Get rich quick - be a tight@r$e

To have $100,000 sitting in the bank, to do with what I please. That would be lovely. Unfortunately for me, I'm only a few years out of university, and whilst my savings (I like to call them investments, as I have very little in cash) are looking ok (a lot better than some my age who have fallen for the credit card and personal debt trap!), I am blessed with the ability to enjoy spending my money too much!

I found out recently that a guy who I went to uni with has just put a deposit on a unit in Sydney, using the $100,000 he saved while he was at uni.

That made me ask the question, how does someone save $100,000 while they are at uni? I remember uni days were living week to week on the few bucks I was earning working 15-20 hours in retail.

Then I remembered, while I was out partying at the local seedy uni pubs, skipping lectures for a few more beers at the on campus bar and spending my few dollars of savings on clothes and gadgets like iPods (actually in those days Minidiscs were the thing of the future... mp3 players were never going to take off), this guy was pulling a few extra shifts at work, studying hard and getting around in the same daggy clothes and a discman from 1996.

Is he happier than me, now that he has a relatively small deposit on an inner city overpriced shoebox? Who knows. I'd like to hope that smart investing over the coming years might put me in front in the long run, without having to hamper my lifestyle. Until then, I'm happy with my Minidisc player!