Is college worth it ?

[Nathan Smith]

I'm a 17 year old kid just now beginning my investment journey in Real Estate, Stocks and Bonds. I'm currently undecided on whether or not to go to college. Should I get a job, join the service and use VA benefits to my advantage, or should I go to college and take finance, marketing or business classes?

I understand there are a lot of ways to go about my future but my goal is to make money fast, a lot of money might I add. I’m willing to work for every penny but I’d like to have much more passive income then active by the time I am 30.

[Justin Carmack]

Self-improvement through college isn't a bad thing, but I wouldn't go into debt to go to school.  Invest while you're going to school... it is possible to do both at the same time.  

I was able to obtain a college degree by using my military benefits, but the only real advantage was it allowed me to accelerate my real estate investing by providing a good income.  Basically it was a vehicle for getting more real estate.

Looks like you're in Ohio so you might check out the Ohio National Guard and see if they have a 100% tuition program.  The Guard typically has good tuition programs at state universities.  You could also look into the military academies such as West Point or join ROTC at a university such as Dayton, Kent State, OSU.  Those programs provide 100% tuition.  The military would teach a lot of transferrable job skills such as leading teams, building/utilizing systems, process improvement, supply/inventory, etc.  I would look more at the officer side instead of enlisted... I've been enlisted and officer and are very different.

Don't be fooled though you don't necessarily need college or the military to be successful in real estate.  Hustle, dedication, and self-development can go a really long way in this business.  The resources are readily available.  

Whatever you do stay engaged in real estate.  After 21 years of service in the Reserve my monthly retirement check will equal about what I would cashflow from six or seven single family properties. Of course I wouldn't have earned the money to buy the single family homes without the military and my degree.

If you go to college get a degree in something that pays money, not under water fire prevention or some useless degree.