How I Saved My First $100k by 23

This was my net worth at 23 years old

I'll tell you exactly age by age on what I did to get to my first $100,000

So my story starts at the age of 17, which is when I graduated high school in 2012

I had about $10,000 saved to my name from saving up any birthday money that I got from when I worked as a cashier for Sears where I made a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour

and from when I was an English tutor for one of my neighbors where I made $15 an hour for that job

After graduating high school, my savings habits and interest in building wealth stayed with me to college as well

So even though I was a full-time college student, I still worked two jobs almost every single semester working between 20 to 25 hours a week

It was one of the hardest schedules I've ever had, but I'm so glad I went through

through with it in my younger years. The jobs in college included from me being a secretary

to me working as a front desk assistant at the gym. I even called alumni to ask them for donations

which was quite an experience there, but in any other case, I made between $8.25 an hour to $13 an hour

for these jobs. And during summers, I work finance internships where I made between $15 an hour

to $18 an hour. And I was able to save a lot of money during this time

even though I was paying double rent for one of my internships that was out of town

I was able to afford the double rent even on an intern income of $16 an hour

because I purposely kept my expenses very low. I lived in one of the worst places in the city with one of the highest crime rates

and therefore my rent was only $640 a month, including utility. And after I came back to college after these internships, I still kept my frugal and saving habits with me

I lived like a student. So in college, I skipped social events and traded drinking at the bars for saving money

I know you're only young ones, but building wealth was something that I really wanted to do

And I went even further than that. Anytime in campus, there were free events that had free food in exchange for attending the event

I went. Even if the event was something that I wasn't interested in, like underwater basket

weaving. I also did not take on any student loans because I was fortunate enough to have

scholarships that pay for a large portion of my tuition I also didn go to a fancy Ivy League school but a state school where the tuition was only per year So between the jobs that I worked saving as much money as I could and the scholarships that I got

I actually graduated college at 21 with $40,000. Cash. I'm highlighting my story to show that it's possible to graduate college without taking on $25,000 worth of student loans like many college graduates are today

So when I found out that I graduated college with $40,000, I felt amazing

And thankfully, my frugal and saving habits didn't stop there. I still kept on saving as much money as I could, even as I graduated university and my income

increased a lot compared to when I was working as a student

So in my senior year of college, I had job offers ranging from working in banking to working in corporate finance

The job offers ranged from making a job offer. $52,500 to $70,000 plus bonus. I actually took the lowest paying job offer of $52,500 plus a $2,500 signing bonus

to start my career in banking working in Birmingham, Alabama. I took the job offer even though it was

a lowest paying job offer because I thought I could be a big fish in a small pond. Thankfully

I was right. Within just six months of working, the company gave

me my top choice of working in Houston, Texas, and they moved me from Birmingham, Alabama, to

Houston, Texas, and they increased my income from a $52,500 base to $56,000 base, plus a $30,000 bonus

potential that had a 95% payout ratio in its first year. I was really happy. I had just

turned 22 at the time, and had a net worth of approximately $60,000 at this point

So with the higher income, I maxed out my retirement accounts of 401k and the HSA

It was a no-brainer for me to do so because of the tax advantages that come with these accounts

which helped me increase my net worth even further. And with my investments, I kept my investing strategy very simple and kept the 100% of my money

in a broad market-based index fund like the SMP 500. And I just waited patiently throughout the years

As we all know, the S&D 500 increased very nicely throughout these years

which gave me the extra boost to build wealth with on top of my increased income

And on top of investing money and increasing income, I still never stopped my frugal ways

So when I lived in Birmingham Alabama I was paying just a month to rent a studio apartment including utilities because I lived in a very rundown part of the city and I lived in a very rundown apartment

complex. So when I moved from Birmingham, Alabama to Houston, Texas, I still kept my rent

expenses very low and paid just $750 a month for my rent, even though Houston, Texas, is a significantly

higher cost of living city than Birmingham, Alabama. I went out with friends from time to time

but I still kept my expenses very low. So if they wanted to go to dinner, I would just get an

appetizer because, for one, it's cheaper, and for two, I might not have been hungry at the time

I lowered my expenses to as low as they possibly could be, and I kept it that way for a very long time

Day in, day out, month after month. So after about a year and a half of me saving as much money as I could, one day I was worth $80,000

which was a lot of money to me at the time, and it still is. But remember my job came with a $30,000 bonus potential on which 95% of it was paid out in its first year

Well, after taxes, that came out to equal $20,000. My net worth instantly went from $80,000 to $100,000, just like that with one bonus payment

I was 23 at the time, and I was really happy when I saw that number

The biggest lesson I learned in this wealth building journey on how I was able to save $100,000, but just 23

is just how important saving money is to get there. So for my car, I drove a used 2016 Nissan Versa Note SV hatchback car that had 40,000 miles on it

and I bought for $10,000 cash right after I graduated college. I didn't buy a flashy car

I didn't buy a $25,000 car even though my income could support it just because a car is a depreciating asset

and I wanted to build wealth. I also cooked my own food and didn't buy anything extra that didn't fit in my budget

and in my goal of reaching financial independence. In fact, when I moved from Birmingham, Alabama to Houston, Texas

I fit everything I owned in my hatchback car. And yes, that includes the mattress that I slept on

So I basically moved from one city to another completely for free

I will admit that it physically hurt me at times that I saved as much money as I did instead of getting to spend money on the things that I wanted to spend money on But I was okay with that because financial independence is so much more important to me than buying and owning stuff

You have no idea how good it feels to walk away from any potential employers

that you don't want to work for. Or to have the financial peace of mind

to know that you get laid off, you'll be just fine. So with every paycheck

even though it physically hurt me that I saved as much money as I did

what gave me the will to keep going was knowing that all the money that I was squirreling away was going to a good cause of building

my nest egg. Although present me would have enjoyed the money, I knew the future me would have

enjoyed the money even more. I spent an average of between $20,000 to $25,000 per year during this

time because I kept my rent expenses very low, cooking my own food, and I cut out any additional

subscriptions that I didn't use or need. Although I made the sacrifices that I did, I have no regrets

and I would do it all over again. I'm okay sacrificing when I'm young so that I can live a life of

financial freedom when I'm older. We need to realize that buying stuff doesn't bring us true

happiness. If we need to buy stuff to feel good about ourselves, then there's something

deeper going on within ourselves that we need to change or fix. No amount of money will ever

solve our problems if we naturally don't feel good about ourselves deep inside. Too many Genius

live on a hamster wheel without having anything to show for it by the time everything is

said and done, which is a shame because America is the richest country on earth by far

Everyone living in America has the potential to become a millionaire by 65, no matter

the income. Now, the great thing about the first $100,000 is that the

The next $100,000 come much easier and faster. My next $100,000 came just two years after that when I was 25 years old

And the next $100,000 came faster and faster. This is because of the power of compound interest in which money makes us even more money

without us having to work an extra hour for it. It's no wonder compound interest is the eighth wonder in the world

If I can do it да, everyone else can as well. So having said everything, please smash the like and subscribe button for more content on building wealth, money, and personal finance

I want every one of my subscribers and followers to save their first $100,000 and eventually become a millionaire themselves

Because that's the name of the game. So with that said, thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video