Could giving an 18 year old $200k be a better investment than college? (financial, cost)
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My parents were too young to have kids. We were little adults who went everywhere our parents went - skiing, sailing, restaurants. We did not do baby talk, were included in business travel, could eat with knife and fork and read a menu and most importantly had manners. Mother had 10 years of schooling, father six. Financial advise I got - if you cannot afford to loose it do not do.
200 at 18 would have been a Ferrari. It turned out to be a brand new red Porsche from my boy friend (including title and insurance killed me but it felt gooood.). Life is too short not to enjoy it. Ok, in our late 20 we got into the grove and retired at 40 which lasted one deer season.
You cannot drill saving into a youngsters head unless you live it and he/she considers this the way to go.
first thing my son would do is buy a tesla, so the answer is no that's not a useful way of investing $200k.
Like the above poster mentions - if you live and breathe financial prudence kids can pick up on it up early. Hopefully by 21 or so at the latest.
That 17-21 time frame is huge. Think of the difference between being +$50,000 at 21 years old (achievable) vs being -$50,000 at 21 (common...credit cards, car, college, etc).
A mature 21 year old that’s +$50,000 is a FIRE soldier. That’s a working class person who could live relatively well and retire by 35. Possibly a millionaire by 40 - not the distinction it used to be but still ~95th percentile at that age.
Last edited by eddiehaskell; 12-13-2019 at 09:11 PM..
What living expenses would a 18-19 year old have living at home with their parents? Pitch in a few bucks for food...maybe pay their car insurance?
A better question might be - why couldn’t a kid put away $15k/year?
I did.
Seriously??? RENT. Car payment. Insurance. PHONE. FOOD. Yeah not gonna save $15 grand - no kid that I know unless they are mighty lucky in the job they get. Obviously it is possible, but highly unlikely. I lived with my parents until I was 23 - and I had literally nothing left over after my expenses.
Seriously??? RENT. Car payment. Insurance. PHONE. FOOD. Yeah not gonna save $15 grand - no kid that I know unless they are mighty lucky in the job they get. Obviously it is possible, but highly unlikely. I lived with my parents until I was 23 - and I had literally nothing left over after my expenses.
Let’s go down the list:
Rent - if one lives with their parents I would assume $0 rent. I only knew a few parents that had some rule of charging market rates once their child hits 18, lol. If one live with roommates sharing an apartment maybe $400/month (I paid ~ $300 when I lived with a retired school teacher for a while).
Car payment - $0. Buy cash cars. I would also assume most parents with the means will help their child purchase some kind of car. I know I would. I certainly knew working class parents that did.
Insurance - cash car...just carry liability
Phone - Yesterday I paid $170 for 1 year of unlimited phone service (5gb LTE data).
Food - if one lives at home I would assume food is free or shared. Pitch in $100/month and eat cheap. One can survive on about $200/month if buying it all.
Rent - if one lives with their parents I would assume $0 rent. I only knew a few parents that had some rule of charging market rates once their child hits 18, lol. If one live with roommates sharing an apartment maybe $400/month (I paid ~ $300 when I lived with a retired school teacher for a while).
Car payment - $0. Buy cash cars. I would also assume most parents with the means will help their child purchase some kind of car. I know I would. I certainly knew working class parents that did.
Insurance - cash car...just carry liability
Phone - Yesterday I paid $170 for 1 year of unlimited phone service (5gb LTE data).
Food - if one lives at home I would assume food is free or shared. Pitch in $100/month and eat cheap. One can survive on about $200/month if buying it all.
You're posting your personal experience. Your list does not apply to everyone. For example, here was my list when I lived with my parents a long long time ago:
Rent: $900/month (I didn't have to pay for utilities or food at home).
Car: I owned my car, but had to pay for gas and maintenance.
Insurance: $1200/yr
Food: $600/month (I traveled a lot)
I had a lot more expenses than listed here. Like clothes, entertainment, etc.
You're posting your personal experience. Your list does not apply to everyone. For example, here was my list when I lived with my parents a long long time ago:
Rent: $900/month (I didn't have to pay for utilities or food at home).
Car: I owned my car, but had to pay for gas and maintenance.
Insurance: $1200/yr
Food: $600/month (I traveled a lot)
I had a lot more expenses than listed here. Like clothes, entertainment, etc.
You sound like an outlier...borderline gouged by your parents. That’s simply something I couldn’t do to my child if they want to live at home while getting ahead financially early in life. Choose to do nothing...sure, pay me rent. Move out and need to move back in at 25...sure, help with bills. The potential of what the child could do saving on expenses far exceeds the benefits I would receive from charging them rent.
Regardless, you help make my point. If you weren’t required to pay rent and ate for $200 instead of $600 - bam, you would’ve been saving $15,600/year. Hella money to be saving for a young person.
You sound like an outlier...borderline gouged by your parents. That’s simply something I couldn’t do to my child if they want to live at home while getting ahead financially early in life. Choose to do nothing...sure, pay me rent. Move out and need to move back in at 25...sure, help with bills. The potential of what the child could do saving on expenses far exceeds the benefits I would receive from charging them rent.
Regardless, you help make my point. If you weren’t required to pay rent and ate for $200 instead of $600 - bam, you would’ve been saving $15,600/year. Hella money to be saving for a young person.
$900/month rent with free utilities and food at home is being gouged? You come off as spoiled if you think so. Paying for yourself is called being responsible in my book. I had a job. It's not like I was bumming around.
Again, you're assuming that everyone is you. The reason I was spending $600/month on food was because I was traveling a lot. I didn't need to save an extra $15,600.
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