His father was an orthodontist, his mother a financial consultant and stockbroker. From an early age, Michael Dell was fascinated by both business and electronics, and couldn't wait to combine his two passions. At age eight he applied to take a high school equivalency exam, hoping to get out of school and into the business world faster. By his early teens, he was using the money he earned from part-time jobs to invest in stocks and precious metals. Gadgets and everything electronic continued to fascinate him; at age 15, he bought one of the first Apple computers and immediately disassembled it, to see if he could put it back together. In high school he took a job selling newspaper subscriptions and used his data research skills to identify an untapped customer base, earning $18,000 in a single year. He rewarded himself with a new computer and a BMW, and was soon planning a business venture of his own.