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Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

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Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#11

Post by gregcmartin »

Seriously what ericb said, milk the app store and advertise your apps online if you can, keep it going but the investment climate is lame everywhere. I am now in the same situation where I had 30k cash for the first time with no debt and I essentially put it in a safety deposit box at the bank so I won't spend it. If you look at money market, CD's etc, they all stink right now so just lock it up.

If you have not bought a house yet then I would look into doing that and taking advantage of the 8k tax break for first time home buyers. Sounds like you have enough down payment to cover 20% and get out of the PMI insurance.

You might use that money to hire another developer you can train and crank out more apps, and hit the android market as well.

Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#12

Post by leelin »

It sounds like you want to invest the money in yourself, which is understandable and entrepreneurial.

As life continues, you'll find yourself with increasingly more disposable money (hopefully), and directly investing in yourself doesn't scale (either it's too risky or you can't use it to make yourself more productive).

Sadly, eventually you have to invest in other countries, companies, assets, or people; in short, invest in something you wish you could control more.

It's a good yet stressful problem to have, but maybe the most comforting tidbit in your case is I doubt the windfall you earned is a one-time thing. The lottery winner or not-so-bright heir to a sizable inheritance is in worse shape.

Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#13

Post by blhack »

The biggest asset that you have and the one that can create the most money for you is yourself. Yeah, that sounds really cheesy, but you've already showed that it's true.

Invest the money in yourself. Bank it and use it so that you can ensure that you aren't going to need to spend your time making somebody else money in the future.

Some people have said to invest it in companies...the thing is that you are a company and it sounds like you're a pretty profitable one.

Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#14

Post by jsankey »

What I know how to do best is the app store, but I want other type of things that do not require much time investment, but give as good returns as that.

What do I do with the money? How do I invest it in making more money quickly?

Little effort, fast return? Then you need to take high risks. Is that really what you want? Maybe you'd be better off trying to scale your skills (which have gotten you this far) by expanding into other platforms/niches? Contracting out some of the work could help.

Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#15

Post by ShabbyDoo »

There's nothing wrong with continuing to ride a gravy train you know is going to end (or at least slow down) as long as you don't convince yourself it's going to keep going forever.

>I want other type of things that do not require much time investment, but give as good returns as that.

Why do you not have time? I presume you are referring to the time required to, say, manage rental properties? You've already proven that you're very good at creating software users want to BUY(!), so why not take some of the time that this money affords you (pay a maid, etc.) and figure out something more substantial to build while you're still able to milk the app store cow every morning?

Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#16

Post by taylorbo »

No one has a guaranteed way to make more money quickly...but here's some ideas.

Invest in startups - You might see amazing returns in ~2-5 years, but the risk is very high.

High risk hedgefunds - All equity/bond/commodity investment doesn't have to be slow. It can be risky and full of high returns/loses.

My favorite idea... Expand what you're doing: Use your proven track record and revenues to bank roll your own app store based startup/shop. Hire some people, branch out a bit and look into the android platform. You can avoid the need to take money from outside investors, and multiply your money that way.

Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#17

Post by vaksel »

you can do what Jacques does, he also has a "passive" income from one of his sites, so he makes a few small time investments here and there.

You really don't need a lot of money to invest. Just look at the HN model. As an angel all you need is 25K to get into most early rounds.

Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#18

Post by cellis »

I once read

  "Never give financial advice for free: 
  if it is good advice, you won't get credit, 
  and if it is bad advice -- you'll get the blame".
You should consider why anyone here would give you advice on how to turn xx,xxx into millions quickly. HN is full of smart people who are fully capable of getting their hands on that much in vc/other leverage and doing it themselves. Any advice they give you, from a purely competitive standpoint, erodes their chances of success.

tl;dr - If anyone knew of a way to turn 24k into millions, why would they say how to do it for free?

Re: Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what?

#20

Post by eru »

icey wrote: post #8
AndrewHampton wrote: post #4

http://www.kiva.org/

While microloans are certainly an admirable use of money; I don't think that really helps Max with his request at all. Kiva is something you do to be charitable, not something you do to make money.

If you get a decent return on your microloans, they can be a good way to make money (and give some capital to people who need it).

But I agree: I doubt Max has as much of an advantage in evaluating promising targets for microloans than he has building software.

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