LIFE/HEALTH/FINANCIAL NOTES:
- Buy a house and get a 15-year fixed mortgage rather than a 30-year mortgage. Saves a lot of money in interest over the life of the loan. If you must get the 30-year mortgage, verify 'No Pre-Payment Penalty'. This gives you the flexibility of paying off early if you are able. But, it also gives you the option of making lower payments when times are tough....
- When you start your job, get an HSA account not FSA and get the high deductible health insurance. It will lower your tax bracket and the money is yours to use. You also earn 40% in most cases after 10k!!!
- NEVER buy a car brand new! Alot of "Luxury Vehicles" have gone from $100k (new) to $35k four years later.
- Get you an LLC (incorporate your name!!) and run it as an S Corp. Remember the Jay-Z quote, “I’m not a Businessman...I’m a Business Maaaaaaaan....” let that sink in. Build business credit! The loans are bigger and the interest rate is lower. Get a business bank account (in most cases this costs around $500 to start.
- It is recommended to go to Community College first and transfer into a four-year college (unless you have scholarships to mitigate the costs) as a Junior. Make school a "Power Move". You must be able to "secure the bag". Majors in STEM(Science. Technology. Engineering. Mathematics.) will always be needed. They are in high-demand and the skills can directly help the community. Get with your peers from your graduating class to plot and strategize on how to move your communities forward (commerce, politics, education, etc...)
- Get life insurance for you (Whole Life) and your children (Term) as soon as they are born (one thing is for sure is we will die...might as well leave your kids something extra!). The sooner you get it, the cheaper it is. And you can borrow against it to fund certain projects. Also, the ones that pay out dividends are the best! They normally are associated with the market (money market accounts). IUL’s(Index Universal Life) are great!
- *Group Economics- when a collective group pulls their money together to benefit a common interest. Get the people in your immediate family to save collectively! If 10 people save $500/month, that’s 60k every year. You could buy 3 starter homes every year and in 4 years all ten of you are home owners. Buy on the same block or neighborhood if you can...this way you control the value of the homes (just like Monopoly!).
**LET'S START BUILDING WEALTH...NOW!!!