I want to live in a nice car
Well, living in a car will certainly allow you to save.
Seriously, this is a difficult task but not an impossible one:
- You're about to begin college. At your age, your #1 Goal should be getting a profitable degree
without accumulating debt. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, but mostly it adds up to making good small choices and sticking to them. Focus on living cheaply in college and finishing in four years. Student loans will absolutely cut into the goals you've set for yourself. Work hard, but not so much that your academics suffer.
- Read everything provided by your university. I remember being amazed at the things my fellow students
didn't realize were provided by the university -- things that could've saved them money. For example, when I was in school we could get over-the-counter medicines
for free from the health center, yet many people didn't know, so they went to the drug store and paid their own money! My daughter tells me the same type of thing now. For example, in the dorm she was required to have a meal plan. Every month Food Services sent out a newsletter to all the students, and the newsletter includes coupons! Good coupons like "buy a bowl of soup and get a grilled cheese sandwich for free" or "buy a 12" sub and get a bag of chips and an apple free" -- and the students can print as many coupons as they want for that month. It's a great way of stretching the meal plan, yet NONE of her friends knew about the coupons! Worse still, when she shared them with her friends, only one was really interested and saw it as a good money saver. Your university will provide lots of free (or inexpensive) entertainment, clubs, travel, and educational opportunities -- but you have to search them out. One thing you should investigate: Your college's Writing Resource Center; you do need to work on organizing your written thoughts and proofreading. You want to work towards expressing yourself like a professional person, not an excited 18-year old.
- While you're in school, spend some time every week studying personal finance. I personally became very interested in this topic during college (mainly because I didn't want to repeat my parents mistakes), and I'd go to the library between classes and read: Books on frugal living, books on keeping your grocery bill low, books on real estate, books on investing, anything of that nature. I didn't yet have the money to make these things happen,
but I learned and formed opinions . . . and then when I graduated and started making money, I was ready to manage it well. When I started my first "real job", I already knew about 401Ks, etc.
- You say you want to work for a "Big 4". I assume that's an accounting term that I don't know. Keep this in mind, though. Your classmates are also gunning for this big, best job. None of them are saying, "Yeah, I'm going to do four years of work in accounting so I can do the books for a little construction company, and maybe I'll moonlight and do some taxes down at the Walmart every year" -- yet some of those accounting grads will end up in a lackluster job like that. I teach high school seniors, and MANY of them sound just like you:
Big goals, no real concrete idea of how to reach them. Many 18-year olds have this hazy idea that being successful in your career simply means choosing well, and they feel very secure in their ability to choose good things! In reality, being successful also means setting goals -- both small and large -- and working hard to reach them. So, if you want those big firms to look at you when you're done with school, what are you going to do
today to set yourself apart from your fellow classmates? Top grades are a must. Do accounting students tend towards internships? I don't know accounting, so I'm not able to give you concrete advice -- but you should seek out mentors in your field who can give you advice on making good choices early in your career.
- Once you're out of school, be prepared to work hard. Continue to live frugally. Put money aside. This is possibly harder than being frugal while you're in school because many of your college friends will be "living it up" with their new paychecks. Keep in mind that in those years you can buy the great condo with the downtown view, go out to the bars every weekend, and work 'til you're 70 . . . or you can live a frugal lifestyle and save money. Be aware that as you start to save, the money will add up very slowly. Someone once told me that it seems to take forever to save your first $100,000, but once you reach that goal, things begin to speed up. That was true for us; that first $100,000 took years (of course, we were earning much less then too), but now our investments occasionally earn a month of our salary in a day or two! Don't allow yourself to be discouraged when you're not seeing results like that in your first couple years of employment. It takes time.
- Oversave. By the time you're 30-35, a million dollars may not be what it is today. It probably won't allow you the nice-car, travel, help out the family lifestyle you're envisioning. You'll have to pay attention to this as time goes on.