I think there’s a very false idea of what it’s like to be a Millionaire in your 20’s…so here is an honest, real-world experience of what it’s like to be a self-made millionaire by the time I was 26. Enjoy! Add me on Instagram/Snapchat: GPStephan
Learn how to start and grow your career as a Real Estate Agent to a Six-Figure Income, how to best build your network of clients, expand into luxury markets, and the exact steps I’ve used to grow my business from $0 to over $120 million in sales: https://goo.gl/UFpi4c
Join the private Real Estate Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/therealestatemillionairemastermind/
So let’s start with the positives from it all:
Hitting a million was a bit of an ego-boost. It was a sense of accomplishment. In terms of achieving a goal, it felt good - but nothing changed. I don’t buy designer clothes. I don’t travel first class. I don’t eat out at expensive restaurants. I buy most of my clothes on Black Friday sales. I shop around for the best deals. I make eggs for dinner. I don’t buy anything I don’t need. I keep my expenses low…and that’s how I like it. And it was these habits that made me a millionaire in the first place.
The biggest aspect of hitting this milestone was a sense of freedom. It was the freedom of knowing that as long as I had this money invested, I’d never have to work a job I disliked and I’d never have to do anything I really didn’t want to do. Just knowing that you could decide to pursue anything is just as enjoyable as pursuing anything. Once you have the freedom or choice to walk away, it leaves you in a position of being the decision-maker in life. And just as a byproduct of that, you tend to enjoy things more and coincidentally, you tend to do better and make more money.
But now lets talk about the bad…just kidding, there is no bad 😉 But ok in all seriousness…
It took me awhile to think of this part, because I haven’t really noticed any downsides yet. I don’t think I’ve been at quite the level where money really has a big impact negatively, so I had to stretch this a little just to come up with something…
The first is that I’ve gotten used to a larger-than-normal income, so it doesn’t seem like a lot me. What I consider a bad month of income could be someone else’s best month ever, and it’s difficult to put that in perspective when you’re used to earning a certain amount, and everyone you’re around earns a certain amount, and you lose touch of what’s normal.
On the other hand, because I never really “spend” my money, my tolerance for what I consider “a lot” is really, really low…so even though my income is high, the idea of spending $35 on a dinner just seems absurd to me. Or spending more than $20 on gas at a time just seems like a waste…and this is because even though my income went up, I’d get used to it, but I’ve kept my spending at the exact same level as when I was 20 or so. So there’s a big disconnect between what I consider a lot in “income,” and what I consider a lot in “spending.” But if I didn’t have those frugal spending habits to begin with, I wouldn’t have saved and invested so much, so it was a bit of a necessity.
Which brings me to my second point…one thing that comes up that sometimes annoys me is that frugality is now somehow frowned upon once you can afford something. Like if I’ll go out and only order one drink because I don’t want to spend the extra money, I get the “oh dude, just get another, you can afford it.” But the only reason I got to this place was because I was hyper-focused on my money and how I spent it. If I ever resist spending money, I’m somehow cheap. There’s a reason why lotto winners go broke…the spending habits to become a millionaire are the exact same to STAY a millionaire.
But besides those few small things, really, nothing changed. I didn’t change my spending habits, it was really quite uneventful. In fact, I’m sure it’d be rather disappointing for anyone who expects there to be some magic thing that happens once you cross the million dollar mark. The reality is that you hit it, you figure you’re doing something right, so you continue to do what works while building up a bigger nest egg.
For business inquiries or one-on-one real estate investing/real estate agent consulting or coaching, you can reach me at GrahamStephanBusiness @gmail.com
Suggested reading:
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: http://goo.gl/TPTSVC
Your money or your life: https://goo.gl/fmlaJR
The Millionaire Real Estate Investor: https://goo.gl/sV9xtl
How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://goo.gl/1f3Meq
Think and grow rich: https://goo.gl/SSKlyu
Awaken the giant within: https://goo.gl/niIAEI
The Book on Rental Property Investing: https://goo.gl/qtJqFq
Favorite Credit Cards:
Chase Sapphire Reserve - https://goo.gl/sT68EC
American Express Platinum - https://goo.gl/C9n4e3
Learn how to start and grow your career as a Real Estate Agent to a Six-Figure Income, how to best build your network of clients, expand into luxury markets, and the exact steps I’ve used to grow my business from $0 to over $120 million in sales: https://goo.gl/UFpi4c
Join the private Real Estate Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/therealestatemillionairemastermind/
So let’s start with the positives from it all:
Hitting a million was a bit of an ego-boost. It was a sense of accomplishment. In terms of achieving a goal, it felt good - but nothing changed. I don’t buy designer clothes. I don’t travel first class. I don’t eat out at expensive restaurants. I buy most of my clothes on Black Friday sales. I shop around for the best deals. I make eggs for dinner. I don’t buy anything I don’t need. I keep my expenses low…and that’s how I like it. And it was these habits that made me a millionaire in the first place.
The biggest aspect of hitting this milestone was a sense of freedom. It was the freedom of knowing that as long as I had this money invested, I’d never have to work a job I disliked and I’d never have to do anything I really didn’t want to do. Just knowing that you could decide to pursue anything is just as enjoyable as pursuing anything. Once you have the freedom or choice to walk away, it leaves you in a position of being the decision-maker in life. And just as a byproduct of that, you tend to enjoy things more and coincidentally, you tend to do better and make more money.
But now lets talk about the bad…just kidding, there is no bad 😉 But ok in all seriousness…
It took me awhile to think of this part, because I haven’t really noticed any downsides yet. I don’t think I’ve been at quite the level where money really has a big impact negatively, so I had to stretch this a little just to come up with something…
The first is that I’ve gotten used to a larger-than-normal income, so it doesn’t seem like a lot me. What I consider a bad month of income could be someone else’s best month ever, and it’s difficult to put that in perspective when you’re used to earning a certain amount, and everyone you’re around earns a certain amount, and you lose touch of what’s normal.
On the other hand, because I never really “spend” my money, my tolerance for what I consider “a lot” is really, really low…so even though my income is high, the idea of spending $35 on a dinner just seems absurd to me. Or spending more than $20 on gas at a time just seems like a waste…and this is because even though my income went up, I’d get used to it, but I’ve kept my spending at the exact same level as when I was 20 or so. So there’s a big disconnect between what I consider a lot in “income,” and what I consider a lot in “spending.” But if I didn’t have those frugal spending habits to begin with, I wouldn’t have saved and invested so much, so it was a bit of a necessity.
Which brings me to my second point…one thing that comes up that sometimes annoys me is that frugality is now somehow frowned upon once you can afford something. Like if I’ll go out and only order one drink because I don’t want to spend the extra money, I get the “oh dude, just get another, you can afford it.” But the only reason I got to this place was because I was hyper-focused on my money and how I spent it. If I ever resist spending money, I’m somehow cheap. There’s a reason why lotto winners go broke…the spending habits to become a millionaire are the exact same to STAY a millionaire.
But besides those few small things, really, nothing changed. I didn’t change my spending habits, it was really quite uneventful. In fact, I’m sure it’d be rather disappointing for anyone who expects there to be some magic thing that happens once you cross the million dollar mark. The reality is that you hit it, you figure you’re doing something right, so you continue to do what works while building up a bigger nest egg.
For business inquiries or one-on-one real estate investing/real estate agent consulting or coaching, you can reach me at GrahamStephanBusiness @gmail.com
Suggested reading:
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: http://goo.gl/TPTSVC
Your money or your life: https://goo.gl/fmlaJR
The Millionaire Real Estate Investor: https://goo.gl/sV9xtl
How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://goo.gl/1f3Meq
Think and grow rich: https://goo.gl/SSKlyu
Awaken the giant within: https://goo.gl/niIAEI
The Book on Rental Property Investing: https://goo.gl/qtJqFq
Favorite Credit Cards:
Chase Sapphire Reserve - https://goo.gl/sT68EC
American Express Platinum - https://goo.gl/C9n4e3
Hell yeah, I'd just use that amount of money to get by and the rest to continue the grind! 💪
Thank you for such an honest take on this.
how is buying gas a waste
That's not hippie woo woo, it's Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
Always watch your videos till the end 🙂
Good video
Bro your inspiring
Nice everything, I like that of having a low threshold for spending and a high threshold for earning. However I think it is a bit overdone to look up for the cheapest drink on the menu. I think that at the point you are you can get the drink you like and the food you feel like eating.
Too the moon 🦍🦍🦍🦍🚀🚀🚀🚀🦍🦍🚀🚀
It’s good you’re frugal, it’s going to do wonders for your dating life.
Graham jokes like: Ha kidding there are no downsides
and then continues to not find any downsides
Learn how to save little and build that as a habit because little things are big things
Thank you so much for your insight!!!
but come on, what s the point in becoming a multi millionaire without enjoying a decent financial lightness (like not sparing on a drink or a dinner out). I totally get it if it's the way you're planning to live for a few more years in order to achieve faster a certain goal, but are you planning on ever stopping to live this frugal?
Depends if you want to be a millionaire later in your life. If you do, then it's work work work none stop and learning as much as you can as fast as you can. Basically a nonstop grind until you finally have enough assets to be self sufficient and enough passive income to be able to have more free time to allow you to stay ahead of the curve. Otherwise, spend all your money and be poor in 2 years. Just look at people who won the lottery. Of course there are exceptions to every rule but this is a summary of it all.
Yessir 👍
Old video now but I watch every one until the end! Finding your channel was one of the best things that could have happened.
Watched it all the way through
Is this just an ad for h&m? 😏😏
This was a great video! I’m going to be a Multi Millionaire one day, and plan on being just as smart about my dollars on investing.
Watched till the end 🙂
thats wassup thank you for this video
i could afford to live in california, but i wouldn't be putting away as much into my savings or have much to play with on the stock market
Just as an observation from a non-rich person that has some very well off friends, a downside I see (even seemingly with you when you were talking about your 5 biggest financial mistakes of your 20's), is being taken advantage of when people find out you are rich or have extra cash to burn. For example, my buddy hired a contractor to help build his dream house. This guy was referred to him from a friend of a friend of a friend basically (never go over one friend of a friend deep! haha). Anyhow this guy really milked him for as much cash as possible. WAAAAY over budget, dragged his feet with everything and screwed up so many things. Eventually he just stopped showing up and disappeared! This kind of stuff always seems to happen to my well off friends. Anyway, my point is there are a lot of greedy ass opportunists out there and being rich, especially obviously rich, makes you a huge target! So, you are doing well by being frugal and not looking the part. I just thought I'd point that out to others. Cheers and thanks for the rad videos! \m/
Boostin the algorythm
Graham, I always make it to the end of your video. I have also gotten to the point that every time I click on your video, I automatically hit the like button b/c I know you always teach me something new. I wish I was 18 when I saw your videos (unfortunately I am one year older than you, I am 30 years old…lol). Thanks for everything. Not all hope is lost for me, since we are just 1 year apart. If you can do it, I can do it. The only issue is that I have tons of student loan debt from my bachelor's and master's, and you don't. I wish I was smart enough to not go to college and just learn from self help books and life.
Ty ty, Idk if it's age or what it may be, but your videos always resonate well.
I clicked on your video because I've been told I should be a millionaire with all the ideas and things I have activated in my life. I wanted to see what it was like from day to day in terms of how family and friends may treat you. So it was helpful but my worries about having serious cash to give away to my family and friends (Which is what I would probably do) is still there.
If I didn't give it away I would invest in my destiny and let that get my happiness and the success would be the by product. My lifetime catch 22 is that I need money to get there. So time to work, Peace!
Thanks for the video.
I always make it to the end of the video. Thanks for your insight Graham.
Like, Comment, and Comment that you commented and liked.
Maybe Graham will pin your post like he will do mine. 🙂