How do I be financially stable enough to travel the world?

Hi Alfred. Great question and one that not enough young people think about. It's great that you have found something you love (travel) and you absolutely can organize your life around it to make it happen. Travel is a great way to broaden your mind and get a new perspective on almost everything. Moreover, a lot of the lessons and techniques you learn in focusing your resources toward travel will help you do the other big things in life like buying a house, going to college or grad school, starting a family, or starting a business.

Many younger people have realized (and I think correctly so) that buying "experiences" is a better way to spend your life than buying "stuff" (which is what my generation does). Experiences, including travel, are better, I think.

I can't tell from your question what your plans are after high school or college. Here is some general advice I would offer if you are still in high school and planning to go to college.

The best way to live your dream is to think outside the box. Don't do what everyone else is doing. Before you do spend anything on a car or TV or even a latte, ask yourself is this getting me closer to my goal of traveling or putting me farther away? It's all about priorities.

Do Everything You Can to Minimize College Debt - A huge mistake too many people make is to run up a ton of debt getting through college. This can come in the form of student loans, credit card and other debt. Everyone assumes that you get through college and then you get this great job and pay it all off no problem. The reality is that loan payments are a massive financial burden. I know too many people who had to put their post-college lives on hold while they paid off college debt. If you start with little or no debt, you will have money to travel. Here are some ideas:

• Apply for scholarships - There are tons of scholarships out there from banks, credit unions, churches, special interest organizations, fraternal organizations (Elks, Moose lodge), and charities. Not all of them are big but you can pay for school by getting lots of small ones.
• Work While in College - Every college has some kind of work-study program. Sometimes these are reserved for low income students, but you can usually get a job if you look hard enough. And don't be picky. Take whatever job you can get.
• Work before College - Before I went to law school I lived at home and worked for 2 years like crazy. I had a full year's tuition in hand when I started school, which means the first year was free--no debt.
• Live at home as long as you can - Living at home is super cheap. Take advantage of it if your parents will let you. You don't have to live at home during college but this is a tough question. It's more expensive living in the dorms or in an apartment but living away from home is a big part of college. But living at home after college is great way to either clean up the debt you have FAST or to save money for travel.
• Try ROTC - ROTC stands for "Reserve Officer Military Training Corps". You participate in training during college and receive tuition. In exchange, you must enlist after college for period of years. Military service has three great benefits. First, it will pay for your college in full. Second, you can learn highly marketable skills in the service (computers, language, management). And third, you can get paid to travel the world. Depending on the branch of service you pick, you can choose to be stationed overseas (Europe, Asia and sometimes even Africa or South America). If you're stationed in Germany, you will be able to see all of Europe during you time there.
• Do public service after college - If the military option does not appeal to you, you can also get some or all of your college loans paid off by doing some public service after school. This usually includes working for groups like the Peace Corps, SponsorChange, Americorps, Teach for America and the National Health Service Corps. Read more about it here: https://studentloanhero.com/featured/volunteer-to-pay-off-student-loan.

Live Cheap - After you have resolved the college debt issue, deciding to live cheaply without a big house and a lot of stuff and new cars all the time is the best way to have money to travel. You can do this in a number ways. A place to live is generally the biggest expense people have. A big mortgage or expensive apartment means you can't spend that money on other stuff. You've probably seen on TV shows about "tiny houses." This is one way that people use as a way to live cheaply and use extra money for other stuff that's more important to them. Another even better way is rent a cheap apartment. The great thing about that is you don't have to worry about what happens to your place when you're going traveling. You just clean out the fridge, stop the mail, lock the door and leave (as long as you don't have a cat or a real plant). If you want to go more extreme, try living in an RV and take your house with you. You can also live cheap by getting roommates. Rent out spare rooms in your house or rent a room in someone else's house.

Get a Job That Lets You Travel - Many people have found ways to earn a living while they travel. This can come in many forms. Here are a few that seem to work particularly well:

• Write about travel - Travel books and blogs are huge now. Get a job writing about travel or foreign food.
• Get a job you can do remotely - With computers so many jobs can literally be done from anywhere. You can work just as well from a coffee shop around the corner from your house as you can from a coffee shop in Milan or Tokyo or Mumbai. Find a job that lets you do this. Things like writing, on-line tutoring, computer jobs (coding, networking, web master) will all let you do this.
• Start an automatic business - If you start your own business you can design your life around it. For example, if you sell a product on eBay or Amazon, you can run your business from anywhere. If you are a lawyer, consultant or accountant, you can often do the work from wherever you want. Get a virtual assistant and you may be able to check in just once a week. A great resource for ideas about how to set up your life like this is a book called "The 4 Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferriss. He is the master of hacking your life to give you time and money to do what you want. He is a genius. He has a blog and podcast too.
• Do project work - A lot of people don't get a regular job anymore. Instead, they work as contractors for a company for 6 months or a year and then move on to another contract gig when that is done. If you save your money and live cheap while you're working, you can easily spend a few weeks or months traveling between jobs. Computer work, project management and gig work are your best bets here.
• Get a job as a traveling nurse - Traveling nurses make great money and can work in different cities every few months. I don't know about international nursing jobs, since every other country's systems are different and don't typically pay as well. But if you want to travel the U.S. it's a great option.
• Get a job with a travel company - It's possible to get a job on cruise ship or with an airline that will let you travel the world for work. International routes are common and popular, but you may need some seniority to get assigned to them.
• Learn a foreign language (or several) - If you speak a foreign language or two you can get a job interpreting for companies in other countries.
• Get a job with a global company - If you want a traditional job in business but want to travel a lot, get a job with a global company. After you get started and have some seniority you can ask to be posted to Singapore or South Africa or Brazil if they have a branch there. It's a good way to really get into the culture and live it. Check out banks, international law firms, oil companies, etc.

Here is an article detailing 12 companies that pay you to travel and the job titles you should explore with them: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/companies-travel/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=12comp_travelworld&utm_campaign=feb18_us

Study abroad during college - This is the easiest and cheapest way to get some travel in soon. Most colleges have some kind of international study program. You can do a semester (or more) in another country and travel while you're there. Most likely your tuition will cover it but if not or if it's an extra summer program you can usually get a scholarship or grant.

Work a Second Job or Have a Side Hustle - You can also work really hard by getting a second job. Or start a side hustle, like selling products on the internet. You work on the second gig after work or at night. If you live cheap you can work like crazy for 6 months and take 6 months off to travel.

Budget for Travel - And lastly, I would suggest you come up with a budget to make room for travel. Figure out what your income is, figure out what your expenses are, and save for travel and vacations. Budgeting is a good idea no matter what, but if you're serious about including a lot of travel in your life it's a must.

Above all, figure out what your priorities are and plan your life around those. If you want to travel a lot, you can absolutely design a life that will let you do that. And having experiences is way better than having stuff.