Advice for the 18 year old scrapper

I'm happy to look back at my scrapping years and say it's been a run that coincides with my kids being so very young to oldest approaching 19 now another 18 a boy 13 another girl 15 they did there share of copper from TV yolks
I am an expert Hunter , That's all I need say of that. I've seen prices fluctuate from the pit's to grand slam but with scrap there seems always a few metals or type on the list to help ride out storms .
My advice to 18 and other's is this , As a supplemental income Scrapping can afford you a retirement portfolio for your 60's that will rival the best company offerings . You will have to develop understanding's of - Stock - Gold Silver & other investment platforms . YOU HAVE NO TIME TO WASTE !! Now wile your young .
There is no need to go into the Scrap pay out amount's per week, scrapper's know this . But if your just scrapping and living the life with the proceeds and not investing..... this will be a monumental loss .
The most simplistic investment could be a Charles swab account .
weekly investments's $25 or $50 in an Index ETF is better then cases of beer and cigarettes
I was 18 , I know how fast $25 to $50 goes to NOTHING .
DO IT weekly the ETF's grow, as they develop mass if you want a safer investment , sell some off and open an IRA or cash some out for Gold or Silver . I am no wiz in all investments . But I see now $25 to $50 per week for 40 years will be life changing at age 60 let alone 65

Scrapping can easily deliver $25 to $50 per week every scrapper knows that
BUT you need be young
So wake up and take action .
JUST DO IT !!!

I am a supporter of the Dave Ramsey way of personal finance, he has a web site and a radio program. His focus is on paying off your bills first before investing but he also pushes the slow but sure way of investing.

Once you are debt free life really does get better.

And in direct response to Copper Head's post I say starting early is the best way, time if on your side. To those who believe the concerns of the stock market loosing money I suggest you look at history the market has grown long term constantly.

Dow Jones on Friday Feb 16, 2018 25,219.38. Dow Jones was about 5400 June 1971, the year I graduated from high school. At that time a stock broker would not talk to you with less than $10,000 in your hand. The stock market was only for the rich.

Now anyone can open an account and show up $100 and start investing. There have been some real improvements.

On 1 April my father will be 97 years old and he stays in a nursing home that since he has some money costs him about $5000 per month.

Do not take the defeatist attitude "I can't do anything so why should I try". Cooper Head has supplied you with a way not to retire poor, in fact you would likely retire wealthy if you follow his advise. 73, Mike

One additional thought this advise should not be considered just for 18 yr olds. Back to my father he's alive at 97 so just when should you stop saving and preparing for your future.

The answer is never, its never too late to begin. Its far better to have a little that nothing at all unless you believe the government or your relatives will in fact take care of you. Mike

I need say with respect to scrapping . It has become my foundation to learn . I have regrets from the young years but I take the inspiration from Mike
Just start . So what did scrapping do . First it was like bring metal in and collect cash it was magic & mindless
Then i notice fuel cost going up and up yet scrap is selling higher Hmm High fuel cost = better scrap pay out next thing I start looking a comities
tracking Crude barrel & since copper is there on the NASDAQ I watch copper price next I realize I can Buy Silver and Gold with Scrap .I start catching on scrapping is full on with the market flow & a few years ago I discovering A regular Joe like me can buy stock with Trade king ( now Ally) and Charles Swab for small amt's of money
A skill has been grown just from being a Smart Scrapper ,
Now I am reading The Intelligent Investor by Graham
Mike is correct Older to start is ok also
I see clear now that starting young and saving with money you would hardly notice leaving your pocket is your future
The smug joke to all that give a scrapper a condescending look as they drive to a place (scrap yard ) that the bystander has no clu of
does not realize that YOU can very well be on your way to financial independence
Yes it may take a good portion of your life but if you get there 40 years from now you will
have peace in your financial life
that many of those condescending onlookers
might have no pot to piss in .

If I read some of my original post as Copperhead way back I see my growth from innocence to taking control of my future
long live the scrapper

Three important terms for this discussion: income averaging, compound interest/returns, and diversification. An understanding of these three has historically provided comfortable retirements.

"There's the problem of inflation.

Let's say that you borrowed 100 k. to buy a house in 1980. The dollar has lost roughly 2/3 of it's value since that time. What it boils down to is that you're paying back the lender with devalued dollars that have only 1/3 the value of what he gave you.

It's a crazy crazy world. How on earth do you map your long term investment strategy when the traditional rules no longer apply ? I suppose you could bury your head in the sand and pretend inflation doesn't exist but at the end of the day you won't be any further ahead.

PM's do seem to move inversely relative to the value of the dollar. As the value of the dollar goes down the price of PM's go up accordingly. It's not a real gain but neither is it a loss."

I think you have correctly identified PM's nothing wrong with them but no real growth. An actual hedge against inflation, not in my opinion but if you have lots of money then why not own sum.

On home ownership my thoughts are echoed by others. The inflationary dollars you repay the mortgage with are less than the current dollars you would have to pay rent with. In addition the comfort you can obtain from home ownership is hard to replace.

For me the best part of owning a home is paying off the mortgage, save for a downpayment and get a 15 year mortgage.

And to Patriot's point I will say the beauty of compound interest is it works both ways. When you have a mortgage compound interest works against you when you invest compound interest works for you.

Diversification seems easy for most people to understand, "Don't put all you eggs in one basket".

Income averaging I take to mean Dollar Cost Averaging with would be: You invest the same amount of money each and every month so when the stock market goes up in price you purchase less stock when the stock market goes down you purchase more shares. History says you will win with this way of investing.

Like discussed in the beginning I only wish I knew this stuff and would have followed the advise when I was young or even middle aged.

73. Mike

When you get older & can see the full picture you could get investor remorse . I often think back to 1985 and 1987 when all that was important to me was the Mustang GT 85 then traded for an 87 GT along with a 1987 Aerostar van - the deposit's years of payments Insurance reflective of new cars . No concept of investments Sliver Gold Apple or Microsoft . During the low 80's I had enough money but no understanding to do this $5,000 worth of Home Depot on initial public offering September 23, 1981 would accumulate to well over 39 million dollars end of 2017 .
Where are the future diamonds now ,
cause thats all that matters, Not the past just Looking Forward
If one could figure the cryptocurrency game there probably is a way to earn with a smallish investment with potential loss for sure Silver Gold I like but with the reality of seeing scrap able to Drop to .02 a pound any thing can happen to any metal . For fun I found an app called Robinhood linked to a checking account to fund it and buy and sell stocks with ZERO commission fees I have it and it is free . I'm trying coinbase out to buy some cryptocurrency I just want to learn.
Investment related to what is called Internet of things ( IOT ) might be the next big thing

Self education as we have proved here on the forum is often the best.

My counsel is to remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. Slow and sure is the way. Digging for the diamonds of the future can be fun but I would spend little money on the diamonds. I would bet big on the tortoise. 73, Mike

Lol ... you know how it is with the old timers. They've got all kinds of advise for the younger hands. I guess i'm no different.

From my own personal experience i would recommend that a young person just starting out consider the idea of getting in with a newly converted worker owned business. What happened with us was that the owner of the company we worked for was retiring. He didn't want to sell out to a larger outfit and throw all of his employees under the bus. With some help from the technical assistance team he put together a deal where his employees could buy him out.

The employees each bought a share in the company. Each share price was about seven grand but the employees were allowed to pay for their share over a period of years with a small deduction from each paycheck.

There's a twofold benefit.

The first is short term yearly profit sharing. If the company does well there's a nice fat bonus at the end of the year.

The long term benefit is where an 18 year old could really make out. After the first fifteen years, the debt used to buy the company will be paid off and they'll be turning pretty good profit. Share prices will likely increase in value up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars as the debt to income ratio improves.

This isn't such a great investment for an old timer like myself but it's a heck of an opportunity for somebody that's just starting out. It's not very much different from investing in the stock market except that the shares are held by the employees and not by Joe Blow investor with a mutual fund. Otherwise from that ... it's structured and run just like any fortune 500 company on the stock market.

Looking for a stock that might provide a comfortable retirement ? This idea of employee ownership and active day to day involvement involvement in the company that you own stock in might be another golden opportunity.

Quote from hills: " debt to income ratio" It seems strange and very encouraging to me to read hills posts here on a scrapers forum.

My thought on your last post is you will win if you live beyond the 15 year pay off for certain. But more importantly you will certainly be better off than id you did not participate. One day when you are really old you will pat yourself on the back. 73, Mike