Lessons From a 34 Year-Old Millionaire
Whitney Akchurin was our last Coffee & Coin interview for the Capital One series in 2019 and she is a gem! She’s also a Factora alum who’s spent the last 12 years working for Fortune 500 companies and startups.
Oh, and she’s also a millionaire.
We wanted to recap some of her best lessons for building wealth because we’re almost into 2020, y’all. Which, in case you haven’t realized, isn’t just a new year, but a whole new decade.
But first: do you believe you could be a millionaire within the next 10 years? We think it’s definitely possible. But you can’t just close your eyes and cross your fingers. You’ve gotta make a plan to get there.
Which is why we put together our free Think Like an Investor workbook. It’s got all the tools you need to look back, look around, and look ahead to you and your first (or next!) million.
On to the lessons!
Pick a big, exciting, sexy goal
When Whitney was in high school, she decided she REALLY wanted a lime green VW beetle. So her parents made her deal: if she could pay for half, they’d pay for the other half.
She was so into the image of herself pulling into school driving it that she took every single babysitting job she could get. She asked for money for every birthday and holiday. She was so focused on her goal, which in her words “as a teenage girl was hard because all of my friends were buying these outfits and I was like “I’ll come shopping, but I’m not buying anything because I’m buying a car.”
She saved up $9K, got her dream car, and drove it for 9.5 years. When you choose a goal that gets you up out of bed in the morning, it’s motivating to stick with it.
Constantly realign to your priorities
Before taking a Factora Wealth Circle, Whitney was working constantly: “My Circlemates made me stop and look at my bigger money picture. I learned that I didn’t necessarily want more money. I wanted more time. I love working out, I love traveling, and I wanted to spend more time hanging out with my boyfriend and friends.
“…so I completely changed my strategy. I’d always been a salaried employee because that’s the only thing I considered, but then a recruiter reached out for a contract position, which would allow me more money AND more time.”
Personal finance is just that: personal. Your life is your life and you should live it the way you want to. Don’t forget to take time and evaluate how you’re spending your money and your time.
D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E
Saving money is NOT hard. We repeat: it’s not hard. But sometimes it does take discipline and valuing long-term gains over short-term pleasures.
”I got 300K as a gift when I was 21, and I decided not to spend a single dollar of it. I invested all of it instead. I was also maxing out my 401k and IRA by then, and I was really disciplined about saving.”
“Buying new clothes makes a lot of people happy, but that was never really the case for me. Seeing the money in my accounts grow is what made me happy.” When seeing your money grow brings you more joy than a fancy dinner, you’ve hit the jackpot. It’s a mindset shift that happens in Factora Wealth Circles especially because you have Circlemates like Whitney leading by example.
We’ll be starting up Coffee & Coins in 2020 for more inspiration, wisdom, and mimosas. In the meantime, download our free guide and see what you’re capable of in the next decade. We bet it’s so much more than you think!
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Get even more insights with our weekly podcast, Coffee & Coin, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Allegra Moet Brantly.
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