If you want money for college or any major future expense, you need to
Start investing now!
I wish I had known this when I was a minor: INVEST NOW! Even if you start with just a very nominal amount of $100, that $100 dollars will be worth more by the time you graduate from high school and likely even more by the time you graduate from college. In fact, you normally get six (6) months after you are no longer enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited university to start paying back your student loans. (More on student loans and other money-saving tips in a future lesson in Volume III.)
If you start putting aside 30% of whatever money you make, find, earn, or inherit into a mutual fund or maybe a bond, you could end up with a good chunk of change come freshman year (or an even greater chunk six months after you graduate).
If I had done this, I might have had 50–60% of my tuition for Yale. (I had about 20% just from savings of allowances and part-time work.) I know everyone is afraid of the market right now, but this is the best time to invest. The good news about being a student during a recession is that the likelihood of a boom shortly after you graduate from college is very great, historically speaking. I am not a broker, but you can find good, honest ones out there who would be thrilled to work with a motivated high school student. It is never too early, but it can be too late before you know it.
Get into college
