Today, I Repaid My Student Loan. Should I Start Investing in Startups?

There have been bumps in the financial road — as I started my company and then stopped working on it - but I’m finally out of debt, three years after graduating from ESCP Europe. It was one of my resolutions for 2014 ☺

As the end of my final payment coincides with having a new job at Curioos, I’ll probably manage to set aside some money every month, for the first time in my life.

So what should I do now? I can already think of several options:

• Spend more. I’ve never really had a fancy lifestyle. Everything I own still fits in my backpack (Leo style), and I don’t really feel the need to change this for the moment. I’d probably love to travel a bit more but working full-time makes it pretty difficult.
• Save money for my old days. I recently read that saving money early in your life drastically increases the potential retirement income. However, as I always say that “I’ll probably be dead by then” to people even thinking about a six-month plan, it will be hard for me to think about decades away.
• Save money for my next startup. I don’t currently feel like starting a new company. But who knows what will happen in a couple of years? Setting some money aside would allow me to bootstrap before going to investors.
• Donate some money. I’ve always been a big fan of trying to have social impact. But can I have the impact I envision, given the small amount of money I can give?
• Save money to buy a place. My dad’s obsession. However, I don’t have any advantage on the average joe regarding buying properties. And the constraints scare the traveler inside me.
• Invest in startups. I won’t save enough money to do big investments. However, with mechanisms like syndicates on AngelList, it’s now easier than ever to invest small amounts together with other people. It makes even more sense as my network provides access to interesting deals and as I better understand what it takes to be successful.

I’ll spend the next couple of weeks thinking and talking to people about these options and many more so I’d love to know what you think. What would you do if you were me? Thanks a ton for the help!