Building Wealth from a Low Income.

It's a b*tch, but you gotta do it: Your first $100K is the toughest to earn — but most crucial for building wealth. 

It’s an old question.. But, I think the short answer is yes. But the logical answer is always a longer one. But to simply pre-conclude, it’s definitely possible - BUT you’ll need to be ready to trade in something for it - and that is your time.  

I've said it time and again (pun not intended), about the 3 currencies we all have. You'll have to trade one of them for the other. Before you say I got no time for this shit, allow me to explain to you how it's possible, by telling you a little about my beginnings. 

When I was in my early 20s, I used to sleep on a broken couch at a friend's place, next to the kitchen. Because that's all I could afford. They were kind to give me a place to stay, without any rent whilst I was just starting out. I would go to work as a kitchen hand washing dishes and I'd get paid $8 per hour working only 4-5 hours a day. I remember whilst washing dishes at that cafeteria, I told myself, someday I'd get out of this.  

Fast forward to today, I can say I've gotten out of it but not a millionaire (yet) though. But that's the beauty of it all - it makes what I say much more relatable. Not all of use are on the precipice of being a millionaire, and some of us, can't even begin to consider being one. If you're like me, you probably just wanted a comfortable and financially free life.

So how did I do it? 

Learn and read on the industry you choose to be an expert in. 

I noticed that there's a wealth of knowledge and information that's open to anyone willing to give their time. When I was struggling to get a job, I needed to find out about what puts you in advantage over others in job search, I didn't just read on how to ace interviews, I learnt about the industry. I didn't have a finance degree when I was first starting out, so no one would take me seriously when I decided to change careers. So I read books on the industry, written by industry leaders and collections of articles and journals about a day in a life by investment bankers. It gave me so much more perspective than it did when I was just focused on trying to achieve a narrow scoped goal. It gave me a bigger picture of how to view the world that I'm trying to get into. And if you find that you dislike it, hey you've done your work to decide on something else. 

Live with very little, for a set time and have contingency plans:  

We don't realise how little we actually need until life puts you in a situation where you actually have to live with less. At the start of my journey, when I was still single, I lived with $300 a month after all expenses back in 2015. I really had to be careful with my spending. I had bought a house back then which I lived on my own, and my salary was just enough to cover everything with a little leftover. I know, that sounds risky and im not going to recommend that you take that kind of risk. But for me, I know it was a temporary state, and I told myself this is the life I chose, for a short period. And I had contingency plans to either rent out a room, or worst case, sell the house after living a year in it. Buying a house is not a necessity, renting could make better financial sense. Some might disagree - A house is only an asset when it generates positive cashflow and it's not in debt. Otherwise, it's a huge liability. 

Save up whilst there was no commitment: 

In my 20s, and in all honesty, the thing I could think of the most was to enjoy life and travel. I left my 20s feeling like I did enough of those. It wasn't until I got married and have a kid I realise, those years were the best years to really maximise your savings. No matter how little. The baseline is 10% of your income, and if we were to be real, in today's economy that doesn't do much. But think about this, if 10% of $3000 is $300. It's better than zero. The idea isn't to save tens of thousands and not spend on yourself. It's the crucial years of habit formation in entering your 30s. Your 20s is just a trial run for your 30s. That's when real life usually begins.  

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So that was it. I suppose that’s what I can recollect and reflect from the past 10 years of growing professionally and personally. Some might say that was a slow growth, but for some, it might be a quick one. At the end of the day, everyone’s experiences are different, and I can only share what I did and what worked for me.

If you’re thinking about being serious about having a stable personal money management system, and investing your savings so that they’ll grow rather than sitting dead in your bank account, consider signing up to my course. I don’t plan to sell it any more than $100 as it will my first course I’ll be launching soon. But if you sign up for the waitlist, I’ll be selling them at half price, in return of getting your feedback.

If you’re not ready, I share free content and learnings through my freebies on my site, as well as instagram. Whichever way you go, I’m happy that you’re here to thread this financial journey together.