Just For Results

You are a teen. You aren’t that familiar with investing. All you know is that you could make a lot of money with it. You have a part time job, but you don’t get paid very much. You wouldn’t mind making a little extra money. You think you want to invest because you hear you can make money from it.

Are you not sure if you should invest your money because you are still so young? First of all, it doesn’t matter how old you are or if you should be investing. If you don’t know anything about investing, you shouldn’t be doing anything with it.

Before you can start investing, you need to know what it is and what you’re doing. There are several different ways to invest. Read books on investing as a whole as well as individual investing types.

When you learn about investing, you will learn that you need money to invest before you can start. As a young person, you might not have much money. Also, you may feel you have other things you need to be spending your money on.

If you just want to invest in order to make some extra money, you should find another way to make money. You will not make much if you keep spending it on other things and you are taking on more risk.

Are you truly interested in building wealth and investing? Spend some time learning and get involved with a free stock market simulation game while you save up money to invest.

When you are set and have at least a few hundred dollars to invest, set up a brokerage account and buy some stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or whatever you have learned all about and are ready to invest in.

If you are too young to get your own account, ask your parents to set one up as a custodian that you can take over when you are old enough. Continue researching and investing and you will see your wealth increase.

Peer pressure is a commonly heard phrase in the life of a teen; teachers warn against it, parents plead with you to rise above it, and other teenagers may complain about it. Until you encounter it, it may just sound like a frightening buzz word that adults use to scare you. Many teenagers have unfortunately discovered that peer pressure is a very real and potentially dangerous influence that they are sometimes not equipped to deal with.

The people most affected by peer pressure are teens, who are still trying to figure out who they are, where they want to go, and with whom they wish to be associated. Not every instance will be a life or death situation, but it is important to realize that there are always a variety of avenues a teenager can take to avoid peer pressure. You can always be an individual, you just need to find a way to do that without sacrificing your beliefs or angering your friends in the process.

Imagine this scenario: You and a group of friends are driving to an awesome concert and everyone is enjoying themselves. Suddenly, someone suggests taking the ‘party’ to the next level and pulls out a bottle of alcohol pilfered from Dad’s liquor cabinet. You do not want to drink, but everyone else is looking at you expectantly. How do you respond?

It is easy to become anxious in these situations, but it can also be just as easy to stand up for your beliefs without offending your friends. That is the origin of most anxiety associated with peer pressure; how do you tell a group of peers that you aren’t interested without sounding accusatory?

Though you might like to keep harmony with your friends, sometimes it is necessary to step out of you comfort zone and speak your mind. It will take courage, and your opinions might not always be met with friendly reactions, but more often than not, your friends will respect you for standing by your beliefs. This may also help you avoid future situations as well.

Do not put the person who is suggesting the deviant activity on the spot; the reaction will likely be hostile and cause more conflict. Instead, calmly and simply state “I don’t want to drink.” Avoid saying something like “No, thanks, man. I don’t want to end up like you.” This will only stir up unnecessary drama. By keeping the subject on the activity and not the person suggesting it, you may get through to your friends and give them an opportunity to back out of the activity. Also, don’t discount the power of a lighthearted joke; keeping things in a humorous light can also get your point across without laying blame.

What if you aren’t comfortable saying ‘no’? Try ignoring the suggestion. Tell your friends you have plans that you can’t break, or pretend that you didn’t hear the suggestion. Turn up the radio, concentrate on your homework or on what someone else is saying, and don’t acknowledge what was said. Your friend may take the hint and the whole idea may be dropped.

You can also blame your parents. This is one time when your parents’ rules actually come in handy. Because every teen knows what it feels like to disappoint their parents with their behavior, saying something like, “No way! If my parents found out, I’d be grounded for the whole summer!” will bring the consequences of the situation to light, and possibly dissuade the situation altogether.

Most importantly, remember that if you are wary of something, chances are, many of your friends are too. If you consistently stand up for your beliefs, your friends will remember that and respect you for it.

You don’t have to be a slave to peer pressure. Be known for being an individual who sticks by what is right rather than a person who always goes with the flow. You may find that others will follow your lead!

It is not fun being in debt. When you owe someone money, you always have that in the back of your mind, especially when you don’t think you don’t know if you can pay it back.

If you owe twenty dollars to your friend, probably interest free, you may feel less obliged to pay it back right away than if you owe a thousands dollars to an uncle at a 10 percent interest rate. It is not often that you borrow large sums of money from family and friends.

The money you owe to family and friends is nothing compared to larger debts with higher interest rates that are not borrowed from family or friends. One of the worst is credit cards. They can have huge interest rates which cause the debt to pile up faster and faster.

The answer to the question, ‘should you pay off your debt?’ is a resounding yes. As an individual, you should work to pay off all your debt. If you are married and have a family, you have an even bigger obligation to pay off your debt. The more debt you have, the faster and longer it will grow and the less money you will have.

One argument is the tax deduction you get from your mortgage. The truth is you only get to deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage and when you deduct it, you only save a percentage.

For example, if you paid $2,000 one year in interest on your mortgage and you are in the 15% tax bracket, you only get to save 15% of the $2,000 which is $300, not the whole $2,000. It’s a limited amount of savings and you should not prolong mortgage expense beyond what you original set it up for.

You could say that you could invest what you aren’t paying for your house at a higher rate than the mortgage rate and make more money. How many people actually have that money now and if they could save it, how many would invest it and not just go and spend it?

Even if you kept your mortgage and paid it off in 15 or 30 years, all your other debt should be paid off as soon as possible. Even better, don’t take out loans for things you can’t afford. A house is enough. Otherwise, buy used and save until you can buy what you want.

What’s the difference if I invest now or if I wait a year? The difference can be quite substantial. If you still have a long time until you retire, or if you are retiring in the near future, investing now will benefit more than if you waited 1, 2, 3, or more years to start.

The longer the wait, the less money you have. Time is money and if you waste it, it’s like you’re wasting money. Just as you get paid for your time and efforts at work, with investing, you’ll get paid a lot more with more time. The sooner you start, the more you’ll make.

When it comes to investing, the sooner you start, the more money you’ll have. If you had $10,000 to invest over a period of 10 years, if you could, you should invest it all in the first year. You would have to most money after 10 years than if you spread it out. It’s just simple rules of compounding.

If you start investing when you are young, like in your 20s, you will have the biggest advantage. You’ll have more money for retirement if you invest, and you’ll have even more if you invest it early.

Let’s say you are 25 years old. You plan on retiring at the age of 65 in 40 years. You decide to invest $500 every year for those 40 years and expect an average return of 9%. Over the 40 years, you will have invested a total of $20,000. In 40 years, you will have approximately $182,000.

If you started investing later in life, you would have quite a bit less, even if you invested more. Let’s say you invested $2,000 a year from 45 to 65, for a total of 20 years. You would have invested a total of $40,000. You would have about $110,000. That is much less. Would you rather retire comfortably or rush through your last working years trying to save enough?

That is the power of time plus compounding. Compounding means you continue to earn money on the money you already earned on top of the principle. The more time you have, the more time your money has to earn. Now, if you had to choose between a retirement investment account or a Starbucks coffee everyday, which would you choose?

There is no set amount of money that you must start investing now. You could start out very small and then as you begin to earn more, start contributing more. Start by taking 2% of your income and investing it for retirement, then add a percentage point more each year to your contribution. When you hit 20%, you might find you are in a good place to retire early.

You hear a lot about the power of gratitude. On paper it makes sense, right? If you’re grateful for things then you begin to focus on what you have rather than focus on what you don’t have. However, when things are tough and life is full of challenges, it can be tough to keep gratitude at the forefront of our minds.

Why is a Gracious Attitude Important?

Developing a gracious attitude will change your perspective on your life and life in general. Gracious people:

Look to others, and their faults and mistakes as blessings. Blaming no longer exists. Rather than to look at what you lost or what you don’t have, you simply look at what you do have and go from there.

Look at others with your heart instead of your eyes. Find that compassionate part of yourself and use it to connect with others even if you don’t have anything in common. Instead of the bitterness that accompanies a closed heart you will experience a more abundant and happy life.

Don’t pass judgment on yourself or others. See people for who they are and have the potential to be. Praise them and be grateful for their strengths.

Feel merciful towards others who are not in their best place or have not reached a place where they can look at the world from a place of gratitude.

Look at what you do have and be grateful. Concentrating on the positives in your life attract more positive energies. How is that? Whatever you cultivate in your life will begin to grow. If you want a good life, change your focus.

Attaining Gratitude Abundance in your Life

Always know what you are grateful for in life. If you want, make a list. Each day, read the list and add more to it as you feel the need. Some of your blessings that you may easily overlook: breathing each day, having food at every meal, and the good people in your life. Blessings are all around us if we choose to see them. Learning to recognize your blessings renews your hope in life and your role in it.

Practice gratefulness. You won’t become an expert overnight but with practice you will see a difference in your attitude and your life. Instead of going to sleep feeling weighed down, you can use that abundance of gratitude you have developed to sleep well and wake up unencumbered by worry.

Find ways to integrate gratitude each day. Develop rituals that usher in gracious feelings within you. It could be as simple as journaling, wearing special gratitude jewelry, getting weekly pampering, or making time for family and friends. Whatever you choose, make it a positive experience.

Help another person. We find deeper meaning in our lives when we make someone else’s life better. Volunteer with the homeless, give to charity, or do something nice for a stranger every day.

Clear out anything in your life that weighs you down. Attract more gratitude by removing negative people and attitudes that detract from your gratitude abundance.

You can attract gratitude to your life if you want it. Learn to embrace your gracious nature and change your life and the lives of those around you.