>be me >19 y/o >Work at Denny's as a fucking dishwasher >In the National Guard >Been interested in investing money
I make about $25,000 a year working a shit job. Ive saved about 7,000 and can save $10,000 by the end of the year. If I keep going in 3 years I could have $30,000. Should I keep going or should I start investing in stocks and double/triple my money by taking a risk? Also I was talking to a financial adviser and he said I should split up $2,000, 50/50 one for stocks and one for bonds. I was thinking putting 2,000 in stocks, but I should diversify my portfolio. I wanna be more aggressive so I could have high returns. Any advice?
unless you want to be a cook you should go active duty and quit your day job
also that guy gave you shit advice lol you don't need to put that much in bonds their returns are absolute garbage these days considering the low interest rates
Wyatt Nelson
Well I want to become a cop and Im going to go to college for criminal justice, and since im in the national guard I go to college for free. So I want to save as much money as I can right now. Once I get my license I will go and see if I can apply to the local post office. Active duty did sound promising one time but I had a plan. And yeah I know their returns are garbage, I knew I shouldn't have listened to him. Should I still put some in bonds, because I feel like I still need to diversify my portfolio.
Gavin Lewis
>duty
LOL
Cooper Flores
Also a cook doesn't make that much either, they make about 11/hr. I make about 9.50 which is good for a starting job, but im looking for more especially since im 19, I need to start now so that when im 30 I don't have to be struggling to keep up. I want to live comfortable for the rest off my life.
Owen Reyes
Grab a bunch of straws and suck it up, OP. Keep doong what you're doing. Don't mske stupid risks. You're doing fantastic saving money, so keep it up. Your interest on it will grow, and you'll be laughing while your """friends""" beg for money from you. If you really want to, stop at 7k, and invest the last 3k of each year.
Owen Nelson
Yeah no, my interest sucks, but yeah ill keep on saving, hell ill probably do 2k instead of 3.
Logan Stewart
You don't need a criminal justice degree to become a cop. Try and apply for the police academy without going to school first. Even if going to school is free (and it may not actually be if your gi bill payments are late; fellow vet here), the amount of time you're in school (~4 years) is a long time to not be making money if you didn't need to in the first place.
>TLDR: only go to school if absolutely required to obtain the career you want or if you truly interested in it and have weighed the pros/cons.
Isaac Jones
njarmyguard.com/tuition/ NJ national guard doesn't have to gi bill payments. Were you active duty? Also one, my mother would be very disappointed if I didn't go and two, who do you think they would accept someone who went to college and is in the NG or someone who didn't go to college and is in the NG?
I also have thought about that, but it would seem kinda silly to decline the offer. I could also work part time somewhere.
Kevin Brooks
don't get a criminal justice degree, you're pigeonholing yourself into a specific job you don't even know if you'll actually like.
As for the financial stuff my advice is that you don't waste your time with stocks, only 5% of day traders actually beat the market and you're not going to be the 1 in 20. What you should do is take $5000 and set it aside as your emergency stash, you don't touch it unless you have unexpected medical bills or lose your job. Once you've got that set up you open up an index fund (vanguard's S&P500 fund is the most popular because it has the lowest expense ratio, but there are other good ones as well) That's what you should be putting your savings into because your return will closely mirror the performance of the S&P500 which is about the best bet you can make. Here's the one I like personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0540&FundIntExt=INT
the nice thing about being a line cook is that you can go anywhere in the country you want and be able to get a job that day, it's quite nice if you like to move around a lot. Just something to consider. Personally I think the best thing you could do to set yourself up for a prosperous future is to go active duty for a while, get your GI bill and then get your college degree. I know you want to be a cop so I understand having a degree is very advantageous if you want to move up the ranks in a department.
