My life in the Army (part 1)

Well, last month I made it through my first year in the Army.  It has definately been a strange ride for me, and a ride unlike any that I have ever been through.  I know that everyone’s first preoccupation is with what they will encounter during basic training and soon after AIT, but I don’t believe that it stops there.  I really enjoyed basic training and it made me feel proud to be serving in the Armed Forces, but now that I am out and I have been through my first year, I stand scratching my head at how the Army operates.  I think that it is important to note that I have not grown up in the Army or anywhere close to an Army installation.   I have known some Marines as I started college, but I am not the drinking type, so I would rarely hang out with them.

Since it hard for me to write frequently about all my plans to make my first million dollars, I decided that I would write about some of my military experiences for anyone who may be planning on joining the Army.  Now that I look back on many of these experiences I can honestly say they make me smile, but I know that as long as I stay in the military these experiences will continue. 

Saving for a Hotel!!

Well, I am still dedicated to making my first million dollars, and I have come up with some brilliant ideas that could potentially make money, however, since I am in the Army and I am in Korea, my time is very limited.  I am dedicating more time into education and I have almost finished my bachelors degree (I will have that before I leave Korea.)

I did sell all my mutual funds and I paid off my credit card, so now my savings is at zero, but the good news is that I don’t have anymore credit card debt.  This means that I don’t have to worry about that as a bill anymore and I can now start saving that money in other places.  I still have $1,000 to work with and I am going to invest it tomorrow in stocks.

I talked with someone the other day and we have decided that we want to start a hotel together.  The inital costs are $100,000 then after that the cost will be $500,000, however, the income that we could generate from a well placed hotel will bring great benefits.  Could this be the way that I will make my first million?  I don’t know but it is a goal that I will have and I will be writing about it each step of the way.  I am hoping that in 5 years I’ll have the $100,000 to buy the land.  Yes, that is a long way off, but I am in the Army so I am in no rush. 

 Buying a hotel is only one of my long term goal, and I will post the other ones later as I plan short term goals to make them more plausible. 

Eliminate My Credit Card Debt

I am going to sell one of my Mutual Funds, and I am going to use it to pay off my credit card.  I have a low introductory rate at the moment, but it is going to jump to 18% soon and I think that it is alittle crazy to be paying all that interest to a bank.  This will put me 300 down in my investments, but I am seeing that they really aren’t the way to generate money.  Actually once I save 500 dollars, I plan on starting a DRIP with Pfizer.  Apparently you can invest in a DRIP with only 500, and then I plan on adding to it each year.  This will be a good start because Pfizer pays dividends to its shareholder, which I plan on reinvesting to buy more shares.  It won’t be much at first but as my income increases, I’ll be able to pump more money into it.

The Beginnings

“I don’t make much money, so how can I become a millionaire?”  This is a question that is popular amongst wealth seekers, and is in my opinion the hardest problem to solve.  So where do you start?  Looking at my finances I have $475 in a savings account with ING which has a 4.3 interest rate.  I also have some funds from my bank, USAA, the cornerstone fund, international fund, and the science and technology fund.  I have around $490 from this and I will have 1,000 dollars that I am getting from a refunded check that I will recieve.  It is this thousand dollars that I will be working with.  I have $460 in credit card debt and $1750 in medical bills, so I can’t say that I have alot of extra money.  Also since I am in the Army I need to buy a plane ticket home so that I can see my family for christmas.  So I have a lot of expenses that I am going to be working on paying off while at the same time investing my money in different stock and funds.  I also would like to buy some real estate in increase my net worth.  These are basically my figures for my beginnings.  I do not believe that making myself a million dollars will be an overnight process, but I will write about my progress. 

Can You Really Be Rich?

For many growing up in this generation and even those in previous generations people have always had a desire to become rich.  “What you you want to be when you grow up?” is something that we always teach our children that we should take seriously.  A doctor, lawyer, banker?  However, if you ask any kid today what do they want to be?  My 12 yr old brother wants to be a basketball player, and growing up I wanted to play football.

 Today I am part of the US Army working for the legal system so that I can gain an advantage over those trying to go to law school.  Joining the Army I recieved a bonus and it was gone within a month (It went mostly on bills.)  I decided that I would take more control over my finances, so I started to educate myself on the matter.  I ran across a book by Mr. Robert Kiyosake called Rich Dad Poor Dad,  and I agreed with many of his principles, however I decided to read another book by him called Retire Young Retire Rich which once again I found principles in there that I agree with. 

Currently I am working on my last few classes for my degree in Buisness Administration so I do know about business affairs and responsibilities.  Never the less, being rich is a child fantasy and becoming rich fast is considered impossible by many experts.  On the other hand our country was founded on principles that it is a place were someone with no money could become wealthy.  That is the American Dream.  My goal before I retire is to make 1,000,000 and I was wondering if there was anyone who has been able to accomplish this feat?  I met a guy who followed the principles of Mr. Kiyosake and he honestly made a great deal of money in the Real Estate business (I don’t know if it was millions like he claimed) but is it possible to make 1,000,000 dollars in one’s lifetime, or is the American Dream dead?  That is the question I want to find out.

 I am hoping that I can get some responses so that I can share ideas with people who also believe in the American Dream.  Where does one start?  Why types of things should I learn?  So I call out to everyone to help me attain my goal of making 1,000,000 dollars in my life.  I have some ideas but I always found that working together increases efficiency.