Money advice for a 19 year old

[xsn10s]

Right now vehicles, especially trucks, are at a premium. If you're mechanical I'd try to get a decent fixer upper. Or use what you have right now. You could get a loan but it's possible that we're heading into a recession next year. I say we're in one right now. You can build credit a lot of different ways. Get a utility bill. Get a credit card and pay it off monthly like Ferrulewax said. But don't get caught buying things you can't pay for right away. People are already starting to be delinquent on their payments. So car repossessions might start occurring. That could bring down auto prices pretty quickly, maybe as soon as next year.

 

[fngTony]

I’m a little pessimistic about a fixer upper truck right now. Parts can be hard to get or non existent. If go that way don’t go too old or rare. Find a ford, Chevy or Toyota that’s 10-15 years old, dodge has changed part suppliers too much so it’s a crap shoot getting reliable parts for them. It’s f you go much older that’s when the really rare relay goes bad and can’t be found or something like axles/seals. A modest car payment can help your credit too.

 

[stealthycat]

invest 5% up to 10% in stocks - every 50 year old here looks back and wishes they'd have invested more !

and you can do it with $50 unlike investing in land etc

 

[Dbat]

I imagine it's like I'm working for myself when a paycheck comes in. I pay myself first and like others have said, find a company with a matching 401K. Then max out your roth ira, then pay down any high interest CC's.

 

[RS_Non-Res]

Learn to live well-within your means.
Then learn to live well, within your means.

And a lot of the other stuff the rest of the guys are saying, especially have no unproductive debt.

 

[Bluegrassvw]

Get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Jap-economy shitbox, put the rest into the system. Have a couple bucks in the bank. Don't drink.

 

[Trapperkid]

If money is tight and you have to get a loan, then do it- but I’d recommend buying a vehicle you can afford now and not going into dept. I’m a big advocate of credit cards as a way to build credit and get cash back- just make sure you always pay them off on time and have the self control to never spend more than you can pay. It’s already been said, but if your workplace has any kind of retirement or savings plan contribute as much as you can to it now.

Take all this with a grain of salt, as I definitely don’t have everything figured out either…. I’m only 24.

It’s not an expensive truck its 5k and I have over half of it saved but with a loan I can start building credit and have a mode of transportation to get me to some photography jobs and wherever else I need to get when I need to get there.

 

[Scarier]

At 19 I would focus less on saving/investing money now and work more on setting yourself up to start a good career in 2-4 years. I strongly encourage getting a useful college degree (e.g. engineering or nursing) or learning a trade (e.g. welding, electrical work, or plumbing). Depending on how far you have to commute, I would encourage holding off on the truck and most other forms of debt until after you have more income (if you play the game right, you should be able to make it debt-free through college or trade school, although a small amount of debt is fine). It's worth the wait--cheap trucks often become money pits relatively quickly, and biking everywhere is a great workout. It's a good habit to get into saving more now (I would avoid individual stocks and crypto until you have a lot of money you can afford to lose--long-term you'll probably be best-served with something like an S&P 500 index fund with Vanguard), but you're not realistically going to save a lot making $12/hour at this stage of your life. I'd put 5-20% of your income into savings for an emergency fund for now. When you have a better-paying job, save as much as you can in an IRA and index funds (I wish I had started this earlier--I have saved/invested about 30% of my gross income, but if I'd started investing appropriately in index funds 3-5 years earlier I would be $100-200k richer now).

 

[Trapperkid]

Ok so update again: first off thanks for everyone’s help I very much appreciate it. Now for the update. I’m making 15.50 and I’ll get a raise in a year my gf who I’ve been with 6 years is working there as well and has been for 6 months. We’re about to buy her moms house with a usda loan and we will be renting out the upstairs to my buddy. I have a credit card and I have a good credit score now. I opened a high yield savings account and I have 3k in it. I’m also looking into starting a side hustle For a little extra money. I ended buying the truck in cash. I’m also investing 50 dollars a month into courses books that kind of thing. If anyone has any more advice I’d love to hear it. This has been immensely helpful and you guys are incredible some of you have even offered to help pay for courses and send me books. I hope one day when I become a huge success I’ll give back the same way you guys have for me.

 

[svivian]

Ok so update again: first off thanks for everyone’s help I very much appreciate it. Now for the update. I’m making 15.50 and I’ll get a raise in a year my gf who I’ve been with 6 years is working there as well and has been for 6 months. We’re about to buy her moms house with a usda loan and we will be renting out the upstairs to my buddy. I have a credit card and I have a good credit score now. I opened a high yield savings account and I have 3k in it. I’m also looking into starting a side hustle For a little extra money. I ended buying the truck in cash. I’m also investing 50 dollars a month into courses books that kind of thing. If anyone has any more advice I’d love to hear it. This has been immensely helpful and you guys are incredible some of you have even offered to help pay for courses and send me books. I hope one day when I become a huge success I’ll give back the same way you guys have for me.

How much are you putting into a 401k or have you started one?

 

[ELKhunter60]

Ok so update again: first off thanks for everyone’s help I very much appreciate it. Now for the update. I’m making 15.50 and I’ll get a raise in a year my gf who I’ve been with 6 years is working there as well and has been for 6 months. We’re about to buy her moms house with a usda loan and we will be renting out the upstairs to my buddy. I have a credit card and I have a good credit score now. I opened a high yield savings account and I have 3k in it. I’m also looking into starting a side hustle For a little extra money. I ended buying the truck in cash. I’m also investing 50 dollars a month into courses books that kind of thing. If anyone has any more advice I’d love to hear it. This has been immensely helpful and you guys are incredible some of you have even offered to help pay for courses and send me books. I hope one day when I become a huge success I’ll give back the same way you guys have for me.

It seems like you are good at saving and making sound financial decisions for your age - which is great! One piece of this I don't hear you talking about is your long term career plans. Please don't take my next comment as a downer, but if you are in a job making $15.50 per hour and your next opportunity for a raise is in a year, your looking at making around $32,000.00 per year. That's ok if your job has a glide path to making $30 per hour once you get an apprenticeship done or something like that, but if the end game at your current job is making $20 per hour - that can be tough - especially if you plan on having kids some day. Maybe you weren't a great student and don't think you can go to college - I get it believe me. I have Attention Deficit Disorder and couldn't pay attention in class when I was in high school. I graduated High School a 2.5 GPA student who knew he couldn't do college. I did end up doing an apprenticeship and once I got in my 40's eventually went and got a college degree once I learned how to manage myself attention issue better. Now I'm an engineer and make pretty good money. I would have never thought I'd be an engineer when I was your age. Never!

Your writing skills seems good so I'm guessing you have some smarts and you also seem to have some ambition. Consider coming up with a job/career plan that gets you making at least $30 an hour at some point - even if it takes a few years to get there. Other than that you seem to be on the right path if you ask me.

 

[ddd-shooter]

Agree with the career advice above. 15.50 ain’t terrible, but any trades will start you AT LEAST there and train you to have a career where you can easily make 30.
Learn a trade, increase your income potential.

 

[JVS]

My advise
Go to EMT, medic school, then fire fighter. Work 10 days a month. Salaries have gotten pretty competitive nation wide. Most work 48/96 schedule. 2 days on 4 days off. This gives you plenty of time for a side hustle aka hunting and investing money. Best job in the world man!
You’re at the perfect age to get going with this. Lots of jobs with the baby boom generation retiring! Now get after it! Should take approx 3 years if you hustle hard!

 

[Geewhiz]

At 19 the world is your oyster. I always thought it would be awesome to be a flight nurse. Like the guys that are on the life flight chopper. Plus, you could look out the window and spot elk if you get bored.

 

[Trapperkid]

How much are you putting into a 401k or have you started one?

I have to be 21 to start one where I work and they will put three percent in even if I don’t contribute anything. And I’m using that money to invest into learning how to make increase my earning potential.

My advise
Go to EMT, medic school, then fire fighter. Work 10 days a month. Salaries have gotten pretty competitive nation wide. Most work 48/96 schedule. 2 days on 4 days off. This gives you plenty of time for a side hustle aka hunting and investing money. Best job in the world man!
You’re at the perfect age to get going with this. Lots of jobs with the baby boom generation retiring! Now get after it! Should take approx 3 years if you hustle hard!

how would I do this and what’s the difference between medic and emt school.

 

[JVS]

how would I do this and what’s the difference between medic and emt school.

Not sure what state you live in but all this can be done at a community college in Missouri. EMT is a short program. One semester. Kinda the nuts and bolts of emergency medicine. Paramedic is a 2 year program. It involves much more advanced training and skills.

 

[JVS]

Buy Land! They are not making anymore.

This was a game changer for me.
On my Third Missouri farm.

 

[long hunter]

The wife flew with M.S.P. as a certified flight nurse. She went to a community college for her associate degree and furthered her career education eventually finished up as a R.N./ C.E.N. she really liked the job.

 

[Skeezer69]

Hey everyone I’ve been on this forum for probably a year now maybe and I’ve seen that at least some of you guys are going on really cool hunts and building these insane rifles with 2-5 k scopes. So clearly you guys know what your doing when it comes to saving money and planning for the future. So I’d like to ask for your money advice for a 19 year old kid. I have a few stocks and cryptos like 150 dollars worth. And I do plan on starting a Roth IRA this year. And I’m also planning on getting a little better paying job. 12$ an hour currently. I don’t have a truck yet which is what I’m saving for currently. Thanks for any advice.

Not sure where you’re from. But if you’re willing to travel BNSF railroad is a good job not requiring a college education. Their paying Close to 40$ an hour nowadays.

 

[Z71&Gun]

Have you considered marrying a girl with generational wealth?

That's how I can afford to hunt. Five stars, would recommend. You should start now, cause they go quick.