Easy Money

What is something that everybody has, yet wants more of? The answer is time. Well, that is one answer. Everybody is given a relative amount of time and it is up to them to make the most out of it.

If you ask anybody on the street if they would like to be a millionaire, the obvious answer would be yes. But they most likely can’t because they don’t have enough time to do so. Now let’s say a person had unlimited time. They could work a minimum wage job and make about $10,000 a year after expenses. If they just saved for a hundred years, they'd have a million dollars. Unfortunately, unless you are Wolverine and enjoy spending 208,000 hours in a McDonalds, your options are limited.

Nevertheless, here is an easy way for teens, or anybody, to effectively use their time to make easy money without having to work a single hour.

Invest

One of the best skills to acquire, especially early in life, is the ability to save money in the most effective and efficient way possible. The most common and useful strategy to do this is investing. Before you get intimidated or incredulous, let’s look at pure facts.

Every 10 years, the major indexes (S&P 500, DOW, NASDAQ) increase by approximately 95%. That’s almost doubling your money by making a decision 10 years ago to invest in the right index funds! With student loans being so pertinient and expensive, there is nothing you will love more after college than a nicely sized pile of money coming your way. Now to put this into realistic terms, just consider a couple things.

Money Markets > Savings Account

When most people think about saving money, they decide to put it into savings accounts. According to NerdWallet.com, the average interest rate on savings accounts is below .10 percent each year, which is close to nothing in the long run. The smartest thing to do would be to put that money into index funds or even money markets. Money markets are one of the safest investments and easily give you double of any interest you could earn in any savings account.

A common misconception about the marketplace is that there is virtually no safety. But the truthfully, there is only no safety if you choose your investments by throwing a dart at a list of stocks, or some other irresponsible method. The reason teens don’t invest now is because they don’t know how or are intimidated by investing. But you still have the chance to start making money! Regardless, everybody likes and needs money, and there is nothing better than more of it. With a few steps and a bit of research, you could become a millionaire faster than Wolverine working at a fast food chain.