So what I have so far is a job with a road construction company, Anderson Columbia. I am a senior in high school and I have 37.5 hours of college courses. I get paid $9 an hour and my hours are very flexible (I expect a pay raise once I graduate high school). I generally make around $200 dollars a week due to my busy schedule at the moment. I also get payed weekly. I will be working full time all summer and even if I don't get a pay raise I will bring in around $475-$500 on average. AC offered me a 401k plan and I opted to give 6% of my paycheck and they will match 4%. Other than that, that's all I have set up for my future.

I plan on going to college at UWF for construction management and I may have to take out student loans to achieve my goal. The idea of loans terrifies me because I do not like to owe anyone any money. I'm hoping for a full ride based off of merit (hoping to make a 30 on ACT). So hopefully loans aren't in my future but they very well may be.

Also I have general knowledge of the stock market and dividends and the like but I don't know as much as I would like to. So what can I do with my money to help me achieve financial independence and work towards early retirement?