Here’s our latest interview with a millionaire as we seek to learn from those who have grown their wealth to high heights.
If you’d like to be considered for an interview, drop me a note and we can chat about specifics.
My questions are in bold italics and his responses follow in black.
Let’s get started…
OVERVIEW
How old are you (and spouse if applicable, plus how long you’ve been married)?
I am 37 years old and I recently got married 2 years ago. My wife is 33.
I was raised to understand delayed gratification and I never wanted to get married unless I met someone that matched my important personal values and vice versa.
I met my future wife through a friend and within 6 months, I knew she was the one. Now if you know me, you would know how rational I am and how I analyze and assess risks and situations so this was certainly not expected of me.
Do you have kids/family (if so, how old are they)?
No kids yet. Just some awesome dogs.
What area of the country do you live in (and urban or rural)?
Urban.
What is your current net worth?
$4.4 million
What are the main assets that make up your net worth (stocks, real estate, business, home, retirement accounts, etc.) and any debt that offsets part of these?
Investments in funds, cash, real estate, and multiple businesses.
- Funds (post tax investments) + Retirement (pre-tax): $1.4 million
- Cash: $350k
- Properties: $1.5 million
- Businesses value (conservative estimate): $1 million
- Misc rest: $200k
Liabilities include loan remaining on 3 properties (approx $600k). Student loans at $70k (1.625% interest and 3.6% for my wife’s). No other liabilities.
EARN
What is your job?
I am a medical professional/practitioner and an educator of other medical professionals.
I also own properties.
My wife works in healthcare also, but her salary is minimal ($50k) and does not contribute to the net worth discussion as her income is spent on discretionary spending.
What is your annual income?
Adjusted gross income for 2017 was $471k.
I run multiple businesses and use tax rules to my maximum benefit. If I were a w2 employee, the AGI would be higher.
Tell us about your income performance over time. What was the starting salary of your first job and how did it grow from there?
My income started at sub-100k without any benefits as an employee. I realized that to succeed in life, one has to take control of one’s future and destiny.
As such in my field, the answer was and still is, ownership. I believe that all risks can be calculated and made instead into an active decision. Information and data is how risks can be abated. I don’t come from a wealthy family, but I do come from a family that taught me that I could do anything that I wanted.
I learned everything that I could about business. I read books out of my field. I read and learned from both successful people and those that failed. The failures were equally interesting with a common theme of why they failed.
I took a $500k loan to open my business. I was in the black immediately after the first month. I expanded my business and ended up with close to $900k in debt. Remember, I don’t mind delayed gratification so I snowballed my debt payments and in under 5 years, all my business debt was gone.
I paid myself a reasonable salary during those years and realized how much tax advantages owning a business could offer. I put money back into the business instead of myself or luxuries until my debt was paid.
In those years, my salary was variable, but in the 100s — again business tax benefits in reality make that number higher. Now, my AGI is much higher, but a lot of that is actually for after tax investments.
What tips do you have for others who want to grow their income?
In business success, it is not necessarily how hard one works. There is a misconception that more time, more hours, more dedication is the answer. Yes, that is partially a factor, but it is not the sole factor.
Success in business comes in understanding the psychology of people and understanding social skills. People buy from those that they like. This would also correlate in a corporate environment, people hire and promote those that they like too. You may be the best at a certain skill, but if you’re socially inept, you will not succeed. Learn and improve both your professional and social skills.
What’s your work-life balance look like?
Great. I chose to become a medical professional because the autonomy and the work schedule appealed to me. I believe that you create the future and destiny that you want. For myself that meant an easy work schedule M-Th with a scheduled lunch. I love 3 day weekends. I use the Fridays to work my other businesses. My ultimate goal is location, time and financial independence.
Do you have any sources of income besides your career? If so, can you list them, give us a feel for how much you earn with each, and offer some insight into how you developed them?
I created an education course that has helped many other professionals improve and increase the productivity of their offices. Since it is online based, it scales quite well with minimal time needed now. The work is front loaded with years of preparation to launch it. The course continues to grow in both massive reproducible success for my users and monetary success for myself. Brand name recognition is increasing and will reach, in my opinion, much larger rates of growth in the upcoming future.
There is a lot of money to be made in education. I have a business partner that I bounce ideas off back and forth and he owns one of the fastest growing education companies in the US. My business is utilized by his company during down time as one of their training locations and I receive monthly passive income through that partnership also.
I also own real estate and own 3 rental properties in addition to my main home.
SAVE
What is your annual spending?
That is a difficult one to quantify unless I hire my CPA and we sit down and we label everything that is spent through businesses.
With multiple businesses, the opportunity to use business for legitimate expenses increases and greatly reduces your personal expenses.
My primary residence, bought at the height of the recession, is only $2500 a month. I pay for luxury cars (a couple years old used as to not take the immediate depreciation hit) cash so I do not have car debt.
All CCs (business and personal) are paid off every month. Part of financial success comes from having frank discussions with one’s spouse about budgeting and how money is spent. We agree that savings of at least 10k per month comes first and foremost. In actuality, I believe we save ~15k a month because my wife is on my retirement plans for my companies and her primary job.
What are the main categories (expenses) this spending breaks into?
- Mortgage
- insurances (of every type and expensable whenever possible)
- groceries
- dining out
For my wife, we will have to say shopping for clothes (although that has greatly diminished in the recent past).
For myself, cars and car maintenance. I always have 2 cars for myself 🙂
We take very fancy vacations every year (business/first class flights/luxury hotels), but a lot of those costs are mitigated by understanding how credit card use and bonuses accumulate. I use my massive points as needed and hire someone to maximize my points for international travel and take very nice trips every year.
Do you have a budget? If so, how do you implement it?
I am in charge of all financials. I run all the businesses and have a bookkeeper and CPA that manage the books for those.
We save a minimum of 10k a month and average likely 15k a month savings. Last year liquid retirement and post tax savings was close to 250k IIRC.
I pay all the bills for home and my wife is free to spend her earnings from work on whatever she wants.
What percentage of your gross income do you save and how has that changed over time?
That is hard to quantify because again, my defined actual net income is not known and my investments are invested through one of my LLCs and money is transferred between companies.
Last year in “safe” investments of mutual funds and similar investments, I saved over 250k. I also spent 130k rehabbing a house on top of that which if I didn’t have, could have been shifted to “safe” and traditional savings.
What is your favorite thing to spend money on/your secret splurge?
I love German cars and always have 2 for myself. I also love luxury watches. And I love boats.
INVEST
What is your investment philosophy/plan?
I view investments in risk pools. I always have my fill of “traditional” and more “predictable” investments into mutual funds.
Like I said, I aim for 10k a month minimum. I maximize pre-tax dollars savings through work and my wife through my work and her job. I also save after-tax dollars too which I count towards this. Some people have the notion that only retirement savings should be pre-tax dollars. It doesn’t matter if savings are pre or post tax.
When I save money away, it gets sent to my investment accounts and now I consider this off limits till I am ready to retire. I will never ever touch this money unless there is some grave situation that life or death depends on. Till then, it will grow and grow.
I also have higher risk pools of money that I put into. Higher risk to me means that my predictability of growth is less known or the chance of losing the money completely is higher. I never allocate money to this pool unless I am OK with losing it completely and/or feel no pressure of investment from it.
For my higher risk pool, I consider this my real estate investments or as of recent for example, throwing money into cryptocoins. For many real estate may be very stable, but for myself I consider it higher risk b/c my understanding of it may be less relative to other people.
I have rental properties that cash flow, but my cash flow is not as high as I wished it to be and in hindsight, based on growth of the stock market, those monies put into purchase/rehab/maintenance etc would have been higher in stock market. But, I am also in a very high growth market so as such, when I sell (1 property I plan to keep forever), I may be rewarded handsomely because of high price growth. But since I don’t feel the pull of my mortgages, I may just rent them long term.
There is a great website I randomly discovered called firecalc.com. If you visit it, you can run reports that show you the statistical likelihood of how much you will have at X time based on how much you have right now. I discovered this site many years ago and knew that if I could hit 1 million liquid by age 40 and stopped saving COMPLETELY, I would still have a nice retirement statistically at age 60 something with 3 million in the bank. I have achieved this goal well ahead of age 40. My real goal is to hit 5 million (liquid and not counting real estate etc) by age 50 which means that I need to continue my savings at a high rate. Statistically, I should reach this.
What has been your best investment?
In myself and the push of myself to maximize my free time. I like to work. While I do enjoy nice vacations and sitting on the beach doing absolutely nothing, I do enjoy working and see no point to idly sitting around. I don’t work Fridays while my wife does so I have 8 hours or so of complete free and quiet time to myself. I use that time to create and grow businesses.
In my field, I know how to run a well-run business and I know how to reproduce those results in other people. I started out by teaching other doctors at no charge just for fun and when I saw the results were predictable, I decided to create training that is applicable to everyone. Took me years of Fridays to do, but I did. This has paid myself handsome passive income and also affected large positive changes for those that use and learn from it.
In regards to more traditional investments, it is pumping money into my funds. Compounding growth is true and hitting critical mass, which is relative to everyone, causes much larger growth that can blow your mind.
What has been your worst investment?
Real estate. I say this because I like to learn everything that I can about a subject. My knowledge and how to maximize my returns in this field is not as high as I want and for some reason, I just don’t have the drive that I would like to further my education. As such, I have houses that cash flow, but not to the levels that I want. But ultimately I am ok with this because I believe in diversification if given the opportunity. I am glad that I have physical real estate as a part of my portfolio among funds, businesses, etc.
What’s been your overall return?
I would guesstimate approx 10% for funds through the years. My businesses, ROI is through the roof.
How often do you monitor/review your portfolio?
I look 2x a week. I just have an app on my phone and if I scroll past it, I remember and check.
I won’t withdraw or use any investment money until retirement so I am not too concerned about negative swings. I am not the type of person to withdraw funds in market slumps. Actually, I buy more when the market is low. Why not buy low if you have the resources?
NET WORTH
How did you accumulate your net worth?
I did not inherit any money. I was lucky enough to have frugal and money-conscious parents. My dad made 30k in the mid 80s yet he paid for a family with stay at home mom, a house and paid for two college educations.
After college, I was on my own and took out my graduate school loans. My dad always told me: “there will be people smarter than you. There will be people better than you. But we live in a world full of opportunity and information. You can always work harder than anyone.” I later adopted that to working smarter than anyone.
Life is what you make of it. If you want to succeed, go for it. No one holds yourself back except yourself.
What road bumps did you face along the way to becoming a millionaire and how did you handle them?
Like I mentioned, I believe in calculated decisions to abate risk. I’d say the biggest obstacles would be people telling me that I couldn’t do this or that based on those people’s belief systems.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your net worth?
I am saving more and working to grow and expand my businesses. As new ventures pop up on the way, I analyze the situation, adapt and pivot if needed to grow. I do all this not mainly for the money, but for the challenge and enjoyment.
Do you have a target net worth you are trying to attain?
My goal is 5 million liquid (not counting other assets) by age 50. If I count other assets, I’ve achieved it by likely 40.
I believe I will blow past 5 million by 50 and not worry about my retirement even at safe withdrawal rates. I may not even retire at 50 and likely I won’t and will transition to a job that gives me location and time independence. I just want the ability to retire and have the opportunity to choose what I want to do at that time.
How old were you when you made your first million and have you had any significant behavior shifts since then?
First million net worth was probably at 34 and liquid 1 million was at prob 37. No shift in behaviour except to talk to my wife and explain our investment goals.
What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from?
If I had a time machine, I’d buy cryptocurrency earlier 🙂
I can think of only a couple of financial mistakes and that includes blowing my first paycheck on an HDTV and not realizing the power of savings between ages 25-29. If I were to do it over, I’d save more and cut back slightly on other expenses.
I did not even save for a Roth IRA back then. But then again, I don’t live with regrets. There is nothing that one can do about the past so just acknowledge it and move forward and create the reality that you want.
If you had to give advice to ESI Money readers about how to become wealthy, what would it be?
You have the potential to do whatever you want. Most people are lazy and always full of excuses. That’s the truth. We live in a world where all the resources are there. If you want to do something, go for it. Set goals and plans for yourself. Think of where you want to be in 1, 3, 5 and 10 years. Don’t worry if you don’t meet them fully. Imagining what could be will give you something to aim for.
FUTURE
What are your plans for the future regarding lifestyle?
My goal is location, time and money independence. I want the ability to work for pure challenge or enjoyment. I love my daily job and will be happy and fine working it as needed. But I would be happier if I could wake up at 9 am (instead of 6:40), get a good workout first and then start work at 11 am and then work till 3 somewhere random then go home.
I want to go on vacation or go fishing whenever I want. That’s the dream. And if it doesn’t happen or doesn’t happen till I’m older, that’s fine too. I always remind myself everyday of where I am in life and the perspective gives me appreciation for what I have.
What are your retirement plans?
Buying a house in Wyoming on the water.
Traveling between my main home, my beach house and my Wyoming house for trout fishing depending on the weather. In between, flying around the world and visiting new countries and enjoying the culture.
Are there any issues in retirement that concern you? If so, how are you planning to address them?
I don’t want to be unhealthy, weak or sick at retirement age. My parents saved and saved for retirement and then when it came time, my mother got sick and passed away and never had a chance to enjoy the fruits of savings that they had waited for their whole life.
There is nothing like being healthy and no money in the world could trade for it. I work out 4x a week and live a healthy lifestyle so that I can enjoy life now and in the future. Part of financial success should be prioritizing yourself and health because healthy people are more productive and successful at their careers.
MISCELLANEOUS
How did you learn about finances and at what age did it ‘click’? Was it from family, books, forced to learn as wealth grew, etc.?
I grew up with money-conscious parents. It has clicked for me ever since I was a child. I have never wasted money except for my HDTV that I blew with my first paycheck. I understand that some investments are risky and I accept that and do not view those as failures. I do view paying $3000 for a TV as a waste of money now when that was a large part of my net worth back then.
Who inspired you to excel in life? Who are your heroes?
Those that succeed on their own are those that inspire me. I respect self-made people.
Do you give to charity? Why or why not? If you do, what percent of time/money do you give?
I give to my church and it is a monthly automatic withdrawal. I imagine as I get older, my giving to charities will increase.
Do you plan to leave an inheritance for your heirs (how do you plan to distribute your wealth at your death)? What are your reasons behind this plan?
I plan to leave a lot of money and potential to my heirs. I hope to raise them with financial instincts as I was raised. If not and if they are foolish with money (and as such, I will have failed financial education as a parent), I will protect them from their idiocy and put all the monies into a trust and have distributions based on age and/or relative to their income in life.
I do not want heirs to be non-self-reliant. I do not want heirs to feel enabled by a potential inheritance. I want them to work for it and if they do not, their inheritance will be slowly disbursed.
TheHardenedInvestor says
Great job making your dreams come true. Reading this inspires me to do more.
You nailed it regarding social skills and being “liked”. It’s truly more important than any actual skill. Of course you need to know your field, but being the best at it without the social part is like running a marathon with a dead weight tied to your foot.
Good luck with your future goals, and stay healthy!
Joe says
Hundreds of thousands of techie engineers would say otherwise. Many have become decamillionaires without social skills.
TheHardenedInvestor says
But maybe if they also had social skills they’d be making much more.
Joe says
It’s possible. Social skills along with technical skills are more important for getting to the very upper echelons of technology companies (CEO, board members). But for your typical Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon, etc, deca- and centi-millionaires, all they care about is how well you answer technical questions in the interviews. Promotions are based on performance and output rather than connections. Even CTOs frequently don’t have good social skills, but they really know their stuff.
Millionaires Unveiled says
What a great success story. Amazing to see how net worth and cash flow accelerate 10 years into a career after diligently saving, investing and working hard.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
I just made savings a bill. I had to save a minimum per month before I enjoyed other luxuries. Over time, it becomes a habit. I’m also not an emotional investor and don’t withdraw money if the market turns down. In fact, I view it as an opportunity so if I have extra that month, I throw some more in there and buy when it’s low. I am not a market “timer” though. I don’t wait for certain market conditions. I just buy and buy.
Sean @ Frugal Money Man says
In my opinion, the greatest piece of advice you give comes towards the end of your interview…
“Think of where you want to be in 1, 3, 5 and 10 years.”
This type of planning has served me well in my finances, and I preach it to anyone wanting to listen. The easiest way to keep yourself accountable is setting financial/personal goals years in advance, and constantly monitoring your progress. It helps you avoid lifestyle inflation, and teaches you quickly that most people spend way more of their money than saving it.
Great interview, and I wish you and your wife continued success!
Millionaire Interview #58 says
Thanks.
I always have an idea of what I want in the future. This applies to work/finances/personal/etc. If one doesn’t have an idea of what one wants (and if one doesn’t, then I suggest that one spend some time thinking about truly what one wants in life and be true and real with oneself), then how will one make decisions to reach such goals? 🙂
JP says
Really enjoyed this and congratulations on all you have achieved. Thanks for sharing and love your Dad’s advice ” “there will be people smarter than you. There will be people better than you. But we live in a world full of opportunity and information. You can always work harder than anyone.” as I very much agree and try to instill that in my kids everyday as well
Millionaire Interview #58 says
I don’t remember too many lessons that my dad taught me, but this was definitely one of them.
The other was telling me once that a certain bill would be the last bill that he would ever pay for me. Looking back, that was also one of the best actions that he took because it made me realize that no one would look out for myself, except myself!
PS I also remember him telling me that he didn’t care what I studied in college, but if I wanted to be an idiot, then go ahead, but he wouldn’t take care of me!
Guess those 3 stuck with me and I never forgot it.
Wise Money Tips says
Very interesting interview. Great points about working smart, the importance of social skills, and staying healthy.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
Yes, the fruits of one’s success does not matter if one is sick and unhealthy. Whenever I get really sick, I swear that I would pay someone 10s of thousands of dollars if they could just make me feel better in that moment.
Being healthy is a positive feedback cycle that affects your work, personal life and more. I always prioritize health and make time for it. People always say things like I can’t FIND time. Yes, you MAKE time for it and place it as a priority 🙂
Lily | The Frugal Gene says
Holy crap it’s like I wrote the last 3 paragraphs. Word for word preach man.
“Success in business comes in understanding the psychology of people and understanding social skills.”
I think that’s a great take away. Social charm isn’t something schools can quantify but it’s very important yet unteachable to most.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
We must think alike 🙂
No one wants to buy, use, hire, etc from someone / some company that they don’t like. It’s as easy as that.
In whatever field one is in, if one can understand what the client is interested in and the deeper emotional reason of why they want this product/service, appeal to that as a part of your approach.
I never believe in selling a product/service. That implies a one way street. A successful transaction is where both parties are happy and that means understanding what the client wants.
Greenbacks Magnet says
I read that if you want to learn how to be wealthy then you should study the self-made. In addition, most wealth is no longer inherited. Most millionaires (about two-thirds) are self-made.
This article just goes to show that people are doing it. It was also noted that his wife only made $50k but the family is still being sure to invest and save for the future as you can see from their over $1 retirement fund.
I love interviews. Nothing beats first hand information straight from the source. I started doing interviews on my blog. The last one I did was felt like I was listening to a memoir I got so many details from the author. A 15 minutes interview turned into over 2 hours. I got more out of this than some college classes I took. Yes, keep doing these interviews! Getting the inside scoop is priceless.
Thanks,
Miriam
Millionaire Interview #58 says
I don’t know how much money I will have one day to leave my heirs, but if it is substantial, I will have to figure out a way so that ambition is not stifled. I’d rather give away all the money to charity and causes then have ungrateful and entitled kids one day. I’d feel like such a failure if that ever happened!
Greenbacks Magnet says
Oh yea! I have heard several celebrities such as Jackie Chan say they are leaving their kids nothing. He said either they find a way to make their own fortune like he did with the support he has already given them or they will just squander his wealth he made that he worked hard for. So I get it.
Thanks,
Miriam
TheHardenedInvestor says
I don’t completely understand that, but I know a lot of people feel that way, and I do see where they’re coming from. However, I will leave as much money as possible to my heirs. I think setting up a trust such that a teenager doesn’t get a large sum of money is smart, but I would certainly keep the money in the family over not doing that. Generational money is a stepping stone for building upon the success of the previous generations. If everyone has to start from ground zero simply to learn the “value of hard work” I feel a lot of what you accomplish can be lost. I love the idea of giving my heirs advantages in life. That’s actually a specific goal of mine.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
I agree and hope to leave them money so that they can more easily move ahead. However, if their character shows zero lack of ambition and a desire to live off inheritance, then I won’t leave them much money and I will have grossly failed as a parent.
My main goal is to instill these qualities and hope they value and appreciate the hard work that will be theirs one day to help them excel in life and wealth even more.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
If anyone has follow up questions, let me know.
InterviewJason says
a few questions:
Why do you keep so much cash on hand? (i also have a substantial amount of cah, but am curious why other do).
Why don’t you pay off your student loans? My wife graduated medical school with ~$140K in loans, and we prioritized paying them off (but our rate was much highter than yours/you wife).
How did you get into rental real estate? I am interested in that, but nervous about losing the investment in a field I am not competent in.
Thanks for sharing your story
Millionaire Interview #58 says
Great questions:
1. Yes you are correct. I feel that I do keep too much cash on hand too. I have a LOC for business that renews each year too so I have access to cash if I need it. I also could get HELOCs or if needed CC cash advances 😉 The only reason that I have that much cash is because I am always weary of a major life event that for some reason would crunch my cash flow. So over the years, I let it piled up (and earning no interest nor having growth). I now have large excess for emergency funds.
You may have just talked myself out of holding that much cash now that I wrote it all down. Guess it’s time to give myself a draw and invest it.
2. I don’t pay loans down because they are so low. 1.625% is under inflation rate. My payments for my loans are only 444 a month so I could care less about it. It would make no financial sense (besides the feeling of paying it off) to pre-pay this. I did pay down ~55k of my wife’s higher interest loan last year until the remainder 3.65% loans remained. I considered refinancing, but the rates offered weren’t too competitive so I decided just to pay them down to the lower interest instead.
3. I got into real estate because I wanted to diversify. Just like diversifying funds, I wanted to diversify what I considered my portfolio. The first house I bought (like my main house bought at the crash of 2008 and now 75% in gained equity) was bought during a slump also. I bought it on the beach and that was easy for me to buy b/c I didn’t purely for finances. I bought it for enjoyment too because I love fishing and justified it to myself as a way to have a house at arbitrarily 1/2, 3/4, 100% off etc if I had it rented. So I got it and it’s one of my favorite places to go. It fluctuates but I have a house about 75% off (b/c rentals cover mortgage) or more depending on year and I get additional tax benefits. My second rental house was bought as an investment property and has failed to give me the ROI that I wanted; I planned to flip it but city regulations/inspections/delays took so long that it is now a rental. Due to rapidly rising home prices, I think I will pivot and just hold this long term and decide later. I also own partially other properties with my partner in smaller amounts, but don’t have direct access to those and so do not include it in my discussion.
As with any investment, you should do as much research as you can. I find it odd that I have not had the desire to learn more about real estate as what I do with other businesses that I run. I just don’t have the motivation for it as I do with other things. It is likely that my other businesses are quite successful and as such time input is worth it versus real estate. If I didn’t have success with those companies, I prob would have shifted my time and resources towards real estate more.
Zac says
How can we get in touch with you? Reading this post was almost like looking in a mirror, but where I want to be in a few years. I’m 31 and I feel I’m at the stage you were in when you were a medical professional making a salary in the 100’s such as myself (though I’m not a physician) and reading books on business, as well as knowing how to mitigate risk and just being very analytical. I showed this post to a co-worker of mine and asked them “Does this sound familiar?” Would love to correspond with you and learn how to advance my own business goals.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
Post an email that you write out and I’ll send you an email.
Zac says
Zacry072(at)gmail
Zac says
Looking forward to hearing from ya!
Dr. McFrugal says
“My ultimate goal is location, time and financial independence.” This is the key to true freedom. And it’s my ultimate goal as well. Great interview. Your success in businesses that scale very well really inspires me to look deeper into online entrepreneurship. Everything you said is high yield and valuable. Thank you for the inspiration.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
I received my tax documents today. Total household income for the year was ~660k with a AGI of 640k. If business expenses that were deducted was added back in, total compensation would probably be 760k.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
This is a drastic increase from last year’s AGI due to business growth.
Zac says
Wow, that’s incredible!
Millionaire Interview #58 says
I have some updates for the past year. My current pre and post tax accounts are close to 1.6 million from 1.4 from the last year. My goal for many years was to hit 1 mill by age 40 because my odds of retiring at 65 (worst case scenario) would give me 5 million based on historical averages.
Well if my calculations are correct, I will hit 2 million around 41 which means I will be DOUBLE my projected goal. The point of this is set goals and hit them or exceed them for savings. This sets me up to more likely hit my goal of retiring around 50 years old if I want. If I continue to earn money from my properties + my business, 50 year old retirement will be an option.
Also my AGI rose from 471k to (I had no idea) 871k last year. My training company is doing well and I expect this year to be similar. One day, I will expect a large massive growth of that company where my income from it will match or exceed my daily work income. I’m 5 years into that company and I am increasing my reputation for training success with it.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
I also increased my property payments a bit by last year.
I also changed my CPA as my previous one evidently became terrible after an ownership transition and thus I was unexpectedly hit with a very large tax bill that cut cash flow for the beginning of this year.
I also transitioned to a flat fee advisor for investments as my post tax accounts now exceeded the rate of percentage vs flat by a significant-enough amount to me. Lower fees now and lower taxes.
ESI says
Retirement at 50 would be SWEET!!!!!!
kaki says
Thats awesome … thats a massive growth of income… very inspiring to watch ur journey.. hopefully
you can update this year too. All the best !!!
Millionaire Interview #58 says
Well it’s the beginning of 2020 and my pre/post tax is up to almost 1.8. I should be able to hit 2 mill most likely by end of 2021.
I’ve started to make lump payments to mortgages. Beach house is down to 70k and scheduled to be done under 3 years at which time I will double up mortgage on primary residence. 3rd house (a rental) not sure what to do with it still. It’s kind of a PITA bc I trusted someone to redo the house and they did a mediocre job.
I just had a kid also so now it’s time to save for her. Planning to start college fund with lump sum 15k or so seed money for growth
Income this year down a little. But still like close to 800 I think. I don’t know. I just save a lot and that’s what I base my budgets on.
Speaking of budgets, some of you might not agree with this, but My wife has no idea what I make and she thinks it’s much lower. She doesn’t really want to know bc she is bad with finances. She is quitting work so we had to discuss what budget she would have for discretionary spending. It was not a conversation I wanted to have, but luckily the number she threw out was within what I considered reasonable.
Millionaire Interview #58 says
So here’s an update to my status:
According to my post Jan 20, 20, I had a total liquid asset of 1.8 in pre/post tax accounts. My prediction was 2 mill at end of 2021 (see above comment).
Well despite corona and market crash, I am ahead of schedule. Pre/post accounts are now near 2.5 million. Snowball effect is occurring and growth is fast. 1st mill took me 8 years to save. Second mill took 2.5-ish and 3rd is looking like it is approx 2 years. So let’s say 3 mill in liquid assets will be hit 1st or 2nd quarter of 2022.
Part of the reason for rapid growth is my decision to jump into individual stocks. I’ve dabbled in this for a while, but my portfolio was very small. I decided to give it a go and threw in about 90k for fun and play. Using some services for guidance along with some research and risk, my individual stocks have grown to >300k. My “play” account is now large enough that I am allocating it towards my retirement plans. I have long term holds on stocks that I buy.
Corona caused my business to be shut down over 2 months which put a hamper on my income. While I did continue to pour money into post retirement savings, I “missed” out on additional growth b/c my risk was lower during that time b/c of unknown business and income. I wanted to buy more investments at dumpster prices, but didn’t feel at that time that it was wise to do so b/c of the unknown.
Spoke to my CPA this week and he said that I am well ahead of a lot of people as my income is only expected to drop a little. He expects an income of 740k or so. My goal in life when I was younger was to make 100k then maybe 200k. Who would have ever guessed that I would be in the 700s-800s for income.
My beach house loan is now sub 50 and should be done in under 2 years. My other PITA rental is appreciating a ton b/c of large companies building factories nearby so I will wait until it appreciates more. Till then rental income and an avenue for me for taxes.
I had a kid and it is awesome being a dad. Kid has 529k funded to 16k+ already and under a year old.
kaki says
I am a healthcare professional too. Truly inspiring numbers. Income of 800,000 is impressive. Hoping to have 5 million in investments. I have real estate worth 3 million and liquid assets only 1.5 million. Need to bring up the liquid assets to 3 million before retiring . May be sell my office building and another property worth 1.2 million. I can actually live off my rent in retirement. But not having liquid assets of 3 million makes me uneasy. Your kid is lucky.
Alex says
Hi there.
Wondering if you have time to connect. Interested in learning and asking few qs about how you grew your business.
Let me know, please. My email – [email protected]
Thanks in advance
Millionaire Interview #58 says
Update 4 years later.
NW is now approx 6.8 million (vs. 4.4 in 2018). Investments (liquid investments now at approx 3.5-3.6 depending on day).
First quarter of 2022 has very minimal to no gains so I keep DCA with the dip in funds/stock prices.
Still waiting for bitcoin to take off to higher levels.
Net income in last couple years has jumped to 750-850k
I now have 2 kids and their 529s are growing.
I am planning to retire at a much earlier rate and probably sub 50. What to do after that? Who knows, whatever I want.