Teen Buys House With 4-H Winnings

For most of us, saving is a constant struggle, but not for Lindsey Binegar. The 19-year-old from Greenfield, Ohio has been socking away her 4-H winnings ever since she won her first $100 showing a hog when she was just four years old, reports The Columbus Dispatch.

"I didn't get the money; it went to the bank," said Binegar, now a freshman at Ohio University's Chillicothe branch.

Thanks to her frugal ways, by the time Binegar had graduated from high school last June, she had saved a whopping $40,000 — enough to buy a house when she was just 18 years old. Now at 19, she's collecting a steady income from renting the four-bedroom house to family members.

"I've never heard of a teenager buying a house," Nikki Gasbarro, spokeswoman for the Ohio Association of Realtors told the Dispatch. "Smart girl."

As it turns out, Binegar is a chop off the old block. Her father also bought a house when he finished high school.

"I paid $7,000 and there was 3 feet of snow in the living room," Gary Binegar, 44, told the Dispatch.

He fixed it up, rented it, then sold it and bought the farm where he, his wife, Mandy, and Lindsay now live. That's right. Even though she's a homeowner, Binegar is living at home with her parents. She's saving the $450-a-month rent payments from the house so she and her 22-year-old fiancé, Heath McNeal, can buy a small house when they get married in 2011.

Eventually, the couple wants to buy land and build their dream home on top of a hill. A financial dream that's well within sight.

"We tried to lead her in the right direction and make her know the value of a dollar," her father told the Dispatch.

Now that's some sound financial advice we could all use.

Photo by alancleaver_2000 via Flickr.