All Forum Posts by: Robert Bishop

Agree on the advice their are sharks out there that are very good praying on people with various scams each month a new one pops up so avoid the housing market right now .

In the mean time invest in a index fund that follows a benchmark like a S&P 500 each month/week put more money in when you are at a age that father wisdom has visited make small moves into the housing market .

Nothing fails like success. You are more vulnerable than ever to make a dumb investment. Average returns on $200k in VTI or VOO turns into about $3M in 30 years even if you contribute $0 between now and then. At a certain point, the goal turns into not going broke over getting rich - that's my case to convince you to stop day trading. Take the win, be conservative, and don't conflate a bull market for your genius. None of us are as smart as we think we are when an investment goes right.

Lastly, I'll borrow a thought from Morgan Housel - don't seek the investments with the best returns; seek the investments that will allow me to make an average return for the longest period of time. Time is the ultimate multiplier of wealth.

You are doing well for yourself! I agree with the house hacking strategy. Live in one and rent the other units out! If at all possible find a 4plex. That would set you up and make it easier to scale to another or larger project. One thing lenders want you to have is experience. That would position you for the next project. I’m about to launch a fund and start building new builds. It’s about the relationships you form.

@Robert Bishop Congrats so far. If you know of a college that you plan to go to, a single family house, duplex, triplex, or fourplex on the campus would be a great way to start out while you live in one of the units and manage/make sure to get all of the other units/bedrooms filled with other students about your age. If you're not planning to go to college, start out by doing the same thing somewhere you'd like to live when you plan to move out. 

Wow!  Good on you man.  Congrats on your maturity at a such a young age.   I would keep learning, networking and looking for mentors/coaches.  I would highly recommend a mentor or even paying a coach to get started. A good coach can move you along a lot faster and with less headaches.  

Great start to life.  Great nest egg.  But day trading is a job at best and a nightmare at worst.  At the end of the day, there are more day traders that end up broken than not. 

Investing in real estate is a long term way to build wealth. But I don't know that I would jump into real estate just yet either. Not at 16 anyway.  Give it a few years and keep learning so when you can answer all the questions that real estate investors ask on here, you'll know you're ready.

You mentioned your family.  That might be one suggestion to get your feet wet - invest with a family member who has more experience. But don't risk your entire nest egg.  Thats your bonafides to being able to do future deals.

As mentioned above, keep your credit perfect. Keep saving money.  But be careful with day trading. I've heard more than a few horror stories about people who lost everything doing just that.  Stock picking is gambling pure and simple. 

Read The Hands-Off Investor by @Brian Burke. It is a great primer on syndications and what to look for as an investor.

You are off to a great start, but a post like this is just a bat signal for anyone and everyone to pitch you something because you have saved so much at such a young age. Keep doing what you are doing and start going to real estate investor meetups in your area every month. Talk to house hackers because that would be a great way to start, but you are also advanced with money so you may find smarter options that act more like index funds (syndications).

So it wont be a popular opinion but maybe don't invest in real estate just yet. My unfair advantage is that real estate is my job I have made a few different businesses out of it. I cold call and go direct to the seller and I have a 3 person team that pretty much just calls all day long for me. So I get exposed to really great deals pretty frequently. In one of my markets I invest in I could buy a house cash for $200,000. So I personally would take that money flip a house make about a 20%-30% ROI in 3-6 month and then do it again. So again I'm able to do that because I've built a life around real estate and it takes time a resources to consistently get deals like that. I brought all that up because if your 17 and have made $200,000 from day trading and a side Hussle your ROI annually would be well over 50%. If that is the case then stick to that. In addition your 17 so I am assuming your still at home. There is almost no circumstance that will save you more money then living at home provided its rent free. So if your investing that full $200,000 getting that kind of return and you currently have almost no monthly expenses I would advise you to double down on what your doing and let it ride for as long as you can. The only situation that I think it would make sense for you to start investing right now would be if you are not investing the full $200,000 and are looking to take some money off the board and put it into a safer investment. If that is the case wait till your 18 and purchase a small multi family to house hack. You would still save more money 9 out of 10 times living with your parents but being able to leverage a low down payment loan will allow you to get a very high ROI on relatively safe investment.

I would still focus heavy on stocks/index funds. If you love it and are good don't let up on the gas. I would start setting money aside to house hack. Gets you in the door and you can learn. Find a 2-4 unit or a SFR. SFR can be room by room strategy or do a live in flip. House hacking is generally not as capital intensive so you can continue to make money in stocks/index funds.