[whataretensors]

Don't listen to risk-averse engineers. You are young, invest in high risk things you believe in. Make it an active investment if you can.

Recognize who is giving you boring advice(index funds), look at the risk levels in their life, and then disregard them if they don't take chances on anything.

At a young age your risky investment % should be at it's highest. The exact amount will depend on your appetite.

[sokoloff]

That's a fair thought to entertain and thanks for raising it. As a counter-balancing point, I'd advise considering input from a variety of people who have created financial security or built actual wealth, ask them how they did it, and consider the extent to which your situation, skills, and goals have similarities or differences from their path. (I absolutely agree that full or nearly-full "risk on" is the way to go as a young person during the accumulation phase of your life.)

"Boring advice" works to make multi-millionaires in a predictable, boring fashion, especially when the available timeline is 40-50 years.

[liftdd]

I will have personally invested $110k (by 2019) at age 23. All of my retirement accounts (401k, T-IRA, HSA) are invested in ETFs (0.06 expense ratio average) and a few actively managed funds with 20+% returned from 3YR-5YR view.

The rest is invested in individual stocks and high-risk mutual funds. Once I am 30, I will start pumping more into ETFs (stocks and add in bonds).

I absolutely love the advice. Everyone is different but I try to be as risky as possible with at least 40-50% of my portfolio until I am 30.

Two possible changes to my strategy will be if I build a good software product/business that makes more income. I will divert the money put into risky investing and dump it into my products/business. The other change is buying a home ($100-250,000). I want to raise backyard chickens!

[vinceguidry]

I like this advice, particularly the warning against risk-averse behavior. Literally anyone can give the most common answers. It takes someone with true insight to actually see what the person needs, in this case how the risk profile changes over time.

[kd5bjo]

As this is an Internet forum, it's kind of hard to evaluate how much risk commenters take in their lives; don't assume that all of the boring advice comes from boring people.

[dgacmu]

Only make it active if you have influence on the outcome (i.e., starting your own business). If we're talking stock investing, you'll just get eaten. Which can be a good lesson, but it's one you can skip if you want and go directly to index funds. :)

You can use your money to generate passive income, or you can use it to get leverage (retaining more of a percent of your startup; taking a risk on a risky but better job; etc.). In either of those paths, do it smartly.

[Jach]

I'm not sure if it's true that your investment percentage should be at its highest while young. Maybe as a percentage of your total assets? But then it's just a consequence of when you're young you have lower assets. Whereas if you're instead talking about a percentage of your income, say, then perhaps your risky investment should be highest when you're older, because by then you've developed a nest egg that will basically secure your retirement so long as you leave it alone (e.g. with "boring" index funds) you can devote all of your income to whatever risky endeavors without having to worry about the high probability downside of losing it all.

There's some basic math around compound interest that comes into play that young people should consider. While growing up my state required a "financial literacy" course for everyone, I assume that's expanded across the country so most people should be able to do the math if they're so inclined, but I also think charts like these are useful and good enough to get the point across: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-power-of-compound-int... Generally speaking, start-time for getting the investment nest egg rolling dominates.

Also even if your appetite for risk is large now, you have to really ask what you want out of any risky endeavor, when you want it realized, and what you'll be satisfied with, since if you'll be satisfied with X there's little reason to pursue some high risk activity that if it works out returns Y >> X but most likely (being high risk) you won't even break even. Consider a risky endeavor that's less risky in that if it works out will give you X, but with the nature of risk the probabilities of not working out are lowered. Boring index funds are a type of this lower risk investment that can satisfy "effectively able to retire" in your 30s, but they're not going to satisfy rich startup gains leading to double-digit millionaire+ status. It's at least a path if you want that certain state of "retirement nest egg" when you're in your 30s, and by extension works if you just want it for your 60s too. On the other hand, maybe you're someone indifferent to when you want unicorn-success riches to be realized (great if tomorrow, fine if 20 years from now after you finally catch a break and haven't died first).

[davedx]

Easier said than done. What high risk (low effort) investment opportunities are there for non accredited investors?

I guess there's real estate but I don't know if that qualifies as 'high risk'...

And cryptocurrencies, but I'd call that 'gambling' not 'investment' :)

[thebigspacefuck]

ATMs - put one in a popular spot, there's an app that tells you when it needs to be refilled, go refill it. You can find people selling their ATMs already set up in locations. You have to drive around and refill them so the biggest risk is that someone robs you. Liquor store is another good one. A friend's roommate bought one for $400K and makes $16K/month. He just refills inventory and sits around selling booze. A lot of that goes towards his loan but after that he'll be making way more than I probably ever will. The risk again is that someone robs you. I always check bizbuysell.com to see what kinds of things are out there.

[kd5bjo]

The low-effort part is your sticking point. In my experience, most people are best served treating money conservatively and taking large risks with their time investments -- learn a rare craft, start a business, etc.