You Will Be a Millionaire
I have Big Financial Goals; you have them too!
Now, let’s talk about that lovely trigger word…Millionaire.
I know it’s a trigger word because it comes up in many conversations I have: with Pledgettes members, not-yet-Members and at events. It can be overwhelming when someone on social media shares (may feel like bragging) that they are a millionaire. In these conversations, I encourage people to explore why being a millionaire is triggering.
– Is it the money narratives you have that don’t serve you? (IE rich people are greedy)
– Is there a lack of financial confidence that you can’t achieve Big Financial Goals?
– What part of their story triggers you?
The reality is that wealth is built with internal action and external factors. My real estate investment journey started a year out of college. It was right before the housing crash. I was able to get a no doc loan with little money down (part of the reason there was a housing crash). It was that external factor of loose lending regulations that allowed me buy my first place. But it was my internal action to save up the down payment and take the risk. I bought my first 2-bedroom condo knowing that my high school friend was going to be my roommate (IE househacking).
You don’t hear me going around telling people it’s easy. I won’t give the financial advice to go back into time, get a no doc loan, buy a condo and start househacking.
It’s not easy, but it is simple. (Still triggering? It’s straightforward).
1 – I built my Financial A-Team. My dad was a real estate mentor for me. I had a great mortgage broker.
2 – I increased my Financial Literacy. I learned about the number of real estate investing. I learned the meaning behind the cliche “Location, Location, Location.”
3 – I started to create my real estate strategy.
4 – I saved everything I could. I lived in a basement apartment. Three-quarters of my bedroom was my queen size bed. My roommate had a twin bed in her room. I put off buying a new car. I shopped around for car insurance and renter’s insurance.
When I started using mint in my 20’s, they shared my negative net worth front and center every time I opened the app. I increased my financial literacy on the value of net worth tracking and set milestone goals to increase my net worth. Addie McHale of Moneyfull brought the conversation of Net Worth to The Pledgettes with “What is Net Worth and Why is it Important to Track Yours?”Pledgettes members can watch the replay!
Then, I learned about activist investors from Jennifer Kenning of Align Investing when she came to speak with us on “Impact Investing: Align Your Investments/Consumption Dollars to Your Values.
I dug more into becoming an accredited investor. One way to become an accredited investor is to have $1M in net worth. I set the goal and more diligently tracked my net worth. Benefitted from some external factors and focused on the internal action I could take. And yes, I hit that goal! I became an accredited investor with $1M in net worth. I haven’t made any investments as an accredited investor yet but my partner and I talk about our options and ideas in our State of Our Union meetings (aka Money Dates). Are you having Money Dates? In the webinar, “The Money Date: Why It’s Most Important Date of Your Life Holly Morphew of Financial Impact shared the agenda she uses. And other Pledgettes have shared their Money Date agenda.
I love that we have many conversations in here about money conversations with our partner. We even had a webinar about it. How to Have Better Money Conversations With Your Partner with Financial Advisor Kendra Korkus.
My primary sources for increasing my net worth to $1M:
1 – Living a simple, comfortable life. I sell what I don’t use. That goes for clothes, RVs, cars, and furniture. And, at times, my partner and I have lived in our RV, a 339 sq. ft. studio, short-term stints at our furnished rentals when they were vacant. I furnish my places mostly on Facebook Marketplace, looking out for the deal-deals.
2 – Healthy spending habits, like my spending gut check is asking myself, does this purchase align with my goals and values?
3 – Real estate. Two furnished rentals in the Denver area and one unfurnished rental.
4 – My retirement accounts (thank you, younger me for always getting the company match in my 401(k) plans)
5 – Selling a business with seller-financing. One of my favorite webinars here… How to Buy a Business to Enter Entrepreneurship with Jessica Fialkovich who is a Business Broker and Advisor.
6 – Marrying my partner who had good financial habits, shared values and goals. While he is one of my present day factors, a huge chunk of our net worth came from the wealth that I built before we met.
What I absolutely adore about this community is that our webinars bring in different ideas, strategies, and perspectives on wealth building. Our members are all building wealth in different ways and sharing their experiences in business ownership, stock investment, real investment, peer-to-peer lending, compensation negotiation, multiple streams of income and many more wealth building sources and incredible members making things happens.
Want to learn where my wealth sits by percentage? Kara Perez of Bravely Go, asked me to share for her latest blog.
You are on your own personal financial journey. Have fun with it and build wealth in ways that align with your values and goals!
