The 1k 1y Challange...

Jsimbaz

Hi I fancy a challange. I am a young lad doing my GCSEs this year and I am very motivated by the prospect of having maney and using it well. I am very 'handy' with computers and I have a small, but successful business building computers and helping customers with problems etc. I am also a FA Qualified Youth Referee, for which I earn £15 every other saturday morning.

I am setting myself a target of saving £1,000 for my 17th birthday (23.02.2007).

I would really appreciate it if people could help me over the next year to reach my target and I think this could be really good for mse.com.

The ways in which I aim to make money:

• Buying/selling for profit
• Working on weekends to recieve income (refereeing)
• Web-related money-making (making sites etc.)
• Taking advantage of free money

This is only an idea and if I'm being stupid then please remove my post, etc.

I would love to hear what people think about this and If the idea lifts off, possibly with help from Martin (maybe I'm being too ambitious) I would share my ideas etc. with everyone and let you know how the £1,000 is coming along.

Thanks for listening

pavlovs_dog

a few bits of advice to start you off:

1. although in the grand scheme of things your GCSEs are just another (relatively worthless) piece of paper for you store in some forgotten box gathering dust for years to come, they are an unavoidable stepping stone to the future - a levels, degrees, career if you plan leaving school sooner. they MUST be your first priority.

2. make sure you are saving your cash in the most appropriate place. not sure if there is an age limit on ISAs or not, but do your research and choose the most appropriate account.

3. good luck!

and out of curiosity, why £1k? are you saving for a car, for example? (having a clear goal helps keep you focused and on task)

Tim_L

Excellent idea.

Just watch out for and avoid get rich quick schemes and 'easy homeworking ask me how' style things.

If you're serious about trading for profit, bear in mind that it will take a while to learn how to do this and you may run at a loss while you get the hang of it - this may be a price worth paying.

I'd definitely look at things like setting up virus checkers and firewalls, or setting up wireless security, for non-computer literate people. There's plenty of demand for this and you could save the customers cash overall by installing something like AVG free edition instead of one of the commercial offerings. Because of XP online support, you don't even necessarily have to leave your house to do this.

Jsimbaz

Let's just say the 10x GCSEs are in the bag, and although this is a 'cocky' approach I do not require any more than I will achieve with my GCSEs.

Thanks for the ideas so far, by the way :T

Currently in the 1k1y pot: £32.05 from my wallet; just done some chores for my dad so extra £15 coming soon!

PS: it would be for a car, or at least the insurance for one

Savvy_Sue

ISAs wouldn't necessarily be a good place, because it's unlikely that the OP will be a taxpayer (and it's only £1000 he wants to save!) so he should be able to get gross interest paid on his savings. Can't comment on the best place to put his money: if he can save regularly then there are some one year deals out there which might be worth looking at.

But I'd say it was entirely do-able. I'm sure both my older two managed to save £1000 before they were 17 just through paper rounds, but they weren't big spenders.

topherxp

Jsimbaz wrote:

Let's just say the 10x GCSEs are in the bag, and although this is a 'cocky' approach I do not require any more than I will achieve with my GCSEs.

Thanks for the ideas so far, by the way :T

Currently in the 1k1y pot: £32.05 from my wallet; just done some chores for my dad so extra £15 coming soon!

PS: it would be for a car, or at least the insurance for one

1K is certainly a good amount to save, but you might want to raise the target slightly. Because of with 1K and your age, you will probably be spending more on insurance that the car and the last thing you want to do is buy a death trap.

You should also take into account the basic Money Saving rules (Do you need it etc.), because if you are going to continue with your education after school you may be better off using public transport whilst at college.

I'm not saying you shouldn't save for a car, just that by using public transport for a couple of years and saving towards a better car, in the long run you will be better off because not only will the car be safer to drive but will be less likely to breakdown, which will save you money, in terms of repair cost's.

One thing you might want to do is look at a mag like autotrader and so if the any cars in your price range or slightly above and save towards that figure. Also, by choosing what car before you save, you can get some rough insurance costs, which will help you with the target you should save towards.

Either way, GOOD LUCK. If it was ten years ago (which would make me the same age as you) and the internet was as big as it is now, with a site like this one, who knows what I would have been able to do. My best advice would be to utilise the web and get as much infomation before parting with what will be your hard earned money.

kingkano

maybe his parents are getting the car and he is getting the insurance?

I say good luck to you mate. This site if you read through it is sure to give you LOTS of ideas. How about collecting all the free sims you can get your hads on.... then sell them to a local shop/on ebay in a bulk lot. Not a huge moneyspin but youd be surprised if you get 50 or 100 together.

Also offer relatives friends that are not technically minded the opportunity to sell their unwanted goods.... on ebay.... through yourself Take a small cut of the sale as the fee.

And the tech side you could accomplish alot. Wireless networking and security is the big one as already mentioned. £20 for max an hours work there (pc health check kinda stuff).

Keep us informed on how you get on

Claudie

Good luck to you. With your knowledge of PC's you shouldn't be stuck for part time work and the idea of helping with firewalls, virus checkers was a great one.

Loved the stories in the press recently about this website -


http://www.millionpoundgallery.com/en/

That was set up by a young lad who wanted to start a Uni fund and supposedly the site took off so well he ended up needing a gap year...

daveboy

Watch ITV1 on Tuesday night (7th March) at 9.45pm.

Then you'll see you need to referee for the love of the game, not because it gives you an income.

angelatgraceland

Hi Jsimbaz! My son has similar attitude to you and is also into the computers! He has just set up website design company and has a free listing in Yellow Pages in the next edition. He does pc repairs etc as he is at college at the mo studying pc servicing and networking. He is always making a few pounds here and there-upgrading a pc-getting rid of a virus-doing a reinstall etc etc. You should reach your target no probs with a little effort. Im told that Halifax offer a good rate for people your age and so do Bradford and Bingley. For his "business ideas" he has kept a new mobile number so we dont get pestered(he realy is ambitous). Most work though is word of mouth so far. He is also working 3 days a week as well as college and has managed to buy a pc and a laptop in the last 6 months. Nothing like a little "bread and butter " job for backup! Good luck-you are definitely on the right track!

auntyi

Good on you Jsimbaz.

I have 4 kids, and they all (I hope) have been brought up to value (but not necessarily be obsessed with!) money.

I have two boys who scour charity shops (and get me to, lol) and then they sell their finds on ebay. This is a simple but effective way of making a few pounds. They wash cars (not lucrative especially, but then quite a few car-owners will ask them to do other little jobs, like gardening etc.)

The girls are perhaps less enthusiatic. One has a waitressing job, and the other does jobs for me around the house (cleaning etc.)

I am quite sure you will meet your target, and good luck with the pc business - I think there is a need for people who will 'buddy' technophobes such as myself in setting up networks etc. In my case, I want to learn how to do stuff but sometimes am just scared to try!

With regard to the GCSEs though, these ARE important (I realise from your post that you understand this), and I hope you are allotting the right amount of time to revision, coursework etc.

Good luck...keep us informed!