Foxie from Dreaming of Ferraris is not even 20 years old and she's already thinking about opening an Roth IRA. She recently finished reading Smart Women Finish Rich and which brought her attention to the long term tax advantages of these accounts. Does anyone else wish they would have been thinking that way at that age?
She's not alone, but I'm always surprised by economically wise teenagers. While I was wasting my small earnings on chicken fingers at Denny's there are were kids thinking about tax advantaged retirement accounts and aggressive investment strategies. Wow. I didn't even save up enough to get me through a whole year at college. I wish I would have friends like these.
Take William, for example. William is my former college roommate's younger brother. He was a sophomore in high school when we were entering college. They came from a very well-off family so she never needed a loan, but he took one out in her name. It came with a one year grace period. He invested the loan and then took out another the following year to pay it off in full. He continued to do this all four years so that he had a $4000 graduation gift waiting for her without ever spending a dime!
Kudos to those that start early, what an inspiration :)
Just food for thought: What factors influence people to start becoming financially aware?
I came from a low income family in a lower middle class area. None of my peers were thinking about finances in any other way than spending. I hit rock bottom with debt and bills before I really began focusing on personal finance. In some ways I'm very thankful. I have time to recover and I am truly enjoying the debt reduction process. I have fun stretching each dollar as far as possible and I am excited to start saving and investing as the debt goes down.
What was your PF influence?
2 Comments:
My PF influence was a combination. I learned that the world was running out of arable land, energy, etc. and that there were already two billion living in poverty. At the time I was also in grad school and was beginning to realize where the buck ultimately stops (here!). By this I mean that nobody is going to bail me out and this is a problem I have to solve for myself. Hence, I decided that I did not want to be owned by others by going into debt. Avoiding debt at all costs was my initial motivation.
Woah now, I don't deserve *this* much credit. ^-^; Really, it's your blog and all the other PF blogs out there that I have to give credit to - I was able to learn from other mistakes and to make some small ones of my own. I do have student loans, I believe the total is somewhere around 11k or 12k for three semesters, which I don't think is so bad. (One semester I had to pay out of state tuition - ouch.) But reading about the people in their 30's and 40's who wish they would have started earlier - I can't not do something now knowing I'll more than likely regret it later! I do whole heartedly appreciate the support, it helps me stay on track. =]
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