I'm rather frugal, and I've been kinda lucky. For the careers I want, I only need an associates, so I'm going to attend the cheapest but still respected college nearby, live off campus, and hopefully work as much as possible during that time. My father was wise when I was young and put enough away in a TAP account to pay for half of my tuition.
In 2014 I was fortunate enough to find a 10/hr job over the summer break in high school. Some times I'd work 50 hours a week. I've spent rather little of that money I made. My parents were also smart and timed their car purchases such that I would get the hand-me-down from my mom.
So I have some capital and going forward I am going to a principal of $1,000 into an S&P 500 mutual fund, and hopefully invest an additional $100 - $200 monthly depending on how much my job will pay. This has the potential to yeild $500 or so of interest in 2 years based on the average S&P 500 CAGR in the last 22 years of 10.05% even through the 2008 recession. Not bad.
So, when I graduate, and hopefully get a career within 6 months to a year, I will hopefully have enough to purchase a cheap mobile home which is $24,000 to as low as $8,500 in my area; if not in cash, then with a very small mortgage. Then, I'll increase my monthly investment to hopefully $1,000 a month depending on my living expenses.
If we use the last 22 years CAGR of the S&P 500 of 10.05% return, then by investing $12,000 annually, I can theoretically be a round up millionaire in 22 years. However, in 15 years, I could potentially have a net worth of $420,000. With that, I could buy my dream home in cash, and probably have some left over.
It's the idea of my money earning money if I can live frugally enough, and hopefully, I can have a $300,000 to $500,000 home on just $58,000 starting salary. Of course, over 22 years I'll have raises, and I need to set aside at least $10k in savings for emergencies. I have a rough plan, but a plan, and I'm taking steps now to have my dream then.
If you have ~40 minutes, I can find some videos to help you better understand what I'm talking about, and if you too want to get started in investing. Although, I know grad school is not cheap, so I wish you all the best, and to have a successful and rewarding career.