I’m 19 and living in my car. How can I get to a better place financially?

What can you do to improve your situation if you are 19 years old with no money, a bad job, and living in your car?

A Reddit poster is facing this very difficult situation right now and is trying to determine how best to get back on track and build some financial security for himself. 

Fortunately, plenty of other posters had suggestions for him, and even when you are facing a difficult situation, there are solutions out there that can help. 

How to build your financial life when starting from zero

The biggest suggestion that other Redditors had for the original poster (OP) was to find a better job. And, this makes good sense because the poster said he is currently working 40 hours per week and yet still can’t afford the basics. If the work that you are currently doing is not providing you with the money to afford even the most basic home, then you obviously need to make a change.

Many of the Redditors who responded to the post suggested joining the military. While this career path certainly is not for everyone, as the posters pointed out, there are a huge number of benefits to joining the armed forces. You will be provided with housing and a steady paycheck, given a meal allowance, and can gain access to benefits that will help you for the rest of your life, including low-interest VA loans for housing and help paying for college tuition. 

Beyond getting a better job, the OP should also look into what type of benefits might be available to him. Benefits.gov has details about the services you can access when you are living on very little. Depending on where you live, this could include things like housing vouchers, food benefits, and even cash assistance and career support.

The key is being committed to changing course.   If you can work as much as possible, live on as little as possible, and save up the funds to find a better living situation — including an apartment with roommates to keep costs low — then you can start focusing on saving and eventually being able to live a comfortable middle-class life.

Get started on the right path and keep working on building wealth

The decisions that you make when you are younger are going to impact the entirety of your financial life. If this poster just accepts he’s going to work at a low-paying job forever, it’s going to be impossible for him to get ahead.

However, he is clearly motivated to improve his situation, so if he listens to the advice others have offered him and gets serious about increasing his earning power and finding better-paying work, he can get on the right path.

As he begins to acquire more money, he can eventually go beyond just finding basic housing and eventually start investing, saving an emergency fund, and perhaps even buy a home of his own. At some point, he can also turn to a financial advisor to help him set and achieve clear goals.  Once he hits this milestone, he can look back on the early days of struggle and feel grateful that he made the commitment to work hard and set himself up for his brighter future.