Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
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Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
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Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#2I always knew kids that wanted to start their own business - at least in high school and college. I grew up poor-to-middle class, nothing special, living in Indiana. I'm about 39 now. Some folks just don't consider it so young, just like changing professions in one's late 20's. It usually goes along with the dream of not having to answer to a boss and/or working hours one wants to work, but not always.
But I do think more folks would try if they could take the college money and invest it in things like starting a business, no matter what the business is, and wish more folks had this option.
Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#3I always knew kids that wanted to start their own business - at least in high school and college. I grew up poor-to-middle class, nothing special, living in Indiana. I'm about 39 now. Some folks just don't consider it so young, just like changing professions in one's late 20's. It usually goes along with the dream of not having to answer to a boss and/or working hours one wants to work, but not always. But I do think…
It would help a lot in making this a viable option if more companies gave credit/valued the experience a young person gains by trying to start their own company. Outside of the Bay Area, this is a rare occurance.
Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#4I always knew kids that wanted to start their own business - at least in high school and college. I grew up poor-to-middle class, nothing special, living in Indiana. I'm about 39 now. Some folks just don't consider it so young, just like changing professions in one's late 20's. It usually goes along with the dream of not having to answer to a boss and/or working hours one wants to work, but not always. But I do think…
It would help a lot in making this a viable option if more companies gave credit/valued the experience a young person gains by trying to start their own company. Outside of the Bay Area, this is a rare occurance.
I'm not sure it's so much hiring managers not giving credit. Rather that, especially for relatively entry-level jobs, companies--especially larger ones--use a lot of cookie cutter heuristics to sort applicants. And "tried to start a company rather than go to college" tends to fail those heuristics.
Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#5I don't know.
Basically this means more or less that on the day your son (or daughter) becomes 18 you put on the table 2,000x100 US$ bills in a few neat stacks and ask him/her whether he/she likes it better to:
1) Study (hard) for the next 5 years (possibly in a remote city), living with one or more co-students in a tiny apartment and receive - say - some 500-600 bucks each month for petty expenses
OR:
2) get - here and now - all the 200,000 US$ as long as they are used ONLY in expenses related to the building of a new company, but of course with no particular form of control on expenses, as I trust you and you are big enough to make your own decisions.
With rigorously invented numbers (i.e. pure speculation or guessing), I would expect that out of 100 choosing option #1 70 would get after 5 or 6 years studying and a degree (without student debt to hunt them for the rest of their life) a decent, qualified job (and income), 20 a somewhat underpaid job, 5 no stable job/income and 5 (for one reason or the other) something else.
Of those that chose option #2, I would expect that 5 manage to build a "successful" company, 15 a more or less good company (anyway providing enough income to have bills paid and raise a family) and 80 either building a company soon going to Chapter 11/bankrupcy or building no company at all.
The good question would be how many of 18 years old would choose option #1 over #2?
Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#6I don't know. Basically this means more or less that on the day your son (or daughter) becomes 18 you put on the table 2,000x100 US$ bills in a few neat stacks and ask him/her whether he/she likes it better to: 1) Study (hard) for the next 5 years (possibly in a remote city), living with one or more co-students in a tiny apartment and receive - say - some 500-600 bucks each month for petty expenses OR: 2) get - here…
I daresay the experience of hustling and trying to build a company is a valuable form of education even for the 80 who fail
Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#7I don't know. Basically this means more or less that on the day your son (or daughter) becomes 18 you put on the table 2,000x100 US$ bills in a few neat stacks and ask him/her whether he/she likes it better to: 1) Study (hard) for the next 5 years (possibly in a remote city), living with one or more co-students in a tiny apartment and receive - say - some 500-600 bucks each month for petty expenses OR: 2) get - here…
I daresay the experience of hustling and trying to build a company is a valuable form of education even for the 80 who fail
Sure, it is a form of education, but - being probably much more pessimist than you are - my invented 80 was including BOTH those that tried (with smart ideas and hard work) but failed AND those that wouldn't even try or try without ideas nor working too much hard for it.
I suspect that for the latter ones (how many? maybe 20-30) that wouldn't even be educative at all.
Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#8A fully qualified engineer will be in a much better position to provide valuable products and services than an 18 year old noob.
I guess it's better than a gender studies degree, but believe it or not, undergraduate education is not completely useless. I learned a hell of a lot.
Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#9I always knew kids that wanted to start their own business - at least in high school and college. I grew up poor-to-middle class, nothing special, living in Indiana. I'm about 39 now. Some folks just don't consider it so young, just like changing professions in one's late 20's. It usually goes along with the dream of not having to answer to a boss and/or working hours one wants to work, but not always. But I do think…
"But I do think more folks would try if they could take the college money and invest it in things like starting a business, no matter what the business is, and wish more folks had this option."
I don't think these options are comparable. The other is a structured path to more or less predictably increase ones human capital while the other is a high risk, unstructured mess. I suppose the key is this - can the person thrive in a non-structured space, and would they enjoy the hustle of entrepreneurship.
Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund
#10I went the build your business route, if I had my time again I'd get the degree first, compared to the time, effort and risk of building a business taking 5 years to get a degree seems like time well spent. Getting a degree does not preclude you from starting a business, the reverse is not so universally true as youth is on your side when funding education in most countries. Few of my peers work in fields related to their degree, yet few would have their current standing were it not for holding a degree.