HELP!!!!! I dont understand this mess.?

Since you are in college and don't have much income, the best way to build a financial future is to read finance magazines such as Money, Kiplinger's and the Wall Street Journal to learn what others have done, market trends and company press releases. Taking a few college courses, whether for credit or not would also help.

Legally you can open IRAs, mutual funds and stocks at your age, but financially you cannot yet afford it. Buying stocks from a broker on-line is the cheapest way but again, you need capital to begin and a lot of research.

You can get a part time job and invest in a Vanguard or Fidelity index fund to if you can't wait since they have low fees and no load funds...but why not wait and use your employer's match when you get your first real job with a 401K? At your age, carefully invested, a fully maximized 401k will net millions at retirement.

After you have money left over from the 401k and general living expenses, you can invest in an Roth IRA from a brokerage....CD IRAs typically don't pay as much but watch for rate sales if buying from a bank branch. You can then buy stocks if fully funded in mutual funds and the Roth.

Why? Because the government shields these assets from taxation until you withdraw the funds.

You won't really need life insurance unless you have dependents, but health insurance is a must.

Credit card companies always ofter students regular, not secured cars, right on campus. Secured cards offer very low credit limits and won't be necessary in your situation.

It seems to me the best advice for you is focusing on earning a lot of money first before investing. Money isn't everything but it does solve a lot of problems. You can invest little by little in the stock market as that's what I do and we've done well. Go to the first site below and sign up for a free account. Then buy some stock maybe about 20 or 45 dollars worth and play around with it.

What you can do is watch a particular stock, for example I bought starbucks and their code to buy it is sbux

When it went down on price that's when you buy. I saw it go down and then I bought and it went right up again and I made a quick $50.00 in 2 days.

Now you don't get rich doing it like that but what you do is use it like a glorified savings account. Force yourself to put $10 in and then $15 and little by little you'll have thousands of dollars in there.

Risk wise stocks have always gone up over long term. We know that stocks go up and down day to day but if you look at a stock year to year you can find some that have always risen upward.

It's also a lot of fun too as you can do it all on the Internet.