My Goal

Discussion in 'Money Management & Banking' started by TeenMillionaire, 6th Jun, 2008.

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  1. TeenMillionaire

    TeenMillionaire Member

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    Hi,

    I'm 17 years old and I have a goal of making one million dollars before I turn 20. That gives me just under 3 years.

    This may seem unrealistic to some, but I've always been interested in wealth creation and I'm very serious about this.

    I have a part time job, and I'm planning on using all of my salary to invest. However, I need a lot of help.

    So far I think the only way to achieve this would be by having multiple sources of income. Could anyone give me advice for how to gain these sources of income. I already know a bit about property investment (as much as you can learn from books) and at the moment I am interested in learning about the share market and trading silver and gold.

    Also at some point I would like to own at least one website.

    Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks for reading.

    -TeenMillionaire
     
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  2. voigtstr

    voigtstr Well-Known Member

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    Running a website doesn't cost much. if your ISP provides static ip's, and you have a machine on your network you want to use as a permanent web server, its just a matter of port forwarding port 80 on the router to port 80 on your web server. Run Apache and thats your web server sorted. Register a Domain name and have it accociated to your static IP.

    Whats going to be on the website thats going to bring money in?
     
  3. TeenMillionaire

    TeenMillionaire Member

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    I'm not exactly sure yet.

    I was thinking of having a content-based website based on my efforts to become a teenage millionaire. The money made from that would be generous donations (don't know how well that would go) and ads (possible Adsense).

    I've also considered running my own PTC website, what do you think?

    Or an original idea. I have to keep thinking.
     
  4. PWL

    PWL New Member

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    Wow, you are very advanced thinking about this at your age, good luck to you, the way your going you will be a billionaire by the age of 25. Not many 17 yr olds would be on here talking about websites and making money, most would be boozing up somewhere at a party. All the best mate and keep chasing your passion.
     
  5. TeenMillionaire

    TeenMillionaire Member

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    Thankyou so much for your kind words :)

    I was afraid of someone assuming that I'm just a greedy teenager wanting money to blow on crap. It makes me happy that you realise its a serious dream of mine that I want to work hard towards.

    Thanks again.

    And still, any help from anyone would be appreciated.
    I'm now considering a charity PTC program. 1 cent per click goes to user, 0.5 cents per click goes to charity.

    I havent seen anything like it yet, but I haven't looked very hard.

    -TeenMillionaire
     
  6. MasterCheif

    MasterCheif Active Member

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    how much money do you have currently.. e.g. how far away are you from this goal?

    I think it is important to have realistic goals - and whilst its good that you are looking at investing so early, its not realistic to acheive the goal you have set yourself. You say you have a partime job, how much do you earn a year? If it was easy to generate significant multiple streams of income everyone would be doing it..

    Cheers.
     
  7. TryHard

    TryHard Well-Known Member

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    Hi Teen$MAire

    I've been involved in online enterprises for a while and I would suggest 'websites' seldom make money, but the ideas behind them often do. The website is just one of the vehicles used to sell the idea, except it is one of the few vehicles that can (technically) reach a lot more people than you would be physically able to meet in order to sell them something.

    Find a problem that lots of people share and solve it, then sell the secret. Or take a few cents per 'transaction' from something you build and make sure the something is used for millions and millions of transactions :)

    I don't think you're aiming too high. Google "Daniel Tzvetkoff" - he's 25 yo and paid $28M for the part finished Hedges Ave mansion recently. I am sure lots of people would have told him he was a bit full of himself when he was 17 and claiming he would build a massive online enterprise. Fortunately for him, it appears he didn't listen to them - and if he did I wonder if their criticism rings in his ears as he pokes his Lambourghini from 2nd gear into 3rd on his way to another hard day at the office ;-)

    At your age I'd also consider trying to find a mentor who is a proven performer in your chosen field, to learn from them, because there is some truth to the saying you can't put an old head on yound shoulders, but these days the 'old' is a lot younger than middle aged :p

    Dream on, and make it happen too :D

    Cheers
     
  8. MasterCheif

    MasterCheif Active Member

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    Haha.. i am sure that he didnt start out by saying "I want to make a million dollars".. more that he had a good idea and worked hard and it happened..i am not being critical.. just realistic..
     
  9. crc_error

    crc_error The Rule of 72

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    lol... if you want to make 1 million in 3 years starting with nothing, i suggest you go and buy as many tatts tickets as you can between now and then.. that would be your best chance at making that type of money in 3 years time.

    good luck as you will need it.
     
  10. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    That's a really negative attitude that isn't helpful in any way.

    Australian's tend to be really bad at helping entrepreneurs get going and doubly bad at praising them when they do.

    Anything is possible - even for a 17 year old ... provided they have the right motivation, dedication and some great advice from people who are keen to see them succeed and prosper.
     
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  11. crc_error

    crc_error The Rule of 72

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    actually its not a negative attitude, its a realistic attitude. Short of winning the lottery, I very much doubt its possible for anyone to make 1 million from nothing in 3 years time

    Sure motivate him/her to begin their investing career, however lets keep away from fantasy. Investing isn't a get rich quick scheme. and if seems to be too good to be true, it most likely is.
     
  12. Tropo

    Tropo Well-Known Member

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    "Anything is possible - even for a 17 year old ... provided they have the right motivation, dedication and some great advice from people who are keen to see them succeed and prosper"

    Yep...
    I know one man who at the age of 18 became a trader.
    I do not know if he is a millionaire today – but at the age of 25 (I think) he became a CEO of one of the biggest trading “school” in Australia. :)
     
  13. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Realism is just another form of negativity. Just because you can't conceive it, doesn't mean it can't be done.

    With the right business idea it is more than possible.

    How many internet startups have there been in the US where a couple of guys working in their garage have created the Next_Big_Thing and subsequently sold out to one of the big guys for millions (or billions) ?

    It can be done.
     
  14. Waimate01

    Waimate01 Well-Known Member

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    Bzzzz - wrong !

    If someone is working in an average or even above average job, then you are right.

    If someone is hoping to day-trade their way from $0 to $1m, then you are right.

    But if someone has a great business idea and works hard, then this is very achievable.

    My only advice would be to push the $1m goal to the back of his mind, and occupy the front of his mind with concentrating on creating a great business and paying his debts as they come due. The money will come.
     
  15. Chris C

    Chris C Well-Known Member

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    I did originally get half way through quite a long response to this thread, but chose to delete because it was taking up too much time and I didn't feel I was really in a position where I have the right to give advice considering I'm not worth a million dollars and I'm 23.

    But the gist of what I was saying is - that in life when you are setting goals it is important to keep them relatively realistic (look up "SMART goals" in Google if you haven't heard the acronym before). Now I'm not saying that your goal isn't realistic, it depends on the person, but it is important to remember that just stating you want a million dollars then posting a forum thread about your intention doesn't mean it is going to eventuate. You need to have a genuine game plan to getting to that goal.

    As for people being negative towards your goal, you are going to need to expect that, because the sad reality of life is that we all love to judge ourselves on our intentions but we judge others on their results, so when we don't see results reflective of their intentions then we instinctively believe they will fall short of the mark.

    Anyway, back to your goal of making a million by 20. It's definitely not impossible as many other people have done it, granted most of them were well on their way by 17 and I'd imagine most were already well entrenched in their field/industry that was to bring them their fortune as well. So when you say all you have is a part time job, that isn't going to be good enough to make you millionaire, no matter what the investment strategy.

    Here are three key principle to success that I think you will regardless of what path you take towards achieving your goal:

    • Learn to start educating yourself and learn to love learning - you can't expect people to hand you textbooks worth reading or inform you of things you should and shouldn't do, like they do in high school and university. In life the most valuable lessons must be sort after, and you need to really appreciate that the best investments you will ever make will be in yourself.
    • With a good attitude towards learning you should now be able to start employing the "working smart" principle. I'm quietly confident the vast majority of self made millionaires that were millionaires before 30 let alone 20, worked very bloody smart.
    • Working smart isn't enough, you also need to be able to work hard and for long periods. Working is the secret to so much of the wealth in the world. There are no real shortcuts in life - only hard work. Desire to find shortcuts will only have you digging holes to nowhere.

    Those are probably the three biggest principles in any success in my opinion, along with putting yourself in a healthy "environment" to employee these three principles as well as be ready to "sacrifice" as the desire to excel in one area of life is almost always going to come at the detriment of others - be ready for that.
     
  16. crc_error

    crc_error The Rule of 72

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    well put Chris... I hope your not accused of been negative!
     
  17. MasterCheif

    MasterCheif Active Member

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    Finally someone with some sense! if you dont set realistic goals and you attempt to acheive the first big goal you set yourself - and fail...what are you going to do? If your goal is to get 1 million by 20 set yourself smaller goals to get you there.. say you want to save $1000 in cash in 1 month - then I want to invest this cash in shares etc. my 2cents. This is a pointless thread..im assuming you have probably already given up and are no longer reading this forum? :)
     
  18. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Last online today - so he's still around.

    Some very good points have been made - having a "big dream" goal is only the starting place ... breaking this down into smaller and smaller sub-goals to move towards the ultimate goal is a very important part of the process.

    It is easy to get overwhelmed by the size and scale of a venture - but by breaking it down into smaller parts, prioritising and working hard to keep forward momentum towards achieving each of the smaller parts - it is possible to achieve pretty much anything.

    How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
    (Hope nobody from my other forum at ZooBeat reads that!) :eek:
     
  19. Waimate01

    Waimate01 Well-Known Member

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    Saving $1000 and investing it is a laudable goal, and it's *way* more than most people do any any age, and *way way* more than most young people do.

    But there's quite a difference between that goal and the OP's goal of making $1M in a few years.

    One involves having a reasonable job, being sensible and not wasting your money. All good stuff. But you won't get to the OP's goal using that approach.

    It's like trying to reach the moon using a hot air balloon.

    Neither is inherently right or wrong in absolute terms of course, but they *are* wrong depending on the persons goal. If the OP sets himself the goal of getting a comfy job and saving well, then you can be sure he won't be a millionaire at 20 because the *technique* is wrong.

    Sounds trite, but it has validity - in the words of Henry Ford, "Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right."
     
  20. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Quite right. I use a similar analogy when trying to explain risk to people.

    If you have $10,000 to invest and your goal is to have $20,000 within 12 months - then investing that money in a high interest savings account earning 8%pa is actually high risk. The risk is pretty much 100% that you won't achieve your goal because you simple won't earn enough.

    Risk isn't just about the chance of losing your money - it is also about the chance of achieving your goal in the timeframe you've set.

    Similarly, working as an employee with a goal of making $1m is a pretty tall ask - especially if you don't have any experience or expertise to offer. It's not impossible to earn that kind of money ... some senior management positions in large companies and top-level sales people, can potentially earn that kind of money - but they typically have a lot of experience behind them.

    Unless you get very lucky, it is also very difficult to make $1m in the space of 3 years by just "investing", especially with very little capital to start with. Speculating is more like it (which is where the "lotto" comments come from - quite rightly), and the chances of losing everything are very high.

    However, there are other strategies that can be utilised if you are willing to work very hard and take risks. Adding value is one such strategy - whether via property (renovating and/or development), and share trading (and various other "value adding strategies"). But the capital required to get to the levels being discussed are high, and there are a lot of skills required (not impossible, but certainly not easy).

    I think the best way to make money quickly is via business. If you have a great idea that nobody has thought to try yet, it is possible to achieve great things very quickly. Being in the right place at the right time with the right attitude and the right knowledge - can lead to amazing results. The risks are high and the amount of work involved is extreme - but it can be done.

    My wife's cousin worked for a small company in Adelaide who built fibreglass pipes typically used in mines and other large processing plants. The company was in financial difficulty and was pretty much on the verge of collapse. He saw an opportunity, since there was not much competition and the technology was basically very good - so he arranged to buy out the management of the company and took over. Now he employs hundreds of people and has major contracts with most of the major mining companies - and I'm not sure he's even 30 yet (may be just over). He took the risk, did the hard work, and is now reaping the rewards (but continues to work very hard building the business). I'm not sure how much he is worth now, but it would be a lot.
     
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