Who are you?
Grant is the founder of Millennial Money, and was dubbed “The Millennial Millionaire” by CNBC. In 2010, when Grant was 24, he found himself unemployed and broke. After bouncing from job to job, Grant taught himself digital marketing in 60 days using YouTube videos.
After learning about digital marketing, Grant was able to land a job at a digital agency making $50k a year, which then expanded to $400k a year. Once he was ready to branch out, Grant launched three different companies, two of which he still manages today. Grant reached financial independence by the age of 30, and was able to become a millionaire in about 5 years.
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How do you earn your passive income?
Grant knows that financial independence and early retirement are two different things, with the main difference being that financial independence allows you the opportunity to work on projects you are passionate about.
Grant earns most of his passive income through interest on his investments and affiliate sales on his website. His financial independence happened due to his quick net worth growth, and he was able to become a millionaire in 5 years. However, he has no plans to retire anytime soon.
What advice do you have for people who want to start investing?
Grant believes that when you start, you should start small. He recommends trying out index funds first, and saving daily. He also recommends not investing in anything that you don’t completely understand. There are an infinite number of possibilities when it comes to investing, so it’s important to choose the investment option that works best for you.
His third and final tip is to not invest what you can’t afford to lose. Investing is not an all or nothing ordeal. In fact, you can start investing with as little as $10. However, Grant believes that it is important to not put all of your eggs in one basket.
What is your opinion on emergency funds?
Grant doesn’t fully believe in emergency funds, because he feels that you can invest that money and allow it to grow, which can help you become a millionaire faster. However, he does have ways to treat your investments as an emergency fund if needed, including taking out the principle contributions out of your Roth IRA tax-free.
While it depends on your personality and situation, Grant doesn’t like keeping too much money in savings. Even with his current income, Grant chooses to only save $7,000 at a time, and invests the rest. He doesn’t think there is a one size fits all emergency savings plan.
What are some of your tips to help someone decide whether they should pay off their students loans fast or not?
Grant says that if you are crippled in debt, or worry about the amount of debt you have, you should try to pay it off as quickly as possible. At the very least, pay off your highest interest debt. If you can manage your student loans, Grant believes you should instead invest any extra money you have or earn.
At the end of the day, Grant knows your personal finance journey is just that, personal. One situation that works for someone else, may not work for you. He encourages weighing your options, and choosing the route that works best for you. A way that Grant was able to become a millionaire is by investing when he could have paid his student loans off.
How do you think meditation helps with your finances?
Grant contributes a bit of his success to meditation, and thinks that you have to have a clear mind to make good decisions in life, including financial decisions. He’s a big fan in “chilling as hard as you hustle”.
He knows that he had to sacrifice a lot to become a millionaire, so to get back on track, he started meditation. From there, Grant added green juice to his diet, as well as yoga. Now, he’s not only productive, but balanced. And that shows in his finances too. Grant suggests using an app like Calm, so you can track your meditation and see the difference it makes in your day to day living.
How can someone start being an entrepreneur?
While he loves being an entrepreneur, Grant wants people to know how big of an investment entrepreneurship is. Just like building wealth, building a business requires a lot of decisions that will compound over time to create more worth.
Grant firmly believes that if you spend the time investing and building in the beginning of starting your business, you will gain momentum faster and hopefully have a successful business sooner rather than later. He also recommends reading a book, “Blue Ocean Strategy”, to help you understand analyzing market opportunity and creating something that doesn’t exist so you are in your own element.
The last tip Grant has, is to know your worth. Grant believes that had he not known what his time was worth, he wouldn’t have become a millionaire as quickly as he had. He isn’t afraid to turn down opportunities that don’t align with him or his needs. If you want to be successful and grow as an entrepreneur, it’s important to learn how to say no.
What is one financial tip you have that could help the readers improve their finances right now?
Grant’s financial tip is to think about your money on a more regular basis (preferably daily), so you can think about it in a more positive way, vs. only thinking about it when you have to. His second quick tip is to have a sunny day fund, money that you can spend without having any guilt or shame.
How do you make money your honey?
Besides growing his net worth from $2 to over a million in 5 years, Grant makes money his honey by realizing that he won’t be the same person in the future as he is today. Grant takes growth as a natural part of life, and he plans for it.
Where can listeners go to find out more about you?
- Millennial Money
- Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Grant {at} millennialmoney {dot} com
Resources that are mentioned or add value to this episode:
- Betterment
- Acorns
- Personal Capital
- Millennial Money Investing Strategy
- Make Money Your Honey With Freelance Writing
- Calm App
- “Blue Ocean Strategy” by W. Chan Kim
- Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – An excellent course on how to make passive income via affiliate sales from your website.