Millionaire By Age 18

This is a personal goal I've had, truly, since I began learning about investing back when I was 14 years old. Since then, I've invested in the stock market, ran my own business, and learned/read a LOT! Truly, I don't think this goal is out of my reach, but we'll see where I land in a little over a year (when I turn 18).

In all honesty, the biggest problem I think I'll have with this is simply not being 18 while I'm trying to do it. And even then, it's just because I can't sign contracts, start my own business, etc.

I know this may sound unrealistic, but they always say to think big, right? I know I can do it; and if I can become a millionaire, in my teens, I'm sure that any of you, who really want to become wealthy, can as well. Just gotta pull the trigger, go out and do something! It's the fastest way to learn

The Plan
In case you were wondering:

1. Stock Market
I have 2 years of experience in the stock market already, and am pretty comfortable with deciding which direction a stock will go, soon. With this knowledge, I could gain pleasant returns (10%+ per month). But, instead, I think I will take this and deal with options, assuming I can get an options account *crosses fingers* I only wish to do this because if I can do it correctly, a 5% shift in a stock can mean an option goes up 100% or more. We'll see how that goes.

2. Business
I have had an online business (technically) for a few months now, working as an affiliate, selling different things. It's been pretty easy money, but I'm looking to see if I can get a company to manage my PPC campaigns, so I don't have to myself. And, if I can, I may have someone redo my site for more SEO, and some other things to increase the amount of money I get out of it. If all goes well, I can get many thousands more out of this thing, with no more work on my part

3. Real Estate?
If I can get into it, perhaps with a family member, I would really enjoy investing in real estate. I'm sure that it would help me get to the $1mm mark much faster as well, but I don't know if I'll be able to do much with it before I turn 18. As such, I don't exactly have anything set up that I can say I would specifically do with it at the moment.

Because I don't have very much money at the moment (about $3,000 sitting in the bank), I'll likely have to start out with either the stock market, or my business, as they both would require a decent amount of my capital to operate, but once I get some more, I'm sure I could do both at the same time, making money more efficiently. And, eventually, hit the $1mm. But before I can plot a specific time line of events, I need to see what returns I'll actually be getting... so I'll try to update this post soon when I know more exact numbers, and can estimate where I'll be during the months to come.

What do you think, can it be done?

Yes.

I'll start a new thread on this topic.

Let's see where it goes.

-Russ H.

Almost a year onwards now.

How have you gone?

I know this thread is from last year. Just wanted to comment. Building a business and investing in the stockmarket/investing in RE is two very different things when it comes to the dynamic and financial fitness.

It also requires a lot more energy to start a company than what is needed to trade the stock market or invest in RE. Starting a company is like chaos all right through. Do you like having chaos, start a business. Like more structure? Do the opposite (RE and stock market).

I just want you to focus on one area. What are you naturally good at? Are you great at timing or innovating? I can tell you, being good at both are a near impossibility. In order to innovate you need to be a dreamer, to be a great at timing you need to be a pure realist (opposite of dreamer).

I am very interested in reading about your progress. What have you done to materialise what you wanted to do?

Well, well, I would have never expected to see this thread pop back up! I'm glad I decided to roam aimlessly through the forums today...

As far as my progress is concerned, it is significantly more in plan format than anything else. And, that plan has changed a LOT from the one I posted here almost a year ago.

The stock market, alone, is now my plan. Well, technically options, but you get the idea. I have been investing in them with the money I had then, and lost just about all of it. But, because of this, I think I've learned almost everything that I shouldn't do... and am quite comfortable investing. I just need some more seed money so that the returns actually start to equal something.

As far as the business aspect has gone; my website was put on Google's blacklist, and I was banned from adwords, as some may recall from my other posts. So, at least my website business is pretty much done. Doesn't mean I won't have others, though. Perhaps a hedge fund

And, I myself never got into real estate. After continuing to look at it, I just can't see myself using it as a big part of my investment plans. Eventually, I could see myself using apartment complexes and other large items, but SFH's just don't fit me well... too many individual deals with many potential complications. I think I'll just stick with stocks and options

So, all in all, I have either accomplished nothing in the past year, or learned everything that I will need to know to finally make this all come true. I'd say that the knowledge is more important, and I value everything I've learned. I'm not sure that I'll be a millionaire by the day I turn 18, but I certainly will be wealthy to the extent that makes me happy shortly thereafter; if not by then. Because one of the things I learned is that a million dollars really is WAY more than I'd be able to spend or use, realistically in a year... or even 2 or 3, probably.