Beyond Stocks: Creative Ways to Grow $35,000 with Unconventional Investments

A thought-provoking question challenged individuals to devise a strategy for growing $35,000, with the significant constraint of avoiding conventional investment avenues like stocks, bonds, crypto, real estate (for personal use/debt), treasuries, or high-yield savings accounts. The goal was to find alternative means to grow the capital, sparking a diverse range of creative and entrepreneurial suggestions.

Launching Tangible Businesses and Services

A prominent theme was the idea of starting a small, tangible business. Suggestions included:

Community-focused ventures: Ideas like a coffee stand, a laundromat, or even a village solar charging station were proposed, emphasizing low-maintenance, low-tech, and useful services to a local community.
Specialized production/services: One user detailed their success with freeze-dried food, noting its value appreciation and resilience. This led to a suggestion of starting a freeze-dried food business, perhaps even a mobile one to process crops directly. Another idea was investing in machine tools to establish a small-scale factory, highlighting that tooling itself is now more accessible.
Skilled trades and flipping: Starting a car flipping business, beginning with minimal tools, focusing on honest repairs and sales, and gradually scaling up, was a detailed proposal. This leverages practical skills and aims to build a reputable local business.

Many contributors interpreted the "no startups" rule as excluding venture-backed, Silicon Valley-style startups, thus allowing for self-funded small business creation.

Investing in Collectibles and Alternative Assets

Another category of ideas revolved around acquiring tangible assets that could appreciate or be resold for a profit:

Collectibles and Niche Markets: Leveraging specific knowledge to buy undervalued items—such as vintage instruments, watches, jewelry, furniture, or tools—from platforms like Facebook Marketplace or garage sales was suggested. One user detailed a strategy of actively seeking out valuables from individuals in potentially desperate situations to secure lower prices.
Classic Cars: Investing in older, desirable vehicles like Porsche 911s or classic muscle cars was seen as an investment that could also be enjoyable.
Commodities and Stores of Value: Gold bullion was mentioned as a traditional alternative. Freeze-dried food was also discussed not just as a business but as a personal asset that has historically increased in value and offers utility.

Self-Investment for Future Growth

Several participants advocated for using the funds to invest in oneself:

Skill Development and Personal Projects: Taking a year off to focus on building a business, improving personal fitness, acquiring new skills through courses, or even moving to a city with more opportunities and networking were all put forward as ways to grow future earning potential.
Educational Ventures: Starting a tech education business was also considered a viable path, leveraging expertise to create value.

Innovative and Niche Technical Projects

One unique proposal involved a more technical endeavor: attempting to build a more efficient hybrid vehicle by replacing an EV's battery with a towable generator, inspired by the diesel-electric systems in locomotives. This highlighted a path of innovation and research, albeit with higher technical risk.

Underlying Considerations and Debates

The discussion also touched upon broader financial philosophies:

Critique of Traditional Markets: One commenter provided a detailed argument against investing in current stock markets, citing issues like dark pools, payment for order flow (PFOF), and a perceived lack of genuine price discovery, suggesting these traditional avenues are rigged against the average investor. This perspective underscored the desire for alternatives.
Active vs. Passive Growth: The constraints inherently pushed suggestions towards active involvement—requiring time, effort, and often specific expertise—rather than passive wealth accumulation.
Real Estate (A Contested Area): While some personal real estate uses were restricted, the idea of using the $35,000 as a down payment for a rental property was raised. This sparked debate, with some viewing it as a viable path to generating profit and others cautioning about current market conditions, illiquidity, and the risks for individual landlords. The consensus leaned towards it being a more conventional investment, potentially outside the spirit of the original question's restrictions.
Preservation of Capital: A counterpoint to actively trying to grow the money was the idea of simply preserving it (e.g., "in a mattress") if no truly compelling unconventional opportunity presented itself, emphasizing that being wealthy includes the ability to wait for appropriate investments.

Ultimately, the exercise demonstrated that with conventional options off the table, the focus shifts to creating value directly through businesses, leveraging specialized knowledge in niche markets, or investing in personal capabilities for long-term growth.