Money advice for a 19 year old

[WRO]

Treat chasing girls like fly fishing at your age, keep em wet and let them go.

I never had a serious relationship until I was 25.

 

[Meety Peety]

If you have to pick between food, shelter or a $5k scope, pick the scope. Everything else will work itself out... probably.

 

[ewade07]

Treat chasing girls like fly fishing at your age, keep em wet and let them go.

I never had a serious relationship until I was 25.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Oh man, you oh me a new keyboard. Its gonna be hard getting the coffee out of it after spewing my coffee on it.

 

[Rich M]

I'm gonna jump in without reading all the other posts.

Emergency Fund - do this. I had a set $20K that I wouldn't touch and then the business my wife & I had failed & went belly up. It came in handy. It also came in handy after wife did a hospital stay. So, figure out your comfort zone and keep an emergency fund- I hope you never need it.

Education/Trade - do this as well. You need to take advantage of the future and the best way to do that is with a better paying job. I have a bachelor's degree and about 20 years later (after business failed) got an MBA to go along with a couple professional licenses.

Work ethic - I'm sure you have one. Be first in and last out the door, no complaining, just get it done. Add a smile and a laugh and you'll be the guy folks want to work with - and the one the boss's want running the show. Seen a quote the other day, was something like this: "Work hard at your 8 hr/day job and they let you be the boss and work 12 hrs/day." It's true - at least in my situation. The diff is about 50-100% more pay in some circumstances. The American Dream is alive and well - you just need to be willing to work for it - and if you fall down, get back up and keep going.

You are on the right track with saving and investing. You are not too young to get a financial adviser. The whole thing about the financial adviser is that he/she should be belly deep in finance and investing every day, which gives an advantage over the rest of us who are working diff kinds of jobs. They'll help you set up a plan and follow it. Think systematic investing (invest 10-15% every paycheck).

Dave Ramsey, Clark Howard, etc. are good for some things and not as good for bending to individual circumstances. I say they are okay. Your goal is to make enough money that you don't need to budget to the penny or wince when you see the gun/scope/boots/etc. you want go on sale and can't buy it due to the budget.

Gear: A couple of years ago I would have told you to buy middle priced gear - $1,000 rifle and $1,000 scope or better. Not so much these days. I got a Ruger American Ranch Rifle and put a Diamondback on it - she shoots these tight little groups and the scope is decent. Do have a Leica ER, a much better scope, but we can only shoot 1/2 hr before and after around here, so the Leica is wasted horsepower. Kinda funny how I changed my tune - going from alpha glass to budget minded stuff. Don't get caught up in the hype, get what works for you and then use it. If you drop a $500 rifle it hurts less than scratching a $1,500 rifle - and you will if you hunt right.

As for hunting stuff - Plan your purchases - make a list and set yourself up a "pot of gold" or at least allow yourself to dip into your savings when you find em on a decent sale - say 25% of more off. Back in 2017 I was getting geared up to start hunting out west. Gander Mtn was going out of business - got boots, breathable rain gear, socks, and more at 60-70% off. Was at Cabelas looking for a pair of boots and ran into a $450 rangefinder for $150 due to Leupold changing the camo pattern - scooped that up. Canvas wall tent for $180 on sale. Stuff like that. Granted it is a different atmosphere now, just keep your eyes open and be willing and able to buy stuff you planned to buy. Used stuff works too - buddy needs money and wants to sell his rifle kind of thing.

Got a pair of $500+ binocs on sale for say $250 - they are nice. Buddy shows up for a mule deer hunt with a pair of $125 Leupold McKenzies. They made the bedded deer stand out a little bit better - enough that it made a diff. Never would have believed it if it wasn't me holding the glass. The newer coatings are amazing on glass - that's how we have HD glass now. It's mainly a coating. 5 years ago $1,000 glass might only be as good as next year's $200 glass.

Planning - you need to plan. Figure out what you want to do and plan & save for it. Want to retire early? you need to suffer now. Want to have your own business, it takes a lot to get going - easier to buy an established business and let the seller show you the ropes.

Women/marriage - find one who has her head on straight, similar goals and ambitions. A bunch of guys I know have wives that love to spend everything - he brings home a $10,000 bonus and she remodels the shower. That was my first wife, second wife isn't as quick to spend the money but she doesn't have the job or overall ambition that the first one did. Best you can do is find an equally minded girl and have a talk about the future, goals, etc. Of course, things/priorities will change over time, but not too much.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Choose your spouse wisely. They will be the source of 90% of your happiness, or misery.

The current average cost of raising a child to age 18 is $284,570. This does not include college or private school.

 

[wjohnson1983]

I haven't read all 5 pages, so most of this may have already been said.

1. Hire a financial advisor if you feel like you need to. They have different fees structures on how they get paid. Ours is paid from the kids college fund fee structure. Everything else has no fee attached unless we start trading stocks with him. (At 19 your finances probably don't merit a FA, but keep it in the back of you mind)
2. Live below your means
3. Save every month. I started putting at least 10% of my check into the 401k at work at age 21
4. Have a savings account with liquid cash as an emergency fund; 6 months is ideal
5. There's a difference between a need and a want in your life; Don't watch social media or look at your buddies and think you have to keep up with the Joneses. Follow #2/3/4 and in your 20s you probably won't be able to buy many of the wants, but in your 30s/40s you're going to be better off than most folks and be able to.
6. Understand compounding insurance before you sign that boat, truck, home note. I have spreadsheets built where I can input numbers and see how much interest will be paid over the life of a loan and what my savings accounts are going to return in the year. When I have some extra cash, I run the numbers to see if it's worth putting into saving or paying down debt (Almost always best to pay down debt unless you have a 0% finance loan)
7. Pay extra on any loans you have even if it's only $25 or $50 a month. Ties into #6
8. Don't spend more on a Credit Card than you can pay every 2 weeks or don't get one at all

 

[Travis Hobbs]

I didn’t read all the replies.

My advice, quit your job… today and find a new job. You will never get anywhere at that wage.

I own multiple businesses… 12.00 an hour is a horrible wage in todays market. Middle School kids make 15.00 flipping burgers……

I pay guys $22.00 an hour starting out with no experience and everyone else in and around my industry does the same, and there is job openings everywhere you look. Unless your incompetent, lazy or have no worth….you gotta be paid better than that.

Btw, in my opinion I live in the greatest western hunting location ever…

 

[hunt1up]

Delete your Rokslide account!

 

[S.Clancy]

Live cheap and be intentional with how you spend your money. Also, do the below in order...

1. Save up 6 months worth of expenses in savings.
2. Get a new job. If you're not a complete moron or lazy you should be able to make ~$20/hr.
3. Decide whether you want to go to college, trades, etc. You need to make money in this life and you need to figure out the best way for you to do that.
4. Open a ROTH IRA and put at least 100$ a month in. Increase this over time.
5. I suggest staying the hell away from women (at least relationships) until you figure out your path. There's a lot of guys that sacrifice opportunity in life for a woman, which is dumb, there are literally millions of women and opportunity is much more rare, IMO.

 

[Forestryguy]

Work hard, save your money, invest in yourself first (retirement, savings, physically, mentally), Live frugally. Never buy a new vehicle, until you can pay cash for it. If you want something save your money specifically for it. Don't keep up with the Jones'. Invest in things that you can control the flow of cash from. Learn real life skills.

 

[WCB]

I agree with almost everything above. I have not read through every comment on here though. One thing I would mention is do things you want to do now and don't wait. You can make money and save it doing these things but don't sacrifice living life chasing future purchases. If you want to head out west and be a hunting guide or fishing guide DO IT. If you want to chase geese for a month straight get after it it.

IMO learn a trade (i.e. welding, equipment operation, construction, etc) Some trades type jobs offer you the flexibility to also do both...make good money and have large blocks of time to also have fun and enjoy your life. Also, right now you can almost name your price and make money hand over fist in some areas as manual labor or trades jobs have a TON of openings.

WOMEN...guys that say stay away from them have what they call women problems. If you get easily attached or generally have bad judgment in women yes best policy STAY AWAY. Otherwise find a good one that works hard and has her sh!t in order. Don't force anything and as soon as you know it isn't going anywhere cut ties then. Also wrap it up.

A guy I know gave some sound advice from his history of relationships. "#1 and #2 are ok but Skip wife #3 and go right to #4"

 

[huntnful]

Pick a trade you like and learn it well. You'll be making well over $100k in a couple years. But you also need to learn what to do with all that money. I also recommend dave ramsey and "Your Money or Your Life". I don't follow their investing, but their money saving/spending insight is excellent. For investing, I follow "The simple path to wealth".

For the record, I'm a pipe welder and haven't made less than $175k in the last 10 years. And don't know another pipe welder that makes less than $100k. Welding, carpentry, drywall, HVAC, plumbing, iron worker and there are so many more. Maintenance repair is huge also. A bunch of rich people have shit that they have no idea how to fix lol.

 

[HornPorn]

Your 19 year old self has different dreams and goals than your 30 yr, 40 yr, etc. self will.

The hardest thing in life is to learn from other people's mistakes. You have alot of great advice above, but in the end, you will decide the path that is right for you.

One other thing about women (are you seeing a pattern yet?), when you marry them you marry the family too. And she marries yours. Keep this in mind.

 

[Shootinsurveyor]

Buy used gear and rifles. Most people just want to look at the stuff and not use it to pieces. Its easier to get high level gear at reasonable prices. I haven't bought anything used that actually looked used. Temper your expectations on what you need until you have increased your income to levels that account for retirement and emergency. Everyone wants the 2K scope, but I remember the days when a 500 dollar scope was a dream. You can still hunt with good gear on a budget.

 

[CorbLand]

I would also agree with those that are saying go find something that pays better. Unless that job is providing something you truly need at this very moment (flexibility, experience, etc.) go find something that pays.

 

[grossklw]

Not reading through all of this, but I'm guessing someone has toted rothIRA, get skilled and make more money, spend less etc. Other than the obvious ones I recommend on top of that this.

For housing once you are financially a bit more secure you can qualify for an FHA 3.5% down loan for a house (or go into the military and get a 0% VA loan). And anything up to a 4-plex qualifies. Easiest way to get started in real estate is buy a 2-4 unit small multifamily and live in one unit and rent the others. A lot of real estate investors started this way, house hacking is one of the simplest (notice I didn't say easy) ways to create wealth. I've got friends on their 5th house-hack, in 30 years they'll have likely over 2 million dollars worth of property completely paid off. It's two-folded, not only is someone else paying down your mortgage for you but it also significantly subsidizes your housing expense which for most people is their largest expense. A great example is my charter boat captain bought and renovated a triplex, paid about 300k for it 3 years ago, put 60k into it and it's now worth 600k. But not only that, he pockets about 1000/month; so he's not only not paying rent but cash flowing 1k on top of all of his living expenses.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

While there has been some great advice on here i also disagree with a lot what has been said. Who cares about retirement and long-term wealth at your age, go enjoy the best damn years of your life and worry about that other shit later! I personally grew up dirt poor and took out student loans to attend trade school, once graduated I worked 100+ hours a week on the road for almost 10years. By the young age of 21 I was making more money than both my parents combined. I didn't start putting into my retirement till I was 28 and just recently visited with our retirement planner and I'll be up for retirement at 58 and between my 401k & pension I'll have roughly 3.5million to retire.

I never bought a new truck, boat, UTV or motorcycle but you can you bet your ass I chewed snuff & closed down the bar 100's of times when working on the road and not once did reading a Dave Ramsey book cross my mind.

Also didn't mention that i was able to hunt a shit load because I was putting in so many hours and in between jobs I'd go hunt for 30 days straight or One spring I guided snow goose hunters for 2 1/2 months straight.

The opportunities are endless so don't pigeonhole yourself to a dead-end job and some girl in your hometown just because it feels safe. Go out there and take some risks and have fun because you only get one crack at this thing called "life".

 

[Z Barebow]

Most posters have given you great advice. RE: Expensive scope and other expensive toys. No need to keep with the Jones. Many times the "Jones" are maxing out their credit card as they drive shiny new vehicles they lease. Sometimes you may eventually see their names in the Bankruptcy section of local newspaper.

Beware of the man with one gun. He likely knows how to use it.

 

[roosiebull]

Someone mentioned earlier “work harder than everyone else” that’s big, and doesn’t just apply at work… that’s the secret sauce hunting too, that’s how you stay in that upper 5% once you learn the basics

Never feel sorry for yourself or become a victim, life ain’t fair, just keep your head down and keep working harder than everyone else. We really do get to write our own story.

Don’t be a self induced victim, and don’t complain, because everyone has problems, and likely the same ones you do, they just aren’t vocalizing them, which is a good character trait…. Complaining and the victim mentality go hand in hand

 

[Huntindog45]

avoid debt like the plague. most of those idiots buying $5k scopes are just running up credit cards playing a game of keep up with the jones's. just get out of that mindset right now. Also try and avoid partying to great extents. Enjoy life but dont let the pull to drink a lot get you. Your mental and physical health will be better and you will save a shit ton of money. where do you live? I didn't know $12 an hour was even an option anywhere anymore. Ditch whatever job that is. Fast.