My boring answer... At every level you'd look at your available investment choices and try to balance a predictable return with the rate of potential growth. H

My boring answer... At every level you'd look at your available investment choices and try to balance a predictable return with the rate of potential growth. Hopefully as you walk up that latter, you get stepped into a more lucrative pool of choices. Likely the best things available on each rung are going to be the investments that you personally understand best. $1 - A can and a piece of cardboard to use to beg for money $10 - A spray bottle and rag to wash cars with $100 - A book $1,000 - A few classes at community college $10,000 - A really cheap degree of some sort $100,000 - Index funds $1,000,000 - Rental property