Cost is a very difficult thing to measure. It will be different for all of us. Depending on whether you have access to insurance, hormones themselves aren't that bad. Without insurance I was paying under 100 dollars (somewhere in the $80 zone) for a three month supply of estrogen (pills). With insurance, the copay was very tolerable (to the best of my memory under 20 dollars for 3 months of estrogen and spiro). A lot of this can depend on where you are buying it from and what policy you have, if any. Right now, I have no copay as long as I use mail order, so hormones are free, outside of premium payments. In any case, even though it differs depending on your circumstances, it will likely be manageable for someone working full time with no other expenses, if that's really the case for you.
The thing you really need to watch out is the payment of doctor's visits, blood work, and cosemetic work like hair removal or surgeries. Even if you have insurance, you could be denied coverage. My endocrinolgist only agrees to code my visits and labwork for the treatment of gender dysphoria. This makes it a lot harder to deal with more trans retrictive policies, and I've had to pay A LOT as a result of this. Another thing is that blood work isn't cheap. Depending on where you go, they may send your results to an outside lab which could accrue major costs. I've noticed some labs do speciality testing with hormone related work which can make it very expensive at the end of the day. Even if it get's covered, you may face problems with deductible's if it is high. For example, I had a policy with a huge deductible. I almost had to pay over a thousand for one blood work visit because of this. I got lucky and found an out to get my bill diregarded through a program, but that doesn't always happen. So make sure you are aware of your deductible, what your policy says about trans treatement, and what lab you go to. This can be avoided if you have an endo that codes things right, but if not, please be aware that they could deny covering your treatment if it's excluded in the policy. It makes everything harder. Nowadays, I have an insurance policy that covers treatment for transgender patients, but I'm still paying off bills from the past.
Laser and cosmetic surgeries will have to come out of pocket (except maybe SRS depending on your policy), so these are probably going to be your biggest costs if you decide on doing these things. It's hard to measure what it will be for you, but I suggest you look around the forum to see what other people have paid for their surgerical procedures and laser/electrolysis. I happen to pay $180 a month for a year under my laser contract, but I get guaranteed touch ups after the main treatment is over.
All in all transitioning is expensive. It's bearable for those with unlimited funds, but if you're broke like me, it will be hard. That isn't to say it isn't worth it. You have decide whether all the risks and costs are the right thing for you. I will say that not having any other bills makes things much easier. If all of my money went towards transitioning things, the proccess would have gone quicker. It really depends on each persons means and circumstances.
As for the outcome, no one will be able to gurantee anything. At 19 you are at a good age to start and may be more responsive to hormones, but there are many factors involved in the process which makes it hard to say. Everyone's situation is different. Still it's better to start younger with hormones as a rule of thumb. All in all, this is a very personal decision, and you have to consider whether the risks are worth taking. I wish you lots of luck and hope this post was somewhat helpful.
