Ask HN: How do I turn 100K into 1 million?

Why do you want a million euro? Are you going to spend one million euro on something?<p>I bet the answer is that you aren't going to spend $1M on anything. You intend to put the $1M in some very safe investment and live off the interest, correct?<p>So you don't really need $1M, what you need is $100K per year passive income. It's the same thing.<p>If you look at your problem that way, things seem more doable. Instead of spending 10 years making $1M, you can spend the same 10 years growing your passive income from $1K to $10K to $100K.<p>As somebody who has made a lot of money in real estate and in stocks ... and who has also lost much of it, I believe a business is a better investment for you than stocks or real estate. A business is a machine that produces money. Making your money in stocks or real estate is like hunting. Every time you go hunting, you may be lucky, but you may be unlucky. It's not conducive to a stress free state of mind.<p>Since your current business can't ever be passive, you'll need to start a new one that can be. Your sailboat electronics passion seems like a good one. Electronic products can be passive income and sailboat owners have money.<p>Good luck.

Invest in adderall and see where that takes you. Joking.<p>In all seriousness, drop the desire to turn 100k into 1 mil in x amount of time. That will lead you into wreckless, speculative behavior. Trading is tempting for you because it offers instant feedback. With one or two successful trades, people tend to extrapolate their returns into future returns, believing that it's possible to repeat these trades over and over again. Odds are stacked against them. Don't fall victim to this thought pattern.<p>Smart investors invest where their odds are highest of winning. From what you've written, it sounds like that investment would be in yourself. What led you to this "blockbuster" year? Can you grow and expand upon the factors that led to such a successful year? I'm sure there's some opportunity. Do it.

&#62;I'm thinking that trading may be my best bet<p>if you had asked "how do I turn 1 million into 100K?" I think I'd agree with that statement.

Timescales: How long do you have to turn your 100k into 1mm?<p>(I'm assuming here we're not considering inflation. )<p>If you need it in 10 years, you're going to need an annualized 25% or so rate of return. That's unlikely.<p>If you need it in 25 years, you can get by with 10%. That's definitely possible, if you follow good principles.<p>On the other hand, if you can put in an extra 50k a year, You should have close to $1mm in 10 years. (550-600k in investment, 400k in growth).<p>Given that you hate people and are super smart, and have a self described penchant for gambling, I would suggest you not try to grow your business, and also that you stay away from the stock market as long as you think timing it is a great plan.<p>All that adds up to (in my mind) buying some real estate. You live in a beautiful vacation spot, and could find property managers so that you don't have to deal with tenants.<p>Your 100k could easily buy a 300k small property, with some left over for unforeseen problems. Try it! It won't fluctuate in value like your previous stock market purchases, that's for sure.

Ahoy! Sailing is great, I've got a personal goal to do the SHTP in 2014.<p>You have a terrible investment track record and a good programming track record. Go with your strength. Since you have a short attention span, you should focus on short projects that you can ship quickly.<p>Bring maritime weather / charts to the iphone, I'd buy that :-)

"Trading" is not the answer. "Investing" is.<p>Read The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis, both by Benjamin Graham; and F Wall Street by Joe Ponzio (His website fwallstreet.com also has a number of gems. Particularly, his post about how to value a business <a href="http://www.fwallstreet.com/article/25-calculating-the-value-of-a-business-part-i" rel="nofollow">http://www.fwallstreet.com/article/25-calculating-the-value-...</a> )<p>If you read those materials, you will learn how to invest and using the approaches set out in those books, I believe you can turn $100k to $1m.

"I rent but paid cash for a recent BMW last year" One tip I can offer is not to do things like that. A house or condo is generally an investment that increases in value, so you should buy that for yourself instead of buying it for your landlord. And paying a lot for a car that will be virtually worthless in 10 years won't help you achieve your goal.

"How do I turn that into 1 million?"<p>Iterate this last year ten times. ^_^<p>On a more serious suggestion, try to stick to something a bit longer, make a product, iterate it some times and finally take profit from it. BTW, What happened to your poker server?

I'd agree with your friend.<p>You obviously have some skills, or you wouldn't have been able to earn the 100K. So, given the recent windfall, there ought to be a way to use the 100K to magnify your income.<p>What's the bottleneck in your regular business? What is it that is keeping you from having a blockbuster year each year? Or, even better, having a double-the-blockbuster year?<p>Once you've identified the constraint, try to figure out how to use some (or all) of the 100K to lift it.<p>Then: rinse, lather, repeat.

My advice to you is to have a long timeline. If you try to turn it into a million in 1 year you're going to take too many risks and fail.<p>Diversify your investments. Putting $100K in 1 stock is how you lose money. Try picking 10-15 companies in different industries: technology, healthcare, finance, commodities, etc. Do your research and pick companies that have a lot of upside potential.<p>For example, if you wanted to make a bet that the mobile space is going to be the future of computing, which seems pretty likely, start buying up suppliers of tablet computers. ARM holdings, Qlogic, etc, find all of the chip makers that make chips in an iPad and research each one of them.<p>Finally, I would recommend you protect your earnings. My portfolio is up 35% in the past year, and I keep trailing stop limit sell orders on all of my securities to protect my winnings. The global economy is uncertain enough right now, and who knows if we're going to see a repeat of fall 2008 again (my bet is we are). I want to lock in my earnings. Consider pair trading, or hedging yourself in other ways.<p>Definitely think long-term, protect your earnings with stop limit orders or hedging and pair trading. This is the only way to come out ahead of the market.

It sounds like you made 100k from contracting in six months. If that is the case, the fastest way to a million is to continue contracting.

From what you have written, it seems like you are a hard core programmer.If you like programming then shifting to some other profession to earn more money , might not help much as you will always have the craving to sit on your computer and create code. Trading is good but risky, i would suggest not to risk all your hard earned money there though you might allocate a smaller portion for this. Since you mentioned you take only those projects that you are interested in that means you do get more offers, start a consulting business and give the other projects that you are not interested in to other folks that you hire and earn from their hourly rate.

Looks like your trading experiments have not worked out so well. Probably because you seem to be a fan of market timing... good luck with that. I think you need to take a longer term view with your investments. I also think your friend is right - you should bet on yourself. I worked in the financial services industry and I know first hand how horrible 90pct of the software is in that space. It's a market full of poor quality or outdated software with roots in the 80s and I think it's ripe for a shakeup if you can figure out how to break in and sell.

Continue contracting. Sell the BMW and buy a 2000 Camry.<p>Take 60% of the 100k and invest in Apple, the rest in a selection of index funds. Reevaluate Apple in four years. Invest 15% of your ongoing contracting gross income the same way.<p>Pick some 'just for fun' iOS apps and write them in your spare time. Brainstorm for app ideas weekly, and other low-capital ideas. If one shows promise, partner with some other developers and put more time into it. Only invest cash you can afford as long as it doesn't get in the way of continuing the 15% long term investing.

Blog about your quest to turn 100k into 1 million. Lots of people will read it, the advertising potential would be strong, and - if you're successful - you could write a book about it.

Trading sounds like a very risky way to try to grow the $100k you worked so hard for, esp considering you have a wife and kids. My best non-expert advice would be to try starting a profitable small business that leverages all your strongest skills and passions, and that can evolve into a passive income stream. That stream plus possibly more contract/wage work over the next 5-10 years could take you to $1 million. Take this with grain of salt.

1) take $50K to a casino 2) buy a color on the roulette wheel 3) set up a bet that has some fun characteristics ... maybe a 10% chance of paying 1m and a 30% chance of losing entirely (with some variety in the middle).<p>Let the wheel spin and enjoy the adrenaline. Worst case you go back to your lucrative consulting gig. Consider that you already paid the amount you lost in taxes and you don't even miss it.

Considering that you already built a poker product and some trading programs and that betting on fantasy sports will be the next major thing and there is no industry leader yet, I would probably look into creating a fantasy sport product with a trading component in it.<p>Something that you can sell to media operators or gambling sites either as a standalone product or white label.<p>Coding and selling.

Given the probability that you will not actually make a million, I think that this is a false goal that will only lead to frustration. My plan is to utilize my savings, after having got out of the 10 year rat race, to do something I enjoy (that also has a fair chance of being big). If it turns out that I make a million, well and good, if not then atleast I've been enjoying the money instead of leaving that to after retirement. The rat race is always there if I feel the need to go back.<p>Addendum: I also believe pretty much anything you do for the next ten years has a fair chance of being big. The only problem I see is that you're constrained by having a family and so might not have 10 years to fritter away like that.

Create generic game server product for turn based games. Start to sell it with insane price :D

You could move to Argentina. EUR $100k = ARS $480k<p><a href="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&#38;q=eur+ars++exchange+rate&#38;aq=f&#38;aqi=g1&#38;aql=&#38;oq=&#38;gs_rfai=" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&#38;q=eur+ars++exchange+ra...</a>

If you were in the US, I'd suggest real estate. At this point in the real estate cycle, you could probably buy two single homes, or a duplex/triplex and rent it out and have positive cashflow immediately. I used to be a landlord, but sold the house and I sometimes regret that decision since it was bringing in about $400/month with no work on my part. Rental property isn't a bad investment if you're willing to do the work and it's easy to sell if the property is making money.<p>I don't know what Spain's real estate market is like, but in a touristy location there are probably opportunities to get creative.

Doing event-driven trading isolated in the Cayman Islands without any sort of insider connections is a recipe for failure.<p>There are lots of high-frequency trading shops that could put your engineering chops to work, most of the shops are small enough that I'm sure they'd be happy to offer you some form of partnership with your spare cash. HFT strategies have very definite limits on lifespan and investment cap, but tend to produce out sized returns (yes, 10x).<p>Most of the big shops are in Chicago. Start with Jane St: <a href="http://www.janestcapital.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.janestcapital.com/</a>

Before you can turn 100k into a million... First attempt to turn 100 into $1000

<i>Then AOL ran out of capacity and I was back to my 700 bucks after paying about 200 in commission to Bear.</i><p>How did you pay 200 dollars in commissions on a 700 dollar trade? How did you find work at an investment bank without being sufficiently savvy to realize that buying options on a credit card and then paying a gigantic commission is an absolute, guaranteed way to lose money over time? I'm genuinely confused here.<p>At any rate, the only people profiting on derivatives are the market makers. And even they blow up eventually. (Example: Bear Stearns).

Learn to play poker and enter the world series, which is getting under way in a week. Analytical minds do well in poker, especially since most poker players are degenerate gamblers.

If you'd like to flip real estate, you might want to look into investing in Uruguay (South America), or another reasonably lawful third world country (Costa Rica?) where 100K Euros might get you somewhat far (taxes are the killer here, though).<p>However, building over here is better investment than flipping. You'd need a reliable partner or heavy hands-on overseeing, and I'm not him :P<p>I also agree with other posters that you stick to your strengths, and research VERY carefully. Edit: sailing over here is quite nice :)

Certain, Quick, Legal. Pick any two.

Hi wagerlab,<p>If your burn rate is 3.5K/month, with $100K, you can survive for at least 28 months comfortably, give or take. That's 2.5 years of not working for money. If you're already an amazing programmer, go build a product and sell it at $100/license. You only need 10,000 copies to make $1,000,000, and burn through just a fraction of your money. You can probably build something in less than 6 months and start building a real business around it. With proper SEO, marketing, perseverance, and some luck, the chance of you reaching the sales number isn't all that bad, providing that your product is compelling enough for users to fork out $100. As you say, your weakness is you can get bored easily, then find a way to keep yourself interested: find a partner, outsource boring stuff elsewhere, and plainly just make it a goal to build a meaningful business for yourself and for your family.<p>Nothing is more profitable than investing in yourself. You can double up your money is no time at all. Instead of solving really hard technical problems just for the fun of it, try solving people's problems and make a tidy profit along the way. There are tons of ideas and problems worth solving. You will be much more wealthier in a short time, and you can have your ego petted as well.<p>Personally I quit my job last year to work on my own startup. I was making $90,000/year and was billing $85/hr, but I was getting burned out working on other people's stuff. So I quit. $85/hr is quite a bit of cash, the money was addicting. I was 24, single, living cheaply in Chicago. My expense was $1,500/month, and with some light traveling, that was about $2,000 - $2,500/month. I was able to save quite a bit in just a few months. After saved up to $20,000, I quit. I'm not wasting my life working for money. Not when I have other choices to build up a much better future.<p>Now I'm actually invest 100% of my time into my startup and I'm building it up alone by myself. My life is my start up until I get it launch in September, then I keep on pushing till I make it. Everyday I push out something new, write some thing amazingly awesome, or just get really productive -- all for myself.<p>I'm very easy to get distracted with new ideas and bored with existing ones. However, I told myself specifically to not think of new ideas, and not to get bored with my startup. It's been 2 months working non-stop on it, and I feel more energized than ever. From HTML slicing to server setup, compiling stuff, to writing the next best UI to solve a problem for user, I'm doing it all. If my startup doesn't generate money right away, I'll keep pushing it. I don't know what next year will be like, but I know it will be a lot better. What's funny is that I don't consider myself a very good programmer. I can get by with some stuff (like JavaScript). I can barely programming Ruby on Rails the right way, none of that C++ hardcore programming. I secretly envy those C++/C guys that can hammer out code that looks really hard, but I don't care. I'm building my own product and I feel good about it. My life has a meaning, instead of just working for money.<p>The best thing is, if nothing happens (very unlikely), I can still get back to consulting, making a nice 6-figure salary, and execute my plan B of become a millionaire: investing in real estate.<p>My plan B is simple. I plan to purchase 1 rental apartment every year. Where I lived in Chicago, you can get an apartment for $60K - $80K (foreclosures), and rent them out at $900/month, positive cashflow on day one. I can purchase one a year if I save 50% of my income (not a hard thing), and repeat this a few years. If I leverage the home equity of the rental properties, I can reduce the time to about 6 to 7 years before hitting the $1,000,000 net-worth. And these properties can only appreciate in values, since they are already really low in price. I WILL be a millionaire before 40 and I don't even have to think. However, I chose to be a millionaire by 30, so I quit my job because obviously my job won't get me to where I want to be when I'm 30. I don't think I can get a salary of $333,333/year for the next 3 years to make $1M. And if I really have that salary, I'd just quit to do my own thing. If I'm that good, then why I'm not investing in myself rather than working a 9-5 (or in this case, a 6am-12am job since you'd better be worth every penny at $333,333/year)?<p>So there you go, it's my plan of turning an amount much less than $100K into $1,000.000. Precisely, I have $2,500 (I traveled quite a bit and invested some money in Vietnam with my family between the time I quit and when I started fulltiming on my Startup) in my bank account and I hope that will last till September, which shouldn't be a problem since my burn rate right now is about a whopping $400/month, if not less. I'm single still, and will be suspending my iPhone very soon to switch to Skype. When I run out of money, I'm sure I'll figure something out.<p>So I hope you'll have an updated post in a year telling us here about your journey to make $1,000,000. Good luck following your heart and passion.<p>Alex

Go to law/medical/dental school and in about 10 years open your own practice. Anything else is a lottery and you should be playing for the fun of it, not to make money.

You may invest in <a href="http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&#38;q=MUTF:FNMIX" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&#38;q=MUTF:FNMIX</a>

You may develop a HFT platform and sell it off to HNIs.

I suggest you stay with what you know, (software) and do not try more investing in stocks and equities

Here's an idea. There is an instrument called a "straddle option" that is essentially a bet on volatility. I think it'd be interesting to try to formulate a strategy that made aggressive purchases of these around various product announcements.<p>edit: Perhaps this wasn't the wisest comment ever, but not sure why it was modded down.

Buy stock in SecondMarket for companies that are likely to IPO: LinkedIn, Zynga, etc

Add another zero to the end?

your wise friend is right.<p>bet on yourself. expand your work team into a multi-person team.

multiply it by 10

Build products that are low-maintenance, but provide lots of value to a market that has pain/understands the concept of paying for value.<p>We didn't start out with 100K euros, more like 30K USD, but my SaaS, developed part time, grew 5x in revenue year over year and that was not with a lot of effort - if we do that again, it'll be earning nearly $600K/yr by June 2011.<p>So far "we" is me and my husband, part time, plus a summer intern and the occasional freelancer. So it's a pretty good place to be, cost-wise.

Let me ask you a question, given your experience which is easier to bet on ..yourself or someone else?