What are the ways for teens to make money?

Hi there,

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I think it is wonderful that you are so sensible at this age. When I was your age, I was struggling to get out of bed because I was such a bum. Here is the advice.

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For starters, do make sure that currently, you can handle both work and studies. At the very least you graduate and have earned a bit money over that few years. Most important is to protect your money, so if there are any get rich quick scheme, avoid them like plague. In the best case scenario, you missed an opportunity. But in the worst case scenario, you would lose whatever money you have, or even worse, owe debts( provided you borrow money to invest).

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Next, learn to budget. One way is from this community Seedly, which has a guideline where budget is split into 50 - 30 - 20, 50% necessities, 30% wealth and 20% savings.

https://blog.seedly.sg/working-adults-allocate-...

There are also other guidelines, such as insurance 40-30-20-10. These are merely for references and I would say, adjust them to your situation. The savings components are to build up an emergency funds, which can range anywhere from 3 months to 12 months.

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Third, once you get a hang of how much you can save, you will need to take care of your insurance. A simple hospitalisation (or more commonly known as integrated shield plan) and a personal accident plan should suffice. Be wary of buying into endowments, ILP, Unit Trusts, etc, where it is of higher cost, as well as long commitment periods (range from 15-25 years). Rationale being you want to be protected, yet at the same time, you would not want to be tied down. It so happens that by this year, it had been 10 years since the last crisis in 2008. Assuming the worst case scenario whereby anytime 1 to 2 years from now, an economic recession happen, you do not want to be burdened unnecessarily.

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Forth, start to read up on financial books and differentiate the different styles of investing. See which one suits you. If necessary, go for courses preview and decide not on the spot, but later on. At this point in time, it would be difficult to straight away go for most courses.

Read up on the macro factors and see how it affect investments. Best example happened recently in Singapore was the announcement of the hike in Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD), while for overseas, it is the trade war between USA and China. (Donald Trump finalised the details.)

See how it affects other people and how would you react? What are the pointers you can come up with?

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Also, I can't believe I'm saying this, but please be patient with yourself. As much as you are filial to your parents, you can't build Rome overnight, just as you can't get a baby in one month by impregnanting 9 women. You are working part time and studying, and I hope you do reward yourself once in a while. Work hard, play hard. Never underestimate the intangible benefits of rewarding yourself once in a while. It recharges you so that you can chiong further.

Remember, at the end of the day, money is a means, a tool to life. A healthy life, both mentally and physically, is also important.

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Anyway, if you feel that you need more clarifications, can always PM me. Especially on the budget and a bit on investment.

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It's admirable that you are thinking about this at young age.

You can consider to give tuitions or working part time e.g data entry in company, or doing translation work etc

My advice is to focus on your studies, when younger I wish to earn money but now I am working I wish I enjoy my younger self more. Earning money can wait (unless you have immediate need for it).

Also not only earning money, please cultivate good habit of saving money for rainy days too :)

Hi 18-year-old anon,

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It's really good to know you're thinking for your parents and wanting to support yourself! Very few people of your age will think of supporting themselves and much less their own parents.

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I had the same mindset when I was your age, here are a few things you can do:

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1/ Giving Tuition: $15+/hr

For starters and if your academics are okay, tuition is probably the best return of your time. Even if you aren't good in school, you should be able to teach lower secondary or primary school. Primary school tuition range about $15-$25/hr, and lower secondary should be $20-$30/hr.

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2/ Buy groceries for honestbee: $10+/hr

There will definitely be a fairprice near where you stay, so you're able to take on the shopper bee role for honestbee and pick up groceries for their customers. This job requires you to have a smartphone and you will always be walking around throughout the day. And, from what I know, you really have to sweat it to earn the dollars, but the job gets easier the more you do because you know where the items are.

*You will need to attend the free training courses before starting the job.

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I've never done the remaining jobs before, and the inspirations are from TheSmartLocal's article:

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3/ Completing Onliny Surveys

Just my opinio: the surveys usually get snatched up very fast, and need to complete many of them to earn anything substantial.

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4/ Petsitting

Wow, this sounds damn fun and is something I might want to do myself too! There's the app to register yourself as a pet-walker or pet-sitter. Or you can list your dog-walking service on Carousell too.

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5/ Do errands for other people

Once I've queued for bakkwa for 6 hours, no joke. If you have some free time and energy, can consider using some of the apps mentioned to run errands for other people.

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6/ Grab driver

If you have the money to go learn a driving license, can rent cars to drive Grab part-time. You will need approximately 4 hours a day to cover your rental cost + petrol.

By creating value, you earn money.

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How stupid or lame that sentence it, but it is the ultimate truth. I started working when i was 14 years old, cleaning plates, sweeping floor at a fast food resturant.

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At 18 years old, I think making some money is important, but don't forgo that learning experience academically and also in real life.

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In a short answer, I would think making money via a part time job is the most realistic. There are 101 ways of making money, but something safer option would be using your time and some effort/skills to create value, making some money. Focus on learning more academically and also something outside of academic, say learn a sports, learn a language. These are future steps that can bring you further up to earn even more money.

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Money is important, but please never forgo the sights of improving yourself, it is far more important.