Im only 18 do you think that i can get a personal loan?

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!! (Yes, I am screaming this right now! I know from experience.) I repeat: DO NOT GET A CREDIT CARD! That's the stupidest thing that you can do!

You're 18, I am 35. I wish that I could go back in time to when I was 18 and talk to myself and give myself advice.

So listen up, what I'm about to tell you is worth gold. This advice is worth just a little over $40,000.

If you don't have money for it, then don't get it.

Save up money for clothes, going out with friends, car, and college education.

You want a car, save up $5K to $7K and buy a 7 year old honda civic. It should last you for at least 5 years. You're 5K over 5 years would be $1000 a year. That would cost you $83/month. A lot better than a $250 / month car payment.

You want to go to college, get your parents to pay for it or pay as you go through. Go to a state school, they're cheaper. When you get out, 5 years later, no one will care what school you went to when you're looking for a job. They want to know what you can do.

Don't even try those rebate cards. The ones that give you 5% back or airline tickets or whatever. It's a serious hassle not worth the time. I tried that for about 4 years and it seemed that I spent a lot of time making sure that I didn't get an incorrect charge on my account, or making sure that I wasn't late, or fighting with the credit card company to give me the points or whatever. Its a hassle! Not worth it!

Shortly after I got out of college, I had $23K in student loan dept, $8K in car dept and about $14K in credit card dept. That dept was literally sucking the life out of me. It brought me down so much. I was having to work so much to pay that debt off. I felt like a slave and a slave I was. The Bible says that the borrower is slave to the lender. Welp that's what I was, a frikin slave. It took me 4 hard years to pay off that debt!

If I had only paid for things when I had the money, then instead of being at -$40,000 I would've been at $0. Instead of paying $750+ / month to pay on debt, I could've invested that money. 4 years later instead of just being out of debt, I would've had $30,000 saved up some where.

Yes, they say that you need to have credit to build credit. That's a myth. Go to http://www.daveramsey.com to see what he says about this crap.

Remember I said that this advice is worth a little over $40,000. Well that's the amount of unsecured debt that I had when I was in my late 20s. That's why this advice is worth over $40,000.

Almost done with the lecture. I HIGHLY recommend that you do either one of these: participate in a small group Bible study doing Dave Ramsey's course or a Crown course. These courses cost money $50 to $100. Not sure exactly how much. But very very very very worth it! (See links below) I have not done Dave's but I listen to him on the radio and on line. He's a solid guy. My wife and I did Crown. That was the financial turning point for us. 8 years after doing Crown we have absolutely no debt whatsoever! No credit card or car debt. No house debt. Plus we have over a chunk saved up for retirement. She's a stay at home mom, we save about $10,000 / year, we give away about $10,000 / year and I only make $74,000 / year. With God's help and your head on straight, it can be done!

One more thing, Freedom is an awesome feeling. Stay free, don't get into debt. I'm serious there sweetie, don't even dabble or toy with a credit card. You play with snakes, you'll get bitten. You play with fire, you'll get burned. You play with credit......