Fame
& Fortune: James Young
Styx guitarist keeps his investments FDIC insured |
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| Bankrate:
Over the years, how have you invested your money?
James Young: Derek
Sutton was a very conservative investment mind, and he was my tutor on a lot of
these things. I've dabbled in real estate investment, although I had some negative
investments in Hawaiian real estate. I have some equity investment and was fortunate
enough to have given money to some investment guys out of New York that turned
into a wonderful windfall for me. They put together deals, in the late '80s and
early '90, that I would get a small piece of because I had been there from the
start. There was one business which recently had a very nice run up from under
a dollar to four bucks, just in the last year or two. They put me in it back in
the late '80s, and it's been a wonderful thing. Bankrate:
With touring, new records, royalties on old records, what is your main
source of income now? James Young:
Touring revenue is the biggest chunk of revenue we have. We've done around 100
shows a year, since the middle of 1999. And our catalog continues to sell. Bankrate:
Do you still get significant royalties? James
Young: Our catalog continues to sell in an amazing way. Bankrate:
What advice would you give to a young musician starting out in the business, as
far as handling the business end of things? James
Young: I don't know. It's tough. I've talked about some big successes here,
but as an investor, in my pension plan, I am probably 90 percent in FDIC-insured
certificates of deposit. And, something most people don't know about is they have
these long-dated callable CDs which still yield way above the 30-year Treasury
mark. That, to me, is a big investment vehicle. Even the people
in my local bank were unaware that these vehicles existed. I
do that through Schwab, and I invested all my own money from my rollover IRA.
So as an investor, I go very conservative. I figure that even though we have a
country with an incredible trade deficit, and financial deficit, they can print
that money for me no matter what happens. Also, it's very
important to be with the right people. I read an article in Reader's Digest about
luck. It said you make your own luck by placing yourself in the path of opportunity.
If you sit home and make records and send them out to people who've never met
you, and you haven't created any relationships or any basis for someone to want
to give you the benefit of the doubt, you'll never be given the chance to do something. | 
