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Henry Woeltjen

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Potential Backed Securities

Why can we not invest in people...the same way we invest in other things like mortgage backed securities?

Let's just say I set up Woeltjen INC...an investment firm that focuses on people and their ability to grow.

I did screenings of potential candidates. I then invested between 5-10 k on each person depending on their needs.

This could include:
-Image Consulting
-Accounting Classes
-Nutrition Classes
-Medical Screenings
-Background Analysis
-Career Projections
-Housing
-Transportation
-New Clothes

I could then create a staffing company full of my own, vetted, candidates. I would also receive profits from whatever the candidate made...kind of like a loan....but with donations and government funding you wouldn't have to pay back the entire loan unless you defaulted on your career path.

What do you all think?

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    Lejan . 30+

    • +1
    TED Translator
    Dec 17 2012: Investment and Security are incompatible by their intrinsic nature, even though the latest bank bail-out disaster may have given a false impression to this rule. So make yourself clear about the risk you are taking in your business model, especially by the facts, that your ROI is especially long-term and just a view things less predictable than humans and their careers...

    A relative to your model is called 'risk capital', which - at once - carries in its name what to expect and this for both parties involved.

    Personally I prefer a much broader and less elitist approach given from one generation to another, so that people are supported in their individual talents and needs and not for the optimization of yet another investment bubble...

    The most brightest, artistic and creative minds we have and had in the past are not the ones with the highest paycheck at the end of the month. You would only aim for mediocrity and money producing reckless managers, which haven't really given their share to improve society on the long run... actually, on the contrary.
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    Jacqueline d'Etienne

    • +2
    Dec 17 2012: Potential backed investments similar to what you propose already exist, though not in quite the same capacity as what you describe. There are corporate scholarship programs which supply scholars with funds for expenses like tuition, housing, food, and discretionary spending on the condition that the scholar will work for the corporation upon completion of his or her degree. Another example would be student loans.

    If I understand your idea correctly (please clarify if I am wrong), the primary distinctions between it and what I mentioned above are that your corporation would be subsidized by private donors and it would have both capitalistic and philanthropic objectives.

    So then, what sort of person would be an ideal candidate for your corporation to invest in, and how (if at all) would that person differ from the type of candidates who the existing corporations/banks choose to admit to their scholarship programs or loan money to?
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