Wut? Need more info dude. You have literally a million options. What is your background/experience in(if any)?

Honestly, as a college student I'd say pay off all student loans/credit cards/vehicle loans, leave yourself a safety net($5-10k) plus tuition, and put the rest in an S&P index. You run the risk of learning a few lessons the REALLY hard way and being left with nothing.

 

Hey there, so I go to a target business school and my grades are reasonably good and I've had some internships in IB and hedge funds. However, I realized that rather than going straight into IB or something I'd like to try and make it on my own and see if it maybe turns into something.

Therefore, I wanted to try and start some form of investment firm out of college. Since this is a relatively new idea, I wanted to just generally ask about suggestions.

 
Best Response

Well, I'm no hedge funder, but it sounds like that's what you're trying to start. Well, in this forum a REIT or similar. If you go a top(target) business school, is there a professor that can mentor you? Or at least point you in the right direction.

$150k is not going to be enough to start, I mean even if you're getting astronomical returns(like 100%), you won't be able to both increase capital and take a salary of any kind.

Bottom line, you're going to need more capital, which means investors. Or alternatively working full time and investing in something like residential real estate on the side. Look at something like biggerpockets.com if that's what you're into.

I think you're going to get a lot of flak(from this forum) for trying to start something straight out of school on your own though. A lot of "what, you think you're Bill Ackman??!?! LOLWTF" kind of comments. No reason to rush, you're young and there's a metric f*ckton of things to learn in real estate. Investment strategies, valuations, understanding cap rates in various markets and where they come from, classes of commercial real estate, etc. There's also a ton of mistakes to make and money to lose. Good luck

 
KarlJohanse:

Hey there, so I go to a target business school and my grades are reasonably good and I've had some internships in IB and hedge funds. However, I realized that rather than going straight into IB or something I'd like to try and make it on my own and see if it maybe turns into something.

Therefore, I wanted to try and start some form of investment firm out of college. Since this is a relatively new idea, I wanted to just generally ask about suggestions.

Just for shits and giggles: If you really had 150k cash, you could use it as a downpayment, take out an SBA loan, and buy a tiny awful motel and run it for a living.

If you really had 150k cash, you could use it as "seed money" while trying to start your own fee-based/services business that could potentially generate enough fees for you to live off. Maybe you try to get listings and sell houses, maybe you try to land small property management contracts - what have you.

People may say these are dumb ideas, but you would not be the first person to do either of the above w/o experience.

 

With $150k you can buy a single asset, like a few unit apartment building depending on the market and the leverage that you can get because I'd assume you'd want it to be non-recourse. You can set up an LLC and get in touch with a lawyer to help you with the membership agreements and things like that once you identify an asset and fund it. As others have said, it won't be enough to live off of so you'll need another source of income.

 

I'm pretty sure the OP is trolling us. If that is the case, then I suggest taking that $150k and putting it all on black at the Bellagio. I mean, come on. Even if you do have IB / hedge fund experience... what makes you think you can just take $150k of your parents capital and become the next Jonathan Gray?

If real estate really interests you, I suggest interning in a sector of real estate that could position yourself for running your own company, such as a developer or owner / operator. There is so much stuff that you need to learn on the job. If taking $150k and creating a real estate company was so easy, why isn't everyone doing it?

 

pick up a few 2 or 3 bed condos for $30k apiece--depending on rent you could probably pull 15-20% ROI annually. After some time refi out and add to your portfolio. Size up and get into rehabbing 10-20 unit multifamily properties. Apartments will guarantee cashflow. Continue to build your portfolio and you'll be there.

 
cpgame:

pick up a few 2 or 3 bed condos for $30k apiece--depending on rent you could probably pull 15-20% ROI annually. After some time refi out and add to your portfolio. Size up and get into rehabbing 10-20 unit multifamily properties. Apartments will guarantee cashflow. Continue to build your portfolio and you'll be there.

Where does this happen for that price? COMPTON?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!? LOL
 

This is silly. Take Mom and Dad's money and store it away. If you want to start an investment firm, go work for one first, gain experience, make mistakes (WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY) and learn from them.

After a few years, take the $150k + whatever income you save and invest it in a product type you gained experience in.

Alternatively, you can go invest blindly in a product you most likely no nothing about (regardless of your experience INTERNING for an IB + hedge fund) and end up with a grand total of $0.

 

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