help with life
22 with $4k
Hello all, this is my first post in this sub reddit so please be nice as I'm not familiar with reddit what so ever.
I'm a 22 year old high school drop out currently making $20 an hour landscaping. About $1500-$1900 bi weekly, dependent on amount of overtime.
I have no debt, car payments or credit cards. I have no credit score.
Currently live rent free, and will continue to for about 2 more months before I move to Bozeman Montana, where ill be paying $650 a month for rent (first months rent and security deposit already payed). Do have a job lined up, but taking a pay cut to $18 an hour in hopes of learning new skills to further increase pay down the line.
I have $4k in savings and about $750 in the stock market, mostly index funds due to lack of knowledge about investing.
My question for you guys is what should be my next move? Should I be taking steps towards certain actions? This will also be my first time living independently, so tips regarding such would also be appreciated.
I've received absolutely no financial education from any parent, adult or mentor, so i apologize if these questions seem stupid. I'm just not to sure where to go from here, but would like to try and do the right things now to avoid a lifetime of finance controlling my life.
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$18 x 40 hours x 52 weeks = $37,440 Years rent = $7,800 Left is about $29,640
1) Try and keep your monthly expenses as low as possible! I know nothing about where you live/lifestyle/circumstances (eg will you need to buy a car now that you’re moving somewhere) but if you can set aside $500/month besides rent to spend and save the rest ... you’ll have about $20,000 at the end of the year. Even if you save half of that, you can have $10,000 by year-end.
2) get a credit card!! Check out Graham Stephen on YouTube- he discusses what card you should get based on what benefits your looking for. Discover, Chase Sapphire- all good cards! Don’t get airline miles since we’re not going anywhere now and it’s unlikely you will want to fly anywhere anyway. Look for back for places you see yourself spending (Walmart, Amazon, etc)! I’m trusting that you’re responsible with your money (since you took the effort to post this)- so leverage your credit card to build a near perfect credit score!! You won’t get so lucky if you move to a NYC/CA city/any big city without a good score!
3) gain tangible skills! Attend community college- now that much is online, take action!! Enroll in some computer science and/or analytics courses and get the first degree you can! If not- learn about fields such as CS (which don’t require degrees to graduate) and save up for boot camps! “The Come Up” on YT is a great resource!! Keep an open mind with coding and analytics ... (btw Tableau certifications can easily bump your pay)!
4) Given that you’re making very little, I wouldn’t go too crazy on investing. Keep the IFs, don’t add to it/anything else. Dedicate your time towards gaining new skills on your Resume- certifications in Java, Tableau, Excel ... all can and will help you!
5) build a LinkedIn, add people, hunt for jobs!! Even if you can’t apply to any, stalk people who are working your dream job, say (very attainable even without degree) is a Software Engineering intern/junior analyst. Look for patterns (what languages did they learn and do they use, what certifications do they have, etc) to build for yourself. Shamelessly cold message and ask for advice!
Hope this helps
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