You could, for example, create a side business selling a skill you currently have (accounting, legal, writing, editing, purchasing, etc.) or could develop (graphic design, copywriting, resume writing, etc.). Or you could turn a hobby or passion (stamp collecting, gardening, pets) into a profitable, Internetbased direct-marketing business.

As your side business grows, it will require that you reinvest some of the profits into creating new products, hiring employees, and developing new advertising campaigns. You should allow for growth, but limit it to avoid growing so fast that you end up losing control and getting into trouble.

Equity-building real estate. Buying equity-building real estate means buying rental properties. The trick to making this work for you at this second stage of wealth is to buy conservatively— that is, to make sure that the rent you’ll get will at least meet (but should really exceed) your cost of maintaining the property. I recommend duplexes, triplexes, and quadruplexes to start. They’ll give you the best chance to achieve zero or positive monthly cash flow. How much equity-building real estate should you develop? If you have a net worth of $100,000, I’d recommend a little more than half. Let’s say $60,000.

Fixed-income instruments. The rest of your money should be in Treasuries, municipal bonds, or quality corporate paper. Fixedincome instruments like these don’t provide a high return, but they are safe.

If your scope is seven years or less, there is only one answer: Start a business. You can’t start a capital-intensive business with $18,000. You can’t, for example, open a restaurant or create a new line of pharmaceuticals. But you don’t want to be in those businesses anyway. (The risk/reward ratio isn’t working for you.) Much better to start a business selling something you know about—such as gardening or collecting beer steins or taking care of pets. You can start a little business like this for a few thousand dollars if you start small and go slowly—at first.

Municipal bonds also have call provisions that allow the issuer to redeem bonds before their term expires. For example, a 30-year bond will typically have a seven-year call. If interest rates have declined over the seven-year period, the state will redeem the bonds and then issue loweryielding securities. Obviously, this is not in your favor, and you may find it irritating.

Munis are also subject to wide swings in value. State economies are more volatile than the national economy. When a state economy is booming, state tax revenues are high and there is little need to issue munis. At the same time, state residents’ incomes are high. They want munis, which pay tax-free interest. The combination of low supply and high demand leads to overpriced, scarce bonds. When a state is in recession, tax revenues decline.

The state issues a hoard of bonds to keep going just at the time when it can least afford to make interest and principal payments. Muni interest rates rise to compensate for the reduced security. Older munis lose value.

Consider how you react to wide price swings.