When I was in my late teens, early 20's (late 90's, early 00's), I got exposed to lots of different things (my goal was early retirement, or at least better than 9-5). And I live in southern california, where the idea of 9-5 salaried work is gone. That model hasn't worked here for 20 years.
Got exposed to...
-Stocks/investing. Started with Wade Cook, a guru of the late 90's. Invested some money in charting services, subscriptions (thestreet.com, etc). Didn't lose much money on them ($50 a month, $20 a month), but a waste of time.
In investing, I'd skip straight to the good stuff....buffett, charlie munger, jim rogers, classic books (intelligent investor, etc). You can waste alot of time studying the wrong things in the market. Contrary to popular opinion, you don't have to invest all the time, or spend every minute of the day worried about it in order to succeed. The key is being right, not how much time you spend on it.
There's alot of garbage in investing though. Lots of scams. Lots of fees. Lots of people that think they know something, and they don't know anything. Lots of "salesmen", but they have cards that say, "financial planner" or "Financial consultant". Be wary.
-Got exposed to tony robbbins, personal development. Some of it good, some of it not.
One really good author I like, jay abraham. A marketing consultant, author. He fascinates me. He teaches very powerful marketing, business strategies.
You can learn the same thing, similar things from classic marketing books, but they don't come alive, you don't know what to do with it.
I think a really simple, sensible plan for most people...
-Work, build up some money.
-Keep expenses low.
-Stay out of debt.
-Go out, have fun, do normal things.
Use common sense!!
In investing, there are these two schools of thought, fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Go to any book store, and that's what's there. Almost like a rivalry.
But in some stocks or investments, they don't mean diddly. These investment banks that went bust....from $90 to $2 in a few weeks or a few months. Looking at charts wouldn't have told you what lehman brothers was doing or the mistakes a bank made. Or bad loans made by a mortgage broker. You think about it, what more would you need to know?
The key in investing is to avoid big losses. Stocks that go from $70 to $3 don't recover. That's what you want to avoid at all cost.
Then in your spare time, get exposed to things, see what works. Replace tv with books or seminars. You're going to get very smart, early. Then it sets you up to do what you want.
My advice is avoid big mistakes that take you out of the game, or hurt you badly.