I just started the investment fund a couple of months ago, and getting straight to the point I barely earn any dividends as I am focusing on growing from the ground up – the current annual income for the fund is $5.82.
The goal right now isn’t to live off dividends while I’m in college; it’s just to build up the fund so it has a strong foundation to build upon over the next decade. This means the goal is to just put as much cash into the account as possible and into high-quality investments.
The steps I’m taking as a broke college student to build this fund:
- Surviving off as little as possible so I have more cash flow towards the investment fund.
- Coming up with ideas on how to make money: Over the years, I’ve done a lot of online endeavors, and some of those still cash flow dollars to my account. This allows me to save, which means I can also invest a little bit more.
- Taking advantage of opportunities afforded by my college: For example, the free bus pass, the food bank at times, library resources, and more.
What do I have planned for the investment fund for the rest of the year while in college?
I plan to get it over $1,000 in assets. Starting from the ground up is nice—it’s nice to document from pennies to dollars—but I also like the idea of managing thousands in it. To do that, I need to put back a little bit more than what I’m normally doing.
Right now, I’m doing $50 a month. However, I have an idea on how I can hit my target of $1,000 before the end of 2024 so I can go into 2025 with a nice foundation.
I don’t plan on focusing on dividends right now as much as I am focused on returns. Even as the dividends grow, I don’t plan on living off of them or touching them. Instead, they’ll be reinvested right back into the fund.
Well, that’s the update for the investment fund. This was a very, very short post, but I wanted to touch on it because I know I don’t always speak about it even though this is part of the reason why I started this blog. But there isn’t much really to speak on.
Investing is like watching paint dry, really—it’s just you taking action, compounding your efforts, or in this case, your dollars into an account where your capital has the opportunity to grow.
Remember:
The accumulation of wealth starts small. Pennies grow into nickels, nickels grow into dimes, dimes grow into quarters, quarters grow into dollars, and the cycle repeats.
If you’re thoughtful about your actions, you allow those dividends, no matter how small they are, to also grow from pennies to nickels to dimes to quarters to dollars, and then again, allow it to rinse and repeat. Over time, you’ll be able to appreciate the fruits of your efforts.
One thing I keep in mind is to never stop the momentum of your investments if you can help it. If it meant going to the food bank and eating tuna every day for a month instead of touching my investments, there is no debate there.
The cost of food is high right now, and it’s been an ongoing battle to combat. If I am going to hit my target of $1,000 in the fund by the end of the year, then it’s a battle that I am going to have to win. It might look ugly and be god-awful at times, but what battle isn’t?
The Broke College Student 
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