14 year old looking to build capital

Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes

Hi everyone, my name is Michael I'm 14 years old and I live in westchester county in New York. I want to start some sort of llc or other corporations so I can sign contracts and invest in real estate before I'm 18, what do you guys think about this? Also, I need to get capital to be able to do this so I was thinking of some things to do, here are some of them: Buy and sell things online for profit Maybe get a brokerage to invest in forex for me(some other type of investing like that) Do bird dogging (don't have money to market though) What do you guys think of these strategies? Also, do you guys have anything else I can possible do to raise funds? I am very motivated and trying to get started in real estate investing! Thanks!

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Ian Tudor

Specialist · Charlotte, NC · Member since 2013 · 260 posts · 245 votes

@Account Closed - Love your ambition, Michael. At 14, you are thinking the right way. Your age shouldn't stop you from going after what you want.

1. First, consume as much information on real estate as you can. Podcasts, forums, books, etc. At your age, people will question your ability to know anything. Be as educated as you can.

2. Network. Uber to a real estate events if you have to. Surround yourself with bosses who get things done. This will help elevate your game and get you into deals.

3. Volunteer your time to a realtor or flipper or someone with lots of deal flow. Real experience is the best reference to have. Reading can only get you so far. Work for free if you have to. It will pay off in the long run.

Do these things and your world will open up. You will find yourself in opportunities and ways to make money. Over time, someone will take a chance on you. Chase your dreams buddy. I'm rooting for you.

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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Caleb Heimsoth that's true, school is important. That's why I would go only if the financials work out for me. Also, the school would need to be a good fit for me.
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Gregory J.
W2 Engineer and part time REI · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2017 · 43 posts · 36 votes
8y
Focus on and build on your strengths. One of your strengths right now is that you are 14. It is a strength because lots of successful people want to mentor and be a good role model to a 14 year old. At your age those people are generally seeking you out through promoting school events etc.
Right now you can't legally agree to a contract. you think of that as an obstacle now, but regardless of how you feel about it, you can't overcome it by anything other than time. Don't focus on what you can't change, focus on what you can do now, while you build a long term plan.
You have so many advantages compared to most new real estate investors. you have no expenses, no debt, no obligations other than school. you have the opportunity to build a long, wide, and straight runway over the next 4 years. Hussle to make money, keep your expenses at zero, focus on your education. Think of turning 18 as you taking off from that runway. you will be in position to buy your first multifamily househack, or whatever you choose as your first deal if you do the right things now.
another thing you can maybe work on right now is building a credit score. not sure exactly but ask your parents or a mentor. most likely way to do this is get a credit card or some store line of credit and use it to make a small transaction every once and a while and then pay it off to keep the balance low to zero. not a credit expert but something to look into.
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
I also already know some people from bp and other places that are in real estate investing. If I were to go to college that would be another plus as well because you know what they say, networking is key to success in any field you are in! But if I don't go to college to rebut that point would be that I can always meet more people through bp, meetups, etc.
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Levi T.Pro Member
Rental Property Investor · Tucson AZ / Nice FR / Washington DC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
@Account Closed
I was building my own startups when I was 14, never stopped, still do. I won’t be your mentor, but will drop some pointers.
Tech has been and still is the future. It’s the one haven where you can hide in and build companies, buy domains, hosting, build stuff, and most important collect money!
My three kids have their own streaming channels and earn money, my oldest is 12..
Your going to fail a lot of business ideas, that’s ok, but you need to start building small businesses, bigger and bigger as you go. When your ready for real estate, or buying other solar systems, you will be ready because of all them other businesses you tried to build, failed, and built again. Them business with little cost, but has a chance to be a lotto ticket game changer, like twitch, Snapchat, Facebook, Amazon.. low entry cost but high returns if they hit is what you want right now.
When I was your age, I had some dumb sites, but they earned money. Some earned a dollar or two, others earned thousands, tens of thousand and one day millions. It’s a long road to success. Real estate can abosully mess you up if you make one mistake.
Now with that said, there’s one rule you must follow in life. Do what you love, if you stop loving something, pivot and do something else. Good luck!
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Gregory J. Thanks for the helpful advice! What you are saying is that I should find a good mentor, and learn as much as possible. That brings me to this question, Based off of what was going on earlier in the forum as well, what do it think about the college situation?
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Hotteenia Jenkins my grades are pretty good, mostly 90's. Why would you want to know this?
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
@Levi T. what would I provide to these people in these startups? How do they work? Also, do you buy them , make them, or do something else to do these startups your talking about? Sorry for sounding so clueless but I was never really introduced to this idea before. Thanks for the great idea, I would love to learn about it!
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Russell Holmes
Real Estate Broker · Apopka, FL · Member since 2017 · 492 posts · 528 votes
8y
When I was 15 I got a job at a car wash. I worked after school every Friday as well as 6 hours each on Sat and Sun. In 3 months I had saved up $1500. In all of my infinite wisdom, I put a really nice subwoofer in a Ford Ranger I got for my 16th birthday, quit the job and went and got a better paying one with more options for 16 year olds. I made a lot more money after that, but then came all the expenses of being a kid with a car, girlfriend, etc. haha. I then went to a top rated state college with a full ride scholarship, dropped out in 18 months, started a business I've run for 10 years, and now am planning my exit from that into real estate, with a wife, two kids, three step kids, a mortgage, some debt, a car payment, etc. The stuff your parents are handling for you (as they should be at this age). My point is, if your focus is real estate now (instead of subwoofers and trying to impress girls with hard earned cash) work hard at whatever you can do for money. Minimum wage adds up when your parents pay the bills. You could reasonably save up $20,000-30,000 in four years. Possibly even more depending on what opportunities you have for work at 16 (many employers min age is 16). If you take the next 4 years to self educate, network when you can, etc, AND save up $30k, you'll be perfectly positioned to buy a house hack as soon as you legally can and be miles ahead of any other 18 year old. You can't technically "invest" without money, and even the no money down, creative methods still require the ability to absorb some costs here and there, even if reimbursed by profit at some point.
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Levi T.Pro Member
Rental Property Investor · Tucson AZ / Nice FR / Washington DC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
Originally posted by @Account Closed:

@Levi T. what would I provide to these people in these startups? How do they work? Also, do you buy them , make them, or do something else to do these startups your talking about? Sorry for sounding so clueless but I was never really introduced to this idea before. Thanks for the great idea, I would love to learn about it!
Google it
First task of any ceo is to always be learning. Learn, create, repeat. Checkout Kickstarter.com, good place to see what others are doing
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Hotteenia Jenkins I can possibly go pro, I'm not that bad at swimming. But michael phelps level no, Mark spitz no, because they are the greatest legends of the sport. Also, swimmers don't even make enough money if you go pro unless if your like michael phelps, but even some famous swimmers still don't get payed all that much. That's the only problem with swimming pro.
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
@Levi T.so kickstarter.con is where I can learn everything about these startups? Or are there some other resources to learn?
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Earth · Member since 2017 · 297 posts · 187 votes
8y
@Account Closed
I wish my son have the same thought like you when he turns 14 years old. (He is in elementary school now.)
I told my son that I will send him to take real estate class when he turns 17 years old, then have him become a realtor when he turns 18 years old, then mommy will buy a lot of properties with him together. He can earn the agent commission from mommy at the same time. He said ok.
If you can get capital help from your parents, that would make things be earsier.
If you cannot get help from your parents or anyone else, maybe you can:
1. Study very hard while waiting to turn 16 years old.
2. Look for part-time jobs like M-donald hamburger when you turn 16 years old, you will have two years of W-2 income and tax return when you turn 18 years old. Try to save every penny from your work for down payment when you turn 18 years old.
3. See if your W-2 income can qualify for 3.5% FHA to buy a duplex, tri-plex, or 4-plex when you are 18 years old.
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Thanks Mary L.
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Gregory J.
W2 Engineer and part time REI · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2017 · 43 posts · 36 votes
8y
I think @Levi T. 's advice is excellent. learn to code as it is a new form of basic literacy. doesn't mean you have to write software for a living but it is a skill that will serve you well in business, investing or whatever you do for the rest of your life.
He is also right about you tube and streaming channels. find a niche and build a great channel. 99.99% of your age group is content viewers not creators. find what your friends and classmates are interested in and build the best channel you can around it.
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Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
8y
Michael Kantar if you want to get into bird dogging go knock doors or find homes that look in distress. Write down all the info of the homes you see that are distressed and look up the owner through your cities records. Mail them until you find some deals and whole sale those to investors!
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Steve Dove
Investor · Clarkston, MI · Member since 2009 · 72 posts · 48 votes
8y
There are a number of posts here, and I haven't read all of them. So, please excuse this suggestion if it is a redundant one. Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, so please confirm all of these suggestions with a professional.
Here's what I would do, and plan to do with my kids once they are of age. Since you are 14 years old, you are old enough to work and report an income to the IRS. You now have the ability to also contribute to a custodial IRA. This means that your parents or guardian must also be tied to the IRA. You can contribute up to the maximum contribution allowed to your IRA (currently $5500), as long as you have earned and are reporting that same amount to the IRS. Continue to do this every year, and once you are out of college, or are working for an employer that offers a 401k, you can roll this IRA over to the plan.
At that point, you can borrow from the 401k, up to a maximum of $50,0000 (if you have at least $100,000 in the 401k). Interest is paid to you, not a bank, and does not reflect on your credit report. Use this money to start investing. You will still be young enough to take such risks by borrowing, because you'll have planty of time to recover. Let's face it, if you have that kind of money in a $401k in your early 20's, you're probably already doing better than most adults much older than you at that point.
Be disciplined, and patient. This takes time. Pay your properties off as quickly as you can, and continue to buy more with your earned income from those properties and your W2 job. Don't forget to keep contributing to your IRA and 401k while following this plan. Your net worth will sky rocket in your early 30's. I hope that this is helpful.
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Steve Dove thanks for the great advice I will try to do that. But do I have to make my own bank account, and would there be a 401k account that I can put this money in at such a young age? But that's great advice!
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Jordan Moorhead I wish I can do this but I don't have enough time to go for knocking I run a extremely tight schedule, but I will still be doing bird dogging! Is there any other ways that you would think would work?
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Gregory J. But I don't even know what they were even talking about what a startup is, would that website he was talking about teach me?
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
I will also try and make a YouTube channel, possibly on real estate and other businesses because that's what I like. Would this be a good idea considering it's not super popular?
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Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
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Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
8y
Michael Kantar You need a lawyer and an accountant - but depending on what you do why do you need an LLC as well. If your bird dogging and/or selling online and LLC is for asset protection in most instances - if your 14 and have a lot of personal assets that need protection then good for you - I just don’t know of many 14 year olds who need asset protection. If your getting into buying and selling financial or real estate I am not aware of any states you will be able to do that under 18 but I am not a lawyer. The challenge is signing contracts Why not have your parents start the LLC ?
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Steve Dove
Investor · Clarkston, MI · Member since 2009 · 72 posts · 48 votes
8y
Originally posted by @Account Closed:
Steve Dove thanks for the great advice I will try to do that. But do I have to make my own bank account, and would there be a 401k account that I can put this money in at such a young age? But that's great advice!
Don't worry about the 401k just yet. It is the recommended step after you fund an IRA, each year, for several years. Just make sure that you and your parents have started a Roth IRA. Go mow lawns, shovel snow, etc. and put every nickel into the IRA. Maybe your parents can even help you with a few dollars for spending money, since you will be investing all of your own.
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Chris Seveney it's because I want to start investing in real estate before 18. I was told by some investors that I can make an llc before 18 so I'm not so sure, they were saying that there's this thing you can do we're your parent will be the advisor/owner until I reach legal age. Is this right?
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Yonkers, NY · Member since 2017 · 506 posts · 95 votes
8y
Steve Dove what is an ira? Is it similar to a 401k, how does it work and what is it for?
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Steve Dove
Investor · Clarkston, MI · Member since 2009 · 72 posts · 48 votes
8y
Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Steve Dove what is an ira? Is it similar to a 401k, how does it work and what is it for?
Individual Retirement Account. You put money in it now, so that you can use it later on in life. It's time to start talking to professionals.
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