This year, I started my private investment fund with the goal of it becoming a serious fund over the next decade. When I first started, I had $0 AUM (assets under management) outside of personal household accounts.
The first funds I sent were $53 into VOO because I was still researching quality businesses that I wanted on the fund’s balance sheet. It has since grown to $1,141 as of December 27th, 2024, surpassing the initial goal of $1,000.
Building a Fund on a Low-Income Budget
As mentioned before I started this blog to document the journey of a low-income single person living in a one-bedroom apartment, building a private investment fund from the bottom. When people hear “private investment fund,” they often assume someone with millions of dollars in capital. But as I ventured through multiple holdings from companies, I found smaller investment funds that most people have never heard of.
For example, when I was researching a soda company, I looked at the funds that hold the stock and saw that some funds held one single share or single digits. Researching further, I discovered these funds weren’t well-known or “big dogs” with capital but instead smaller, mom-and-pop-type funds, so to speak. That’s when I knew that the idea of having my own investment fund went from sounding foolish to realistic.
It Doesn’t Take Much to Run a Private Investment Fund
It doesn’t take much to run a private investment fund if you don’t plan on managing other people’s money. I do not—at least for the foreseeable future.
Instead, my own fund will hold quality businesses and be part of an umbrella where I also have other investments or businesses on the side, connected in a way similar to a holding company.
Diversifying and Creating Income Streams
For example, I have book and finance article royalties that are still being sent to me. Over time, as I grow projects for additional income, I plan to establish a structure similar to a holding company. This will allow me to manage everything under one umbrella—organizing my fund, royalties, and future ventures seamlessly
Meanwhile, I manage all of this from my one-bedroom apartment in the downtown area of my city. I have a couple of project ideas that I want to build out in 2025 for additional income streams and will need to find time outside of school to get them running. I had another project idea that I started earlier this month but pulled the plug when I realized that the factors needed to make it successful weren’t there.
Understanding the Importance of Saying ‘No’ to the Wrong Projects
Knowing myself well enough, once I saw what it was going to require of me both mentally and emotionally, I knew it wasn’t the project to pursue. That has been one of my biggest areas of growth over the years—understanding that it isn’t a failure to pull the plug when you know something isn’t right for you and how you want to design your life.
The Bigger Picture: Designing the Life I Want
After all, the investment fund isn’t just the vessel for me to achieve financial freedom but also to design the life I want—not only for myself but for my loved ones within the household. If it were ever to start taking time away from the things I find equally important, like quality time with my loved ones, I would either have to adjust or, at worst, pull the plug.
Eventually, I would like to have an office space where I can go to work every day while building the fund and managing projects that will contribute to the bottom line of our household.
But for now, it is so minuscule that running things from my laptop in my one-bedroom apartment will do. Nine positions now sit on the balance sheet of the fund and the conservative goal for 2025 is $2,500 by year-end.
The Broke College Student 
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