Hello, my name is Eddy and I started reading the Mustache some weeks ago. I must say, this changed my perspective on so many ways, that I'm truly grateful both to Mr. Money Mustache and his readers (you offer great insights and examples!)
Now, I'm a 18 years old teenager. I just began working in a Burger King and I think it would be a great experience as my first job. I'll go to a cheap college, and financial aid will pay for it (I'm going to study Nursing). So I don't need to work for college. The thing is, what I should do with the money? Being honest, partly I want to work for the experience, because I think it would make me a more mature and independent person. My parents already want me to buy a car, but I don't like that idea because I don't need it, and I don't want to pay things like insurance. Nor I don't need/want new clothes or new gadgets, because I am already Mustachianized. The another thing is that, I value money as time invested, and I want my time well invested and not spend on fast food, or movies, or clothes. Especially because if I work while being in college at least some time, I will spend time a lot of time working that would have been spent on learning.
The thing is, of course, I could work and begin investing what I earn. But is it worthy at 8 dollars an hour while being in college? Of course, later I will escalate and will get better paid, because I won't stay at the same job for four years, and probably I will find another source of money. But is it worth the time spent? Or perhaps, I could just work fpr 1 year, and pay for the other 3 years, and wait until I am able to become a nurse?
Thank you very much!
My answer won't be just like everyone else's:
1. Always be clear on your goals. I suspect your #1 goal at this point is to attend college and earn a nursing degree. Your financial goals should be designed to promote this #1 goal. Investing is wonderful -- but at 18 years old, investing is #2 to earning the degree. The degree will allow you to earn more money for the rest of your life -- and that you'll invest. When you wonder what to do, always go back to the question, "What is my #1 goal at this point?"
2. I'm not sure how firm your plans are. You say you're 18 -- if you're just finishing your junior year, you're right on track. On the other hand, if you're just finishing your senior year and don't have that "cheap college" nailed down yet, you're behind. Also, you say you're going to go to school on financial aid -- do you KNOW THIS, or just hope it's true? Almost no one gets "everything" paid through financial aid; even if you are awarded a financial aid package that covers your tuition, you'll still have books, transportation and incidentals to cover. You don't mention dorms, so I'm assuming you're planning to continue to live at home during college?
These things are essential questions. 3. The car. You're right that during your freshman and sophomore year of college, you won't really need a car. You'll be taking Chem, Bio, etc. -- all on campus classes. A car during those first two years of college is a big expense . . . for a tiny pay-off. However, I'll echo what another poster said: If you "don't need a car" because you're counting on your parents or other people for rides, that's not a long-term solution. If you're expecting your parents to drive you to college every day for four years, you will definitely need to reconsider.
4. All that will change when you're a junior --
it is EXPENSIVE to be a junior nursing major. I suggest that if you want to invest your current earnings, you consider something like a one-year CD. Do not tie up anything in a long-term IRA -- you're going to need that money when you're a junior, and your financial aid will not increase to cover the things I'm about to discuss:
The first big expense you're going to hit is a mandatory summer school between sophomore and junior year. All nursing majors are required to take this class. The purpose of the class is to take you through the CNA 2 class and get you certified. They want you to have this before you begin your Nursing Clincials in the fall. So that's a semester of tuition, books and possibly housing that
isn't covered by financial aid . . . and at the end of that class, you have to pay to take the state test to become a CNA 2. That test is over $100.
When you're a junior -senior nursing major, a car will become a need. Trust me on this: My daughter is about to finish her sophomore year as a nursing major, so I know. For the last 5 semesters of her college years (summer school + 4), she will be doing Nursing Clinicals. This is standard practice everywhere. Her school advisors will assign her WHERE she is to go; she will have NO SAY in the location or the time, and she'll end up going to ALL the locations at some point in her 5 semesters. She's been lucky: For her first experience in summer school, she's in the group who'll be doing Clinicals right there in their college town -- she can ride the bus. But in the fall she knows she'll be assigned to a different hospital that's just over an hour away (and she has to go three times a week). Next spring she
might be back in her college town, or she could be somewhere far again.
You can see that a car will be a necessity when she's a junior. Her good friends all ended up in different assignments for summer school and fall semester. This may not remain true for the later semesters, and I do expect that she'll get to know the people who are in her group, and I expect they'll share rides once fall begins -- but it's just not reasonable to expect to "bum rides" for 5 semesters. I agree with the poster who says, "Don't lock yourself into a car now" --
but the time will come that it'll become a necessity, and you'll be better off if you're aware of that and prepared financially.
Also, when my daughter begins Nursing Clinicals, she'll need to wear school-colored "scrubs". We've already bought her simple black scrub pants at a discount place we know ($8 per pair -- great price!) but she'll be forced to buy her scrub tops from the campus bookstore -- they must be embroidered with her school logo and her name. I don't know yet what they're going to cost, but I expect them to be pricey. The good news is that she'll use them constantly for her 5 semesters: Roughly 3 times a week x three 14 week semesters x 4 + one 8 week summer school. I already told her that whatever they cost, I'll buy her five so that we won't have to go back and replace them later. They may be rags by the time she graduates. Good shoes are also an absolute necessity (and her high school nursing teachers were a little fussy about exactly what was acceptable); she'll be on her feet working constantly -- the shoes are a necessity for her comfort and for protection against body fluids.
Once you begin Nursing Clinicals, you may not be able to work as many hours as you are now. Some semesters you'll be spending more hours on the road than you'll like, and you'll have significant work outside of Clinicals.
Those last semesters are going to be tough. If you have some money put aside, you'll be able to drop back on your hours . . . and still eat.
The last big hit to junior nursing majors is the books. My college roommates were nursing majors, and I remember that they each paid $900 for their books their first junior semester. (I was horrified, knowing that I simply wouldn't have been able to do it -- and this was in the 80s.) The good news is that they needed very few books for their remaining semesters. Regardless, books that semester are something about which nursing majors warn one another. Expect a HUGE bill.
When you're talking to the nursing professors and older students, ask them about the things I've said. You may find variations in my details, but you'll find that nursing (while a great choice for a career -- a growing profession, needed everywhere in the world, pays fairly) is an expensive college degree to earn.
Other people on this thread are saying, "Invest! Invest!" However, having a daughter who's involved in the program in which you plan to enroll, I cannot jump on that bandwagon. Instead, I say, "Save! Save!" Continue working, hold onto that money, perhaps put it away in a short-term CD . . . but you're going to need it for your last two years of college.
5. I'll reiterate something someone else said: Avoid debt. It's almost assumed that you'll take on debt in college. When you fill out the FAFSA form, you WILL be offered loans. And you have to make a point to turn them down at every step. You don't have to seek them out -- they will be offered to you! Avoid debt. Live cheaply while you're in college. It's so much better in the long run: When you graduate, your future will belong completely to you.
6. Look for ways to save money in college. You can find plenty of ways to live cheaply, to buy books for better prices, and to find cheap fun. One thing that surprised us: My daughter's college automatically adds $800 of insurance to every student's bill every semester. If you have your own health insurance, you just have to go online and let them know the details, and they drop it . . . but you have to do it every single semester.
7. Make a four-year plan and take great, great care in choosing your classes. If you just choose this or that -- things that sound fun, you're probably not going to graduate in four years, and that's expensive! Read your handbook and find out what general degree requirements fulfill this or that requirement. Listen to what your advisor says, but also research on your own. And keep in mind that GRADES MATTER. At the end of your sophomore year, you're going to have to apply to get into the nursing program, and only about 1/3 of the students at my daughter's college were admitted into nursing. That is, only about 1/3 of them even get the chance to do the Nursing Clinicals that I discussed above.
8. Your job. I'm not sure why you think Burger King will be a "great experience" for a first job -- unless you're anticipating being able to look back to say, "Wow, I've come a long way!" It's hard work, and you'll never make much more than minimum wage. If you are still in high school, I suggest you look into whether your high school offers a vocational class that allows you to become a CNA while you're still in high school. My daughter did this, and she works on campus at the college health center. She makes more than minimum wage, her boss understands that she's a student and works around her schedule, and one day it'll look better on a resume than food service. Another option for a person who has a CNA is Home Health.
Good luck to you!