Of course the answer varies depending on the individual's skills and desires. If it were me, at this time in the market, I'd spend a year buying, renovating, and renting out foreclosure(s). Then I'd take the rental money and travel the world for as long as I wanted on a LOW budget and have a rent free place to return to. If you just blow most of the cash on a world tour, it's going to be hell when you have to come back to work.
My thoughts exactly. The idea is to become self employed. I might need a cheaper market than Chicago to buy and fix foreclosures...
no doubt..even if you bust your ass and are run this 100k up to 100 million by the time your 50, you still won't be able to buy being debt free with a nice nest egg and 100k liquid at 28... The only better position than this would be to be 29 or 30 with 80k, having invested 20k on priceless experiences.
Please try to research the advice you're giving. The costs of being a landlord have gone up through the roof with the risk of tenant default following in the same manner. Cheap low income apartment buildings are what make sense and those are not the ones falling into foreclosure (if they are, then shit really hit the fan there). What is in foreclosure are overpriced cheaply built homes & buildings in areas with job loss. There are a lot less deals out there than you think. But if rentals is what the OP likes, I would highly suggest looking outside USA in tropical islands. There is a lot of migration from first world countries, as they are on their way to become third world countries.
Buy some index ETFs with $100k (like DIA, SPY; or even SSO or DDM if you're agressive). Get a daytime job.
Wow! Finally some sense!Great to read that there is a lot of heart even in a "trading community"... I think you should definately go travel for a bit, and if you pass in amsterdam let me know we go have a drink cheers
Congrats. How many months of living expenses is $100k for you? I assume you have rent, car, eat and need health insurance.
I'm late twenties, trade for a living, and have had the fortune to live, work, and travel through a few continents. If you decide to go the trading route, you live in Chicago which is a great trading town, and could provide you with the possibility of finding a real mentor, at least moreso than a 3rd world country could. But if you decide to go the hardheaded solo route trying to learn to trade by yourself, staring at charts all day, and sitting at home in your underwear like so many retail traders do, you might as well lower your living expenses and bang as many foreign women as you can, since most likely you won't be getting much enjoyment from your trading experience... Check out Buenos Aires. No reason you can't live in another country with a reasonable time zone, if you decide to learn to trade solo. If you trade a single instrument, and aren't scalping like crazy, the latency in other countries shouldn't be much of a problem. If your sucking down tons of data on thousands of stocks, scalping through poor infrastructure with no stops might be a problem. Just a suggestion, good luck!
Car is paid off and in good shape. Good for another 3-5 years easy I am going to say about $1500/month in total living expenses (rent, food, utilities, etc) according to my Quicken reports