Building my future.
 

For the past month I've begun building my credit by aquiring a credit card and buying things with it like groceries, gas, and miscellaneous items like a sound card I just bought. I keep this thing paid, and I assume that if I keep this up (not spending money I don't have) I should build up some decent credit that I can use later to buy/sell used cars or flip real estate if I feel like it.

The problem I have is I don't understand this stuff, the stock market, investing, credit, the intricacies and legalities of making money outside of working for some jerk ass with a bad tan.

I'm 20 years old and about to go into college for a degree in Electrical Engineering, but I want to build a base of knowledge of how to make my own money. So what I want is advice on what to do to go about making a fortune, if I should do something in addition to building my credit, help understanding the tools I have to go about making money with (reccomended reading, personal experiences, post regarding how things work, etc.), and generally any advice anyone would have on my situation.

Thanks.

Wow, quite a broad question. The credit card is one aspect that can help build credit but your credit score will depend on other things like length of time the accounts have been open, payment history, other consumer loan information (car, home, personal, etc loans), as well as income and the like.

Not sure if your intent is to finance some/all of your business ventures with a credit card, but if that's part of your question, understand it's very risky. The interest rates you'll get are exorbitant and it will take a hell of a return on investment (ROI) to cover the interest generated if you don't pay the balance off in short order.

How Stuff Works has a good primer on the stock market:

http://money.howstuffworks.com/stock.htm

Investing can be in anything from simple savings accounts and government bonds to stocks, futures, arbitrage, etc.

I don't have too much time right now to go into any more detail but I'll follow this thread and hopefully add some more to it in the future.

You're young, light the fire. read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. What the rich teach their children that the poor and middle class do not. This will give you a quick understanding how getting rich works in general and it's very easy reading. From there, you can narrow down your investment choices by figuring out what it is you want to invest in. Hang out at a book store for a few hours in the business section, you'll be amazed at what you can find. Also, check out the favorite links thread. Again, I can't say this enough... you're young, start now and being rich will be fairly easy.

Bought Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Pretty much exactly what I had figured out by myself anyways so far though, I'll read the whole thing.

I also sugguest
Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey
and The Millionaire Next Door.
Both have a wealth of information on how to become very wealthy over time by common sense and doing things millionaires do.

The Millionare Mind is a good follow up to the Millionare next door.

Halfway through RDPD, got the concepts down I think though. Surprisingly good read, good way to get into the entreprenuerial mindset.

Oh yeah, started another business today as well. By "started" I mean I have it all planned out and readied, it won't be considered a business for a few months, but I consider it an asset now. Yay.

So now I have one 30 year old Real Estate business that exists only on paper (which I plan on firing up again when I can, my dad is the real estate ninja.) and a secret new one you can't hear about, unless you paypal me 9.95.

I'm planning another as well, but I need to research the subject much more before I start on it. Plus I may have my hands full with the first. I don't know, luckily I have my father (who's done this exact shit and made millions, even if he lost it all) to show me how to do certain things, and how to make sure your damn secretary pays the government it's money.