[quote author="25w100k+" date=1213889265][quote author="PANDA" date=1213866349][quote author="25w100k+" date=1213864610]I don't have any great advice for you, but props for getting so much cash. You are in your 30s right? Howd you get your hands on half a mil to invest in properties?
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25, I started my own eretailing business when i was around your age, and the business became a cash cow for me, and I was also very lucky with the .COM stock options at the peak of the WEB 1.0 days. I love what I do and i am very competitive within my own niche market. I just came back from the Internet Retailer conference 2 weeks ago and this is one of the few industries that is growing 22% every year, which is unbelieveable especially during recessionary times like this. I've stuck with the TECH Industry for 10 years now since the .COM bust in 2000. If you are looking for a career change, this is a very good industry to be in right now.
Panda</blockquote>
Cool. My last job was lead software engineer for an ecommerce platform that had about 10,000 customers. A LOT of customers failed, but we also had a fair amount of hard working individuals who would make a <I>lot</I> of money. Its great to see the internet and technology allow business owners to expand and do great things!</blockquote>
25,
My ecommerce platform 100% custom built with Netsuite as my accounting backend software. My recommendation to both you and 24 is to try to start you own business when you are single. It's not that you can't be a successful entrepeneur in your 30s or 40s, but the risks are much higher when you have family. Some of my close friends who graduated from Kellogg, Harvard, and U of Chicago MBAs want to start their own businesses but don't want to take the risk as they have kids and family. Interestingly, the smarter they are, the less creative and entrepeneurial juice they have in their blood.
Two people I respect the most and consider my role models are Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Warren Buffet started his business at age 26 in 1956 and became a millionaire at in 1962 at age 32. His networth grew the most between 1980 and 2000. In July 1980, News Week cover page had a headline stating that the U.S. Equity Market is DEAD. The herd was wiped out from the 10 year recession and the stock market, but Warren had BIG cash waiting on the sides lines, saw an opportunity to buy U.S. Stocks when prices were dirt cheap. I love his advice to find a vocation that you absolutely love. He said that he would do what he is doing now even if he wasn't getting paid. If you love what you do and if you have a natural gift and work very hard at it, you can potentially be in the top 10% with in your industry. Warren never crippled his children by giving them a big inheritance, and he laments the the fact that he wishes his wife would be still alive to do charity work with him.
I think that Bill Gates has an incredible wife, Belinda Gates, who is a philanthropist at heart. Never cared that her husband is the richest man in the world, but desiring to give back to make a positive difference in this world. Gates Foundation is the largest charity foundation today.
Money is a great servant, but the worst master to have. Don't LOVE money, Pursue your PASSIONS.
24 and 25, THINK BIG!
