Ask Lemmy

his business don’t depend on number of customer available

Clarify this with them. If the business does not depend on customers and selling a product/service to them, then it's most likely a pyramid scheme/MLM. If he continues to be vague about what exactly the business is, that's another red flag. A legit business shouldn't be hard to explain, especially to people they want to ask for investment from.

It's a scam, or he really believes it and it's even worse.

Get it in writing.

But yeah, it's sketchy as fuck. If he could guarantee that ROI he could just go to a bank.

If you can afford to lose the money and maybe tolerate a lengthy trial go for it. Personally I couldn't.

It is probably a scam, but maybe not. Ask him to explain the business plan to you and show you the numbers. If he is unwilling it is definitely a scam.

Not too good to be true, but too good to be low risk.

15% ROI is definitely possible. Him screwing up and ending up bankrupt is also possible.

The red flag for me is "I know nothing about business" - you can't judge the risks. You should absolutely not invest money you can't afford to lose into risky stuff like this. In particular, taking out a loan just to loan the money to your friend would be a really stupid idea, and if he asked you to do that, he either is stupid, reckless, or doesn't care if you get hurt.

I'd only consider loaning my own money with which I can afford taking the risk, and only if he could plausibly explain what he's doing, and I felt like I can understand it and be confident that he can pull it off. I'd consider it a high risk investment on par with cryptocurrencies.

Given that you don't seem to fully understand and there are other red flags: stay away.

I don't need further details to assert "stay away from that 'opportunity'"

• Ex coworker
• Seemingly Great roi.

That smells like a pyramid scheme from miles away.

When it's 50% more than the historical yearly average return of the S&P 500, you're right to be concerned.

I don’t know. I am a salary man. I know nothing about business and investment.

I'll join the "don't" crowd then but will also suggest that you should urgently get some financial literacy to avoid "scams" like these. If you really want to invest money into something, your best bet would be an index fund or an ETF tracking an index like the S&P 500 which historically returned on average (very important to highlight the "on average", because not only does it mean that it can be less but it also means it should be a long-term investment for the law of large numbers to be in your favor, not mentioning that holding for long periods has tax advantages depending on where you live) 10.15% per year since 1957: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042415/what-average-annual-return-sp-500.asp

Avoid stock picking, options, cryptos etc... (unless you really, really know what you're doing) and instead trust when people like Warren Buffett tell you to look at index funds or index ETFs instead and to let compounding do its magic over the years: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/03/billionaire-warren-buffett-swears-by-this-inexpensive-investing-strategy-that-anyone-can-try.html

I'd suggest you buy a book like "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel (very good one) and to read it before you make any investment decisions.

The risk is that the business fails. There are no "sure thing" investments, especially at higher returns.

Ask him how his business can fail. If he doesn't give you a variety of possibilities and ways he's hoping to prevent them, I'd be very worried that he's overconfident and not prepared for difficulties.

Don't be a fool OP. He's either involved in a scam by his own foolishness and doesn't know it or he's the scam.

If they had convincing evidence that they could produce 15% return with low risk, investors would be beating down their door.

85% chance it's an MLM, 14.9% it's another dumb business idea and you won't see that money again regardless.

You're not a bank, the details don't matter. Don't even bother with getting anything in writing from someone who is over leveraged, because you're already never getting that money back in any court regardless since the other creditors come first.

Stay away. There is a 0% chance this will end up working out positively. If he brings it up again after you refuse, set hard boundaries that you don't want to talk about it and you won't entertain any further financial offers or advice. If that risks damaging your friendship then it's a "friendship" that needs damaging.

Sorry to hear your friend's gotten sucked into some investment cult.

Is this a loan? At fifteen percent interest?

Don't mix friendship and money.

This sounds incredibly risky. Proceed with caution!

Get all the details, then come ask us.

15% is a scam.

Unless this is drugs, with the potential of you going to prison, the return is too high. Don’t do this, drugs or no.

sus

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