
Ask HN: What should I do with half a million dollars? - bkohlmann
I&#x27;m a 30 something MBA startup intern with a military background and one more year of school (with scholarships and funding).<p>My wife works as an independent contractor, and we have a young kid.<p>I&#x27;ve been a saver my whole life, coming from a very modest background. We have a comfortable, but by no means life changing, stash.<p>I&#x27;m currently invested in full-market ETFs and a few (small) rental properties, including one Airbnb.<p>How can I best leverage this accumulated capital? Should I just stick it out with recommended ETFs? Despite my conservative and financially savvy inclinations, I&#x27;m searching for other opportunities.<p>Any thoughts?
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coreyp_1
Don't try to figure out what to do with a half-million dollars. Try to figure
out what to do with 50K. Take it as a learning experience and then grow from
there. Absolutely do not risk it all on one thing.

If I had 1/2 mil, I would do 2 things: 1.) Invest in real estate (grad student
housing, to be exact) for the cash flow for re-investment, and, 2.) Hire a few
junior-level programmers to help me flesh out a handful of projects that I
have been wanting to work on, but haven't had time to work on on my own.

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CyberFonic
First of all, congratulations on your achievement. It would appear that you
have successfully followed the strategy of _spend less than you earn_.

The best return you can get is when you invest in yourself and your own
business. So perhaps that could be the third component of your diversified
investment strategy. Real estate is always a solid one. I don't have much
experience with ETFs - but from what I hear they are somewhat exposed to stock
market volatility.

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gigatexal
Keep on keeping on. You seem to be doing fine. You have a good base with real
estate and broad market ETFs.

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jacalata
Is this half million dollars your retirement savings, or extra cash on top of
retirement savings?

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bkohlmann
Extra Cash on top of retirement.

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yanilkr
With a wife and a kid. Hmnn.. I think you should get a decent job.

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_audakel
do a startup

