Grant of Millennial Money went from having $2.26 in his bank account to $1 million. And he did it in five years, thanks to a lucrative side hustle and smart saving and investing habits.On his blog, the 31-year-old self-made millionaire shares “the single most important hack” he’s used to build wealth: “I break down ALL of my money goals into daily goals.”
“31-year-old millionaire!”
After all, “our minds are built to think about today,” writes Grant, who goes by his first name exclusively.
The idea came about when he used a retirement calculator for the first time and it told him he needed about $1.25 million to retire. “I was barely able to buy a burrito,” he writes, let alone think about saving seven figures.
That’s when Grant decided to start thinking about saving as a daily goal. He crunched the numbers and figured out exactly how much he would have to save each day to reach financial independence in 30 years. “It’s a simple calculation I did using a basic compounding interest calculator,” he writes. “In order to get to $1,250,000 I needed to save $50 a day and have an expected 5% annual compounding rate.”
Next, he started making deposits every single day into his investment accounts, with $50 being the goal. At first, “some days it was only $5, but I rarely missed a day,” Grant writes. “Then I started trying to make as much money as possible every day so I could invest it. I stopped thinking long term and thought every day about making that $50 threshold.
Putting money first is the biggest mistake this millennial millionaire made
His daily goal of $50 deposits soon became his daily minimum. He started setting aside “$70, then $80, then $100 dollars a day. … Then as my side hustles started really taking off I started depositing $500+ a day. … Then I put $5,000 in a day, then $20,000, and the rest is history.”
Today, the self-made millionaire still makes daily deposits. “My current minimum threshold is $200 a day,” he writes.
“It’s a simple calculation I did using a basic compounding interest calculator,” he writes”
The more you save, the more momentum you build. “Depositing money into my investment accounts every day felt, and still feels, like a game,” he writes. “I started crushing it.”
It’s a strategy anyone can use, no matter how much money you earn, Grant says: “Try depositing $5 a day to start and then increase it $1 a week. Trust me, you probably aren’t going to miss that extra dollar.”
By Kathleen Elkins
