I'm thrilled that I could become a millionaire with the low wage I'm getting for working in my dad's company. Each month, I receive Rp25,000,000 for my paycheck. That's approximately about $1,778 if converted to U.S. dollar (November 17, 2020). The amount can still fluctuate since the currencies always change every trading day. My wage is considered a lot in Indonesia; however, if you compare it with the United States wage, it's really low.
Despite my low income, I was able to become a millionaire by the age of thirty. I believe anyone out there can also become a millionaire if they are willing to learn and manage their personal finance well. Becoming a millionaire is not as hard as you think it is. Anyone can achieve it if they put the work and dedication to it. In this article, I will share what I did to reach millionaire status by thirty. Most of my personal wealth is invested in the stock market; I will show my assets. Moreover, I will explain how you can do it too.
Starting Capital.
Yes, I didn't become a millionaire without any help. My father did give me a starting capital close to $350,000. This is the total amount I receive for my U.S. portfolio and Indonesia portfolio. However, he didn't give me a penny more after that gift. He wanted me to work and figure out my own to achieve financial independence. I'm blessed that my dad gave me that vast starting capital. Many people didn't have the opportunity to receive that kind of money.
When I first started, I figure out that I need to use this capital wisely. Even though I like cars, I didn't use to purchase a car or something unimportant. I'm so happy that I didn't use the money to buy my dream car. I believe I can buy that next time in the future. I wanted to use this money to enrich myself first; when I have accumulated a good amount of wealth, I can then decide to buy my dream car. Since I moved back to Jakarta, Indonesia, to work in my dad's company, I have been using my brother's car that was given to me. I am still using it today and planning to stick with it for a more extended period. I believe the car is still great for me to commute.
Living Below My Means (Strict Budget).
The greatest reason I'm able to accumulate so much wealth at a very young age is my living style. After I moved back to Jakarta, Indonesia, and working in my dad's company, I receive a monthly paycheck. With the money I receive every month, I was always living below my mean and investing most of the income towards my stock portfolio.
I was saving approximately close to 80% of my income and have it invested in my portfolio. That was during the early time of me working in my dad's company. Later on, I am only saving and investing 40% of my income since I needed the money for my everyday use. Many of my friends were complaining about my frugal habit, which is why I decided to increase my monthly spending. When I was on a strict monthly budget, I wasn't able to do many things. I had to sacrifice some fun activities so that I'm able to save and invest more. I'm glad that I did those things a long time ago during my journey to financial independence. If I didn't do them, I would not have the personal wealth I have right now. I made a monthly budget of how much I'm able to spend. This is really essential to wealth building because you need a great financial plan to accumulate wealth. If you are not organized with how you manage your personal finance, it's difficult to become wealthy.
There are many things I did so that I'm able to stick with my monthly budget. I always figure out how I can do or buy something and activities at a low price. For instance, when I shop for clothing, I will wait for the sale season before purchasing. This is so that I don't have to pay retail price for the merchandise and pay a discount price for them. Despite being on a strict budget, that doesn't mean I want to dress unsightly. I have a love for fashion and like clothes that fit right on me. Moreover, I also want to dress to make a good first impression when I do meet someone.
Lives with My Parents.
Moreover, I also live with my parents to not have to pay more money to live on my own. If I was living on my own, I would have many more expenses that I have to pay monthly. For instance, I have to pay for food expenses on my own. Living with my parents, I can eat food cooked by my mom. I was able to save my money for eating the food that my mom provides for the family. I also don't have to pay for bills such as electricity, internet, water, and many more.
I know it's cheating to live with my parents; however, I believe living with them is very strategic for building wealth. Besides, I also want to spend my time with my parents since they are already old. I want to spend more time with them, especially my father. I still have a lot to learn from him, and the things he teaches can't be learned from school.
I do have a plan to have my own dream home in the future. I have a high interest in interior design and home design. I want to be able to build my dream home. My parents' house is designed with a classical theme. I want my dream home to be designed in a minimalist theme. I'm not saying that my parents' house looks bad. It's just that I like minimalist design more than classical. I am content to be able to live with my parents. Despite not having the design theme of my personal taste, their house is big and comfortable for me.
I am also able to raise my own pet cat in the house. In the beginning, my dad doesn't agree with me having a cat in the house. However, I was able to persuade him to let me raise one. The cat has been living with us for more than two years now. My dad actually loves my pet cat now. I'm glad he was able to accept her as part of the family.
Did NOT Acquire Any Debt.
As part of my wealth-building journey, I didn't acquire any debt. This also includes not using a credit card in my life. I always avoided using a credit card because I know how it can ruin your financial life. I believe by not having any debt in my life, I was able to build wealth easier. It's challenging to build wealth if I have monthly payments. I always pay for things with cash and will never get into debt to buy something.
I have seen many of my friends that are trap in the debt cycle. They thought that using credit cards is beneficial and helps to work towards building your credit score. Without using it carefully, they spend more than was intended. Many of them have a tough time trying to get out of the debt they have accumulated. Because of this reason, they are not able to build wealth as I did. I built wealth even when my income is so much lower than theirs (lives in the United States).
If you plan to build wealth, please make sure you don't get yourself into acquiring debt. It's much more difficult to build wealth when you are in debt, and it can actually cause you to slow down if you didn't manage it carefully.
Always Saving and Investing Every Month.
The other reason I'm able to reach millionaire status by the age of thirty is that I had always saved and invested most of my money in the stock market. Living below my mean is one reason I was able to build wealth, but the real reason is that I was using the money to be invested. Because I was able to save and invest the majority of my income, I built my personal wealth through stock investing. I let compound interest do its work to increase the value of my stock portfolio value. Since the beginning of my career life, I know the benefit of compound interest. I knew that if I started early investing and working towards building wealth, I could later benefit from the work I put in it.
I'm very optimistic about the future result of my personal wealth. Even if I'm not asking my dad for more capital to invest, I am very confident that I can reach multi-millionaire status a few years ahead. If you want to become wealthy, you have to make choices early in your life. You have to be committed to a strict monthly budget and be discipline in investing your income. Don't procrastinate working towards your financial goal; you want to do it as early as possible. The earlier you start, the better the results compound interest has towards your wealth.
Learn to Invest in the Stock Market.
I was introduced to stock investing since I was in high school. I was experimenting and learning how to become a successful stock investor. I made many mistakes that cause me to lose the money that my dad had given to me. However, even with the mistakes (losses), I made, I was able to turn the capital that my father handed to me to reach millionaire status. Even when I made losses in some of my stock investments, I covered my losses with my gains.
I'm very content with the achievement I have made since many people lose the capital given by their parents. Going through trial and error still had made my starting capital reach more than one million dollars net worth now. My investment performance is considered crap; however, I am glad that I didn't lose money (starting capital). In fact, I was able to grow it to the amount I have right now.
In total, I have approximately close to $850,000 in my portfolio in the United States and about $245,000 in my Indonesian portfolio. In total, combining my assets from the United States and Indonesia, I have close to $1,095,000 in personal net worth as of (November 2020). I'm thrilled and content about this achievement. This is my personal wealth of my own and has nothing to do with my dad's wealth. I hope I can keep growing my portfolio value towards the future, and hopefully, it can reach the amount I need to retire early.
I believe the stock market offers excellent opportunities for anyone interested in building wealth. When I was still an amateur, I spent countless hours reading books on investment. I know there are many benefits to investing in the stock market. However, I needed to be knowledgeable so that I won't lose money. I became the stock investor I am today because of always wanting to keep learning and learn from my mistakes. I believe investing in the stock market is very valuable since I can keep applying what I know in the real world.
I hope that I can manage more of my dad's wealth in the stock market. But in the meantime, I am going to continue managing the money I have right now. I want to show my dad the result of managing my own portfolio to my dad. If I can keep up with my performance, I can later convince my dad to invest more of his money.
I have many free times when working at my dad's company. Since I am working as a freelance (part-time) in my dad's company, I could find a new way to increase my income. I'm not successful in creating a new income source yet; however, I am still working on it. One example of a potential income-producing business I am working on is this blog you are reading right now. I have made the blog all by myself. The logo, web design, and contents of the website were created by myself. Even when the blog doesn't provide decent income yet, I am delighted with what I have done so far. I was able to make it without having to need to inject capital into the business.
Because I was very cautious with managing the blog, I don't have to invest my money into the business. This helps me save costs and use the money to be invested elsewhere to help me gain more. I currently own and manage two blog website, Billionaire Bunny and FinzWatch. Both websites are currently monetized with Google Adsense and have minimal overhead cost to run them. The only expenses I am paying for owning these two websites are the domain cost, which cost approximately about $10 a year for each blog.
I'm not going to claim that my side hustles are the reason why I can become a millionaire by age thirty. However, if I continue working on them, it can potentially be a great source of income. If the blog turns out to be a success, I can use the money earn to be invested in the stock market or into the business again. I will keep finding solutions to how I can increase my income to have more money to invest.
To Conclude
This article explains all the things I have done to reach millionaire status by the age of thirty. I was able to invest the starting capital of $350,000 from my father and turn it into more than $1,000,000. The starting capital given by my father was indeed helpful in making me become a millionaire. However, this is not the only reason. During my financial journey towards financial freedom, I am always finding new ways to improve myself. I want to increase my knowledge and skills so that I can become a wealthy person.
I was always disciplined and consistent about saving and investing my income, which led me to reach millionaire status. Inheriting massive wealth from your parents doesn't solve the problem of becoming wealthy. You have to learn how to manage and grow your money if you want to be wealthy. If you don't have a basic understanding of managing your personal finance, you can lose the money given to you. This is the reason why I am always trying to make myself into a better stock investor. I read many books on stock investing so that I can be more knowledgeable.
Moreover, I still am figuring new ways how I can increase my income. I felt that the income I receive for working in my dad's company is not a sign of my own accomplishment. I want to be able to generate my own income through the side hustles I am working on. If those side-hustles can become profitable, then I can consider myself to be successful.
I hope this article can be an inspiration for you guys, and hopefully, it can help answer some of the questions about how I become a millionaire at the age of thirty. My financial freedom journey is still very long; I am going to keep continuing working with what I already have now. Hopefully, I can reach the goal I want, and without asking my dad for more capital.
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