<prompt> Human: I worked last year during high school a year straight and Ive always been really good with not spending money. Im lucky enough to get financial aid from school and I dont really spend that much money on college or anything I also have a car and my dad helps me out with my insurance. I currently go to a community college and will eventually transfer to a UC in a year or two. I pretty much have 15,000 sitting in the bank. I think that its time for me to start investing. Ive been looking into compound interest, investing in stocks, and opening a credit card under my name, but im not really sure what I should do and I am very clueless. Do you think that I should just leave my money in my savings account?  <response>: 15K is a decent amount at this point of your life. Just remember you have a lot of potential big spends in the next 5 years in your life. Last 2 years of UC can be expensive, you might want a decent new car soon as you graduate, invest in some new cloths for interview, travel, and etc. I would not do any long term investment for majority of the money because at age 19, there are so much unknown in your life, long term investment is not as fitting in my opinion. Products that help you invest for retirement has a lot of restrictions and penalties for short term withdrawal before retirement age. For your age, I would suggest to do short term CD with a bank, so your money is not just sitting there and also gives you the flexibility to withdraw when needed. 