How do you make money.

[drone]

The stock market is about taking your extra money and trying to turn it into more money.

Well, lately the stock market has been about taking your extra money. If you don't really know what you are doing, and can't spend the time to manage your portfolio and keep up to date on your investments, you are going to get robbed. CR gave some good advice, if you want into the market the index funds are not a bad place to start.

[HopAlongBunny]

Well, lately the stock market has been about taking your extra money.

Unfortunately true. The expansion of "hot money" (a subject raised by a prof of mine 20yrs ago) can transform markets into casinos. Essentially unlimited capital moving between stocks at light speed can make a mockery of any investment strategy.

[Gregoshi]

As is often the case, Mary Poppins provides the answer:





However if Mary Poppins was made today, it would probably be mutual indexing funds. A better return than banks and less risk than stocks.

Greyblades, I'm not sure I understand your reluctance to work. I know a uni schedule can be crazy but many uni students manage to work around their schedules. Part time jobs at stores, restaurants or even within the uni itself should provide the needed flexibility. These kinds of jobs as give you some experience and provide references (at least as far as your work ethic goes) for your first "real" job once you graduate. A job would also provide even more exta cash to play with investing if that is something you really want to pursue.

However, to gain a measure of financial independence, I think having a drive, focus and discipline to learn what you need to learn and then do what you need to do to achieve that goal is key. A casual "oh, what do I do with this extra $200 I have lying around?" type thinking won't do it. Look at where you can save money (like your packing lunches) and look at what you can do to (legally) get more. Formulate a plan and have the discipline to stick to it. When you see articles about people who have done amazing things with money, like paying off their house or student loans really fast, they have a focus and become obsessed with achieving their goal. Determination is as important an ingredient as the whats and hows.

[Greyblades]

Greyblades, I'm not sure I understand your reluctance to work. I know a uni schedule can be crazy but many uni students manage to work around their schedules. Part time jobs at stores, restaurants or even within the uni itself should provide the needed flexibility. These kinds of jobs as give you some experience and provide references (at least as far as your work ethic goes) for your first "real" job once you graduate. A job would also provide even more exta cash to play with investing if that is something you really want to pursue.

However, to gain a measure of financial independence, I think having a drive, focus and discipline to learn what you need to learn and then do what you need to do to achieve that goal is key. A casual "oh, what do I do with this extra $200 I have lying around?" type thinking won't do it. Look at where you can save money (like your packing lunches) and look at what you can do to (legally) get more. Formulate a plan and have the discipline to stick to it. When you see articles about people who have done amazing things with money, like paying off their house or student loans really fast, they have a focus and become obsessed with achieving their goal. Determination is as important an ingredient as the whats and hows.

I dont have a reluctance to work (well, yes I do due to being a lazy little sod but that's besides the point) I have a reluctance to talk about work because I already know all I want or need to about jobs due to being brought up in an education system aimed at sticking me in a career, I had my life almost derailed through them devoting 3 weeks sticking me into work experience.
I'm young! I think careers will be soul destroying and I still have delusions of getting rich, and noone makes a billion dollars on a career. I want to know about the alternatives I didn't even think existed 3 years ago.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I dont have a reluctance to work (well, yes I do due to being a lazy little sod but that's besides the point) I have a reluctance to talk about work because I already know all I want or need to about jobs due to being brought up in an education system aimed at sticking me in a career, I had my life almost derailed through them devoting 3 weeks sticking me into work experience.
I'm young! I think careers will be soul destroying and I still have delusions of getting rich, and noone makes a billion dollars on a career. I want to know about the alternatives I didn't even think existed 3 years ago.

You said it - delusions.

Get a job, use that to get a better job, then a better one.

By the time you leave Uni you may be able to move to .3 on a pay scale, with that degree and actual work experience you'll then be able to move to .5 and then .7 in rapid succession, or go into an intership that lands you at .10 after twelve months.

The way to get ahead is to get the work experience of an ACTUAL job while at Uni, when you can manage to just work 4-8 hours a week because once you leave Uni EVERY employer will want to know why you haven't had a jb, and your degree will by irrelevant.

Or, like all young men before you you could ignore me and fail to benefit from my mistake.

[Greyblades]

You said it - delusions.
Or, like all young men before you you could ignore me and fail to benefit from my mistake.

Did you get sick of people telling you the same thing, over and over again, too? I didn't ask for advice on work experience, I get enough of that everywhere else, and I dont want to be told how to get employed either not only do I get enough of that but that is what I'm trying to find suppliments/alternatives to.
When I said that diatribe about being young and wanting to be rich I wasnt entirely serious, but to be quite frank whether or not I end up in a 9-5 job for a salary and seeing buying a house and sending kids to college as the highlight of my humdrum existence, as my youth had been catastrophicaly bad at moulding me towards, I want to know right now if there is anything I can do with the money I have that isn't either spending it on useless rubbish or letting it gather dust in a bank.

If I desperately needed money I would get a job, or at least try to in this economic climate, I dont so now's the time to experiment with what I have, so what is there to do with it?

[TinCow]

Did you get sick of people telling you the same thing, over and over again, too? I didn't ask for advice on work experience, I get enough of that everywhere else, and I dont want to be told how to get employed either not only do I get enough of that but that is what I'm trying to find suppliments/alternatives to.
When I said that diatribe about being young and wanting to be rich I wasnt entirely serious, but to be quite frank whether or not I end up in a 9-5 job for a salary and seeing buying a house and sending kids to college as the highlight of my humdrum existence, as my youth had been catastrophicaly bad at moulding me towards, I want to know what else there is in this life before I decide what I want to dedicate the next 45 years to.

Crime and/or poverty

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Did you get sick of people telling you the same thing, over and over again, too?

Yep - and now I live in a room that's about 12 x 12 feet and doesn't have double glazing, and between the PhD I need for my career and work I have no free time.

I was, however, smart enough to save the money my parents gave me - and walk to Uni.

It went in an ISA, after 3 years £3,000 was £4,000

[TinCow]

I'm young! I think careers will be soul destroying and I still have delusions of getting rich, and noone makes a billion dollars on a career. I want to know about the alternatives I didn't even think existed 3 years ago.

Inheret

[The Lurker Below]

I dont have a reluctance to work (well, yes I do due to being a lazy little sod but that's besides the point) I have a reluctance to talk about work because I already know all I want or need to about jobs due to being brought up in an education system aimed at sticking me in a career, I had my life almost derailed through them devoting 3 weeks sticking me into work experience.
I'm young! I think careers will be soul destroying and I still have delusions of getting rich, and noone makes a billion dollars on a career. I want to know about the alternatives I didn't even think existed 3 years ago.

don't kid yourself, you will be working if you want to be eating.

first, don't think about the money. think about the work. what is it you would enjoy doing. do that. then do it for the most money you can and learn to live within your means.

[Yoyoma1910]

If you invest in Vodka, you always get a 40% return.

[naut]

Mate. Relax. If you're focused on how nothing makes sense you'll eat yourself up inside.

I want to know about the alternatives I didn't even think existed 3 years ago.

Affiliate marketing? (You'd need HTML and CSS skills, plus a domain name, and a niche with resalable ebooks or similar. Quite some effort for unreliable results.)

Exploiting currency differentials? (I.e. work in a Western nation with a strong currency for 4 months a year, live the rest of the year in a country with a weak currency.)

In any case save whatever you can now and keep an eye open for opportunities, maybe you can invest a bigger sum in a year's time? Maybe you can go into business with that capital? Maybe you'll decide the UK is not the place for you and use the cash on a ticket somewhere else? Just keep calm. Your decision(s) will be better if you're calm.