE: Your Own Efforts.

This is the typical way more than 90% of us survive by getting and trading time for money. Sadly enough, there is rearely enough time and even if you could work 24 hours a day for 45 years, everntually you run out of time. Economic analyst have discovered that 98% of the ppl who use this method after the age of 65 are either dead or dead broke. Google it and you'll see for yourself.

 

Making Money 2: OPE: Other People's Efforts.

Usually everyone that is command of someone else get's paid via this method. At the top of every orginization is a C.E.O. or chairman that does very little work yet gets paid more than everyone else.

 

Making Money 3: OPI: Other People's Ideas.

These are people who have it made like hollywood producers or software tycoons, manufactures, distributors these people make money using the ideas of others. For instance the interenet is the idea of someone yet people on EBAY use that idea to make money (just an example).

 

Making Money 4: OPM: Other People's Money.

Usually stock brokers, CEO's and multi-millionaires. They use their money as well as the money of others as leverage to make even more money. For you to get into this catergory requires you to have a lot of money to begin with as well as great credibility.

 

Those are the ways to make money, now let's look at the ppl who fit into these categories.

 

Employees Work all their lives for wages, retire and eventually depend on their kids for survival unless they saved everyday they worked or made solid investments. Primary souce of Income YOE.

 

Self Employeed Doctors, Lawyers, Mechanics, ppl like them sell their services to make a profit. Yes their lives are much better than employees however, they still only make money YOE.

 

Business Owners People who own large department stores or even a small grocery store. This caterogry requires you to have a lot of money to even be eligible however, it also is very time consuming and can literally be just as bad as the previous two. Primary Source of Income: YOE, OPE, OPI and OPM.

 

Investors People who use their money, their efforts as well as the efforts and money of others to genertate major profits. This requires extensive financial base if you want to turn over serious profits. It is also the most risky as the markets and trends change daily so if you don't have money to back your losses, this isn't the one for you.

 

While you are young, I would recommend you invest in mutual funds and trust funds so that in 30-40 years you could be looking at a few million dollars if you invest it right. In school or college they will never teach you how to make money, all you will learn is how to perform on a job where you sell yourself short. At the age of 20, I have my own company: I work for no one and the money I make in a week, some ppl don't even make in a month. When you have a job you work for wages which earns you a living, but when you have a business you work for profits and gain a fortune. Always remember that. Find the successful people and duplicate what they do as success only breads success. If you need more info, send me a message and I'll show you guys what being young and successful is like.