We’re not going to recommend a single stock, bond, mutual fund, or commodity to you today but this topic still is critical to getting your youth investment off to a rousing start. Beginning investors often get tied up trying to analyze and understand 100 different stocks all at once. Nothing wrong with this if you have plenty of free time but at Young Wealth we assume you do have other interests in life besides permanently burying your nose in the Wall Street Journal. We’re talking concepts...

How important is it that you make money young? If you claim it’s very important, you’re in luck because if you want to do it, there are predictable ways to make it happen. The trouble we usually run into when teaching the younger generation about building wealth in the early years is a lack of focus and tendency to indulge in rampant consumerism. Don’t get us wrong – we’re all for consuming. Unfortunately, too many young (and old) workers get a credit card and that’s all she wrote. The end...

Ah, to be young and insanely rich. You can do it, you know, no matter how crappy the current economy is. The truth is that young wealth can be built while you’re…uh…still young. This website’s founder and namesake, Jason Hartman, is a perfect example, having become a real estate millionaire several times over while still in his twenties. Today let’s cut through the feel good about yourself junk and learn how to get rich while you’re still young: 1. Invest early and often 2. Skip Wall...

Trust Facebook with your life and the cost might be that primo job you just landed. Seriously, dudes and dudettes – it could happen. Lately, it has been a well publicized fact that the social media giant’s almost non-existent security standards are akin to advertising your most intimate personal information on the moon in 100 mile high blinking red letters. The question becomes this: Do you want EVERYTHING from your FB account to be available to EVERYONE on planet Earth? When we say...

One of the fundamental decisions a young investor must make is whether they are a trader or an investor. Most people tend toward one or the other, and choosing one certainly doesn’t preclude dabbling in the other, but it’s good to know which side you primarily come down on. The difference is simple. A trader plans a strategy around short term market fluctuations. He might jump in and out of positions several times (or several dozen times) each day. The trader believes there is money to be...

If you want to build wealth and keep it, you’re going to have to get serious about financial management, and better sooner than later. What is financial management? It sounds like a fuddy duddy term that only old dudes in three-piece suits should be bothering with. Wrong! Unless you like the idea of working the drive-thru window at McDonalds the rest of your life and burning through every penny as soon as you make it – you need to learn about financial management. Let’s define what we’re...

Maybe you’ve been studying stocks for a while now but, as a young investor, find it difficult to pull the trigger and risk real money in the marketplace. Never fear, your friends at Young Wealth have an idea that might help. The trick is how to get a close approximation to live trading conditions without losing real money. Currency market brokers had this figured out a long time ago and now we’ve begun to notice stock brokers taking the cue – practice accounts are what we’re talking...

We’ve been hearing the economic and laid-off worker horror stories for a while now, and most of it is true, but what if you happen to be young money, one of those fortunate few twenty-somethings with a great job and nice income. You want to invest it somewhere besides that train wreck of a stock market. The housing market has crashed and burned in many areas, or so says conventional wisdom. Well, the Young Wealth Team is here to tell you this is the very time you should be looking to invest...

At the start of your working life, it may be hard to imagine where exactly you’re going to pry loose a few dollars to invest when you’re living paycheck to paycheck and barely paying all the bills. True, it’s not easy. Nobody promised that but clever money management skills can go a long ways towards finding extra cash to put to work building wealth for later. The secret to finding money to invest in a tight budget? Learn to save first. Even if you make a modest salary, say $30,000 and live...

At some point in this walk through life we begin to think about the impact our decisions have on the next generation, namely, our kids. If you happen to start a family early, it’s critical to teach the fundamentals of financial literacy from the start. In this culture of buy now and pay later or never, cultivating a sense of financial responsibility in the little ones is one of the most important roles of a parent. After all, do you want them to grow up and spend money they don’t have, like...

Is your junior or senior year in college a good time to begin investing? At Young Wealth, we’d say “Absolutely!” That assumes your bad debt is paid off first. Yes, we realize we’re beginning to sound like a broken record with this “Pay off your debt!” mantra. We don’t get paid for saying it but we do believe it’s that important. It’s a critical component of your financial education. The part you’re likely NOT to get in school. Think of it this way. Most of your consumer debt is attached to a...

Winning the investment game is not for the faint of heart but it is critical to realize early on the necessity of embracing the idea that you MUST invest in some way in order to build wealth. Choose the stock market (probably your worst option), start a small business, or invest in real estate (your best choice to succeed). When it comes to investing, the water is murky and current strong, and we don’t want you to get eaten by the first shark that swims your way. To succeed, you’ve got to...

There’s a reason people look to franchises when thoughts of entrepreneurship enter their head. Owning a franchise removes much of the guesswork from starting a business. The company provides you with a blueprint to success. They’ve already done the hard work of testing and tweaking to see what works. The problem is that buying into most franchises can require big time money. Take McDonald’s for instance. This ubiquitous burger chain won’t even talk to you unless you have $250,000 cash on...

There’s more than one way to reach the land of financial independence. Investing is a popular method and can work well, especially if you focus on buying rental properties. But others exit school with an entrepreneurial bent, ready to start their own business. At Young Wealth, we say “Go get ‘em!” Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of capitalism. But starting a business isn’t something you should do off-the-cuff or on whim. The most creative, high-flying imagineers will do better with a of...

It’s hard to build wealth when your credit is screwed up beyond belief. If you find yourself tormented by debtors, welcome to the club. It’s become a way of life for many young adults. How does it happen? Buy a car, take a vacation, put a killer stereo in your car – put it on plastic. These are a few ways to find yourself dodging dinnertime phone calls from angry collection agents. You might be able to put up with it for a while but they’ll wear you down eventually because...

Many good business ideas revolve around the idea of tapping into a market that never goes away. That’s why we like investing in residential income properties so much. No matter what else, people want a place to lay their head at night. That makes it a universal demand. Another universal demand you might consider when pondering business ideas is something relating to kids. Adults tend to engage in the activity that creates them on a regular basis. We’re going to go out on a limb and predict...

A rising minimum wage is good, right? Everybody working at or near the bottom of the payment scale likes to think government enforced upward pressure on wages is a good thing. In a perfect world, where small businesses had unlimited resources, that might be true. Unfortunately, that’s not the real world. For several reasons, a higher federally mandated minimum wage is likely to make it harder for young workers’ to find a job. Why? It costs a lot of money for an employer to hire, train, and...

You’ve got a handful of prospectus’s from your favorite mutual fund companies, and it’s time to sit down and give them a critical read. As a newbie investor, you don’t want to screw things up from the start. When you get to the part that discusses expense ratios, don’t raise your eyebrow and skip past it. This is a big deal and could radically change your bottom line return in the years and decades to come. The first thing to know is that all funds have expense ratios. The second thing to...

Here’s an easy way to score some free cash, especially if you’re opening a bank account for the first time. As you might guess, banks are scrambling for your business and some of them will even pay a bonus to get it. The process is incredibly simple. Just open up a savings or checking account, sometimes a Certificate of Deposit will count, and wait for 90 days or whatever other period of time imposed by the bank and, voila, a free cash deposit will be made into your account ranging from $125...

We love entrepreneurial thinking and startup business ideas. It’s the American Dream. If you’re one of those creative types itching to get out of the regimentation of traditional schooling spread your wings, we say – beware! Not because starting your own business is a bad idea, but because sneak attack factors can derail your grand plans faster than we can say, “I told you so.” Here are a few dangers in particular. 1.Family Concerns – Like it or not, the whole family is going to be involved...

When you’re a young gun, full of vim and vigor, just out of school, looking for a job is part of the game. You figure you’ll find one sooner or later. But what about those crazy unemployment numbers? The Atlantic Monthly claims there are six people looking for each single job that opens. Without intervention by the federal government, millions of people will have run out of unemployment benefits within a few months, which opens up yet another can of worms – can/should the government be...

Chances are that even the most clueless among us have at least heard the name of uber-investor, Warren Buffett. If you’ve had a few too many margaritas, you might be thinking about Jimmy, who makes a pretty good living himself singing songs about warm places and palm trees. Back to Warren though, who is generally credited as perhaps the most successful investor today. When Warren Buffett took control of the company Berkshire Hathaway in 1964, its market capitalization was $22 million. 35...

There is no better time in life for investing than immediately out of college or a few years into your career. The numbers will never be more in your favor. Time is on your side and simple arithmetic can make you rich. You have two decades to save for the kids college fund and probably four decades until you retire. Yes, we said the “R” word. Retirement sounds so old and settled to young ears full of, well, young stuff. When you hit middle age, wouldn’t it be nice to do so with a stuffed...

Recent graduates are notorious for not having a freakin’ clue where their money goes. If you’re going to thwart financial disaster in the adult world, you need to have a budgeting plan. Seriously, don’t even think about investing until you get a handle on this subject. It’s not hard. Just do it. The first part of any budgeting process is to figure out where your money is going right now. Keep track of every penny you spend for a month. Hit Burger King (or the fast food franchise of your...

Americans like to flaunt real or imaginary social/financial status with cars. To prove this fact of life takes no more effort than a drive through the “other” side of town – chances are you’ll find driveway after driveway displaying tricked out, ramped up, and chromed over examples of vehicles that seem out of touch with the surroundings. As a newbie to the professional world, get over that silliness now! Drive the sort of car your budget can afford and no more. Your investments will thank...