How to best apply summer earnings?
 

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Sounds like you're in high school.

Stick around 2k of it in a few mutual funds and save them for college. If my high school assumption is correct, you'll need to take out the money in 1-2 years, honestly pick some ones that have gotten a nice return in the last 3-5 years and forget about it until you need it.

BRB with more info. Gotta go.

I think you need to waste all of it on your girlfriend.

HAHA JUST KIDDING HONEYBUNS!!!!! :D
(Aw, you're sorta still in high school...Yeah...right...I guess...)

If you get paid weekly - out of that paycheck, pay yourself -- give yourself a percentage of the paycheck to spend however you want to - then be a saving nazi with the rest. Put it into a money market fund or a mutual fund something that pays more interest and is still low risk than a standard savings account.

If you are considering investing in the stock market, research it thoroughly first, you can make a lot of money really quickly, you can lost it all in the blink of an eye.

I would doubt hes in HS cause he has to pay for a class he failed last semester. Plus $10 an hour is not common for a HS job.

Yeah, he's going to be a sophomore at SJSU this fall.

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Watch out for food costs. They add up, fast. I have worked in downtown Charlotte for the past 4 summers, and it took me two years to realize I was spending about $600 a summer on food. I stopped, and now only eat out once a week. Much more cash flow.

Think about it: $6 a meal (and thats cheap here), 5 days a week... Thats 30$ a week, usually more (I was hitting $50 a week for a while)... Multiply that by 10-12 weeks... Thats a lot of money.

Make sure you get most of that money and put it somewhere its hard to get out--like a savings account. Checking is too easy to "just take out $20 from the ATM."

Save it all to pay for RENT, UTILITIES, and GROCERIES (not restaurants). Learing to cook for yourself (even just the simple things, like grilling burgers and stuff) will save you shitloads! Don't blow all of your cash on a laptop if you don't have to. If you do have to, check out samsclub.com auctions, ebay, and other such sites. You could get a decent to good laptop for much cheaper that way! Also, some universities (like mine) will let you borrow (rent for really cheap) a laptop. It won't be the best, but it will work for your school work. Look into that option as well.

ForgottenKnight, he is a Computer Science major so he has to have certain things for his laptop. Basically, he has to custom make it. Poo.

Hey,

I also go to your school. I am graduating in the fall as a CS major.

Check the cs website; they have started a new major: software engineering. It may be to your benefit to check this program out.

Also, for laptop deals, check this website:

http://www.fatwallet.com

Go to forums and hot deals. There are ALWAYS deals.

Also check

http://www.techbargains.com

and

http://www.bensbargains.net

I have heard a rumor that the CS club will be selling laptops for $250 and subsidizing the cost for the rest ... while this may be hard to believe considering their "minimum specs," they DO give away copies of Windows XP and Microsoft Visual Studio.net.

Hold on to your money. SJSU fees are going up, you will be paying up the ying yang.

Thank you Billy. I'll check this all out.