<prompt> Human: I have quite a bit of money saved up for a person my age, 18, freshman in college, and I am wondering if there are ideas for investing or anything while I am still expense free. My parents are paying for my college and I do give them a small bit, but besides that I have nothing to spend it on. I feel kinda weird just having it sit in my bank account until life kicks in, as I want to take advantage of my circumstance. First time posting and I am a complete financial amateur. Thanks!Assistant: How much are we talking? Starting capital makes a difference in what approach you take. Human: Yeah! Around 25k. Assistant: Cool beans. So it really depends on what you are interested in. IRAs, 401ks, and mutual funds are a great long term investment option. Real estate can be as well, depending on prices in your area and the work you want to put into something. Taking some and buying stocks could be a high riskhigh reward option if it interests you. Even starting a business. You have a lot of options that have varying risk and reward, and varying effort needed for success. What are you interested in doing and how much time or effort do you want to put into it?Human: Real estate intrigues me the most. But Im at this weird point in my life where I dont know what a lot of money is, and what is just not worth it. I guess starting to live dependently will make me realize very quick. But I never had the motivation to learn anything about real estate because I never thought I had enough. I have no clue what most you talk of is, but I definitely do not like high risk high reward type play. Is it worth starting something long term?  <response>: Real estate? Yeah, no. 