Today, I Repaid My Student Loan. Should I Start Investing in Startups?
There have been bumps in the financial road?—?as I started my company and then stopped working on it - but I’m finally out of debt, three years after graduating from ESCP Europe. It was one of my resolutions for 2014 ?
As the end of my final payment coincides with having a new job at Curioos, I’ll probably manage to set aside some money every month, for the first time in my life.
So what should I do now? I can already think of several options:
- Spend more. I’ve never really had a fancy lifestyle. Everything I own still fits in my backpack (Leo style), and I don’t really feel the need to change this for the moment. I’d probably love to travel a bit more but working full-time makes it pretty difficult.
- Save money for my old days. I recently read that saving money early in your life drastically increases the potential retirement income. However, as I always say that “I’ll probably be dead by then” to people even thinking about a six-month plan, it will be hard for me to think about decades away.
- Save money for my next startup. I don’t currently feel like starting a new company. But who knows what will happen in a couple of years? Setting some money aside would allow me to bootstrap before going to investors.
- Donate some money. I’ve always been a big fan of trying to have social impact. But can I have the impact I envision, given the small amount of money I can give?
- Save money to buy a place. My dad’s obsession. However, I don’t have any advantage on the average joe regarding buying properties. And the constraints scare the traveler inside me.
- Invest in startups. I won’t save enough money to do big investments. However, with mechanisms like syndicates on AngelList, it’s now easier than ever to invest small amounts together with other people. It makes even more sense as my network provides access to interesting deals and as I better understand what it takes to be successful.
I’ll spend the next couple of weeks thinking and talking to people about these options and many more so I’d love to know what you think. What WOULD you do if you were me? What DID you do when you were me? Thanks a ton for the help!
Consultant - Change Management
9 年What is your final decision so? I'm curious about it.
Entrepreneur & advisor in Healthtech
10 年Invest in my next start up! :-)
Senior Manager
10 年Déformation professionnelle ... dans ce cas comment pourrais-tu investir dans quelque chose que tu ne connais pas ? (investissement ou immobilier)? Définir tes attentes en terme de quand as tu besoin de récupérer l'argent? es-tu prêt à prendre de gros risque? etc...
Treasury Manager @Qonto ?? | Fintech | Investment
10 年D'après moi, l'investissement dans les start-up n'est pas nécessairement la bonne solution car si l'espérance de gain peut s'avérer importante, le risque est considérable. L'investissement dans les start-up n'est souvent pas réalisé par des jeunes diplomés mais plus par des individus qui ont un excès de cash (qui sont prêt à avoir un retour sur investissement nul). Clément, je sais que tu es passionné par le monde de l'entreprenariat et des start-up, je pense que tu tu peux rester connecté à cet univers en rejoignant des projets mais pas nécessairement en investissant ton argent. Pourquoi pas l'option 3 du coup ? ;) On apprend de ces erreurs/echecs et tous les grands entrepreneurs ont connus des moments très difficiles avant de rencontrer le succès.
Senior Manager
10 年Cela dépend de ton profil de risque et de ton espérance de gain