My Journey to Become a Millionaire by 30 Years Old

The fastest way to a one million dollar net worth is to start with two million.

I want to clear a few things up right from the start. First, how is a millionaire defined? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a millionaire is "a person whose wealth is estimated at a million or more (as of dollars or pounds)." In their definition, Merriam-Webster uses wealth, but a more appropriate word choice would have been net worth. Wealth is a broad term; ask ten people what it means, and you'll get ten answers. Net worth is less ambiguous. It is defined as your assets minus your liabilities.

Secondly, and equally as necessary, to clear up. A million-dollar net worth today is not what it was five, ten, or fifteen years ago. I am not trying to be ignorant or inconsiderate that much of the world still lives in poverty. A one million dollar net worth is sizable, but if you think in 2023 this means you are living in a mansion and driving a Ferrari, you are massively mistaken. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator, to have $1,000,000 of buying power in 1990 dollars, in 2023, you would need $2,348,273.16. That's not a rounding error. That's material and shows that a million dollars are not what it used to be.

Lastly, this is not a brag post or me saying that money is everything and my only goal is to become a millionaire. For me, this is about transparency. Discussing finances has always held a taboo that limits our ability to learn and grow. As a society, we have decided that discussing finances is tacky or makes us uncomfortable, so we don't discuss it. I share to help others as it is others who shared with me that have changed the trajectory of my life.

"Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver," Ayn Rand.

Now that we've clarified what it means to be a millionaire and its relativity, let's talk about how I achieved my current net worth and my plan to reach millionaire status.

I recently turned 29 years old, so to reach millionaire status by 30 means I have around 12 months.

I started this journey in 2016 when I graduated college. My first salary was $50,000/year, and I lived in Downtown Chicago. It is not the highest cost of living in the country but above the national average. My starting net worth was negative $20,000, which consisted of student loan debt partially offset by a few thousand dollars in cash I saved from working in college. It's not an ideal start, but considering a federal borrower's average student loan debt in 2023 is $37,574, only being negative $20,000 puts you ahead.

I have always been interested in personal finance, reading the occasional book, but to say I was as intentional in 2016 with my finances as I am today would be a lie. Like most new college graduates, I focused more on enjoying myself than pinching dollars. I contributed to my retirement accounts and had an emergency fund, but beyond this, I wasn't doing much else. No budgeting, no tracking what I spent, no calculating my net worth. I made enough to pay the bills, enjoy myself, and invest a small portion of my income. That was good enough for me. This went on for a couple of years, and my net worth and financial acumen were slowly growing, but not at the rate I wanted them to. I read Rich Dad Poor Dad in college and knew I could become rich on my current trajectory but not wealthy.

This was also right around the time I discovered the FIRE Movement. FIRE is an acronym that stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. This FIRE community consists of people from all walks of life with a common goal of intentionally building their financial future. Every individual's path and goal differ, but the commonality is a desire to free oneself from a career or the obligation to work. I am not a big fan of the word retire as I love working, as does much of this community, so it is less about retirement and more about the ability to choose the work you do or don't do.

This was the start of my paradigm shift. Beyond FIRE, I had been studying the psychology of money and wealth building and decided I wanted my financial life to have intention and purpose. I wanted money to work for me, not me to work for it. I evaluated my why and how money was a part of my life. I started setting financial goals, tracking my spending, and increasing my knowledge and actions around my finances. This was when my wealth-building journey began. I had the knowledge, mindset, and foundational actions. Now, it was time to execute.

Again, my first salary out of college was $50,000/year. I was in an Executive Development Program, and upon graduating, my second-year compensation increased to around $75,000/year. At this time, I also moved from Chicago to Kansas City, which was a huge win from a cost-of-living standpoint. I had a company car, and the rent was affordable, but I still felt like I had two going out the door before I could save a dollar. I knew I needed to increase my savings rate, pay myself first, and more aggressively invest those savings.

I had been interested in real estate dating back to high school, and while I had been studying personal finance, I was simultaneously learning about real estate through books and a mentor. I was biased towards real estate, but while studying personal finance, I evaluated every asset class I could to determine my primary investment vehicle. I knew I needed diversification, but I also believe in focusing on one thing and becoming an expert. This is how you gain a competitive advantage. When you chase everything, you catch nothing. After extensive research and speaking with much more experienced individuals than myself, I ultimately landed back on real estate as my primary tool for building wealth. (I'll write more in-depth in another post about my evaluation process and why I decided on real estate).

It was now 2018, and I was in the third year of my career. I made around 90,000/year and purchased my first property, a duplex just outside of Kansas City, MO, where I lived on one side and rented the other. This move took my housing costs from $1,200/month to under $200/month, dramatically increasing my ability to save, which allowed me to use those savings to purchase another rental property around six months later.

In 2020, almost one year after purchasing my first rental property, I was relocated halfway across the country from my company. I rinsed and repeated and bought another duplex. I now had three properties, five units and was generating modest cash flow. I was far from financial independence, but I was on my way.

My new compensation in my fourth career year was around $120,000. More powerful than my salary was that I had not fallen victim to Lifestyle Inflation (Lifestyle inflation refers to a situation where an individual's income increases and their spending also increases). I had minimal housing expenses and still drove my car from college. Simultaneously, the real estate market was appreciating dramatically, and my net worth started to snowball.

Over the next two years till December 2022, when I took a promotion, my W2 income remained consistent in the low to mid $100s. All the while, I continued saving aggressively and buying investment properties. I purchased seven properties from 2018 to 2022, three of which I sold from 2021 through 2023.

Fast forward to today, and my total W2 compensation is around $250,000/year after my promotion in December 2022. My current real estate portfolio consists of four properties, eight units. I generate around $1,500/month in cash flow from these rentals. I live in one of my units, so my housing costs are zero. My current net worth is just over $900k, broken down below. The only debt I have is in the form of mortgages, which I have subtracted from my Real Estate Equity below. Note: I am sitting on more cash than I would normally, but I have most of it in a high-interest savings account, generating close to 5% and will deploy it into real estate in the next 3-12 months.

Again, some people will think I'm writing this to brag. Some will say this is unfair and that my salary is much higher than theirs, which is why I achieved this. That I'm privileged and must have connections or that I went to an Ivy League school (hint: I didn't). My dad owns a small business, and my mom is a teacher. Some say the real estate market will crash, and I will lose everything. Some say I got lucky and timed real estate in history's most extensive bull run.

I wouldn't deny for one second that I got lucky. I did. I am not more intelligent than the next guy, and to say I knew the real estate market would explode would be a blatant lie. I wish I did. I would have bought a hell of a lot more. I didn't know. I'll tell you what I did know and still believe to this day. The decisions we make help create our luck. When I started investing in real estate, countless people told me I was a fool, that the market was topping out or that my tenants would burn the house down and then sue me. I listened but ultimately chose to take calculated risks that I determined offered asymmetric returns. The real estate market exploded for everybody, not just me. The difference is I took calculated risks and made decisions to put myself in a position to be lucky.

My path to $1,000,000. I am a massive believer in reverse engineering your goals. If you have an end destination, you must clearly understand how to get there. You need directions from Orlando, FL, to Syracuse, NY. This is precisely how I approach my goals, and my path to $1,000,000 is no different. With any goal, I always start with where I am today and where I want to go. The question then becomes what is the most efficient path to get there, knowing there will be roadblocks and the need to pivot along the way.

I have 12 months to grow my net worth to $78,000. This means, on average, I need to increase my net worth to $6,500/month. Currently, I am growing my net worth to around $12,000/month. This doesn't include asset appreciation and is strictly calculated on saving/investment contributions and debt reduction, primarily in the form of principal paydown of mortgages.

As of today, I am on track to reach my goal. Does that mean I am good to go and don't need to check my progress til 12 months from now? Absolutely not. I track my spending every day, week, and month to ensure I am on track. I track my net worth quarterly. Will I be able to do precisely what I am doing today to reach my goal? Probably not. I will constantly tweak and pivot to ensure my actions reflect the environment. Real estate could crash, and I may need to grow my net worth of $200,000 over the next 12 months to offset losses there. My actions will need to change.

I'll leave you with this. Your journey is your own. You may make significantly less than I do or make considerably more. You may own 100 houses, or you may own zero. You will have good luck, and you will have bad luck. Your goal may be $1,000, $100,000, or $10,000,000. None of that matters. What matters in your financial journey is your intention and your why. Please don't ignore your finances because you're too scared to face them. Don't place limiting beliefs or explain why you can't achieve your financial goals. Lastly, don't for a second think money will create happiness. As mentioned in the beginning, money is a powerful tool, but just as a circular saw can help you build a house, it can also cut your arm off. What matters is how you use it.

Works Cited

“Definition of MILLIONAIRE.” Www.merriam-Webster.com, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/millionaire#:~:text=%3A%20a%20person%20whose%20wealth%20is.

“CPI Inflation Calculator.” Bls.gov, 2009, data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl.

“23 Quotes on the Value and Danger of Money.” Bplans Blog, 4 Sept. 2014, articles.bplans.com/23-quotes-value-danger-money/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CMoney%20is%20only%20a%20tool. Accessed 19 Aug. 2023.

Hanson, Melanie. “Average Student Loan Debt.” EducationData, 22 Jan. 2023, educationdata.org/average-student-loan-debt#:~:text=The%20average%20federal%20student%20loan.

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