I have $150,000 Dollars and I don't know what to do with it...  

What are some of my best options??

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 05 Jul 2005 14:21 PDT

Casublett -

Most financial advisors would ask several questions to along with this decision:
*  when do you anticipate needing the $150K?
*  what tolerance to risk do you have?
*  what is your tax bracket?

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by casublett-ga on 05 Jul 2005 14:34 PDT

Well, I'm 34, single and bill free.

When would I need the money?  Well, not sure...  I have soooo many
options because of my situation that I'm frankly confused and
bewildered with them all.

I guess the risk depends on the rewards, I'm picky and careful, but I
don't mind the RIGHT long shot.

Tax bracket is probably about to change.  I own my own business that I
HATE and never want to deal with again.  Although the money is great,
I can't stand never having a day off and working sooo much.  I'm
trying to decide the best way to extract myself from the business at
the moment.  I also have NO idea what I will do with myself after.

That help?

I faced almost the exact same problem about a year ago and here is how
I solved it. I inherited about 200,000 EUROs in paper assets with an
average growth per year of about 4 percent. It was almost like a big
chop suey because there was no underlying strategy, it looked like the
person bought a little bit of everything a bank man offered.
First I decided on a benchmark percentage that I wanted my money to
earn, which I set a 8% minimum. All assets that made less than that I
sold and purchased new ones that are able to grow more than 8% per
year. One of the few assets that appreciated more than that was some
shares of a bank which grew more than 40% last year. Having solid
paper assets saves you most of the trouble of having to "garden" your
finances. Although you have to be careful to select the right assets.
I am totally opposed to funds and I only go for first class stock in
real companies that I believe will be around for a long time. There I
mostly chose real eastate companies because they tend to have
constantly growing capital due to inflation indexing of their rental
income. This growth is reflected in the constant increasing of the
share price.
If you are sensible you can invest your dollars in a way that your
passive income will cover your monthly expenses and thus you will
really be wealthy, indefinitely.
One alternative that is much more work intensive is to use the money
as a down payment of 10-20% on some really good real estate and have a
mortgage cover the remainder. This you will gain about 6% on a million
but have to pay around 3% on 800.000. The difference will again erase
your financial worries for the rest of your life.

I am pressed for time, but here's an example of the kind of thinking I
suppose you're looking for. Sponsor an animation scriptwriting contest
for $5,000. Charge entrants five dollars apiece to enter. Promise
nothing. There is a glut of talent, a glut of demand, a problem with
media monopolies/slavery that needs a gentle push to implode, and "you
know what you like."