Ask Lemmy

here's my Thursday:

• check cashing place
• cigarettes
• alcohol
• scratch off tickets

Don't see this one yet, but learn how to invest with small amounts. It first.... Do these things:

First cut loving expenses where you can, such as: use less power, eat more rice and beans, don't buy meat, take mass transit, or walk if possible.

Next ensure you stay healthy, always brush and floss, do basic exercise. Keep it simple to stuff you don't need to buy, do pushups, situps, lunges, go jogging.

Then from the cost cutting, put some money into a savings account. Try to get to at least a month or two of living expenses.

Once you're there (months of living expenses) open a free retail trading account such as E-Trade, or Robinhood. Buy what you can of the big ETF's such as VTI, VOO, SPY, SPYG etc... do this every month and don't get discouraged when it goes down. After a year you'll start to see dividends payout (literally) they will be small at first. Never sell it, always let the dividend reinvest. After 2 years you'll start to see a noticeable return on investment. After three it gets better yet.... There is a YouTube channel called Chris invests that is really good for this kind of thing. I highly highly recommend it.

• Get a cheap subscription to a 24h fitness with warm showers, lockers and wifi.
• Combine with a library card.

This will allow you to live in your car or be homeless, in relative(!!!) comfort, and still be presentable enough to hold down a job.