r/Money

Suppose I don't get a job after college (something Ive been stressing a lot about) and end up working a crappy job I hate. How can I turn it around and be financially free before 30? Are there skills that pay a lot, gigs you can do that can later end up as a business? If there's a lot of luck to it, can I increase my surface area of luck as some people say?

401k: 205k
Roth IRA: 50k
Savings account: 35k
Real estate equity: 140k

I know I’m very lucky to be in a position like this with no consumer debt, but I’m just so tired. I’ve been working all of my adult life, including working a full time job while putting myself through graduate school in my 20s, and I never quite took a beak. Now I feel like I have golden handcuffs with my job that pays me about $140k per year with good benefits. I feel like I’m stuck on a hamster wheel only for the purpose of “make the number go up”. Not sure if this is the kind of post for this sub but I just feel very tired.

So long story short, my mom 60YO and uncle inherited a home from their grandmother (their mom passed a while ago). No will, no testament nothing unfortunately. NYS

They can’t get along so my mom wanted to cut ties to the whole thing, took him to court and they settled on him buying her out. $65k

Now, my mom has been on disability for at least 20 years. SSDI, SNAP, Medicaid and Food stamps. Her personal bank accounts are in the negative, and she’s already living in a government assisted apartment. $450/mo. She receives roughly $900 a month in assistance and can barely pay for everything with that’s esp in New York.

She’s afraid that when she receives her settlement (minus lawyer fees and paying my brother back for the money he put up for the lawyer) that the government will take the settlement. She wanted to buy a car, and other necessities that she needs since she’s been borderline surviving all these years.

We’ve been looking into trusts/other accounts or other options where she wouldn’t have to spend her money to stop it from being snatched. Has anyone heard of an ABLE account? I told her she should talk to a New York elder-law/special-needs-planning attorney or an estate lawyer. She seems to think that Google and ChatGPT would suffice. Ughh

Can anyone give any insight or advice?

Hey guys, sorry if this isn’t the right place to post this, but I’m kind of lost, and don’t know what to do with my future. I’ve been coding since I was 8, have created 6 apps, and really enjoy computer science. In the last few years I started using ai a lot and teaching people, plus implementing it for businesses. This summer I got an internship at an investment banking company and got paid just a little. Now I got an offer for a part time roll going into grade 12. 10 hours a week and $40 an hour, and I was pretty excited. Now I’ve also lined up a second job paying $100 an hour (I can work however much I want). Both are flexible and probably 1 year trajectory for both. Both are setting up ai infrastructure and ai systems, I’m practically the head of it at the first company already. Currently I have about $16000 across investments and cash.

Now the main part of this post, idk if I want to go to university. I know that the positions are most likely temporary, and that this AI hustle I have going on won’t last forever. But on the other hand, with how fast AI is moving, idk if it’s worth a degree at this point. I’m in a really tough spot and can’t seem to figure out which way I should lean.

If I was gonna go to university I would likely do business or economics and with my grades I wouldn’t be worried (I could likely get into a pretty good school).

I thought I would post this here because I know a lot of you have more life experience than me, and I wanted fresh opinions rather than the same opinions I get from friends and family.

I’ve been seeing the strategy of saving all your HSA expenses until retirement and reimbursing all at once, and I’m wondering, is it really that simple? No strings attached or “gotchas”?

Basically, the strategy is to save a lifetime of HSA expenses and let your HSA take advantage of that compound growth on your investment. Even a conservative estimate of 7% growth and $1,500 a year comes out to over $200k over a career.

Then you reimburse all your expenses in one go, taking advantage of the tax advantages. The HSA is triple advantaged - contributions are tax-deductible, growth is tax-free, and withdrawal is tax free for medical expenses.

Is it really that simple to do?

What to do with large chunk of money 30k-45k

I won't get to into the details as they are irrelevant but It has not yet been paid out to me yet but depending on certain facts that'll i will keep to myself i will be receiving 30-45k.

I have no debt, currently own a house and some decent land that I have inherited and a shitty car that I am constantly fixing up.

I want to play things smart and unfortunately I know myself well enough that if I dont plan ahead I'll likely squander it all on stupid shit.

I would assume the most obvious answer is to put X into a Roth IRA and X into the stock market like QQQ or VOO. These are vague thoughts and id like something a bit more concrete. I will say it is my goal to move out of my current situation and back home to LA where cost of living is admittedly far more expensive but home is where the heart is.

Any advice is appreciated!

Not the obvious ones like credit card debt, high-interest loans, or forgotten subscriptions.

What’s a hidden habit, mindset, or lifestyle decision that quietly drains people's wealth over time?

Hopefully, sharing these can help someone avoid a costly mistake down the road.

I am a college student living in a pretty busy, wealthy city and am currently earning $35 an hour. My rent costs $855, Apple Music is $10, and my phone bill is $105. I owe $430 on my credit card and have paid $260 so far as I work toward paying off my credit card debt. Every week, I put $10 into Robinhood (I don’t really know what I'm doing there, but every adult tells me to invest). I have $15 in my checking account and $450 in my savings. I can't stop spending money on clothes because I love to dress up! I'm studying engineering and have been wanting a 3D printer for a while, but I’ve already spent so much on other things, honestly, so I think I might wait. How can I save and invest more in myself right now?

I also work on Sundays occasionally, earning an extra $200 if I don’t need much time to study.

I'm an 18-year-old college student who's been really fascinated with business models and ways to make money for a few years now. One of the huge reasons I got into this kind of thing was my own financial struggles and my deep desire to make my parents proud.

I've tried a lot of things: affiliate marketing, youtube channels, crypto, surveys, and so much more. I haven't really had any success with any of them. Generally, I would give anything that I tried about 6 months, so it wasn't like I would try something for a few days and give up. However, once I invest that much effort into something with no results I tend to get so incredibly frustrated and convinced that it won't do anything for me even if I put even more effort in.

I've spent this summer searching again for new ways to make money because I really do not want to be average, I want to thrive, I want to be successful, I want to do something that's different and will eventually prove my parents wrong when I'm able to do something that I'm proud of.

Even trying to find a regular job was difficult. I applied to over 10 jobs a day all summer and barely found work.

At this point, I just feel so lost, money is a concept that I think about constantly from the moment that I wake up until the moment I go to bed and it has left me so incredibly anxious about my future. Both my parents have had a lot of financial trouble growing up, so one of my biggest fears is ending up living the same life they do.

I get that money doesn't guarantee happiness, but I do believe that it offers opportunities, security, and the chance to really provide for the people that I care about. I just have no idea where I should be focusing my attention right now.

I've invested approximately $500 into a few different business models so far and honestly, that money is gone. I've considered starting to work on building an app idea in my free time, but that then makes me really anxious that if it doesn't work, if I lose even more money because of it, then that means that another six months of my life would have gone to nothing and that idea makes me unable to commit to starting it.

I currently only have around $50 on me so that means I have to figure out something that's realistic.

I'm perfectly willing to put my head down and dedicate years to something, I'm not looking for some get-rich-quick idea. I am just absolutely terrified of putting in another 6 months or year of my life into something that does not go anywhere.

I feel like a total loser when I see people my age doing so much better and achieving a lot more than I am, and at times it can make me feel like all hope is lost. I want to be a successful person who is financially independent, and I want to feel like I'm making progress.

I am also dealing with some fairly serious anxiety and panic attacks which are heavily triggered by money and worrying about my future.

I know this is a very long message, but I really appreciate any perspective or advice you have regarding what you think someone in my situation needs to be focusing on and how to avoid jumping from one thing to another.

I net $5800 a month from which I invest $2200 and additional $1K in 401K at work.

Yes, I can afford to pay auto loans (comes out to be $900 a month with insurance). But Is it a super wise decision? Im anxious.

Currently driving a beater, which seems to be coming to an end after 5 years of generous run.

I want a new electrical whip. And everyone is telling me to get it as I deserve it.

It seems like he comes up in every single post, but I don't think anyone has ever said who the creep actually is. Can someone help me out?

I (35F) recently hit my goal of $100k net worth back in May. This was a big milestone for me and while I feel extremely behind for my age I am struggling to be proud/content and feel like Im constantly pushing myself to make more money to “catch up”.

I work multiple jobs and have cut my expenses to bare minimum to save and invest more.

My net worth is now 116,000 (with 91k in retirement accounts).

I set a goal of $125k with $100k in my retirement accounts. Once I hit that then what?

Looking for ideas.