Allan Hu: “Retiring at 65 is an irrelevant concept”

What is the American dream? Perhaps, it is everything you can dream of. The striking expression of the American spirit has been handed down as inheritance and for interpretation for centuries. Pioneers, explorers, scientists, and now, entrepreneurs have benefited from and basked in its encouragement for decades. 27-year-old serial entrepreneur Allan Hu owes his success to it, as he believes it persuades young entrepreneurs to make it big.

For Allan, the American dream symbolizes freedom. The young and successful entrepreneur has been hustling on the digital streets since he was 12. The desire to gain financial freedom led him to go rogue with experimentation. He recalls, “Taking control of my life has been my goal since the beginning. At 12, I filled out surveys on websites to make $20. In high school, I made my first $10k or so on YouTube with a few popular videos promoting a ‘search engine revenue share’ site. At 16, I wrote articles for content farms to make $30 an hour. At 17, I started my online business on Amazon, and became a millionaire by 22.” Allan’s American dream opened his eyes to a world where he could earn his place on his terms and in his way.

Allan feels that what sets the dream apart is the fact that it encourages every individual to have faith in themselves. “I have friends from other countries. They are the same age as me. But there’s a huge difference between us. I am already there where they wish to be ten years from now. That’s interesting to me because it shows me how the American dream has put the American dreamer at the forefront of evolution. It gives me a sense of responsibility.” Freedom is often associated with anarchy, however, for individuals like Allan, freedom to dream and the freedom to choose are cornerstones of shared responsibility.

“The American dream at its core doesn’t just say ‘it’s possible’, but that ‘it’s possible for you’. This re-assurance can get addictive and box people inside the maze of ambition. Luckily, I never took my privileges for granted.” By privileges, Allan meant the fact that he was “born in the USA, in a relatively well-off middle-class family with a stable parent-child bond and with a balanced sense of abundance and scarcity.” His gratefulness towards life has helped him “learn to treat his financial success with respect.”

The American dream has helped Allan accomplish a lot at a very young age while instilling in him the need to be grateful. As the dream stays young in the hearts of the ambitious, may they remember the age-old wisdom embedded in it as well!