As the title said, I’m 15 years old and have AU$1400 saved up. I no longer have a job and am working on a small business of mine, which has just $300 in revenue in the last few months.
The reason I’m here is because I’m not sure if I should invest in some compounding assets or something else, and if I should educate myself on stocks/dividends before making a decision?
I have read finance books such as Rich Dad Poor Dad, the Warren Buffett Way, and others, so I do know a lot about finance/business considering my age.
I previously had a job as a dishwasher for AU$16 per hour, and so I got $1700 from that after working for 5 months.
If I should ask this on a different r/, please direct me there so I can figure out what I should do :)
As an older person learning some of these skills later in life, I have some advice for you:
First off, you have the advantage of starting young. Most of us start in our early to mid 20s and many never start at all as they get locked into their careers with ever increasing living expenses and costs. You’ve already done one of the best things you can do which is “START NOW!”
Second, your instinct to build a business is good. You’ve mentioned $300 in revenue so far, just keep working at it and watch it grow. In fact, take the $300 you’ve made and whatever is left after taxes should be reinvested back into your business.
Also, Keep in mind that it’s not so much how much money you can make, but how good you are at converting your earned income into unearned/passive income. That’s the difference between Rich Dad from Kiyosaki’s book and the rest of us plebs here on reddit. ;)
Finally, don’t invest all of your $1400. Take the amount of one of your last paychecks from your last job and use that as your initial investment. My recommendation assuming your confident in it’s future performance, would be to invest in your business first. On top of the $300 in revenue you would be reinvesting like I suggested earlier.
Assuming you want to try to buy an asset like Stocks or Crypto, again, keep it to the amount of your last paycheck.
Also, buy those assets with the understanding you may potentially lose all of that money. And maybe more importantly than that, before you buy, what and how much information are you using to determine that you’ll make money on the asset you buy?
There’s always risk, but there’s a difference between calculated risk and gambling. The more information and planning you do, the more successful you’ll be.
If you fail spectacularly and/or have to “get a job,” try to get a job where you can learn valuable financial or business skills. Anything involving sales, taxes, law/legal will be very useful.
Good Luck! And remember, your greatest asset is time.