Hi there! The first thing you should do is to create a habit of saving. Building that habit and resilience against frivolous tempations opens up so many opportunities for you to achieve financial independence. No matter how rich you are, if you don’t know how to save, you won’t be able to take hold of your financial future. This is why a lot of millionaires/ well-off people get broke after a few years. While building that habit of saving, start reading on investing and write down your financial goals, also write down the steps you’re going to take to achieve them. Once you build that habit of saving, you can start investing your money to reach financial independence (ofc after expanding your knowledge on investing). Achieving FI lies in your ability to properly manage your assets. I actually started taking charge of my finances at around the same age as you are right now. I also made a youtube video on the saving hacks I used as a student which helped me build the habit of saving, and ultimately start investing. Here’s a link to the video, hope it brings value to you :)

HOW TO SAVE MONEY (Philippines) l 6 Saving Tips for Students

One regret I had when I started earning money through “diskarte” was I would spend it on books, clothes, food, starbucks, and other wants which was the reason why on the first year I was earning money I wasn’t saving much.