I always figured my best path to a secure retirement was to work hard and invest my money as early and as often as possible.

The main obstacle was just a matter of figuring out what I should invest in to get the best return.

Then I read an article on this site about how most of the nation's millionaires are entrepreneurs who started their own business.

I have been prety focused the last few weeks on reading everything possible about starting a business. I'm trying to decide if I should start investing in myself and in a business of my own.

What I have figured out is that most businesses fail. This makes me less inclined to invest into a business unless I think I have a really good idea that will work over the long-term.

I guess another thing I have been thinking about is that I don't need millions of dollars to have a secure retirement. This makes me less inclined to take on the higher risk of starting a business if I think I will be secure enough just by investing some money every month into more secure types of assets.

I also read something that said most entrepreneurs don't encourage their children to be entrepreneurs. They instead encourage their children to be professionals such as laywers and doctors because it is more secure. This also put a few brakes on my drive to research the idea of starting a business.

Of course, I could get lucky by having the right idea at the right time so continuing my research seems like a good idea. Even if I never start a business, my research into the idea has been fulfilling and enriching.

I think if I do start a business, I will try to reduce my risk as much as possible. Instead of investing a lot of money up front, I will try to start slowly in my free time with a minimum investment. The reason for this is that many entrepreneurs I have read about say they succeeded in their second or third attempt to start a business so why put myself in a huge debt whole on my first try as I make all of the mistakes first time entrepreneurs seem to make?

One thing I refuse to do is to tap the investments I have been making over the years to fund my new business ideas. I want to make sure that even if a new business does not work, I will still have the secondary route of long-term investing working for me as I fail or succeed in my business endeavors.

I'll continue to post on this site to let you know how my progress goes. I would appreciate any advice anyone has related to the risks and rewards of starting a business.