Dropping Out Of College To Make No Money | Financial Audit

I'm Toby Ryan. I'm 18. I'm from [music]. Austin, Texas, and this is Financial. Audit. 18, okay. Yeah. So, you're definitely. I think the youngest person we've had on. the show. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, okay. So, 18, hmm. I'm. curious of how to approach that when it. comes to your over fine overall. financial life. Are you in high school? Um no, I actually. just I attended college last semester. and I just dropped out. Um. Mhm. And so, and then I moved here.

Well, okay. Well, all right. Well, [laughter]. all right. You went to college. Was it a community. college? What college? It um UTSA. Um. University of Texas at San Antonio. Okay. And where were you living? Uh I was on campus. So. Okay. And are you from where you are. now? Um no, I am from a little bit outside of. San Antonio. Okay. So, we're from a little bit. outside of San Antonio. We moved into. San Antonio to go to UT San Antonio and. now we've moved up here after dropping.

out. Why? Um [clears throat] my aunt and uncle. live up here and um so, I thought it'd. be a good place. Also, I decided that I. want to maybe just try acting like on. the side. Um start to pursue that and. San Antonio isn't the best place for. that and Austin is a lot better. for that. So, starting a new future in Austin, a. new life in Austin. Why'd you drop out. of school? Um well, I for actually a couple. reasons. Um first of all, I feel like I.

was just rushing into it. Um I didn't. really know what I wanted to do and I. feel like I was just trying to please. everybody else. Mhm. So, I was trying to do physics. I was. actually in the honors college there. I'd been really smart in high school. Um. I also have a chronic illness and it. started flaring up last semester really. bad to the point where I couldn't go to. like classes and stuff like that. what it is? Um ulcerative colitis. Okay. So, yeah, it was just a lot of um like. cramping and stuff like that to the. point I couldn't move or get out of bed.

So, I mean college just wasn't the. thing. And also, I realized I wasn't. really happy with what I was doing. And. I mean, I've [clears throat] been acting. since I was like four. So, um, I've been. in over 30 productions already. Oh, wow. I put that on hold and I was like, I'm. going to go to college cuz I think. that's what my parents want. I feel like. everyone's going to think I'm smart. And. acting's not going to go anywhere. I. didn't feel like I had the skill for it. So, we have another actor on the show.

So, that's a lot of. people have asked why there's quite a. few that show up. When I put I put out. calls all over the area. And I think. people that are into acting are probably. more inclined to sign up. So, that's. probably why we see a higher percentage, but that that definitely makes sense. Which, um, you know, speaking of things like that, you should. consider subscribing. Look how close we. are to 100,000 subscribers. Maybe at the. time of posting this video, we're. already there. I don't know, but thank. you all so much who have subscribed. already, and please consider. subscribing. So, I'm really sorry to hear about that.

chronic illness. That sucks. I hate when. that kind of crap just gets in the way. of life cuz it just does. Have you. sought help? Have you found help? Uh, yeah, actually. Um, I after a recent. hospital stay, I got put on steroids, which not good, but it's been helping. And then during that time, so I haven't. been really feeling a lot of the effects. of it. We got, um, I found it we're starting a new. medication. And hopefully, the doctor. said that it should put it into. remission. So, I should be.

pretty dandy very soon. And then you mentioned the thing about. not knowing what you wanted to do and. you were just pleasing people. I totally. vibe with that. There is really no point. of going to college and putting all the. money into college if there's not going. to be a return on the investment because. you don't know what you're going to do. If you just get a degree because it's. sounds like the smart degree, but you. end up hating the field you're in, and. then you end up not working in that. field very long, then it was just not a. productive time and money spent going. into college. So, I appreciate that. What I would like is we can potentially.

find avenues of how to. properly navigate. job markets, careers, potential. schooling, stuff like that. What were you studying? [clears throat]. Uh physics with a minor in astronomy. What do you enjoy outside of the acting. world? Well, everyone likes that, but. outside of that. Um I really did I do like the science. and stuff like that. Um that's always. So, what was wrong with physics then? Um. I just I think it was the wrong time for.

me to be in college, but um. Okay. I don't really see every single time. that I look into the future and I see. myself doing like a scientific job, I. don't like really feel like I'd be happy. doing that or I don't feel like. I I know it's probably not true, but I. don't feel like I'd have the like. ability to do that. It sounds like a. very scary job. Okay. Well, we'll definitely loop back. to the college, career, and everything. like that, but let's get into the. finances. I want to know from I.

So, to be clear, you did not send barely. anything. So, I don't really even know. very much. I usually like to do a deep. dive obviously before an audit. But, I. don't know much. We're going to be. learning a lot on the fly. How would you describe your overall. financial situation in life right now? Um I don't think it's the best. I don't. think it's the worst though. I feel. Go on. Um I feel like I will be able to um like. pay everything that I have to pay, but I. won't be able to, you know, get any of.

the luxuries or stuff like that right. now. Okay. Do you get luxuries? Um every once in a while I like to, you. know, spoil myself a bit, but. What do you do for work right now? I am a on-call babysitter. Um I get paid. $20 an hour. Okay. Um and I get about 30 hours of work a. week. So, get up to 800 a week. And you live with your aunt and uncle? Yes, I'm paying a $300 rent there. Oh. Paying $300 rent there.

Yeah. I mean obviously that's cheap but also. hmm an average of. $2,600. a month. Every little bit hurts. that is taken out. Okay. So now you would let me think what. I think you're barely in. I haven't looked at tax brackets in a. while. but you're barely Are you setting. anything aside for taxes though? You're.

not going to be heavily taxed but. I haven't. I'm I have a savings though. I'm. if I have it set up on my bank where if. I get a check over 250 I put 30% to my. savings account. Okay. Okay, but only how how how much of. the checks are over 250 versus how much. are not? Um like all of them. Okay, very cool and they just go into an. automatic savings is that the Chase. savings that we see? How long have you. been doing the babysitting? Uh this I've moved to Austin literally. like January 9th. Okay, so this is all very new.

Very very new. Um. This babysitting is it for one client or. is it for a variety? a variety. It's kind of like on call but. there's a lot. Are you doing it through like an app? Um no I'm doing it through a company. It's a smaller family owned company. Okay. You're able to. 20 an hour for the Austin area for you. know pretty chill job. Pretty middle of the road. with what we're seeing in the area so. that's fine. Are you able to. get those hours up a little more?

I it's kind of hard they said I'll be. getting more. jobs offers the more I'm in the company. and the more I work and the more jobs I. accept. Because you can rate your own. schedule. Um they send you in a job and. you can say like yes I want that or no I. want that I don't want that. So um. I am accepting like every job that I. get. Sure. But um. it just really depends. I said they said. that I could get up to 40 hours like a. couple months working in. So. Okay, good. Then as soon as we can get.

to that that's good. So I want to look. at your overall finances but this this. doesn't make sense. So. I see in your checking account again. makes no sense. There's like three Apple. two Apple purchases and they could be. subscriptions and an Amazon purchase. then. Klarna boy. All right, we'll see what. that is. Uh HEB that's always good and a deposit. of $100. That's not your entire checking. account is it? Well, I opened this bank account like a. month ago. I had. Okay, what were you doing before that? I had a local bank account.

Where's all your spending from this day. to 30 days before? Um. it was. it was in a um in a different bank. account. Can you pull it up? Um I actually can't cuz the it was a. local one and the app kind of like. kicked me out and it wouldn't let me. So I don't have it [clears throat] but I. didn't have a lot of money before. anyways. Um. I didn't have a job. What's the balance in your checking. account?

Uh. I think it's about 20 right now. Can you pull up your current checking. account? $20? Yeah, I don't have a lot. Well cuz I my first. I'm glad you don't have real rent or. anything. $20? My first uh my first paycheck. Here, come closer to the mic, please. Oh, sorry. My first paycheck is. um. You haven't had your first paycheck? I don't have my first. Dude, okay. We're talking about a lot a. lot of stuff that essentially just. hasn't even happened. And then $200 in. savings so. all this stuff that you were talking.

about made it sound like they were. established but it's more like that's. what's going to be happening. what's. You have less than $20 in your checking. account. $16. Ah, you have less than $16 in your. checking account. Yet, we're going to. Poco Loco. for $20. Yeah, that was gas. Oh, that's gas? Okay, fine. [laughter]. Fine. Let's stop. Poco Loco sounds like. a restaurant. It just does. It's a gas station chain. you what's not a gas station, Smoothie. King. Yeah. That is not a gas station. Now, tell me.

about this Klarna. Okay, I have but I have guinea pigs. Um, I have three guinea pigs and they needed. new stuff for their cage like a fleece. liner, which is technically like the. bedding. Yeah. And so, I went on Etsy and I got some. new ones for them. Mhm. And yeah. finance them? Um. I think so. Once I get my new paycheck, I should be able to. What was the total purchase price?

Um, 100. That's only a $25 payment. Why did you. How urgent was this purchase? I just I. don't. Pretty pretty urgent cuz I don't have. And you didn't have $100? Um, no. I mean, I have it in cash. Like, I have a lot more. I have like $100 in. cash, but. Then why didn't you put that in the. What I don't want to get I do not want. to get into that. You're 18. You're so. impressionable right now when it comes. to your financial future. You know, a. lot of things have already been. imprinted on you in life, but you're.

just starting your. uh self personal finances independent. That's the word I was looking for. Area. of your life when it comes to money. I do not want you to start building the. habit of okay, I needed to get this $100. purchase. Let me do it in four payments. Okay, I want to do this $250 purchase. Let me get it in four payments. Okay, $1,000 purchase. Going to get it in four. payments. And then it just build that as. a bad habit that I want to immediately. stop. If you cannot purchase something,

you don't purchase that thing. [snorts]. You should have put the $100 in. And then you should have purchased it. using your debit card. Do we agree? Do we disagree? What do we think? Okay, good. So, you have a car. I do. Do you have. any debt on that car? I do not. You own the car. Uh yes. It's um it's a Nissan 2004 Frontier.

It's was my aunt's. Yeah. How many miles? Uh. [laughter]. I don't know. 100,200? It's pretty It's pretty run down, though. It's I'm going to need a new one. soon, but for now it works. Well, my fear is that not working and. you have $200 in your savings. And what do we do in that situation? What What do you do in that situation? That happens right now, what do you do? Mhm. I'd probably look into like other like. public transport until I can, you know,

From. there? What's the public transport from. that? I could probably get an Uber from. Oh, that would just kill your money, cuz. that's a pretty far Uber trip. I'm. assuming you're talking about coming. into town. Mhm. That'd be brutal. So, but that's that's. the place that you're left in right now. because you don't have any preparation. Again, 18, we need to need to put 18. in the back of our heads as we have this.

conversation. You are just getting. started, but we need to get you into a. place where. Why'd you move in with your aunt and. uncle versus going back to your parents? Um I mean, the place that I lived in it it wasn't. very nice to me. I have a lot of bad. memories at my um. at my old town. Also, um my dad and. would make me pay rent, as well. And so, I decided that I'd rather be out here. where I can pursue acting a little more, um. Okay. where I'm in a more comfortable place.

for me. Sure. Okay. I mean, I vibe with that. What. sucks is and I I vibe with, you know, if. someone's after 18, you know, maybe. charge them rent, but there's context. situations, you know, maybe if you were. trying to achieve something, pursue. something, give them a break so they can. meet those goals and then achieve. certain things. Do you have any credit cards? I do not. Okay. In this situation where you just. did that finance thing, I would avoid. them for now. Not 100% sure.

Maybe in the future. Did you borrow. money for your semester. at. Yes. Well, uh no, I didn't. It was from. uh my grandfather. He had saved up. money. So, Okay. um the amount that they had saved up, I. would have been able to go on there for. two semesters. Okay. and pay that off, but then the rest of. it I would have to pay for myself. Another reason why I got out cuz I knew. I wasn't financially ready to pay off. after that. Yeah. It's still It's still very nice of. him though, obviously. But, I mean, it's. great to afford the college.

Did you complete the credits necessary. with good grades? Okay. Good grades? Good grades. Good. Grades that'll stand up and be. transferable if ever needed. Yes, they were all passing. That's. Good. Good. Good. So, we're creating a full picture of. your financial situation. Do you have. anything else. anywhere that we do not know? We have. that one small checking account with. like $0. We have a savings account, like $200. Anything anywhere else in the car? Anything anywhere else?

Do we have any random debt that we're. not even thinking about that we. accidentally signed up for? No more. checking accounts? No more money. anywhere? You said you have $100 on you? Mhm. Okay. So, to your name is $314. Scary. Yeah. You have a paycheck. That's your rent. It's your family. [snorts]. So, I think for your conversation, what. we're going to talk about, we're going. to talk about goals and how to get there.

and things that you need to start doing. now to be in a much better place than. anyone has ever had on this show, which. will be awesome. So, to set everything in perspective, let's talk about potential retirement, which is far away from you. It is like. 42 years away. Do you want to be able to. retire? Of course. Yeah? You want to be able to just do. anything you want, you know, you could. stop work, you could volunteer, you. could travel, you could go crazy, you.

know, like 59 and a half, start. withdrawing some things. Yeah. That's something you want to do. Mhm. You are in the best absolute best years. of your life, best decade, not even in. the best decade of your life yet. You're. like in the pre-best decade, like you're. already in the best best, which is why I'm so excited to talk to. you about 18 cuz we just haven't had 18. You're just the best time to take. advantage of compound growth in the. overall marketplace by the time you. retire. Do you know compound growth?

No. Okay. So, you invest $1 now and it. gains, let's say, 10% a year on average, like the S&P 500, which over the course. of existence, if you average it out through the ups. and downs, it gains 10% a year on. average, just over. So, you invest $1, it gains 10% a year, you have $1.10. Does that make sense? But now, the next 10%. is gained from that $1.10 instead of. just a dollar. So, it continues to grow. Does that make sense? Yes.

You following? Right now, right now, if you put a. dollar, just a dollar into the S&P 500, by the. time you could withdraw. into like a from a Roth IRA or 401k, that singular dollar would be worth. $54.76. $1. That's just a dollar. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. That's crazy. You could pursue acting. and all this stuff, which I'm totally.

good with doing on a side hustle, but. you could just full-time pursue that, not make much money, maybe just sustain. yourself, but not be able to invest. anything. Then all of a sudden you're. like, "Okay, I'm 28 now. It's been a decade. I need to start taking care of things. It's time to invest.". That $1 that turned into $54.76 right. now, if you start that $1 a decade from now, it'll only be worth $21.11. by the time you go to retire. Wow.

Big decrease. And then if you draw it out even more, which we've seen people on this show. even older than 38, which was the next. example, but if you just draw it out to. 38 and you haven't saved up, you put a. dollar in, the dollar only becomes worth. about $8.14. by the time you retire. So, we've gone. down from 54.76 to 8.14. Do you get why it's important to start. doing this now? Yes. If you max out your Roth IRA, which is.

$6,500 a year right now, and let's. pretend that it stays at $6,500 a year. forever. It It adjusts with inflation, but let's just say it does that. You max. it out every year. By the time you are. 59 and a half or 60, by the time you are 60, that retirement. account would be worth $3.5 million. $3.5 million by investing $6,500 a year. at the average rate of return that the. S&P 500 has.

If you wait till 28 because you mess. around for the next decade and you. pursue a bunch of things, which is okay, which is okay as a side hustle, but you. know, if you're doing it full-time, just. sustaining yourself, not investing in. anything, and you start maxing it out. only a decade from now, it drops from. 3.5 million to 1.3 million by the time. you retire. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And then if you wait an extra decade, you max it out, it'll only be worth. $464,000.

That is the value of time. That is the. value of compound growth. Some people. say wealth is your best. uh or your income is your best. wealth-building tool. Though it is a tool and it's a tool. that's required, the real best tool is. time, and you have time. to start now. So, what I would do, not official. financial advice, only what I would do. were I in your shoes, I'm not going to. tell you what to invest in, I'm not. going to We don't play that game. What I.

would do is sit down with a financial. advisor or talk with someone on like. Fidelity or something that's an. investment uh platform. They can help. put you in things you can get into. things like the S&P 500. You could get. into a target index target retirement. fund, which is more aggressive at first, and then as it gets closer to as each. decade passes by closer to retirement, it gets more and more conservative until. you are in a place of retirement. What I. would do were I in your shoes, I would work my butt off right now at.

whatever full-time job that we're going. to talk about that gets you good money. where you can sustain yourself, live on. your own, and invest by maxing out your. Roth IRA. and being able to pursue the side hustle. of acting. That is what I would do. I want to make. sure this is maxed out every year. starting this year. You can actually. You won't have time to save up $6,000 in. the next couple months, but you can max. out last year still. But, let's just start next year. $6,500.

Thoughts? Yeah, that I mean that seems doable. That seems like a really good plan. Thoughts, comments, concerns? Cuz right. now. that takes you from about $30,000 to, you know, just over $20,000. Can't live off of that doing what you're. doing now. Um I could I mean I could possibly get. another um job since this job isn't very. It's not like set hours and stuff. What do you like doing for work? Besides.

acting. Acting is great. We're going to. pursue it as a side hustle. Fantastic. Okay. But for real work, for money's, what? Um genuinely working with kids. That's. Okay. really something I'm good at. I enjoy. doing. Um. I also I'm I'm okay with retail. That is. fine by me. I prefer not to, but if it's. need be, I can, you know, do it. Yeah. Um. I do like working with people, mostly, so. I've seen signs just around Austin for.

entry-level food service positions for. 25 bucks an hour. 25? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Most commonly 15 to 20, but I've seen. desperate places, probably cuz it kind. of sucks and you're not going to be. overly happy, but that's okay for a. temporary sacrifice to just get things. started in building up a resume. They. are desperate. Tech companies are cutting back right. now. Construction companies are cutting back. right now. Food service, retail service.

Um retail service from the holidays have. cut back a little bit, but food service. they are still desperate. Mostly cuz. everyone knows how much those jobs are. not very fun. I did food service for. like 5 years, maybe a little more. Not the best. So they are desperate to hire. That is a. way you could just make more money. starting now. You talked about liking working with. kids, though. Have you ever thought. about being in the education field? I. mean, you seem incredibly nice. I I. barely know you, but I mean, I could see. you being gentle with children. Actually, yeah. Um I do want to try.

pursuing acting, but I thought about. later whenever I get a little more. settled down, a little more um, with my. health and stuff like that. Just. Mhm. down pat. I was. I was about to tell you to go off for a. second, but the health thing is fair, but I hate the. "Oh, just later when I settle down." No, if we want things to happen, we just do. it now. But with the health thing, I understand. Continue, sorry. yeah. Um, that I would um, go back to college and.

get education and actually do something. in the arts in school because. Okay. that's um, Much more competitive. Yeah. Schools will hire multiple English. teachers, multiple math teachers, multiple blah blah blah blah blah. They'll hire like one art teacher. And that's the thing, like my um, old. school, my high school, um, there's no. arts. There was an arts for like up to. third grade, but there was no arts, no. no arts was funded, no theater class, no. um, any sort of art class and.

Well, that kind of sucks. So, for context, I'm a big proponent of like. sports and arts and music and theater, all those good things in school because. I couldn't have given a single [ __ ]. about school if it wasn't for those. things that actually kept me engaged and. showing up and forcing me to have a. minimum of a C in order to participate. in those things. Who knows? I could have. been one of the people that dropped out. of high school. Who knows? But those. things help, you know, sustain the. interest of pubescent adolescents who. are absolute nuclear bombs in their head.

at that time. So, I'm a big proponent of. that. That being said, I also have a. responsibility on this side of the table. to talk about reality. Reality is. it is very hard. in that field to get hired and make a. really. good income. There's good benefits that can come. working in the public school system, but. if you can get in. If that you your school, as you just. said, they didn't even have an art. program. My school did. I think it was like one, maybe two art teachers, like three music. teachers across the middle school, high.

school, but still, I mean, that's that's. very difficult. Yeah, um but I mean, even if I can't, you know, get into as an art teacher or. something like that, I would also. probably settle for a math or science, uh cuz. Science, I mean, you're all about that. science life, right? Okay. So, a backup plan if, you know, I can't. find any arts. Well, hold on, because uh what grade. levels are you thinking? Um younger, not high school, so yeah, um.

So, you could do that with Okay, cuz I. know there's different degrees for Okay, cuz you want to be more specialized if. you're going to be in the high school, if I'm not mistaken, yeah, that's all it. is. Okay, so that's fine. Any reason you have not pursued that? Um well, just right now I want to take. that break away from college, um. Okay. and also, I want to see how the um. acting thing um takes off. We can do that only as a side hustle for. now, though. Yeah. That becomes a. full-time thing. once it is full-time sustainable.

Mhm. Which I hope it does. I hope that for. everyone. Unfortunately, you're like the fourth. actor on here. Statistically, none of the four of you. are going to make it, statistically. speaking. Um I sound like such a thing. to say. I'm sorry, but it's like 0.1%. It's a stupid, stupid statistic. And. that sucks, but that's why I want to. talk about just what we can do to make. sure you are sustained in life. Why not. pursue. general education, community college.

prerequisites. at Austin Community College, cash flow. in that bad boy. because you can, it's not terribly. expensive, Austin Community College. Um. and then pursue acting on the side as. much as you can. I mean, you'd be. working constantly. It'll be a It'll be. a grind doing the community college for. 2 years, getting all those credits, and. working so you can cash flow that and. hopefully invest a little, and. pursuing your side hustle.

But, it depends how much the dream is. worth. Mhm. And if it's worth [clears throat] it, then do it. I mean, yeah. Uh I did do plan on going. going back to college at some point. And. I wanted to do take a whole year off. Whole year? Yeah, and then go back to college. So, just taking that break cuz I don't. When did the year whole year start? Um. last like the end of last semester. So, like I would I would probably maybe a. little less than a year and go back at. the beginning of a school year. Yeah, take a break. In that in the.

meantime now, work 80 hours a week. Save up as much money as possible. If. you think you're going back to school, save up as much money as possible to be. able to cash flow school. Trust me, borrowing. not fun. [snorts]. Yeah, I want to try to avoid that as. much as possible. I want you to get out of college and all. of your income goes to just building. wealth. Not paying off what you've. already done. Does that make sense? Mhm. So, potential education, that could be.

potential what potentially what we're. going into. That's education. That's. cool. We're pursuing side hustles. You. understand the value of time and. compound growth when it comes to. investing. We can try to do that as much. as possible. It's going to be hard to. balance all these priorities. So, you're. just going to have to figure out for. yourself what's most important. Give us any kind of indication what's. most important. What do you think from. this conversation. your next steps would be? Um I feel like getting trying to find. more of an income, um a more stable income, too. Uh and I.

mean, probably priority right now would be. finding cuz I can't invest much into. acting right now, just building up that. wealth, building up more, you know, money so that way I can pursue more. acting and also saving up for college in. the future. Um so really I guess my top. priority right now would be um my job. that not acting but the jobs that I'm. getting to make an income. And of course my health. [snorts]. Of course.

That's that's probably the top top. priority. For sure. For Toby, just getting started there's. not too much wrong because again just. getting started. 18-years old. I think. we've set out a path of what to do. We. definitely need to make sure there's. more money in the checking account and. no investing is started at 18-years old. There's a lot of things that need to. start now in order to increase the score. and everything like that. But for now, Toby. [music]. hammer financial score cuz there's not a. lot bad. Six out of 10. We just want to.

get that seven, eight, nine, 10 [music]. by investing, getting better jobs, having fully funded emergency funds, having money in the checking account, and hopefully getting into real estate. at some point. Make sure to check out all the fun. things in the description including my. Twitter and Instagram and don't forget. to subscribe. Thanks.