Hello All, i'm a newbie here and couldnt open a new thread about this. Everything i've read here was pretty informative though.
A bit of background;
Turkish guy, 32 years old, working on cruise ships since 2011(just finished paying family's debts),worked in alaska for the cruise season. So far i've got 10k USD cash. My monthly earnings range from 3k-4k USD with no rent.
My job is to sell diamonds to customers on cruise ships or in alaska when cruise ships dock. Although i got a bit too much into it, went to indonesian/african diamond mines, bought/sold rough/polished diamonds with little success(i had lack of knowledge how trade works).
I would like to live in Turkey in the future(lets say after i reach 40 y/o) for low cost of living due to dollar-lira ratio. Although that is only possible with USD income(or any other foreign currency really).
Here are some plans that i was thinking about;
-Invest in a diamond mine in indonesia; needs about 20k USD to buy the machinery(dredge basically) which will hasten the process of recovering diamonds. Profits go %40 to me, %40 to miners, %20 to land owner. A local guy will supervise the mine. Even though i bought rough diamonds from him,i have doubts that moment i leave the country, i wont get accurate results of production(or if they will be honest with what they find). Supervisor is a local diamond trader with many buyers and references.
The issue here is that im not investing in a company since its a small mine. Lets say if something happens,i dont have any legal claims.
Potential profits= well, if something big is found, i can get 10x of my money in a day.
-Invest in brazilian diamond exchange; that is tricky. I dont know the guy but we have mutual friends. He promises %18-35 ROI in a year(brazil has the largest amount of colored diamonds in the world which increases massively in value). Minimum investment is 4000 USD. Never visited them in real life though.
-Invest in an entirely new diamond/gold mine in Sierra Leone; For this, i need to save up 200.000 USD. This project will be headed by an extremely experienced american gemologist who lives in Sierra Leone(originally from baltimore tho,vietnam veteran) since 1994, married with a local, he was a consultant to many big jewelry companies in NYC to procure their rough diamonds. This project is legally supported by Sierra Leone government as well. I did some trade with him and he's VERY trustworthy and no bullshit guy.
Daily expenses will be covered by daily gold recoveries from the river and nothing can be mined during high season where rivers flow. Basically mining season is about 5-6 months in a year or so.
Potential profits; Massive since they found big diamonds in that area last couple years. But it can be nothing as well. I will need to be present for the first few months until we finish prospecting the area, building tents, machinery etc. Then i can get out of the country and chill.
-Invest in airbnb rentals; I intend to live in Capital(born and raised also) of Turkey, a city about 5 million people. Airbnb goes about 20 usd per night here. There's little tourism, but quite a few comers and goers for government related business,etc. 1 bedroom apartments are about 25.000 USD, Studio apartments are same, 2-3 bedroom apartments can be found for 30.000 USD or so. Advantage is, government doesnt charge tax on airbnb.
Another option for airbnb can be found Budva(montenegro) for about 25-30k euro apartments are available for airbnb rentals. Downside is; its seasonal tourism. Only in summer. There are companies which can take care of those airbnb's for you for about %20 fee.
-Invest in a bank and get interest; So far I've found georgia and azerbaijani banks give about %10 interest yearly. To be honest though,i dont know much about it.
-Invest in businesses; I have found quite a few food businesses(local) primarily which is small, but has potential to grow. Invest in those and get paid dividends every month or so.
Alternatively,i can open a manning agency here and send people to cruise ships. I will get paid when they finish their contracts(6 months) and its contingent of me getting authorised by cruise companies. I plan to do this as an additional income thing, basically not to get bored. Turkey's potential is massive about this(a lot of young people are unemployed, dollar is lot more valuable,etc).
My aim is to get 3-5k USD income. If it can be passive,even better.
Until i reach 40,i aim to have about 100k-120k USD or so.
Any other recommendations on what to do?
Thanks everyone for answers,