If you were me.. what would you do?

[christopher w]

Texas has so many great places. Houston, Austin, San Antonio,and Dallas. All four of those cities would be great for you and your family to relocate to.

[Bluemoon06]

The second worst thing that ever happens to a person is that they go to work.  The worst thing is that they get paid for that work.  From then on just like a mouse with a mouse trap when ever they want to get money the first thing they think about is working. 

[phlemboy]

I don't think there's anything wrong with working for a living. Its just that your options are limited unless you're making millions. Also, when the job goes away, so does the money. I hate to sound like a "Rich Dad Poor Dad" commercial but the school system does a decent job of teaching how to earn money; but not a good job of financial education. That has to fall on the parents to teach them. The problem there is that many people's idea of financial advice is get a good job, stay out of debt, save and open a 401K. That's not horrible advice but its not the way to financial independence. That's my goal.

[fdjake]

Here's what you DON'T want to do........

Hoosier gets out of nursng school and lets' say for the sake of this discussion he makes $50K/ year....He's not going to be an RN right out of the shoot.  So his income will be lower than nurses with higher levels of training...

So.....$1000/week gross...

He MIGHT see $750 of that NET

So he's LIVING on $3000/month

MINUS......$700 for rent......down to $2300

Utilities......Cable, electric, gas, fuel.....$400/month

Now down to $1900

He's a GUY....So he's GONNA BLOW some money on the ladies...

I'll go with $100/week for BEER, Movies, Dinner out, and other BS so call it $400/month

$1500/month left and he still needs a CAR!!! and INSURANCE....OUCH!!

$500/month because he's NOT 25 yet and still in the risk pool.

So.......MAYBE $1000/month to build his FORTUNE ON?????

Let me tell ya........THAT AIN'T HAPPENING!!!!

This is WHY it is SO VITAL that this kid takes ONE YEAR and lives like SCROOGE.

If he can devote just ONE YEAR out of his LIFE to REALLY SAVING...... it can CHANGE HIS LIFE!!!!

Here's my advice....

FIRST......

Lay out a DETAILED PLAN to your MOM and DAD.....SHOW them your WEEKLY SAVINGS GOALS.......Tell them that in ONE YEAR you WILL have EXACTLY $30,000 in SAVINGS and THEN you're MOVING OUT.....While your there.....CUT THE LAWN....Take out the trash, do your own LAUNDRY...wash the kitchen floors....SHOW THEM how much you APPRECIATE the FACT that THEY are helping you build your FUTURE!!!

You can EASILY live at home for a year on $500/month.....that's EXACTLY $6000 at the end of the YEAR.   Remember you're MAKING $36,000 NET/year.....SO the $6k is expense money.......The $30,000 is for your FUTURE INVESTMENTS....

After that one year.......GET OUT.......THANK YOUR PARENTS.....Tell them that the year they just INVESTED IN YOU will pay them back MANY TIMES OVER.....

THEN......DON'T SCREW UP WITH THAT $30K....

We're here for you kid......I'm glad to see you've managed to pry your head out of your @ss over the last few months....It's up to YOU man....
It ain't EASY but it IS COMPLETELY .......GO-able!!

AS you get closer to that $30K mark I'll be loading you up on FDJAKE Real Estate investing tips which you WILL FOLLOW to the LETTER!!!!

Then when you make you're first real SCORE.....YOU CAN PAY ME a PERCENTAGE!!!

[rookieNYC]

fdjake is right...Stay at home and live like a miser for as long as you can..From the time I was 20-27 I saved alot living as cheaply as humanly possible..Remember its not how much you make,its how much you keep..Also remember that you can never replicate your best earning years.This is why I call BS on anyone that claims contentment..You need alot of money to retire comfortably..Just scraping by is no way to live...And chasing tenants around when you are in your 60's will give you a heart attack sooner..Unless you have triple net leases on prime commercial but if you do you either bought them decades ago or your cap rate is negative %10...Build your cash and invest aggressively..Forget cd's and money market accounts...YOU WILL NEVER BE COMFORTABLE...Invest with some ball$ ,you are young..If I were you I would keep going to school and become an RN...Make the most out of your life and career..Keep on striving..You cant live off the fruits of love...And if I remember correctly you did say that you want to make money..The only way on a normal salary is to INVEST AGGRESSIVELY...You will never do that investing in CD's and Money Market accounts...You have time on your side..Listen to me...By the time I was 25 I had 10 people working for me..It all depends on how bad you want it...I WANTED IT BAD... DO YOU?

[phlemboy]

I think Hoosier mentioned that his current income is $0! . I would think that $30K is VERY doable. In fact, why stop at 1 year? Keep it up until Mom & Dad give' ya the boot!   It will take a lot of disclipine for sure. As a matter of fact, I believe FDJAKE posted a good thread a while back about what every newbie should read... I can't remember the title..
Rookie makes good points also. Although the time and effort involved in investing aggressively is MONUMENTAL to say the least. I've been studying/learning stock investing/trading for about a year and feel I've only scratched the surface.. But its a lot of fun and will help me get to where I want to be.

[NJbird_dog]

Putting our previous disagreements aside, fdjake and rookieNYC are right about living at home and saving

I left college in '05 and lived at home, while saving and getting involved with any good money making opportunity I could get into. That savings cushion gave me a HUGE advantage in anything I got into afterwards.

$50k might seem like a lot to you right now.. but it's a JOB, aka Just-Over-Broke.. you'll have a tough time saving anything significant once the expenses start rolling in and taxes take a bite.


Btw, going back to my previous post on the laundromat. There's a convenient store right next to it and I spoke to the owner yesterday as a random new guy in the area interested in business. She said that she had a direct partnership in the previous laundromat. She said they closed a little over a year ago because the machines needed to be updated and the other partner wasn't willing to put in the money. Remember, she has no reason to lie and doesn't even know the laundromat is for sale right now.

Here's the kicker, she said that after all expenses, employees, etc. that laundromat use to PROFIT $1,500 - $2,000 / WEEK!!!

Now that's GREAT money for a cash business that's 5min from my house and can be run absentee or semi-absentee.. the profits may not be the same for me since there's a huge equipment loan now, and that's what I have to research