Best Assets to acquire at age 19
I'm 19 years old and want to have a jump start on my career and it begins with which asserts are best to acquire at the age that I am now ?
Hi Sean,
Having observed a number of successful people I would suggest that you make two initial investments. The first one would be to invest $2,000 to $5,000 in a good IRA investment fund and then toss in $200 a month and just let it accrue compund interest. At your age that alone will probably make you reasonably wealthy. The second would be a duplex where you can live in one unit while renting the other, hopefully for enough to conver the cost of ownership. At this point you will be living for free and making a steady investment that is compounding and building equity. The third move would be to find an affordable flip and jump in to real estate investment aiming you enjoy it.
Just my two cents and something that I've watched others do as a path to wealth building.
Good luck !!!
Thanks Wayne, I really appreciate your reply. It gives me motivation that some one actually cares. I'll take your 2 cents into consideration.
Are you currently working? If so, does your employer offer to match your retirement fund contributions? If so, I would encourage you to take full advantage of that.
Otherwise, I am not a fan of forced savings - it takes money away from the ability to invest in real estate.
But in general, I do agree that "a penny saved is a penny earned."
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Broker Washington (#26434), California (#02061077), and Oregon (#201223946)
Sean, it depends where you are at in your life. At 19, the best investment you can make is in yourself. I would suggest you start by building your education, whether that is a college degree, independent education on a skill or a trade, or surrounding yourself with mentors. This will give you a foundation for you to build off of for the rest of your life. From there, you start building your career.
Once you have taken care of yourself, you can start building wealth. I would first build a base savings of a few thousand for emergencies and seed money for investment. Once you have that cushion, I would than put about 10%-15% aside regularly, split between a retirement fund and non-retirement fund, such as a mutual fund or a stock fund.
After your have accomplished that, than start looking at investing in a business or in real estate. As far a what is best, it depends on your interests and market opportunity. You need to find investments that you understand, are able to manage hands-on and you need to make sure the numbers work.
Steve Combs
I've had the same concerns for some time now. I am too 19 years old and I would like to know the best way to pursue my investing. Hopefully this topic will garner the attention and help that you seek as I plan to learn from it as well. The few people that commented already have pretty much answered my questions, however, it would be very interesting to see what other information other members from BP have to offer. I will definitely be following this topic.
Happy investing,
Jason
Hi Sean,
The biggest investments you can make are in yourself. Live below your means, save wherever possible, and learn skills that set you apartment- such as learning a foreign language. This will bear fruit down the road and is a great long-term investment, both personally and financially. I'm speaking from personal experience :)
Best,
Barry
Hi Sean,
First off huge kudos to you for even being on this forum and asking your question. I agree with all of the previous posts and just want to add one additional nuance...the Roth IRA. This is a post-tax retirement vehicle (meaning you don't get a tax deduction for contributing like you do to a 401k or traditional IRA), however you are likely at a very low tax bracket so wouldn't get much benefit from a tax deduction right now anyways. The beauty of the Roth is that the earnings grow tax free. As you move into a career and get into higher tax brackets, it may not make as much sense to do a Roth since an immediate tax deferral might prove more advantageous, but at 19, I would maximize the Roth as much as possible (up to $5500) per year. Good luck!!