Post: #26

I'm in the same boat, work in fianance and sitting on $100K and there really aren't any options. I have mine sitting in a 2.9% CD. Everybody was laughing when I bought it, and now you can barely find anything over 2%.

I was looking at some real estate in seaside hights before the hurricane hit, thank god i didn't buy.

I think with a forum like this, somebody or several guys together, could really making a killing with some type of party promotion....ex: a beer festival, a booze cruise, a st pats party, something like that....

I would jump on something like that in a heartbeat....

Post: #27

(12-12-2012 07:33 PM)TheCaptainPower Wrote:  I'm in the same boat, work in fianance and sitting on $100K and there really aren't any options. I have mine sitting in a 2.9% CD. Everybody was laughing when I bought it, and now you can barely find anything over 2%.

I was looking at some real estate in seaside hights before the hurricane hit, thank god i didn't buy.

I think with a forum like this, somebody or several guys together, could really making a killing with some type of party promotion....ex: a beer festival, a booze cruise, a st pats party, something like that....

I would jump on something like that in a heartbeat....

Captain, sent you a PM

Post: #28

CHINA, import/export anything really.

And if China have turned a corner [which i think they have] Aussie mining stock, its what kept AUS out of the GFC and will be on the way up again

"Lifes about, shooting your load"

Post: #29

(12-12-2012 09:46 AM)presidentcarter Wrote:  Invest invest invest. Go for swing trading with an idea of 10-25% return per year. OR take much larger risks and go for option trading or day trading...where if you succeed you can double that in less than a year easily.

Care to elaborate? I'm not saying its impossible, but if it were as easy as you're making it sound everyone would be doing it.

It isn't super helpful to post something like this where you say "use this style of investing and shoot for 10-25%" (which is slightly to well beyond the realm of what any reasonable person could expect investing), offer no details, and then say "or you can do this other style of investing and make double that!" again without details.

Most people I know who tried day trading got eaten alive by transaction fees, and ignoring that, do about the same as buy and hold types.

Post: #30

Captain and Rocket I'm in the same boat also..it's not as bad as here in OZ as I'm currently getting 5% in a term deposit which isn't too bad ..but yeh id like to do something with it..ie invest, start a business etc etc... I have been reading VP posts about China and it does interest me... I'm quitting work in March and travelling and seeing what opportunities I may find...

Post: #31

JCM75, I received your PM and tried to respond but you have PMs disabled. Can you change this so we can speak? Thanks!

Post: #32

You need to find a niche & immerse yourself to the point where you can exploit a profit. This can be anything...day trading, import/export, web marketing, etc.

Look around at those producing meaningful consistent returns. These guys know their product/service/market inside out. If you want greater than normal returns (>3%), this is what you must do.

If there was a no-brainier business that would produce meaningful gains on 100k, everyone would be doing it.

Post: #33

The best advice in this thread was from Vacancier Permanent. With 100K in USA you are just an average middle class guy. With that money in other parts of the world we'll be a respected wealthy man. So first, just get out of USA.

Then, with 100K you can make it great with some thriving business in an emergent country. Just make sure you get a good local network of very successful people. In Southeast Asia, almost all countries are good options and nowadays it is there where the world's wealth is massively tranferring to.

Post: #34

Find a product that you personally are interested in and that you think can maintain your interest. Or better yet, find a problem that has no solution yet, then create a solution for it in the form of a product.

Either import the product, or manufacture it, or both - get it made for you over seas.

Then work on marketing.

Nobody is going to tell you what that magic product is. Why would they? That's the key to entrepreneurial activity, and you can't buy it in an ebook. You have to identify the opportunity. No one will EVER do that for you.

But there is a quick piece of advice that will help you to spot opportunities. Whatever product you see, assume that you have the knowledge and ability to also manufacture and create it, or know that you could at least learn how. Like a new brand of toothpaste? Fancy a new smokeless tobaco pipe design? Make it your habit to view all products with an eye to personally manufacturing and marketing them. This will habituate to see opportunities, rather than just see products.

I read a book titled "The Coming Economic Crash of 1990", or something similar. It detailed how in economic hard times certain industries still fared well. One was education, one was food, and another was health care. No matter how broke you are, you still have to eat and you have to buy essential medicines. From that tip you might find a problem in a niche that you can develop into a specialty product to market.

And if you still can't come up with anything, I sometimes have affiliate marketing opportunities.

Post: #35

(12-12-2012 09:52 PM)Seadog Wrote:  

(12-12-2012 09:46 AM)presidentcarter Wrote:  Invest invest invest. Go for swing trading with an idea of 10-25% return per year. OR take much larger risks and go for option trading or day trading...where if you succeed you can double that in less than a year easily.

Care to elaborate? I'm not saying its impossible, but if it were as easy as you're making it sound everyone would be doing it.

It isn't super helpful to post something like this where you say "use this style of investing and shoot for 10-25%" (which is slightly to well beyond the realm of what any reasonable person could expect investing), offer no details, and then say "or you can do this other style of investing and make double that!" again without details.

Most people I know who tried day trading got eaten alive by transaction fees, and ignoring that, do about the same as buy and hold types.

The s&p is up around 15% ytd. The saying is "you can't time the market"...but I'd reword that as "you can't time the market perfectly". Generating above-average returns on the market requires timing.

You can trade single stocks (that exhibit ample volatility and cycles to allow you to make a good return if you can at least somewhat time it right) or you can trade indices or sectors through ETFs. Buying out of favor sectors and holding for 3-9 months can generate 5-20% returns. Recognize that everything goes through cycles.

On day trading...it can eat you alive for sure. The first year I did it, I lost a fair amount. Mostly due to not giving it proper attention and poor money management. After some lessons learned, I've done quite well. Start small, possibly even using a paper trade mock account on marketwatch or other. I mainly skim and fade gap ups using the SPY etf. It's a tricky time to do that right now as the market is trading largely on political headlines so you have pay attention to all of that and make a gamble from time to time.

For example, I had a large PUT position last week on FOMC day. Bernanke announced mostly as-expected course for the Fed, and the market went rocketing up. I was getting killed, debating on if I should cut and run, but I couldn't figure out why the market reacted so well to this as-expected news so I held on. Later that day, when Bernanke has his press conference, he provided less-scripted commentary and this combined with the market realizing that nothing groundbreaking was actually being announce, caused the market to trade back down pretty severely, and it actually went negative on the day which enabled me to sell out with a nice profit.

Trading requires learning lessons from losing money, adequate capital, systems, understanding of the ebb and flow of the market you're trading, technical support/resistance areas, news announcements, expectation vs actual, etc etc...but also requires you to detach yourself from what money really is and have the balls to stomach the pain when you are forced to cut losses and sell at a loss, let winners run despite wanting to realize you gains, and understanding you can experience a large loss in the time it takes you to refresh the page if something hits the wire.

The biggest game changer for me was treating it like a game with a score and detaching myself from the meaning of money. Ask any day trader and they will tell you that it is most all PSYCHOLOGICAL, your mind battling itself with fear and greed. This is 100% true.

And yes, commissions can be killer, especially if you're stuck using a brokerage that's not suited to high volume trades.

Post: #36

(12-16-2012 06:44 PM)presidentcarter Wrote:  

(12-12-2012 09:52 PM)Seadog Wrote:  [quote='presidentcarter' pid='325685' dateline='1355323581']
Invest invest invest. Go for swing trading with an idea of 10-25% return per year. OR take much larger risks and go for option trading or day trading...where if you succeed you can double that in less than a year easily.

Care to elaborate? I'm not saying its impossible, but if it were as easy as you're making it sound everyone would be doing it.

It isn't super helpful to post something like this where you say "use this style of investing and shoot for 10-25%" (which is slightly to well beyond the realm of what any reasonable person could expect investing), offer no details, and then say "or you can do this other style of investing and make double that!" again without details.

Most people I know who tried day trading got eaten alive by transaction fees, and ignoring that, do about the same as buy and hold types.

Double post

Post: #37

Drugs.

I'm serious. Arizona just legalized marijuana production. My Uncle who has been growing weed illegally and making a decent side living from it for the last 30 years is one of the first legit weed producers in arizona. He supplies the government with weed.

From what he tells me, it's like the wild west. Won't be like that for too long, so buy some books, get yourself a basement and a bunch of halogen lamps and get to it.

Post: #38

Brothel

Post: #39

Weed brothel!

Post: #40

Shoes, bags and cosmetics for girls....

Who cares about making a profit, look at the bagging potential, hunting done easy, they come to u!

Like lamb to the slaughter........[they *may* want to come out back to discuss/barter etc]

"Lifes about, shooting your load"

Post: #41

As others have noted, if you're serious about starting a business and putting that much money in, you'll have to quit your job. You said you work in finance but what exactly? Are you analyst? If you're a trader, a really good one, and you have that ability to raise funds as you said then starting a hedge fund would be in the cards. Again, that all depends on your background.

(12-12-2012 06:22 PM)wiscanada Wrote:  Damn that college education! College does stress research over action though. Imagine if the whole degree was "start a fake million dollar portfolio, report back on your earnings in 4 years, you get a grade based on your returns" Students would be experts in investing, accounting, tax fraud, and auditing.

In theory yes but not in practice. There are people who really excel in paper trading but as soon as they put real money up they lose their shirts. It's all to do with psychology. It's a completely different mindset trading a $1 million dollar paper account and trading $1 million dollars of your actual net worth.

(12-12-2012 07:39 PM)RASER Wrote:  CHINA, import/export anything really.

And if China have turned a corner [which i think they have] Aussie mining stock, its what kept AUS out of the GFC and will be on the way up again

"Lifes about, shooting your load"

Import/Export is a really good business venture. Something I definitely want to get into. It's certainly not a part time venture though that's for sure. All the legends of the field like Marc Rich, Richard Elman, etc., basically lived and breathed the business.

Post: #42

Alright Rocket 13, How about being a Silent Investor in a Gas Station or become Partner with someone who owns few Fast Food Franchises like MCD, BK or Dairy queen etc.

If you have a Primary Job then you can not be at the site to run that business, you just have to find people/firends who are in the business and need some cash to buy a new or add another Gas Station.

Gas Stations in Midwest USA are anywhere in between 200,000 - 400,000 depending upon the location , sales etc. and bring in 10,000- 15,000 in profit per month, Yes if run right which is a lot of work , you just to find that person who is doing that and become partners with him., may be help him a bit running the business, take care of the legal Issues, paper work and or get your hands Dirty and work a 12 hr shift at the station on weekends

Post: #43

I would personally invest in companies with that money and just sit on their board, but right now my money is in stocks. But I would not recommend either for someone else, learning the stock market is a 4 yr process. Read and paper trade for at least 2 years to form a strategy and about 4 years overall to not be 99% of the people who lose $ in the markets. But I know what youre thinking, your different and special, you can do this in months from now lol Even after 7 years my trading strategies are changing as I am learning new things.

investing in a business directly (not stocks) is even harder, and youll have to sit on the board and approve/shut down important business decisions. It takes a lot of knowledge of the business, the industry, how businesses work, and capital. I wouldnt recommend that for anyone who hasnt started at least 2 businesses.

Lothario has it right, use the $100k as a downpayment on a franchise. McDonalds is the best and most expensive out there, $100k might not be enough.... but these things are GOLD MINES. We as a country are fat bc nobody can compare with the dollar menu at McDonalds or Wendy's. Last time i checked a MickeyD's cost ~$1Mill to build from scratch and will make $2Mill in its first year of operation. You can leverage 3-4 times its EBITDA to buy another one. And the best part, you can hire a property management company to run this thing for you for a fraction of the profits.

Post: #44

This looks promising:

Post: #45

if the op is open to being a landlord this money could prove to be the path to real wealth.

if you want to do this in the US you would need to look to outside of NYC but a move to many parts of the country you could buy a 6 unit or so apartment complex wit 70-80k down. then i would live in one of the units(housing a major expense taken care of) you could with the 5 other renters pay off the mortgage in 15 yrs or less. then you would be sitting on bank as then your housing would be paid for and the other rental income would go to pay for your other living expenses.

if you did this abroad find a country with agreeable banking laws so you could get a mortgage or build the apartment complex for under 100k(you could also probably buy a small hotel or hostel for that in many parts of the world). then as an america market yourself to other foreigners online and they will pay more to rent(furnished places) or use your hotel/hostel since it is effectively marketed also reasonably priced to them. trust me clean affordable accomadation that is marketed to foreigners will always be in high demand.

one advantage of being a landlord at least in US is that the tax rate is 15% and if you choose to set up real estate abroad i believe the first 80k of money you make overseas is not taxed at all.

speculation is also good and thats what i do but i have considered these options above i just dont know where i want to live, i have terrible wanderlust so i can live in one place... yet. i just play the spec market. its risky but if your young you should be more risk adverse. heres my favorite site for speculative investing http://www.zealllc.com/2011/silvnc.htm
it has free weekly essays and for subscribers stock picks

edit just thought of another option buying atms which would not cost too much 5-8k renting the space? in bar, mall, strip mall . . . for every transaction you clear a buck or so. imagine if 20 people go there a day that would yield 600 bucks or so. a month i imagine all you would need to do is refil the atms once a week or so with couple thousand depending on the frequency of use.

Post: #46

I head mechanico is looking for investors in his Poosy Bar.

Post: #47

either invest money into someone's business or just use it to buy yourself some freedom while you build equity sweat business

being a finances pro and and entrepreneur are different pairs of sleeves

Post: #48

I don't really think it's the idea that is important. It's the execution of that idea.

Post: #49

(12-11-2012 07:05 PM)Rocket13 Wrote:  Say I have roughly 100k in cash, could be double or triple that if I got some friends involved, but I would really appreciate any input as to what kind of business can be started with that amount of capital. Keep in mind it would not be something I could dedicate ALL of my time to, as I have a dayjob. Online businesses are of special interest as I could work on them at my dayjob as well. Thanks in advance for any genuine advice guys!

A little about my background if it helps:
- In my mid 20s with a degree in finance
- Live in the New York area
- Passionate about music, travel, learning languages[/font][/font][/font]

Man, I was in this exact same position in 2007 (i.e., before the motherf*cking market collapsed) so I can tell you from experience what I learned (hindsight is 20/20, right).

1. Educate yourself
a. PAY for advice from non-commissioned professionals
b. READ books like "rich dad, poor dad"

2. Understand that your monthly cash flow is the only thing that is important. That is, only income producing assets are important. Not the asset itself.

3. Keep your day job while you put together your plan.

4. Do not trust anyone. No one. Nobody. Get legal representation for anything you do with anyone.

5. Determine your level of risk when evaluating your options. How much money are you willing to lose in order to make money? Also, what is your risk adjusted ROI? That is, if you can make 8% on average in the stock market, how much additional risk do you take to make more?

6. Lastly, understand that once you take the red pill, and leave the rat race that you are in right now, there is no going back - so don't f*ck it up.

Best wishes

Post: #50

(12-11-2012 07:45 PM)_GQ_ Wrote:  4th from the right is unreal.

the 4th one in on the right hand side who's the most turned was born a DUDE! :O (Amanda Sampaio)