I want to post today to hear some of your opinions and perspectives. I want to hear what you guys would do if you were in my position, or for anyone that is in my position what have you been doing to help yourself get ahead. I guess it's a little like online mentoring. I've been in the shadows of BP and every other personal finance/ investing website for just under two years now and I feel like I've soaked up tons and tons of great information. But what can I do better?! I think I can benefit greatly from your interactions.

So, I'm 20 years old until next month. I've saved $35k for investment purposes. In the passed 2 years I've been watching my credit score like crazy, going from nothing to a 750 (fico 8) with only credit age being a hurting factor. I have $25k in combined credit limits and I only use about 3% of that making purchases just to keep accounts active. I just moved out to Boston 2 months ago after getting a new job. I see this as a problem; going for a loan and only having about 6 months on the job.

I budget my money and I'm always pulling the budget tighter. Okay, I might have gone a little crazy on eating out when I first moved to the city but I've gotten that out of my system now! I currently have a car leased for less than 200$ a month. I am going to get a company car very soon and have already made a negotiation with the dealer to take my car back early. Sweet! Thats $200 saved each month and $1400 a year in insurance.

I currently rent 1 bedroom in a 3 bedroom apartment for 700 bucks a month. I found a college kid going home for the summer and just took over his payments for the rest of the lease. No lease fee and no deposit! Win!

Unfortunately, It feels like the timer is counting down now. I have until the end of August before I have to find a new place to live. I'm not sure if I should try to keep renting or if I should buy an investment property. I know I won't be finding a 3 family out here in my budget but I'm thinking maybe if I could buy a 2 bedroom condo or apartment unit, I could at least house hack my rent or part of the rent. HOA fees make it hard to break even on that scenario. My idea is maybe I could house hack until I get another down payment saved up, then move out into another property. Letting me rent the entire unit for greater rent or rent by bedroom since its so common here.

Lastly, my income. I make 47k and I am on a raise schedule of 10k in the next 6-8 months. This means in not too long my salary should be up around 57k not including any overtime (and overtime is my middle name!) I'm currently able to save money the way I'm living now, so hopefully I can just maintain the same expenses.

Oh, I also contribute 3% to 401k and 3% to a roth IRA through my employer. They don't do a match but instead a profit sharing plan. So based off of what the company makes they will contribute a corresponding percentage of my salary to my 401k. I have a great interest in stocks myself and have traded quite a lot in my scottrade account. I can't help but to feel like I'm getting ripped off in a 401k when I've done short term trades that have made 20% in a matter of a week or two. Is it the convince of it?

Alright, thats it for now! I hope this post raises some questions and guides me through my decisions.

Thanks so much! -Joe

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