lastly soho- the reason I am not returning to colleg efor a little bit is because I was president of my fraternity throguh a fire and a hurricane. I learned so much about leadership and maintaining order under crisis that I feel liek i’m wasting my time every time I step into a class room. I already learned so so so much about business that I am DYING to get my hands dirty and get started. I have tons of friends who love school and have been trying to get involved with my business both financially and in practice. My Girlfriend of 2 years is a double business major/art history major so I feel confident about my decision
If I was in your position, I wouldn’t go back to school.
I graduated in 2005, and all throughout college I asked myself, “How is this knowledge benefiting me and my goals?”
The truth is, it wasn’t. There’s very, very little valuable information that I ever learned in class. The education system is outdated, sitting in class listening to some dinosaur give lectures, then filling in bubbles to determine your intelligence is no way to get ahead. It just dulls your brain.
As for the college experience, it’s great and it’s an excellent opportunity for personal growth, but there’s also too much fun to be had and plenty of distractions. You seem to have good experience already with the fraternity and business. Keep it at that and move onto bigger and better things.
A few of my friends who didn’t go to college found great opportunities at the right time and took advantage of them. They aren’t looking back. Of course, the majority of my friends who didn’t go to college aren’t doing so good.
My point is, If you have a great opportunity at hand and the drive to make it happen, then you don’t need to go back to college. Not even as a back-up or a safety net. Plan for the best, but prepare for the worst… and you should never let the worst case scenario be “Well, my business just failed so I’ll go get a job and put my degree to use” Don’t ever let it get to that.
Good luck.
Thanks Ted for sharing that, Great story. Your Grandfather was quite the investor. Smart , very smart.
You know after reading what you’ve been writing here I think I was wrong. You certainly have the bank account and probably the genes to be very successful. You can always go back to school.
I think going out to see what your cousin is doing is a great idea. I like the fact that your already thinking in terms of doing it better than he is.
Good luck Ted, and keep us posted.
I agree. Without God, life is a failure.
It’s amazing people live for the measly 80 years on this planet, and can care less about eternity… :cry
Your grandfather sounds like an experienced investor. I think it might be tempting for you to get too far leveraged in real estate. You could easily have a broker or guru sing some siren song about all the money you could make, then advise you to make poor investment choices. I think it is a fantastic idea to get started the way that you have articulated…small. Buy that small cosmetic fixer, manage it, learn the business. Santa Barbara would be a place where that money would get sucked out of your accounts faster than you could say “what the hell just happened?” Robert Kiyosaki says that if you can’t manage your money when you are poor, you will not be able to manage your money when you are rich. When you ask “Is there something I don’t get that makes this so much harder than it seems to be?” My answer would have to be a resounding YES! Real estate investing is like juggling or swimming. You can memorize the book from cover to cover, but until you do it, you really will not become competent. The investors who advise you to do your homework in real estate offer very sage counsel. Leverage works both ways, it can make you rich, it can put you so far underwater that you’ll never recover. Congratulations on your inheritance, I wish you a lifetime of the success and good fortune.
You know after reading what you've been writing here I think I was wrong. You certainly have the bank account and probably the genes to be very successful. You can always go back to school.
A bank account (especially inherited) and a father or grandfather who was a successful entreprenuer does not bode well for his success. In fact, when young adults inherit a significant sum of money, they usually lose it (waste it) quickly. It will take a monumental effort for him to be able to keep this money, let alone turn it into significant wealth.
Interestingly, I have been reading “The Millionaire Next Door”, in which they present some statistics about this situation.
Mike