How do you turn 300,000 into a million+?

[angelo]

Hello, I have an inheritance of around 250,000 plus a home thats paid off worth around 130,000, that i'm stuck with what next to do with. Right now I have all my money invested in several mutual funds, thats earning pretty good interested (averaging10%) and I am living in my house. i'm thinking about renting my house out and moving over seas, though i'm not sure if i'm ready to be a landlord yet, especially long distance How would you go about turning 300,000 into a million? I was thinking about investing 30,000-100,000 into a buisness that I wouldn't have to worry much about while i'm still in school to generate income? What are the good investment games out there? Thanks for any help.

[JiriNovotny]

Check out the Fool.com investment newsletters: Fool.com: Stock Research and More [Investing Newsletters] - I believe it's the best stuff out there.

[RT Wolf]

Mutual funds or index funds? Depending on which mutual funds you mean and how tehy're doing, you might be able to get a better after-tax-and-expenses return from index funds. Other than that, check out the above link and maybe start to look into value investing or how Warren Buffett invests.

[fourthdan]

Originally Posted by angelo

How would you go about turning 300,000 into a million? I was thinking about investing 30,000-100,000 into a buisness that I wouldn't have to worry much about while i'm still in school to generate income? What are the good investment games out there? Thanks for any help.

Before you do anything, read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" If you haven't already. Educate yourself on the tonnes of material out there on financial investment options. Yahoo, CNN, MSN all have financial versions of thier portals where you can learn from scratch all the way upto expert on investment options.

'Rich Dad' made a point that gave me a major paradigm shift - you don't have to start a business to end up rich / have a million. You are doing phenomenally on your way to that goal, and as long as you stick to what you're doing, and stay out of debt - you should reach it automatically.

Read Richard Bach's The automatic millionaire. 10% on your funds is decent, but keep it consistent. With your headstart you should be able to sleep your way to being a millionaire within 7 years. Just stay educated and consistent

[Addict]

Right now I have all my money invested in several mutual funds, thats earning pretty good interested (averaging10%).

My first instinct to your question was "start a business." I just finished reading "The Millionaire Mind", so starting your own business was a significant source of wealth for most millionaires surveyed. However, if you don't want to have to worry about the money and you would like to concentrate onschool, I would leave it in the mutual funds. The 10% you are getting is nice and you shouldn't really have to worry about it. After enough time, it will automatically get you to that million.

If you still want to invest in a business, I sure could use some funding!

[Zukin]

I've read a few hundred books on business and personal finance, and I think this book provides the best introductory advice on investing:

A Random Walk Down Wall Street

If you want a shorter book, this one is good too:
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

Caveat: I'm not rich (yet), so you may want to take my advice with a grain of salt. Your best choice may be to find someone who is rich and ask them how they did it. Make sure you find someone who actually has a high net worth, not someone who just acts like it by driving nice cars and spending lots of money.

[RT Wolf]

Originally Posted by Zukin

Caveat: I'm not rich (yet), so you may want to take my advice with a grain of salt. Your best choice may be to find someone who is rich and ask them how they did it. Make sure you find someone who actually has a high net worth, not someone who just acts like it by driving nice cars and spending lots of money.

Best advice I've seen so far. Also search out sources of information on millionaires, The Millionaire Mind that someone mentioned sounds like it might be useful. Another might be The Millionaire Next Door.

[Jason S]

fool.com is the best thing out there for controlling your own investments. Talking with wealthy people will also help--again, fool.com forums will be incredibly helpful for you.

A few other things to think about:

1. Mortgage debt is the cheapest debt around. Plus, you get to deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage from your taxes. Before you make the assumption that no debt is best, run the math on a mortgage/home equity line. (Especially if you've got other debt elsewhere, like a car loan or credit cards.)

2. Investing in a business is risky. The SEC accredits investors (known informally as "angels) based on these criteria. You're not yet qualified to be an accredited investor; that's not to say that you can't invest, but you should seriously consider whether you can tolerate the associated risk.

3. What's your timeframe? Investing in the general market will grow your money more surely, but more slowly, than picking individual stocks. If you want to stick with funds, you can also look into an IRA, which will grow your money tax-deferred (which means it will grow w/o capital gains taxes being taken out each time you shift the composition of the portfolio), but will make your money untouchable until you retire. If you have kids (or plan on them), 529s will let you grow your money and use it tax free for their college education. (If you pull your money out later for non-education purposes, you pay the deferred tax... still not a bad deal.)

4. Do you WANT to start a company? Starting a growth company b/c you have the funds to do so can be very dangerous... growth companies require every bit of patience and nurturing and care as a real baby does... can you imagine how a kid would turn out if born to parents who said, "Hey, we got the means, why not have a kid?" Businesses obviously need funding, but ask any investor what they look for in a growth opportunity and they'll tell you they want a CEO/principal with passion, vision, purpose, and direction. They want someone passionate about the business!

5. Play golf. Cliche but true: if you get yourself onto a golf course, you'll interact with plenty of people who can--and will--help you. Many of them are dealing with the same issues as you. (If travel is an option, head down to AZ or FL during the winter and play down there with the snowbirds.)

Hope this helps!

[hotwired]

Ah, I'm in a similar situation and have the same thoughts. Here's what I'm doing and a couple of assumptions:

1. leaving MOST of it alone is usually the best bet. While learning, learn with a little, leave 90% with competent advisor (careful) or in mix of index funds. From what I've read, your MIX is more important than the specific securities, so check out cnn.money.com or other financial sites and find out what a good asset allocation is for you based on your retirement age. I'm sure it will like 40% big stocks, 20% mid cap, etc. etc. something like that.

2. Be fearless with the 10% or so that's left. Find a strategy and really stick to it. MY WORST performance comes when I'm bored and doubtful of my strategy. I use simple screens AND things I read along the way.

I've left the rest of mine with an advisor for 3 years. if after 3 years he's beaten my return, he gets to keep managing it, if I beat him, say by 3 % points or more, I take mine and take over the investing of that.