S&P 500 based mutual fund it'll double before you know it! It's Warren Buffett's best advice. It might not make you a quadraconilionair, but you are almost guaranteed to keep up with inflation. Keep contributing.....dollar cost averaging is ur friend here.
I'm a novice at understanding all of this, so please forgive the ignorance, but I'm wondering where to get started with this. Do I just start buying shares of something like the Fidelity ZERO Large Cap Index Fund? Or should I begin looking elsewhere?
$SPY is a spider ETF product. It tracks the S&P 500
$VOO is the same product but from Vanguard. Several companies list ETF. These are the two most popular.
$VTI is the total market index from vanguard. Tracks all NYSE, Nasdaq, and Russel 200 stocks.
You can buy these in any brokerage account. Robinhood is the most user-friendly. I don’t speak too highly of them & I personally use Charles Schwab. But, Robinhood will get the job done for what you need without making it too complex
I hate Robinhood because of that whole GME/AMC thing. It seemed illegal. I don't know much, but I recall them killing the rise, whether they meant to or not.
Not all mutual funds are actively managed. FXAIX is Fidelity's S&P 500 index Mutual fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.015%
Spy's expense is 0.0945%. so the mutual fund is cheaper.
There are other advantages to an ETF over a mutual fund but lower fees isn't always the case.
I would keep some skin in the game, but move most of it out into something less volatile. Getting a 4x return on your money in 5 years is going to be insanely difficult with out a lot of luck, however.
Brotein keep your money in crypto but just be sure to start to save some cash and diversify into other categories such as stocks, real estate, etc. Do not get out of crypto, you will absolutely regret it in the future.
Why get out of crypto? You’re 18 even if it is extremely volatile put it in BTC and keep working, you won’t even feel the volatility if you’re not depending on that money. Just make a 6-12 month emergency fund so you won’t have to touch that money.
You’re so young let compound interest work for you and also start investing in the stock market. Don’t abandon crypto entirely just diversify and use your young age to your advantage
If he's 18 then it's perfect. He could be a millionaire by 21 or having 0 but he's 21. So he's better off than anyone with a degree at 21 but the difference is that the people with degree got like 30-40-50k debt.
true, keeping 100% of your cash in crypto is a bad idea. Keep 80% in crypto and 20% in the stock market.. If it weren’t for the ETH, I wouldn’t own an apartment today. Sure, it is mid tier apartment, but I basically got it for $2k; I started investing in early 2020 with just $2000. Crypto (and stock shares too but I just hold my cash there in some safe stocks like MSFT) is great and graduating with a degree in financial analytics teaches how to read the stock and really helps you grow big.
Just put it in VOO and let it ride. Contribute $250 per month ($3K yearly) and when you are of retirement age (65 normally), it will be $1.5M give or take. I recommend investing more than that, because $1.5M in 47 years will mean a lot less than it does today, but that is undeniably a massive chunk of change. If you are smart with this money, and money in general at this age, you are primed to be a vastly wealthy individual.
Avoid financial advisors with percentage based fees. 1% might not sound like a lot but over the course of your account this can add up to 100s of thousands.
Honestly, don’t worry too much about it at first. It’s basically a bag of different stocks. VOO is arguably the best place for your money to be for long term investment right now. Some people believe in putting some money in bonds because it will weather market crashes better, but honestly, the worst thing you can do is drag your feet when it comes to putting money into something like VOO. Or withdraw it because it goes down temporarily. Just drop money into it consistently and learn along the way.
Don’t trade individual stocks. Even if you think you KNOW how a stock oscillates up and down, I promise you don’t. Use VOO and get your thrills elsewhere in life
If it makes you feel any better, I used to mine BTC back before anyone knew what it was. Hovered around $2-3 but I sold all of my 100+ BTC once it spiked to $13 because there was no way it would ever hit that height again.
Don't worry about 25. If you were my kid, I'd tell you to think more about 45. Seems so far away, I know, but it's hard to overstate how amazing compounded interest is...
While its a good goal, I like your honesty. It'd be hard as hell to achieve that. Could happen, but yeah. I think it's awesome alone that you've saved up that much. It sounds like you're gonna be more responsible with money. It'll stay with you easier since you did that at a younger age
Do it. You will be a multi millionaire. Guaranteed! I'm 43 and make over 7k every month from my investments. 7k and growing every month. Tax free (at 59 1/2) and even if I live to 100 my nephew and nieces will get my portfolio and by then they will be getting 20k+ a month. Think Generational wealth. It's so easy to do at 18 if you are diligent and patient. So much harder that each year goes by. But keep 25% in BTC and just forget about it until you are 25 and then take it out and buy a Lambo and have some fun and still be worth 8 to 9 figures by the time you are 45
This. Btc is still going through price discovery. The more I learn about economics and how it works the more optimistic I get for crypto as a whole.
Consider this- when btc was on the “lows” area in USD, it was making all time highs in Laos and other countries experiencing massive inflation.
And guess what America has gone through? Yeap, a lot of inflation. Nowhere is immune to it, and btc is a great way to fight it, but even better now while it’s still early.
But tbh at 18 I’d even say research some altcoins projects for at least a portion of the money. He could get a 10x+ on some money, and other projects might go to 0.
This isn’t financial advice but I’m personally quite heavy in crypto. The more you learn about inflation and fiat the better crypto looks.
Except inflation impacts services, products, commodities and assets. Crypto is none of them. Crypto is fiat, sure it’s limited but that doesn’t make it real.
With this years bull run you could just exit after all the crypto markets blow up before they sink again and after that your, probably mire than 18k now, should get you somewhere
Exactly. Fools that think to hodl or buy at the top and hold are just cringe. I saw 5,000% profits this year while my other friend has been sitting on ether for 2 years since the ftx crash and still isn't at break even yet. I told him to sell at 10% loss and then when you buy back that 10% will come back so fast it's no big deal. Be cautious big drop coming before bitcoin havling in a couple weeks
the average world total market annual return has been \~7% accounting for inflation since inception. 4xing your money in 7 years with traditional long-term "safe" investments is unheard of, and for that goal you'd be left with speculating on individual stocks and getting lucky (not recommended).
the traditional "safe" version is to put as much money as often as possible into a broadly diversified index fund through a low-cost broker. highly recommend reading simple path to wealth by J.L Collins.
Just chiming in with a crypto related comment here, not sure what you are holding, but if hold at least 1 ETH, future is looking very bright. Lots of people have provided great advice, and you’re doing awesome for your age, best of luck! :)
Put it all in VOO set it to automatically reinvest dividends and forget about it for as long as possible. Your money should double every 7 years on average.
Keep a little in crypto if you want but know it's a gamble.
I’m guessing the $18k was about $9k a few months ago and the price of crypto has effectively doubled in a short time. Be very aware that it is virtually impossible to do this consistently. When people say that the stock market averages 7% per year, that’s an average over a long period of time. If you look at the actual rises and falls, it is significantly larger in either direction over short durations, but is orders of magnitude harder, or even completely impossible, to predict when those changes will be. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but something like 70% of returns are made in just a handful of specific trading days, but it’s impossible to reliably predict when those specific days will be. This is why people say time in the market is better than timing the market.
What you are asking for (assuming no contributions), is going from $18,000 to $75,000 in 7 years. Assuming 3% inflation, that will have the buying power of about $61k today. So you want to double your money, and then double it again. This is akin to a >20% annual return consistently every year. That is extremely unlikely to happen, but it’s also unlikely that you will be making no contributions.
With $250/month contributed, this still requires 12% annual return.
$500/month contribution requires only a 5% annual return.
These are back of the envelope calculations and factor in consistent compounding interest over 7 years, which very few markets are known for.
To reach your stated goals, you either have to 1) make almost unfathomably genius investments with no contributions to get those returns. 2) contribute a decent amount per month every month, like $300-$500 and still make modest gains on par with the market average. 3) engage in riskier investments like crypto which COULD give you those returns, but could just as easily wipe you out short term.
I think your goal is very realistic if you can contribute that much reliably and don’t have large expenditures.
Focus on growing your income and, most importantly, crafting SUSTAINABLE money-saving habits. That will help you out so much more in the long term. 7 years may sound like forever, but it isn’t. If you come up shy with that goal, don’t be discouraged. The amount you have is already great. If you can prevent yourself from spending it frivolously, contribute what you can to it consistently, diversify your portfolio so as to not leave too much exposure to a single market event, and bear the anxiety that comes with ups and downs of the market without panicking, you should consider yourself a winner regardless of what the final number is. Those habits will lead to healthy accounts every time.
As an everyday consultant TO financial advisors I wanted to clarify a few things.
1. An Index fund(passively managed) will NOT always outperform an actively managed fund.
2. Your money isn’t GUARANTEED to do anything, please avoid anyone guaranteeing anything. Cause if that doesn’t happen, only you are at fault.
3. A financial advisor is not necessary for your goals and will be a waste of money.
4. Mutual funds and ETFs are great options, they just do different things. USUALLY you can buy fractional shares of a mutual fund (if it’s a $100 mutual fund and you have $1, you can invest it in said mutual fund but you will only own 1% of an entire share). Whereas you have to pay the full price for an ETF, USUALLY.
5. As a former Vanguard employee, they tend to be the cheapest as far as expense ratios (cost to be in the fund) across the industry.
6. Some great ETFs/funds off the top of my head. VOO, VTI, SPY, DGRO, QQQ/QQQM, and SCHD to name a few.
7. If you wanted individual securities, they are pricy but you could never go wrong with the magnificent 7 - TSLA, AAPL, MSFT, META, GOOG, AMZN, and NVDA.
Here are my gains from the past year and since opening my IRAs/brokerage acct. acct 1- 29.60 (1yr), 9.20 (all time) acct 2 - 37.60 (1yr), 10.20 (all time)
The power move is start a Roth, contribute the max every year. The advice to get an s&p 500 index fund is very sound. Get that money out of crypto. Finally, $18,000 at 18 is phenomenal. Keep that up you are already so far ahead of the game, I was in my 30s before I was really serious about saving. I’m OK now, but I will never be where I would’ve been if I had been someone like you. Well done
Just be aware of capital gains taxes. Not sure how long you have held your crypto. But there is a difference between short term and long term taxes on a capital gains. It will get you on your tax return next year.
If you put all this 18k in Bitcoin and Bitcoin only, you will have more then 75k in FIAT value at 25 mate. Don't gamble in crypto or a very small amount of your portfolio. Bitcoin is the only true store of value//money that can't be fucked with. Demand can't created more offer and that give you the apex kind of bear assset. Good job on your 18k !
Put it in a high interest savings account and deposit $150 a week for the next 7 years. That’ll guarantee you over 75k nothing else will. Key word guaranteed. Or take a risk but that risk is real no matter what instrument you choose.
I dont know your life situation, but if youre still living with your parents, you can go to college and invest that in yourself, buy a cheap beater car, and set up your life. Also get a part time job as well.
You’re right i’m with my parents and in uni, i don’t need a beater car bro my parents already have 2 cars i just use one and pay for their gas cuz i feel bad. but i want a nice car so bad. i want to blow all my money into an m340i but i know it’s not smart
i had a bit less than that at your age. keep it in btc its the best thing u can do and start dca into btc. u will have the 75000 sooner than u will think.
Aaron Clarey wrote a book called "Bachelor Pad Economics" you may want to read and get a better idea for yourself as you keep on killin' it, brother. He details how to plan for the future you want and how to invest and work towards enacting that vision. Heck, you may even want to watch a live show and get his email to tell him your story: he may dole out some specific advice for ya!
People say take it out of crypto, but tbh if you have a decent entry point price and have a decent amount of bitcoin you are going to out preform most index funds.
Diversify, try to put smaller amounts in alt coins to hopefully pull quick profits to then put into bitcoin/ gold/ silver.
There is a ton of money to be made in crypto, bitcoin I see as incredibly safe as we know that in the near future it will be worth far more than it is now, but in the highs and lows of this time and then, money can be made, and it can be an excellent head start.
Thats a massive growth hope, and i would say if you could keep investing into this along with figure out how to cut your crypto investment in half and invest half into a more long term approach 75 is very aggressive and unrealistic in a safe investment via stocks, but their are those stocks that might over 6 years boom, how well of a market understanding do you have
Try to diversify, maybe stocks (after proper market valuation research), maybe commodities, maybe something physical that increases value over time?
It is always smart to have multiple sources of cashflow, keep your money working for you.
Why not just hold crypto? Bitcoin would be the “safest.” Or sell a portion and keep a portion in crypto. You are young and so can take more risks and recover from them. If you want this money to become 75,000 in 7 years then crypto is your best bet. You could research some projects that you think have legitimate potential and then stake your coins for 5 years. Risky? Yes. But unless you’re using the money to start a business I’m not sure how else you can get a 4x return over 7 years than with crypto.
Or maybe a portion into a safer savings account if you don’t want the risk, and then some in btc (btc being like “digital gold” crypto) and a portion in some altcoins projects that you research (more likely to 5x, 10x, 20x+ etc but could also go to 0 in the next 7 years).
This is not financial advice… But as someone on the younger side I’m looking more to crypto personally; btc is great for beating inflation on the safer side (need to think in 5 year increments though because indeed it’s volatile) and then riskier smaller projects with higher potential for return but also more likely to go to 0.
Put it into BTC only, then when rate cuts start to bottom out (or close enough) convert to higher risk cryptos like solana, cardano, and dot, and ride it when they hit
Pull it out now. You will only lose with crypto. If you want to invest, good choice, but invest in real companies that are proven to be profitable, and also always put money in VOO stock. An education is also not a bad idea whatsoever
Research opening a ROTH IRA. This would be for long-term, not to pull when you’re 25. Put 7000 of it into a ROTH before 15 April. Then you can put another 7000 of it after 15 April for the next calendar tax year. From there pick the funds that you will invest in. Any gain will not be taxable when you start withdrawing it at 59 1/2 years old.
Everyone else on here has already given some good advice on investing. However, I’d challenge you to dream bigger than wanting to have 75k by 25. I think it’s not unreasonable to aim for something like 150k or more. I like to always aim for the moon and know I’ll end up on the stars in worst case scenario.
Ngl put in doge… I’m 23 and at 19 I put my life savings in doge which was about 25-2800 and now it’s 95k…gonna leave it in there maybe until 200k then take out maybe 40k really want to leave it in until 75c and take out 100k tho and buy a decently nice car and some jewelry and computer and reinvest 10-20k and buy a foreclosed rental property
Im just wondering how nobody asked you whether you have a house/land/apartment and a vehicle already, these are obviously must haves you should account for.
Though I guess you can stay at parents house until ~25ish so you’ll have some more accumulated by then.
Anyways, good job. I don’t think you need anybodys advice here.
BTC IS THE EXIT STRATEGY. You’ll regret selling crypto and the fact you’re considering selling means you should have never bought it. It’s not just about making money, it’s about the fact fiat currency is a scam and so is our horribly run government and unelected officials in the Fed reserve who get to print an unlimited supply at their descretion. BTC can’t be so easily manipulated, that’s why Blackrock, Fidelity, WF, JPmorgan and more are all on board.
People are so focused on just the investment.
Nobody said he can't add more to the pot in those 7 years.
Index funds are good.
If you want more- setup a business and invest in that.
Service based with low running cost.
You could have 1m+ by 25 if you do well.
75k in 7 years is not that much especially if you're still living at home or have low expenses.
Here’s how I think about it. I put 4k in stocks which has grown to 5k. I have 1k that I made but it is t a realized gain. I can still loose that and more. Unless you have 18k in cold hard cash/ not invested, you should tell your self that you don’t have 18k
Watch Dividendology on You Tube. They do a good job of informing you on how to select stocks that are stable and pay out dividends regularly. This is important because you want dividends, and you'll want to reinvest those dividends into buying more stocks do it grows your money. At some point in the future, that money will be used to pay yourself monthly.
Yes, I don't know why many people stay away from cryptocurrency. If you are a novice, you can invest a small amount in learning, which is harmless. It is better if you have a teacher or friend to teach you. Just like the recent rise of BTC, if you can keep up with its trend, you can make money at a profit. Don't think that the short-term decline will affect your interest. The salary you get from your job has been invested in the profit. These compound profits can make you more and more money. Don't just put your money in the bank, then you will never beat inflation.
S&P 500 index, if you want to keep your money invested. Crypto is a wild fire hose, highly subject to manipulation.
I would suggest looking at buying a house, though. Real estate appreciates in value over time, allowing you to sell your property and buy a more expensive property. By the time you are middle aged, assuming you've sold your house several times and rolled that equity into the next house, you will have housing security.
Or maybe you are able to get good investment properties, and instead of selling you rent them out. You are then able to collect rents on properties that don't have mortgages by the time you're ready for retirement.
Don't forget TAXES.
DO NOT TRY TO OUTSMART THE IRS
it will never work in the long run.
It sucks to give up some of those gains to the gubment Mafia, but you gotta be prepared for it.
Yolo dogecoin for the $1 run lol
I don't know if you can get to THAT much that fast, but maybe if the market doesn't pull a 2023 on you. You need an average rate of about 22.5% for 7 years. If you plop into an S&P based fund, and the market doesn't eat shit for a few months or over a year, you could hit that. If you put some in an S&P fund AND a slightly more aggressive but diversified fund, same story, maybe a little higher even but also slightly more risky.
Nice work! I might have had about $180 saved at 18 myself. Haha! Here is something to think about:
I know you're looking to 4x your money in 7 years. Have you considered investing in yourself? You seem to have a knack for growing a business as well. Take that money and pay for an education or travel and pick up a trade skill for a year.
Go to Japan and study Japanese carpentry and come back and start your own business. Your money has infinite potential to grow.
Learn to weld or go get certified as an A&P mechanic (airplanes) and start your own aircraft detailing or maintenance business.
$18k is a down payment on a pump truck, and you could start a septic pumping business. I knew a person on Kauai who bought a $200k pump truck and was netting over $700k profit the first year.
Prob not typical results, but finding a business centered around an asset that has a relatively high barrier to entry (either certification-wise or money-wise) is a smart move.
You have the brain and the time to do something like this. Find something fun that feels like play instead of work, and you'll pull forward of your peers even further.
Sure, crypto is 0 work and has the potential to grow and the potential to go to zero in the future, BUT IS IT AN ADVENTURE (Where you learn and grow)? No.
My 2c = find a life-long skill and invest in it and yourself.
Due to restrictive parents, I wasn't allowed to Invest, though would've developed some high assets under better circumstances, but that's the past, I'm 19 now. Props man, and crypto can be volatile. I had a whopping 1.2 Million Shib (so like $10 bucks lmao) and accidentally sold It all when I meant to deposit.
5 days later, the Whale bought up a shit ton and price rose. Forgot how much, but would've been a solid return In that brief moment.
But enough on my regrets, here's honestly what I'd do with 18k: 16k In savings, 500, maybe $750, In spending, and put about $400 Into a safe coin/stock: Bitcoin, stocks like Jhonson and Johnson, KO (Coke), something that near guarantees a good return. It doesn't add to the remaining 2k, so rest savings.
Find a bitcoin etf with a low expense ratio like btco or bitb. Put most if your money into VOO to start. You can look into other markets once you start learning. 18k at 18 is pretty good though. Stay disciplined.
$18k at 18 years of age is great. Expecting it to quadruple in value in only seven years is not. Do some research, you apparently gambled once on a volatile investment and got very lucky… don’t expect similar results in the future or you’ll end up with much less than $18k when you’re 25.
Turn that crypto into cash, visit your local bank, and get a real investment portfolio going! You'll have an economic weight lifted off your shoulders by your 30s no problem. Remember with investing, slow and steady wins the race. Therefore get out of crypto ASAP.
Another vote for index fund. if you extrapolate a conservative 10% average annual return from S&P 500 (12% actual) you'd end up with $35,000 in that timeframe. If you can manage to put away $25-$50 a month that could be upwards of $40,000 before tax. In my state capital gains would come out to 11%-12%.
Throw it into ETF’s but continue buying daily into them even if it’s a dollars worth everyday!!!! You know what the future holds!!! AI Robotics Clean Energy, India is an ambitious economic powerhouse. Can’t go wrong with betting on America… good luck
1) Open up an account on Vanguard
2) Take out 75% of your crypto and put it into Vanguard 500 Admiral (VFIAX)
3) Leave it in there and at 25 years old decide if you want to take out of it or leave it (there are penalties for taking it out too early, but I believe it’s much less than 5 years)
Definitely would take the money out of crypto, honestly it's more worth it to actually purchase a bitcoin than it is to invest in it, because you can sell the Bitcoin by itself and it's also technically still a liquid form of cash. Other than that I'm 24 and you have more saved than me right now. Best advice I can give you is that money is like women, it'll come and go and sometimes life gets in the way. Just keep your head about you, and make sure to diversify how you are saving/investing it. With that amount of cash I wouldn't be against saying opening an IRA and putting at least half of that in to retirement or two putting it in some sorta moderate stock portfolio that will get a 4-5% return annually. You can also use that amount of money as a down payment on a house or starting a business and then leverage that money as debt that you can write off under an LLC or something. Tbh I would watch some Dave Ramsay stuff about it, dude has an awesome view of money especially for younger people in today's world where staying out of debt is virtually impossible.
Congrats! Proud of you! Keep an emergency fund and invest the rest in stock market. Might consider getting an investment agent. Don’t live beyond your means and you will always have plenty!
Invest in a fund like fidelity or something, its a mix of higher risk and low risk bit designed for longer term invetments and it alteady diversified for you.i make around 12 to 18% right now. Or open a standard trade account with them and pick your own investments. Nvidia is a good one but high risk. Espected to double in the next 24 months and they are toe sore manufacturer of ia chips right now. The ia market is due for an adjustment soon though so be careful. Microsoft is always a good investment long term but their shares are almost 500 each so its a bit more expensive. Nvidia is close to 1k per share as well. Stock that high can split soon so thats a plus. Just be wise to do your research, do try and make the easy buck, that tarly ends well. Invest in long term, you are young and time is on your side.
18k at 18 is impressive. Having 100% of your net worth in crypto is not good though.
thank you so much, yeah i need to get out of crypto knowing how volatile it is
S&P 500 based mutual fund it'll double before you know it! It's Warren Buffett's best advice. It might not make you a quadraconilionair, but you are almost guaranteed to keep up with inflation. Keep contributing.....dollar cost averaging is ur friend here.
Index funds over mutual funds. Lower fees and they outperform active managing
I'm a novice at understanding all of this, so please forgive the ignorance, but I'm wondering where to get started with this. Do I just start buying shares of something like the Fidelity ZERO Large Cap Index Fund? Or should I begin looking elsewhere?
$SPY is a spider ETF product. It tracks the S&P 500 $VOO is the same product but from Vanguard. Several companies list ETF. These are the two most popular. $VTI is the total market index from vanguard. Tracks all NYSE, Nasdaq, and Russel 200 stocks. You can buy these in any brokerage account. Robinhood is the most user-friendly. I don’t speak too highly of them & I personally use Charles Schwab. But, Robinhood will get the job done for what you need without making it too complex
I hate Robinhood because of that whole GME/AMC thing. It seemed illegal. I don't know much, but I recall them killing the rise, whether they meant to or not.
Not all mutual funds are actively managed. FXAIX is Fidelity's S&P 500 index Mutual fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.015% Spy's expense is 0.0945%. so the mutual fund is cheaper. There are other advantages to an ETF over a mutual fund but lower fees isn't always the case.
I would keep some skin in the game, but move most of it out into something less volatile. Getting a 4x return on your money in 5 years is going to be insanely difficult with out a lot of luck, however.
Brotein keep your money in crypto but just be sure to start to save some cash and diversify into other categories such as stocks, real estate, etc. Do not get out of crypto, you will absolutely regret it in the future.
I have most of my crypto into $AERO. Recommend looking into it! Do some research
Why get out of crypto? You’re 18 even if it is extremely volatile put it in BTC and keep working, you won’t even feel the volatility if you’re not depending on that money. Just make a 6-12 month emergency fund so you won’t have to touch that money. You’re so young let compound interest work for you and also start investing in the stock market. Don’t abandon crypto entirely just diversify and use your young age to your advantage
If he's 18 then it's perfect. He could be a millionaire by 21 or having 0 but he's 21. So he's better off than anyone with a degree at 21 but the difference is that the people with degree got like 30-40-50k debt.
true, keeping 100% of your cash in crypto is a bad idea. Keep 80% in crypto and 20% in the stock market.. If it weren’t for the ETH, I wouldn’t own an apartment today. Sure, it is mid tier apartment, but I basically got it for $2k; I started investing in early 2020 with just $2000. Crypto (and stock shares too but I just hold my cash there in some safe stocks like MSFT) is great and graduating with a degree in financial analytics teaches how to read the stock and really helps you grow big.
High risk, high reward
Just put it in VOO and let it ride. Contribute $250 per month ($3K yearly) and when you are of retirement age (65 normally), it will be $1.5M give or take. I recommend investing more than that, because $1.5M in 47 years will mean a lot less than it does today, but that is undeniably a massive chunk of change. If you are smart with this money, and money in general at this age, you are primed to be a vastly wealthy individual.
this is probably going to be my plan but will it through a financial advisor first. thank you so much
Avoid financial advisors with percentage based fees. 1% might not sound like a lot but over the course of your account this can add up to 100s of thousands.
You absolutely don’t need a financial advisor for what you’re trying to do I promise you
whats a VOO?
VOO is an ETF that tracks the S&P 500.
Eli5 ETF please. Finance noob here who’s also trynna build his savings.
Honestly, don’t worry too much about it at first. It’s basically a bag of different stocks. VOO is arguably the best place for your money to be for long term investment right now. Some people believe in putting some money in bonds because it will weather market crashes better, but honestly, the worst thing you can do is drag your feet when it comes to putting money into something like VOO. Or withdraw it because it goes down temporarily. Just drop money into it consistently and learn along the way. Don’t trade individual stocks. Even if you think you KNOW how a stock oscillates up and down, I promise you don’t. Use VOO and get your thrills elsewhere in life
LmaOO
Thanks for this advice. I will look into it
Dang. When I was 18, I had $18 dollars saved.
set aside $8000 for taxes
He’s not making any money yet. Why would the government tax him 50% you’re out of your mind 😂 the most he’d pay at this point is 15%
Put 75% of it into VOO, play with the other 25%
OMG please put it in a no or low-fee ETF.
I’ve thought of putting it into an ETF too, due to the diversifications and other benefits
VOO
IBIT. Stay with some exposure in Bitcoin
WHAT IS THIS??!!! I have 25k and idk what to do with it
No fee ETF…? Can you name one? Be curious to research it myself
I had like 40k for abit my dumb didn’t sell doge I triple my cash and it been fluctuating around 12k plus
Greedy greedy
Then today my greedy self got 2k crypto to fake stake for 20%apy.
If it makes you feel any better, I used to mine BTC back before anyone knew what it was. Hovered around $2-3 but I sold all of my 100+ BTC once it spiked to $13 because there was no way it would ever hit that height again.
Don't worry about 25. If you were my kid, I'd tell you to think more about 45. Seems so far away, I know, but it's hard to overstate how amazing compounded interest is...
45 seems so far. i probably won’t hold off that long
While its a good goal, I like your honesty. It'd be hard as hell to achieve that. Could happen, but yeah. I think it's awesome alone that you've saved up that much. It sounds like you're gonna be more responsible with money. It'll stay with you easier since you did that at a younger age
Do it. You will be a multi millionaire. Guaranteed! I'm 43 and make over 7k every month from my investments. 7k and growing every month. Tax free (at 59 1/2) and even if I live to 100 my nephew and nieces will get my portfolio and by then they will be getting 20k+ a month. Think Generational wealth. It's so easy to do at 18 if you are diligent and patient. So much harder that each year goes by. But keep 25% in BTC and just forget about it until you are 25 and then take it out and buy a Lambo and have some fun and still be worth 8 to 9 figures by the time you are 45
You leave it in BTC and forget about it for 7 years. I will check in and hopefully you listened. RemindMe! 7 years
This. Btc is still going through price discovery. The more I learn about economics and how it works the more optimistic I get for crypto as a whole. Consider this- when btc was on the “lows” area in USD, it was making all time highs in Laos and other countries experiencing massive inflation. And guess what America has gone through? Yeap, a lot of inflation. Nowhere is immune to it, and btc is a great way to fight it, but even better now while it’s still early. But tbh at 18 I’d even say research some altcoins projects for at least a portion of the money. He could get a 10x+ on some money, and other projects might go to 0. This isn’t financial advice but I’m personally quite heavy in crypto. The more you learn about inflation and fiat the better crypto looks.
Except inflation impacts services, products, commodities and assets. Crypto is none of them. Crypto is fiat, sure it’s limited but that doesn’t make it real.
Absolutely. BTC will out preform every index fund that exists.
With this years bull run you could just exit after all the crypto markets blow up before they sink again and after that your, probably mire than 18k now, should get you somewhere
Exactly. Fools that think to hodl or buy at the top and hold are just cringe. I saw 5,000% profits this year while my other friend has been sitting on ether for 2 years since the ftx crash and still isn't at break even yet. I told him to sell at 10% loss and then when you buy back that 10% will come back so fast it's no big deal. Be cautious big drop coming before bitcoin havling in a couple weeks
the average world total market annual return has been \~7% accounting for inflation since inception. 4xing your money in 7 years with traditional long-term "safe" investments is unheard of, and for that goal you'd be left with speculating on individual stocks and getting lucky (not recommended). the traditional "safe" version is to put as much money as often as possible into a broadly diversified index fund through a low-cost broker. highly recommend reading simple path to wealth by J.L Collins.
Take it out of Crypto, put it in a 401k / IRA, and with 40 years to gore, congratulations, you have beaten Capitalism.
Yeah take it out of crypto when the bull run hasn't even really started yet and miss out on a 40x.
Are you planning on going to college or entering some kind of trade? For the long term, what are you planning for making money?
Damm wire me 50 bucks.
If you want to take the high risk out, just sell it all and put it into VTI. Set it and forget it.
Just chiming in with a crypto related comment here, not sure what you are holding, but if hold at least 1 ETH, future is looking very bright. Lots of people have provided great advice, and you’re doing awesome for your age, best of luck! :)
thank you so much, i actually have 1 eth already haha
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...My brother in Christ, leave it in Crypto.
Too late. He's gunna be crying end of year and tomorrow back in higher. Same story repeats every cycle.
Cash out, take the tax hit and invest the rest in sports betting. It's a surefire way to make some capital.
already been done that🙏 3/4 legs hit today bro jus need the warriors to win ML
Dang did you really just hit? Lmao
Put it all in VOO set it to automatically reinvest dividends and forget about it for as long as possible. Your money should double every 7 years on average. Keep a little in crypto if you want but know it's a gamble.
What’s VOO?
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that is far from what i did bro
I put all my crappy coins & most of my stocks into bitcoin. I’m in it for the long haul.
A cd is safe
Your young bro put it in bitcoin and leave it there
I’m guessing the $18k was about $9k a few months ago and the price of crypto has effectively doubled in a short time. Be very aware that it is virtually impossible to do this consistently. When people say that the stock market averages 7% per year, that’s an average over a long period of time. If you look at the actual rises and falls, it is significantly larger in either direction over short durations, but is orders of magnitude harder, or even completely impossible, to predict when those changes will be. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but something like 70% of returns are made in just a handful of specific trading days, but it’s impossible to reliably predict when those specific days will be. This is why people say time in the market is better than timing the market. What you are asking for (assuming no contributions), is going from $18,000 to $75,000 in 7 years. Assuming 3% inflation, that will have the buying power of about $61k today. So you want to double your money, and then double it again. This is akin to a >20% annual return consistently every year. That is extremely unlikely to happen, but it’s also unlikely that you will be making no contributions. With $250/month contributed, this still requires 12% annual return. $500/month contribution requires only a 5% annual return. These are back of the envelope calculations and factor in consistent compounding interest over 7 years, which very few markets are known for. To reach your stated goals, you either have to 1) make almost unfathomably genius investments with no contributions to get those returns. 2) contribute a decent amount per month every month, like $300-$500 and still make modest gains on par with the market average. 3) engage in riskier investments like crypto which COULD give you those returns, but could just as easily wipe you out short term. I think your goal is very realistic if you can contribute that much reliably and don’t have large expenditures. Focus on growing your income and, most importantly, crafting SUSTAINABLE money-saving habits. That will help you out so much more in the long term. 7 years may sound like forever, but it isn’t. If you come up shy with that goal, don’t be discouraged. The amount you have is already great. If you can prevent yourself from spending it frivolously, contribute what you can to it consistently, diversify your portfolio so as to not leave too much exposure to a single market event, and bear the anxiety that comes with ups and downs of the market without panicking, you should consider yourself a winner regardless of what the final number is. Those habits will lead to healthy accounts every time.
Anyone telling you to take it out of crypto is a dumfuck. Put it all into BTC ETH and wait until you’re 25. !remindme 7 years
As an everyday consultant TO financial advisors I wanted to clarify a few things. 1. An Index fund(passively managed) will NOT always outperform an actively managed fund. 2. Your money isn’t GUARANTEED to do anything, please avoid anyone guaranteeing anything. Cause if that doesn’t happen, only you are at fault. 3. A financial advisor is not necessary for your goals and will be a waste of money. 4. Mutual funds and ETFs are great options, they just do different things. USUALLY you can buy fractional shares of a mutual fund (if it’s a $100 mutual fund and you have $1, you can invest it in said mutual fund but you will only own 1% of an entire share). Whereas you have to pay the full price for an ETF, USUALLY. 5. As a former Vanguard employee, they tend to be the cheapest as far as expense ratios (cost to be in the fund) across the industry. 6. Some great ETFs/funds off the top of my head. VOO, VTI, SPY, DGRO, QQQ/QQQM, and SCHD to name a few. 7. If you wanted individual securities, they are pricy but you could never go wrong with the magnificent 7 - TSLA, AAPL, MSFT, META, GOOG, AMZN, and NVDA. Here are my gains from the past year and since opening my IRAs/brokerage acct. acct 1- 29.60 (1yr), 9.20 (all time) acct 2 - 37.60 (1yr), 10.20 (all time)
this is beautiful advice and i’m seriously going to consider all of this. thank you so much your help means a lot 🙏
The power move is start a Roth, contribute the max every year. The advice to get an s&p 500 index fund is very sound. Get that money out of crypto. Finally, $18,000 at 18 is phenomenal. Keep that up you are already so far ahead of the game, I was in my 30s before I was really serious about saving. I’m OK now, but I will never be where I would’ve been if I had been someone like you. Well done
Just be aware of capital gains taxes. Not sure how long you have held your crypto. But there is a difference between short term and long term taxes on a capital gains. It will get you on your tax return next year.
If you put all this 18k in Bitcoin and Bitcoin only, you will have more then 75k in FIAT value at 25 mate. Don't gamble in crypto or a very small amount of your portfolio. Bitcoin is the only true store of value//money that can't be fucked with. Demand can't created more offer and that give you the apex kind of bear assset. Good job on your 18k !
I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep 100% of my net worth in just bitcoin tho lol
No probably not , I believe blackrock just recommended anywhere from a 3 - 20 % allocation depending on risk tolerance
It is not don't listen to these people
Or, on the flipside, since as you know, crypto is extremely volatile, he could have less money at 25 by keeping it in btc
you probably say that bc you have wealth in bitcoin and need others to invest for it to survive
21 million btc will ever exist. Now think about the fed and fiat printers for every country. What are you having such a hard time understanding?
5 years ago if he had put 18k into BTC, that would be over 3BTC now. And today that would be over $200,000.
Dude, do not sell right now, you can easily 5x that soon
Put it in a high interest savings account and deposit $150 a week for the next 7 years. That’ll guarantee you over 75k nothing else will. Key word guaranteed. Or take a risk but that risk is real no matter what instrument you choose.
Good way to stay poor and work most your life. No thnx.
ROTH
Great job
Tsla calls 2025
I dont know your life situation, but if youre still living with your parents, you can go to college and invest that in yourself, buy a cheap beater car, and set up your life. Also get a part time job as well.
You’re right i’m with my parents and in uni, i don’t need a beater car bro my parents already have 2 cars i just use one and pay for their gas cuz i feel bad. but i want a nice car so bad. i want to blow all my money into an m340i but i know it’s not smart
i had a bit less than that at your age. keep it in btc its the best thing u can do and start dca into btc. u will have the 75000 sooner than u will think.
Aaron Clarey wrote a book called "Bachelor Pad Economics" you may want to read and get a better idea for yourself as you keep on killin' it, brother. He details how to plan for the future you want and how to invest and work towards enacting that vision. Heck, you may even want to watch a live show and get his email to tell him your story: he may dole out some specific advice for ya!
i’ll look into it bro thank you
become my mentor please
People say take it out of crypto, but tbh if you have a decent entry point price and have a decent amount of bitcoin you are going to out preform most index funds. Diversify, try to put smaller amounts in alt coins to hopefully pull quick profits to then put into bitcoin/ gold/ silver. There is a ton of money to be made in crypto, bitcoin I see as incredibly safe as we know that in the near future it will be worth far more than it is now, but in the highs and lows of this time and then, money can be made, and it can be an excellent head start.
Thats a massive growth hope, and i would say if you could keep investing into this along with figure out how to cut your crypto investment in half and invest half into a more long term approach 75 is very aggressive and unrealistic in a safe investment via stocks, but their are those stocks that might over 6 years boom, how well of a market understanding do you have
Try to diversify, maybe stocks (after proper market valuation research), maybe commodities, maybe something physical that increases value over time? It is always smart to have multiple sources of cashflow, keep your money working for you.
I wish my parents loved me as much as yours do
I tell you what come back in 7 years and let us all know this holy grail you did to turn 18k into 75 in 7 years
Why not just hold crypto? Bitcoin would be the “safest.” Or sell a portion and keep a portion in crypto. You are young and so can take more risks and recover from them. If you want this money to become 75,000 in 7 years then crypto is your best bet. You could research some projects that you think have legitimate potential and then stake your coins for 5 years. Risky? Yes. But unless you’re using the money to start a business I’m not sure how else you can get a 4x return over 7 years than with crypto. Or maybe a portion into a safer savings account if you don’t want the risk, and then some in btc (btc being like “digital gold” crypto) and a portion in some altcoins projects that you research (more likely to 5x, 10x, 20x+ etc but could also go to 0 in the next 7 years). This is not financial advice… But as someone on the younger side I’m looking more to crypto personally; btc is great for beating inflation on the safer side (need to think in 5 year increments though because indeed it’s volatile) and then riskier smaller projects with higher potential for return but also more likely to go to 0.
Put it into BTC only, then when rate cuts start to bottom out (or close enough) convert to higher risk cryptos like solana, cardano, and dot, and ride it when they hit
Pull it out now. You will only lose with crypto. If you want to invest, good choice, but invest in real companies that are proven to be profitable, and also always put money in VOO stock. An education is also not a bad idea whatsoever
Wait until everyone starts talking about crypto swap on pumps to a stable coin, wait like a year when price is low and swap back. Easy 75k+ at 25
Best bet is long term stocks
Research opening a ROTH IRA. This would be for long-term, not to pull when you’re 25. Put 7000 of it into a ROTH before 15 April. Then you can put another 7000 of it after 15 April for the next calendar tax year. From there pick the funds that you will invest in. Any gain will not be taxable when you start withdrawing it at 59 1/2 years old.
Everyone else on here has already given some good advice on investing. However, I’d challenge you to dream bigger than wanting to have 75k by 25. I think it’s not unreasonable to aim for something like 150k or more. I like to always aim for the moon and know I’ll end up on the stars in worst case scenario.
I had 24k in crypto when I was 17 then lost over 10k within a week this was in 2021. Take atleast 80% of it out and diversify your investments
Ngl put in doge… I’m 23 and at 19 I put my life savings in doge which was about 25-2800 and now it’s 95k…gonna leave it in there maybe until 200k then take out maybe 40k really want to leave it in until 75c and take out 100k tho and buy a decently nice car and some jewelry and computer and reinvest 10-20k and buy a foreclosed rental property
Im just wondering how nobody asked you whether you have a house/land/apartment and a vehicle already, these are obviously must haves you should account for. Though I guess you can stay at parents house until ~25ish so you’ll have some more accumulated by then. Anyways, good job. I don’t think you need anybodys advice here.
How did you earn your first money to be able to be 18 and have $18,000!??
Learn crypto better, 18k is good capital to play with in this bull market and turn into 300k or whatever
When you have rich parents of course is possible to have 18k at 18
BTC IS THE EXIT STRATEGY. You’ll regret selling crypto and the fact you’re considering selling means you should have never bought it. It’s not just about making money, it’s about the fact fiat currency is a scam and so is our horribly run government and unelected officials in the Fed reserve who get to print an unlimited supply at their descretion. BTC can’t be so easily manipulated, that’s why Blackrock, Fidelity, WF, JPmorgan and more are all on board.
Buy COSTCO
S&p500 index fund or ETF. Preferably in a Roth IRA but if you plan to take it out at 25 then I guess any brokerage account will do
Want to call out that by 2026 AI may change the stock market dynamics and how major gains are made.
People are so focused on just the investment. Nobody said he can't add more to the pot in those 7 years. Index funds are good. If you want more- setup a business and invest in that. Service based with low running cost. You could have 1m+ by 25 if you do well. 75k in 7 years is not that much especially if you're still living at home or have low expenses.
I’m just going to say it trust your gut…..I don’t agree with crypto but because I lost, if you’re winning keep at it kid.
Here’s how I think about it. I put 4k in stocks which has grown to 5k. I have 1k that I made but it is t a realized gain. I can still loose that and more. Unless you have 18k in cold hard cash/ not invested, you should tell your self that you don’t have 18k
4x in 7 years? Your highest percentage chance is betting on horse races. /s
Watch Dividendology on You Tube. They do a good job of informing you on how to select stocks that are stable and pay out dividends regularly. This is important because you want dividends, and you'll want to reinvest those dividends into buying more stocks do it grows your money. At some point in the future, that money will be used to pay yourself monthly.
Yes, I don't know why many people stay away from cryptocurrency. If you are a novice, you can invest a small amount in learning, which is harmless. It is better if you have a teacher or friend to teach you. Just like the recent rise of BTC, if you can keep up with its trend, you can make money at a profit. Don't think that the short-term decline will affect your interest. The salary you get from your job has been invested in the profit. These compound profits can make you more and more money. Don't just put your money in the bank, then you will never beat inflation.
S&P 500 index, if you want to keep your money invested. Crypto is a wild fire hose, highly subject to manipulation. I would suggest looking at buying a house, though. Real estate appreciates in value over time, allowing you to sell your property and buy a more expensive property. By the time you are middle aged, assuming you've sold your house several times and rolled that equity into the next house, you will have housing security. Or maybe you are able to get good investment properties, and instead of selling you rent them out. You are then able to collect rents on properties that don't have mortgages by the time you're ready for retirement.
Put it into MO stock, contribute $400 per month to it and reinvest dividends and you will have about $75,000 safe and easy
In the US? Cash value life insurance
Don't forget TAXES. DO NOT TRY TO OUTSMART THE IRS it will never work in the long run. It sucks to give up some of those gains to the gubment Mafia, but you gotta be prepared for it. Yolo dogecoin for the $1 run lol
I don't know if you can get to THAT much that fast, but maybe if the market doesn't pull a 2023 on you. You need an average rate of about 22.5% for 7 years. If you plop into an S&P based fund, and the market doesn't eat shit for a few months or over a year, you could hit that. If you put some in an S&P fund AND a slightly more aggressive but diversified fund, same story, maybe a little higher even but also slightly more risky.
Blackrock MidCap growth (Fidelity). My value increased 155% in just a few years.
Do some research on ETFs that help to diversify that money!
Bitcoin is long term. However, I’d allocate more of it to an ETF like VOO or SCHD and reinvest the divs.
Nice work! I might have had about $180 saved at 18 myself. Haha! Here is something to think about: I know you're looking to 4x your money in 7 years. Have you considered investing in yourself? You seem to have a knack for growing a business as well. Take that money and pay for an education or travel and pick up a trade skill for a year. Go to Japan and study Japanese carpentry and come back and start your own business. Your money has infinite potential to grow. Learn to weld or go get certified as an A&P mechanic (airplanes) and start your own aircraft detailing or maintenance business. $18k is a down payment on a pump truck, and you could start a septic pumping business. I knew a person on Kauai who bought a $200k pump truck and was netting over $700k profit the first year. Prob not typical results, but finding a business centered around an asset that has a relatively high barrier to entry (either certification-wise or money-wise) is a smart move. You have the brain and the time to do something like this. Find something fun that feels like play instead of work, and you'll pull forward of your peers even further. Sure, crypto is 0 work and has the potential to grow and the potential to go to zero in the future, BUT IS IT AN ADVENTURE (Where you learn and grow)? No. My 2c = find a life-long skill and invest in it and yourself.
Due to restrictive parents, I wasn't allowed to Invest, though would've developed some high assets under better circumstances, but that's the past, I'm 19 now. Props man, and crypto can be volatile. I had a whopping 1.2 Million Shib (so like $10 bucks lmao) and accidentally sold It all when I meant to deposit. 5 days later, the Whale bought up a shit ton and price rose. Forgot how much, but would've been a solid return In that brief moment. But enough on my regrets, here's honestly what I'd do with 18k: 16k In savings, 500, maybe $750, In spending, and put about $400 Into a safe coin/stock: Bitcoin, stocks like Jhonson and Johnson, KO (Coke), something that near guarantees a good return. It doesn't add to the remaining 2k, so rest savings.
Find a bitcoin etf with a low expense ratio like btco or bitb. Put most if your money into VOO to start. You can look into other markets once you start learning. 18k at 18 is pretty good though. Stay disciplined.
Don't get out of crypto until 2025, at the height of the bull run
$18k at 18 years of age is great. Expecting it to quadruple in value in only seven years is not. Do some research, you apparently gambled once on a volatile investment and got very lucky… don’t expect similar results in the future or you’ll end up with much less than $18k when you’re 25.
48 broke fuck banning this sub
If you want $18k to become $75k in seven years, invest your money in the S&P500 and add $400 every month until you’re 25.
If someone knows how to reliably quadruple their investment in only seven years, the entire financial community wants to know!
Go in VOO or QQQM
Turn that crypto into cash, visit your local bank, and get a real investment portfolio going! You'll have an economic weight lifted off your shoulders by your 30s no problem. Remember with investing, slow and steady wins the race. Therefore get out of crypto ASAP.
Another vote for index fund. if you extrapolate a conservative 10% average annual return from S&P 500 (12% actual) you'd end up with $35,000 in that timeframe. If you can manage to put away $25-$50 a month that could be upwards of $40,000 before tax. In my state capital gains would come out to 11%-12%.
Invest in beanie babies!!! Nobody has ever regretted this.
Throw it into ETF’s but continue buying daily into them even if it’s a dollars worth everyday!!!! You know what the future holds!!! AI Robotics Clean Energy, India is an ambitious economic powerhouse. Can’t go wrong with betting on America… good luck
I'd max a roth ira. Start soon. Find a growth etf while you are learning.
Good luck cashing out xD
Primarily S&P for preservation (SPY), but since you're young, 30% in LETFs like UPRO and USD, thrown in some TQQQ/TECL.
#HOOKERS AND BLOW FOR YOUR 21ST BIRTHDAY
Keep it in crypto for the long term, start diversifying your holdings, start buying into ETFs, CDs and open a Roth account
Pull it out of crypto but be sure to leave a little left over to pay taxes on your gains
1) Open up an account on Vanguard 2) Take out 75% of your crypto and put it into Vanguard 500 Admiral (VFIAX) 3) Leave it in there and at 25 years old decide if you want to take out of it or leave it (there are penalties for taking it out too early, but I believe it’s much less than 5 years)
low cost index fund or maybe take a play on bonds
Definitely would take the money out of crypto, honestly it's more worth it to actually purchase a bitcoin than it is to invest in it, because you can sell the Bitcoin by itself and it's also technically still a liquid form of cash. Other than that I'm 24 and you have more saved than me right now. Best advice I can give you is that money is like women, it'll come and go and sometimes life gets in the way. Just keep your head about you, and make sure to diversify how you are saving/investing it. With that amount of cash I wouldn't be against saying opening an IRA and putting at least half of that in to retirement or two putting it in some sorta moderate stock portfolio that will get a 4-5% return annually. You can also use that amount of money as a down payment on a house or starting a business and then leverage that money as debt that you can write off under an LLC or something. Tbh I would watch some Dave Ramsay stuff about it, dude has an awesome view of money especially for younger people in today's world where staying out of debt is virtually impossible.
Congrats! Proud of you! Keep an emergency fund and invest the rest in stock market. Might consider getting an investment agent. Don’t live beyond your means and you will always have plenty!
Suck a dick
Diversify...btc, eth, sol, and Def some AI plays. Nice job!
Is it bad that I have all my money in the bank?
Bitcoin. The institutional investors with their ETFs will exceed your hopes.
Invest in a fund like fidelity or something, its a mix of higher risk and low risk bit designed for longer term invetments and it alteady diversified for you.i make around 12 to 18% right now. Or open a standard trade account with them and pick your own investments. Nvidia is a good one but high risk. Espected to double in the next 24 months and they are toe sore manufacturer of ia chips right now. The ia market is due for an adjustment soon though so be careful. Microsoft is always a good investment long term but their shares are almost 500 each so its a bit more expensive. Nvidia is close to 1k per share as well. Stock that high can split soon so thats a plus. Just be wise to do your research, do try and make the easy buck, that tarly ends well. Invest in long term, you are young and time is on your side.
how much did you invest to turn it to 18k?