lets talk money.

I'm annoyed at not having enough of this stuff. At this point in my life, i'm not working minimum wage foodservice type jobs, and i want to have the capacity to enjoy my life more.

i'm not talking about buying tons of shit to clutter up a house/apartment. this is really more non-material. my goal is to have an income for doing very little to nothing so i can travel and run a more flexible lifestyle.

does anyone here invest? whats your angle? high yield savings accounts? playing the market? PM's ? loan sharking?

get in here erik, you were the economics major.

right now, savings accounts are low yield, you might as well keep a jar with pennies in it. BoA has a savings account with .01% APY (as in, you have $100 in, you get a penny.) I use INGdirect, which has a savings account of .75% APY, which is not as high as t was when I opened it, but once the economy strengthens, that yield will increase.

Savings are more involved with how much you put in, not so much on their yield. My grandmother worked at a bank for nearly 30 years, and has ingrained into me that no less that 10% of any payment should go into savings.

Investing is a whole new ballpark. Going into any investing company, there are marked companies to invest in, complete portfolios, and in between. Mutual funds were always described to me as a safe haven for new investors, as they tend to combine low-medium risk companies together to produce low-medium returns. One of the more important pieces of advice i learned was to invest into companies you already frequently use (SBUX/AAPL) or support. Also, looking into IPO's may be a touch of risk, but could yield greatly down the road. patience is the key...

Penny stocks are a newer concept to me, and i've had friends use them, but I myself never have. Has anyone heard/invested/gained knowledge on this topic personally? I myself would love to hear your stories.

I've been thinking about this for sometime now its kinda the reason why i haven't been on here much I've never really learned how to make money any way besides working 40/hrs a week. Now I'm 27 and I've never really had a job that came close to covering my living expenses but I play music so thats like how its suppose to be right?? But there has to be a better way.

GodlessAmerica wrote:

I've been thinking about this for sometime now its kinda the reason why i haven't been on here much I've never really learned how to make money any way besides working 40/hrs a week. Now I'm 27 and I've never really had a job that came close to covering my living expenses but I play music so thats like how its suppose to be right?? But there has to be a better way.

exactly. thats what i'm trying to move past. i spent the better part of the last year or so trying to slowly move into the production of products and then moving them, as opposed to just tattooing and working for every dollar i get. i don't want to be 50 and worked to the bone man. i want to have a following who enjoys my work in the form of prints and books and who knows what else.

9 years ago Cavan and I talked about not ever wanting to work the 9 to 5 and be some worker bee slave to a higher power. To always be creative and forward-thinking, and to somehow buy us enough freedom using our minds to be able to travel and do other cool shit that normal people aren't doing.

Well, fast forward 6 years of College from that point, and I entered the fucking workforce doing the grind, which I've been doing for the past 3 years. We've all been working our asses off just to survive.

Sometimes I think I would give up all of our technology and high society bullshit and just be able to be a grape farmer and sell wine or something like that. Life would be much simpler, and I could spend more of my time with friends and family, instead of stuck behind a computer slaving away on some software.

Yes, I create video games now, but really, its still a job. It's just software. And I some of my weeks I spend 60-70 hours at work. You throw in the 56 hours I sleep every week, a couple hours driving, eating dinner, time lost that is unaccounted for, and I'm left with diddly squat to be productive enouh to do something extra to get OUT of that routine.

I think that's what we all want though. That is what the main idea is. Fuck investing or savings accounts or 401k plans. You just have to spend those extra 10 hours you might get a week NOT jacking off to redtube.

Take those 10 hours and put it towards something that will net you money. For me it could be an extra website or side software job that I'm contracted to do. For Cavan it might be a couple extra tattoos, or for whoever else is reading this it may be wanking some guy on the side of the road.

Once you have an extra cash fund set aside, you have to be very smart with the risks you take with it. But you will have to take risks.

A friend of mine was doing just this, and found a bunch of side jobs in addition to his normal job. He was working 70+ hours a week for a long time, with random side jobs. He saved up enough money to buy a wood frame cutter and a canvas printer and started a photo to canvas printing company. He got his card out to photographers and was able to print out several canvases a week for extra cash. He took that cash and started 2 other companies, while still running the canvas company and his normal job.

That's really what it takes to get out of your routine. YOU have to get YOU out of your routine. Investing in an IPO or medium risk plan is just throwing your money away. It's letting someone else get rich off of your dough.

Just stash your cash, do MORE work now, and then get involved in something bigger, that can take you places.

I've been wanting to build a side indie game project for a while now, but I have been somewhat lazy and pre-occupied with other life tasks (my fiancee is to blame for most of that). But, I have taken some money and gotten investment money and I will soon be opening a Jimmy Hula's restaurant in Kissimmee (Hunter's Creek). All the time that I have to invest in that will come from outside my regular 50-70 hour work weeks. But it will be worth it in the long run.

Take the risks. It is better to risk everything and have nothing, then to never have risked at all. Anyone who has come from nothing to make something of themselves will tell you this.

I want to see all my bros succeed. And I would love to embark on projects will all of you. Any money I get from the restaurant biz is going to go right back into getting my own game studio so I can make Indie games. But time is key. If I can somehow get to the point where I can quit my job, then maybe 9 years from now I will be writing a post with a different theme.

Not jacking off to redtube! dan, you're hysterical. seriously tho, intense post.

Another thing I thought about is Kickstarter / Indiegogo.

If we all came up with a baller idea that we each could contribute towards, then put everything down on paper and created a serious plan, we could go to Kickstarter or Indiegogo to try and raise funds.

There are lots of people out there with a couple bucks to throw around that love great ideas. I would totally be down to get something started with everyone.
t-shirt business, video game, the world's raddest lemonade stand, whatever.