Managing money?

Question

I am 15 and I normally have about 40 dollars a week to do what I want with. I love looking nice and I like to buy clothes. I try not to buy them full price because it is so expensive and not right to spend 30 dollars on a shirt that is probably worth 10 dollars. I enjoy reading and I like to buy books because a lot of the books I enjoy reading are not at the library. I also would like to put some money away for college. What would you suggest for money management/budget? I am really desperate. I will give 10 pts to best answer. Thanks!

Answer 1

WAY TO GO KIDDO !!!!

You need to start somewhere and now look at all these opinions you have on what to do with that $$$.

I suggest you start a mutual fund and add to it monthly or quarterly. Next you can start to read up on the stock market... read read read !!!! Email companies and request their prospectus', it is free! Read about the companies that interest you. After a while when you have more money to invest, you can find a company that you can buy directly from them without a broker. EASY EASY !!

Search : "direct stock purchase plans" and it will get you headed in the right direction. Heck... persuade friends to learn this too !! Remember ONLY YOU can make your future SWEET !! Get started NOW!!!

Spend nothing!(whenever possible) Nothing makes money grow more than by adding to it. Soon it is big enough to grow on its own and that is where independent wealth comes from.

Every time you go out to buy something, put that equal amount away into a jar or savings account. Once a month, once every six months or annually, take that money and put it in your mutual fund or buy stock in a company ((that you have done your homework on)).

Its not how much money you make...It is how much you KEEP. Stop spending it all and soon it will grow. Very few people I have met in my life have the discipline to do this. I hoarded as a child, My family has the "hoarding gene", it has worked well for us

MSN money central has a savings calculator that works great for finding out how much you will have if you put away such and such amount! Figure how much you want to live off each year during retirement... double it and add a zero... that is the simple calculation you can do for the amount of money you need to have invested in an IRA, mutual fund or other, and live off its interest.

Example : if you want $50,000 a year to live off, then double it = $100,000 now add a zero = $1,000,000... you will need this amount to get $50,000 in interest annually with out working.

This "savings caclulator" it will also tell you how much you need to put away each month or annually which ever you prefer... TO get to where you want to be....with the number of years you plan on working yet.

One more thing... WHY WAIT TILL TOMORROW.... ????? TODAY is right here begging you to make a choice in the right direction ! Congratulations on thinking about this NOW rather than when you hit 40 and did nothing for your financial future !!!

Answer 2

I think it is very admirable that you wish to save and budget at an age when most of your peers cannot seem to spend money fast enough. Good for you!

Well, let's see.....$40.00/wk x 52 wks = $2080.00/yr. Assuming you just turned 15 and are graduating high school at age 18 that would be $6240.00 by the time you finished high school. Not a bad amount but I am afraid it won't even cover one semester in college (depending on where you intend to go). I also assumed you saved every penny which is not realistic and shouldn't be. You are still young!!! Enjoy life while you can!!

But I can see that you are serious and an excellent thrift shopper. You are on the right path with clothes. I never buy at full price just because I know it will be marked down at least 50% within a couple of weeks. Keep it up! You might also try outlets for clothes as well. If ou can wait until the end of a season you can get the previouos season's clothes for penny's on the dollar! As for books....visit a local city or college library and you can find anything you could ever want! Most universities can also provide you with a library card as well. Used book stores are also a good place to find cheap books. Maybe even join a book club via mail?? I did and saved bunches on books.

You are a little young now but when yo uturn 16 you can find a part time job after school and start saving some serious money. Just remember that school is always first. Won't do you any good to save for college if you aren't going to get in due to bad grades.

You could invest but unfortunately it can take thousands of dolalrs to invest in stable, high growth companies. Of course, you could invest in risky investments but you stand a much greater chance of losing your hard earned money as well. Safe investments are much more long term oriented (say 10-20+ years). Other investments with shorter horizons may not produce that great of a return either if you wish to be prudent with your investments.

Don't fret about paying for college though. There are always scholarships, grants, and if all else fails, loans. If you really want an education you will find a way. Trust me!!

Best of luck! I have a feeling you will do alright...

Answer 3

managing your money, i feel, comes down to they way you THINK about money. if you view money as despensible and don't have a frugal or saving mindset, then you will notice the dollars just fly out of your account. however, you will notice a little extra each month if you really start to pay attention to where you're money is going. for me, the first step was quitting smoking. when i quit smoking i realized that i had SOOO much more money than i even realized! those $3-4 purchases on a regular basis REALLY add up. i was spending around $200/month on ciggarettes, alone. that's $2,400/year!!! YIKES. so, quit any bad habit you may have....if you need incentive, then sit down and figure out how much it's costing you per year and then ether find a better/smarter way to do it, or just quit! like, drinking. if you like to go out to the bars on the weekend, try having friends BYOB at your house anhour or two before hitting the bar. it's a lot cheaper to drink a 6 pack at home and then pay for a few drinks at the bar, than a really big bar tab. next, evaluate your purchases BEFORE you hit the registers. example: my husband goes to the gas station almost everyday and buys a 20oz soda. if he stopped for a moment and realized, "hey, if i buy a couple 2 liters and take a bottle of soda to work with me, then i can keep it in the fridge there and save a TON of money!" instead he spends over $1/day on 20oz. sodas, sometimes buying 2-3 per day. a 2 liter at walmart is UNDER $1, usually. he doesn't understand this. so, before you buy those new 'whatevers', stop and think! do you need it? can you go without it? for example: a hand mixer works just fine, even though that big kitchen-aid artisan mixer is tempting, i KNOW that i don't mix that much and i really don't NEED it! if you start by doing those things, then you will find yourself with some extra money and then you can start looking into investment ideas. like visiting your bank and discussing what opportunities might be right for you. take care!

Answer 4

Hon! let me tell you a little 'parable' The difference beween asset's and liabilies. Two sisters had $50,000 each left them by an aunt! The first sister thought, great! I'll buy a great car, and some really great clothes! Wow! wont my friends be impressed! The second sister thought, great! I'll put the money down on a block of land, then get a loan and pay it off! So one sister rode around in her great car showing all her friends how sucessfull she was. After five or six years her car was showing it's age and all her expensive clothes had worn out! While the other sister kept up her repayments on her loan of $200,000 and her block of land had shown a capital gain of 33% she now was paying off her land worth $266.000 after another three years her land was worth $310.000 so she put it on the market and sold it! For that amount! She then cleared her original loan of $200.000 and made a profit of $166.000! Meanwhile her sister was broke and had to go back to work!!! That the difference beween assets and liabilies!

Answer 5

I would put 10 percent aside for long term savings (college) right off the bat. Another 10 % for short term savings, saving up for a big ticket item, and spend the rest carefully as you have been doing. If you take the money out right away you won't miss it, and you won't be tempted to spend it.

Answer 6

I would suggest you put it in a mutual fund. You can start with as little as $25 a month. You can get an average of 10-12% on it, so your money can grow quickly. Therefore, you'll be saving money every month, letting it grow, and at the same time have extra for yourself.

Answer 7

learn to pay yourself first, then bills, budget. Start saving money and buy some certificit of deposits, or start to invest check out sharebuilder.com