Nowadays,millennials are often the brunt of jokes and sometimes even personal scorn. However, like any other generation, not all Millennials fit the stereotype. Some strive for financial success.
People like Grant Sabatier are part of the solution in that respect. His company, Millennial Money, offers an online personal finance, investing and entrepreneurship community with a focus on early retirement and financial independence. Sabatier talked with RewardExpert about how Millennials are positively impacting the market.
An “American Dream” story
When Sabatier founded Millennial Money in 2015, it was after he reached personal financial independence at the ripe age of 30 years old. As the tale goes, he went from having $2.26 in the bank to surpassing $1 million in a five-year period.
Now, he has enough money saved to make employment optional.
“I started the community to share what I’ve learned and help others reach financial independence by diversifying their income streams, saving money and investing wisely,” Sabatier said.
Questioning norms
Sabatier’s business model is really a referendum on the entire finance industry as a whole. He said he focuses the majority of his questioning on accepted personal finance wisdom across the entire industry.
He does that because a lot of the ideas are either aimed to help individuals retire in 40-plus years, they don’t work in general, or they may even be destructive.
“I’m really trying to shine a light on things I think don’t work and those that do, because I’ve done it,” he said.
Another strength of him and his company is experience. He believes that since he reached financial independence and then some, he is the poster child for showing what worked and what didn’t for not only himself but others he has interacted with throughout his journey.
Many blogs on the subject matter only speak in generic terms or generalities, he noted, or they are being written by people who only dream of aspiring independence but don’t exactly know how to get there.
Words of wisdom
When it comes to budget-conscious millennials, saving beats slaving. He recommends saving anything possible, whether it’s $5 per day or 5 percent of income. Anything is better than nothing.
He said starting to escalate savings rates — such as 1 percent every 30, 60 or 90 days — will make a big difference, saving approximately 15 percent in year one. At the end of year two, people can save more than 25 percent.
“Escalating at your own pace is key, but definitely increase your savings rate as much as you can,” he said. “Another piece of advice: It’s actually never been easier in history to make more money on the side. A lot of it just comes down to how hard you want to hustle. Even walking dogs in your neighborhood for $20 adds up when you invest it.”
The question readers and strangers always ask Sabatier is, “How can I do exactly what you did?” While his experience and tips, in relation to strategies and money hacks, are useful via his website, he had too much to say. As a result, he decided to write his own book.
He signed a book deal with Penguin/Random House this past summer, with the final product slated to be released in 2018. Also, he’s beginning to release more videos on the subject matter. He’s already done 40 of them.
“I’m excited to get the entire strategy into people’s hands and, as part of the release, I’ll be overhauling Millennial Money to include all of the tools you need to do and track everything like I did, as well as video courses to go deeper,” he said.