From video games to gettin' FIREd

[yerffej]

Hi!

I'm 21 years old, senior in college about to get a business degree with a semi concentration in advertising and looking at law schools as the next step.

I had some great luck with my undergraduate financial situation and because of this I have become a lot more educated and interested in personal finance in the past few years. My father works at the university and so I was able to attend with free tuition. This has allowed my parents to save a big chunk of change that they are willing to put toward my law school tuition so I will graduate with a law degree and minimal debt. I also took the opportunity to work through my undergrad years and build up what will be about $30,000 in savings when I finally graduate in May. I have a vanguard Roth IRA account that I've been filling up for a couple years, a couple mutual funds that I am working on diversifying, a small percentage in individual stocks, and a little bit in a money market because i may need to spend it in a month or two.

I've been reading a lot about frugality and such trying to prepare myself for when I start receiving a salary. My advertising BA has mostly just taught me to hate advertising and despise handing my money over to big companies. I realize law school is a bit of a risk as far as salary goes, but I'm accepted at some decent ones so far and still waiting on decisions from those that are ranked a bit higher.

Anyway! My goal at this juncture is just to retire as early as humanly possible. I'll be able to zero in a bit more when I start makin' dolla billz after school. This place seems like a good resource, so hopefully I'll stick around for awhile!

Bye!

[freebird5825]

Hi!

I'm 21 years old, senior in college about to get a business degree with a semi concentration in advertising and looking at law schools as the next step.

congratulations on your upcoming graduation

...My father works at the university and so I was able to attend with free tuition.

sweet deal. i went on 100% scholarship due to mom's low income and my high grades in HS.

I also took the opportunity to work through my undergrad years and build up what will be about $30,000 in savings when I finally graduate in May.

you are off to a great start. that's amazing. what did you do for a job?

I have a vanguard Roth IRA account that I've been filling up for a couple years, a couple mutual funds that I am working on diversifying, a small percentage in individual stocks, and a little bit in a money market because i may need to spend it in a month or two.

how did your portfolio fare in the recent mess on wall st? take a real good look now while things are shaky.

have you ever visited Morningstar.com? you can register for free and enter your portfolio and track it. and do all sorts of neat stuff like figure out how much you need to contribute over theyears to reach a target amount, look at your portfolio's performance, see what your annual costs are, all good stuff. i think yahoo finance has a similar capability.

Anyway! My goal at this juncture is just to retire as early as humanly possible. I'll be able to zero in a bit more when I start makin' dolla billz after school. This place seems like a good resource, so hopefully I'll stick around for awhile!

good luck to you. please tell your parents they did an excellent job.

Bye!

[yerffej]

hey, thanks for the response.

As for my work; I had several different paid internships early on mainly at a small market research firm and a tv show studio. For the last full year I've been at the local us attorneys office as a sort of junior paralegal for about 25 hours a week. For the most part I've been able to save every dime.

The mutual funds I have thus far are made of mainly large cap US stocks so they declined along with the Dow, I've still been regularly throwing money In there so I've stayed at about even as far as dollar amount. Things have been looking a tiny bit better in the last couple weeks though.

I've been using MSN money for the bit of tracking and research I've done; it seems to do the trick. I read some personal finance blogs too. I like them for their frugality advice.

[freebird5825]

hey, thanks for the response.

As for my work; I had several different paid internships early on mainly at a small market research firm and a tv show studio. For the last full year I've been at the local us attorneys office as a sort of junior paralegal for about 25 hours a week. For the most part I've been able to save every dime.

you are a mover and groover. nice job experience for your resume. like a portfolio, diversify your career. it shows prospective employers that you can multitask across fields. always a plus!

The mutual funds I have thus far are made of mainly large cap US stocks so they declined along with the Dow, I've still been regularly throwing money In there so I've stayed at about even as far as dollar amount. Things have been looking a tiny bit better in the last couple weeks though.

stay the course.

I've been using MSN money for the bit of tracking and research I've done; it seems to do the trick. I read some personal finance blogs too. I like them for their frugality advice.

MSN is another great site. i like morningstar best cuz they do independent fund ratings. to each their own...

[dex]

Go with advertising and don't bother with the law degree. If you choose the right field of advertising you'll make a lot of money - either on the advertising sales side or on the advertising marketing side.

[laurakr]

The fastest path to early retirement is entrepreneurship - I would skip the law degree.
You should be able to make pretty good money in advertising sales, I would do that for a few years while you figure out how to start a business (while also doing small businesses on the side along the way)

[yerffej]

entrepreneurship seems like a giant risk to me. Plus I have no idea what sort of business I'd create.

I did eBay for awhile a long time ago, but the market for 2005 world series programs dried up and finding a good supplier if a profitable item is HARD.

[chuck D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yerffej I'm 21 years old... My goal at this juncture is just to retire as early as humanly possible.

i've lurked here a few times... but you've driven me to 'uncloak' for the first time.

i think you gotta enjoy the ride... starting out, fresh out of school, and to immediately start counting down the years, days, (hours?!) until you can retire seems like you're missing out on something. you most likely will need to spend the next 21 yrs working. find something that 1) pays well, and 2) you enjoy, and don't even think about retirement for 15-20 years.

maybe i'm not on the right forum to give that kind of advice (maybe i'll google "early working stiffs" to find the right one).

enjoy the ride, live your life, live in the now.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuck D enjoy the ride, live your life, live in the now.

Well, up to a point. Keep half an eyeball on the future, and recognize that the "far distant future" has a rather disconcerting habit of becoming the present.

[yerffej]

this might just be me being inexperienced and immature... ... but whenever anyone tells me that i should make my career something i enjoy i can't help but roll my eyes.

are there high paying positions for video game players? beer drinkers? internet surfers? travelers?

maybe i'll grow up someday and enjoy my work more than doing whatever the hell i want...but i hope not.

[CyclingInvestor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yerffej this might just be me being inexperienced and immature... ... but whenever anyone tells me that i should make my career something i enjoy i can't help but roll my eyes. are there high paying positions for video game players? beer drinkers? internet surfers? travelers

I think they mean your career will be more enjoyable if it has traits of what you enjoy relative to other
jobs - alone vs in a group, thinking vs auto-pilot, detail oriented vs energy oriented, responsibilty
for only your own work vs responsibilty for others, etc.

As an introverted loner who likes working on intricate problems in a fault tolerant environment,
I chose programming, which turned out to be a perfect fit. A critical part of this was turning down
all promotions, which would have led to ill-suited management positions.For the most part my
career was very relaxing, and paid fairly well. In addition, I got to both write and play video games,
drink a few beers, extensively surf the internet, and travel a few times a year, all as part of my job
for 27 years until I retired at 48.

[yerffej]

Alright, i agree with that. And I think I'm still headed down the right path. I am interested in where I'm going.

I still can't see myself waking up at 6am and being like "yay! it's time to go to work" no matter what my job is. So I believe that I SHOULD be thinking about retiring even if I'm still young.

I'm not necessarily counting down the days yet..(haha, i actually did that in high school for 2 whole years. I counted down every single day until graduation! I made a lot of casual friends that way, but I also noticed that not counting makes things fly by A LOT faster)..but I am trying to get whatever kind of head start I can (which is what everything I've read about the subject says to do!)

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yerffej I still can't see myself waking up at 6am and being like "yay! it's time to go to work" no matter what why job is. So I believe that I SHOULD be thinking about retiring even if I'm still young.

yerffej, I shared your view last year.

From graduating college up until I was 30 (last year), I worked for a family business. It was beyond a toxic environment for me, and all I wanted was out. Thankfully, I was able to work insanely hard, have a moderate pay-for-performance setup, and was able to stash away the bucks. I started my new career this past November, and I can actually say that I do enjoy it (as much as someone could enjoy a j*b). My new career is related to my prior job (same industry, but different area of the market), and I probably never would have thought of this area if I hadn't had the exposure I did from the past 7 years. Plus, if I hadn't gathered the experience from the past 7 years, I'd have virtually none of the vast knowledge and experience I now have. So, bottom line - even if your first job is terrible, use every opportunity to learn anything and everything - and how to apply and leverage that knowledge into any other field, regardless of the subject matter.

Sure, a co-worker in my department is annoying, and my boss is inconsistently critical at times....but I've changed my view from "I MUST retire by 35-40 or I'll go nuts" to "you know, I could handle this until I'm 40 or 45, easy...and take the decent compensation along the way".

I know it may not seem like it's possible, but there are a few jobs out there that you could actually turn out to 'tolerate' . The big difference is that you have to have a few years of any career under your belt to get a taste of what the average working environment can be like - and then to find out what your passions and interests are. Once you can honestly discover that, you will then be able to look for careers that you can tolerate far more than you ever thought.

True, I don't wake up and think "I can't stand not being at work!"...but it's nowhere near the dread I suffered through each morning for 7 long years of my working life.

[chinaco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yerffej Hi! I'm 21 years old, senior in college about to get a business degree with a semi concentration in advertising and looking at law schools as the next step. I had some great luck with my undergraduate financial situation and because of this I have become a lot more educated and interested in personal finance in the past few years. My father works at the university and so I was able to attend with free tuition. This has allowed my parents to save a big chunk of change that they are willing to put toward my law school tuition so I will graduate with a law degree and minimal debt. I also took the opportunity to work through my undergrad years and build up what will be about $30,000 in savings when I finally graduate in May. I have a vanguard Roth IRA account that I've been filling up for a couple years, a couple mutual funds that I am working on diversifying, a small percentage in individual stocks, and a little bit in a money market because i may need to spend it in a month or two. I've been reading a lot about frugality and such trying to prepare myself for when I start receiving a salary. My advertising BA has mostly just taught me to hate advertising and despise handing my money over to big companies. I realize law school is a bit of a risk as far as salary goes, but I'm accepted at some decent ones so far and still waiting on decisions from those that are ranked a bit higher. Anyway! My goal at this juncture is just to retire as early as humanly possible. I'll be able to zero in a bit more when I start makin' dolla billz after school. This place seems like a good resource, so hopefully I'll stick around for awhile! Bye!

Good luck. Many was to make a buck... Start saving and investing early is the best thing you can do.

3 basic pieces of advice:

1) Don't overbuy on a house (when you purchase one)
2) Don't overbuy on car(s). Buy a decent car and drive it till it dies... then buy another. Buying too many and too expensive cars is an easy way to waste money. This simple approach will help you save more money sooner to meet your FIRE goal.
3) Use credit as little as possible. (no credit card debt). Try to limit loans to a house (if possible).

At the same time, live life. Don't sacrifice everything today just to live tomorrow. Create a budget and try to stick to it. You are on the right track. I wish I had your foresight in this area at 21.

[jimnjana]

Hi all, I'm new to the boards as well and will post an intro at a later date. Just had to chime in on Chinacos comments. I heard the following three simple things you must do to achieve financial independence on the radio years ago.

1) Build Equity
2) Avoid Debt
3) Live beneath your means

While I have an MS in Financial Planning, I think these 8 words sum up the keys to Personal Financial Planning better than anything I learned while working on my degree. I will achieve FIRE later this year at age 45, I'll have to explain why I didn't pull the plug at 44, falls under the category of woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Jim

[myself]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimnjana Hi all, I'm new to the boards as well and will post an intro at a later date. Just had to chime in on Chinacos comments. I heard the following three simple things you must do to achieve financial independence on the radio years ago. 1) Build Equity 2) Avoid Debt 3) Live beneath your means While I have an MS in Financial Planning, I think these 8 words sum up the keys to Personal Financial Planning better than anything I learned while working on my degree. I will achieve FIRE later this year at age 45, I'll have to explain why I didn't pull the plug at 44, falls under the category of woulda, coulda, shoulda. Jim

Was that Dave Ramsey sayin' that?

[jimnjana]

I think it was to long ago for Dave Ramsey, I first heard that in 88 or 89. It could have been since it was on a religous themed radio station and it was a money talk show based on biblical principles.

Jim

[Marquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimnjana I think it was to long ago for Dave Ramsey, I first heard that in 88 or 89. It could have been since it was on a religous themed radio station and it was a money talk show based on biblical principles. Jim

Larry Burkette?

[jimnjana]

Marquette, I honestly don't remember, I do remember his discussion which left a lasting impression on how I manage my personal finances though.

Jim