How My Net Worth went from $8K to $409K in 4 Years
By: Leo Leksang
Tags: Financial Freedom, Investing, Personal Finance

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

How My Net Worth went from $8K to $409K in 4 Years

I’ll give you the main points along with an explanation if need be.

In 2017, I finally got a desk job after almost a year of job searching. I had about $25K in student loans.

Below are the main factors that attributed to the growth in my net worth:

Living With Parents:

One of the biggest savings, I don’t pay any rent, utilities, and I save a significant amount by not eating out. I do not need to explain much in this section. If I were to live in an expensive city and share it with roommates, a significant portion of my income would be devoted to paying rent and eating outside.

Controlling Variable Expenses:

Okay, so maybe you thought I cheated by staying with parents, the next one is hard for people and I think I have this down to a science. I do not buy many things. The reasons are a combination of me trying to save and invest my money now so I can enjoy the better things in life for the future, as well as because I am happy without the extra “stuff” in my life.

The first computer game I bought was in 2020. I don’t have any game consoles.

I do not own a car. My main methods of transportation are the metro, Uber and friends.

I do travel annually, and admittingly that is one thing I don’t keep costs down.

I like clothing, but I do not buy clothing often. Some shirts I’m still wearing were from high school.

I do go eat out with friends, but I do not eat out everyday.

The first furniture I bought was during 2020. Until then I never bought furniture or small items of whatever you can think of.

I kept my subscriptions low, so far I pay for Netflix, Medium (of course) and my phone plan.

Technology wise, the computer I’m using has been with me since sophomore year of college. Prior to owning an iPhone 12 since 2020, I had been using an iPhone 5.

Loans:

I didn’t own a credit card until 2018. Even with that, I do not overuse it and I do pay off the balance before I get a late fee and before interest accrues.

The biggest debt I have are my student loans, I paid more than the minimum until the loan payments were suspended due to Covid.

Working:

This section needs to be divided into three parts: Working during college years, working when I got my first “career job” and working now during pandemic times.

During college, I had a part time job on the weekends. During the summer break, I would take weekdays on top of my weekend shift. It did not pay much, $14 to $15 an hour. But I did my best to save and invest it.

Because even when I got my desk job, I still kept my part time job until early 2018. After I finished my formal job at 5 PM, I would make my way to the part time job I had since college. My first “career job” I earned $50K, this is including base salary and bonuses. My income increased, I invested more, and kept spending relatively the same.

2020 has undeniably either helped you or hurt you. I am extremely fortunate, and I don’t take this lightly that I kept my job and could work from home. My income continued to increase over the years, and this time I saved even more money, especially not needing to commute.

My income from my job has gradually increased since then, and before 2021 ends, I am on track of earning $80K at least.

Investing:

The most important, if I had just put money away in a savings account, I would have never had the money I have today.

I am a proponent of investing in the stock market, time spent in the market is always better than timing the market. I am mostly a long term investor, trading once in a while. I still have stock positions held since 2014. Investing in large cap and growth stocks, I’ve only begun to invest in small cap tech stocks that I believe will grow exponentially in the future.

Any dividends I receive from my investments I would reinvest, any capital gains I made, I would also reinvest. I was always confident that I would become wealthy, I just did not expect that money can build up this fast, especially if you start investing early.

Mindset and Goal Setting:

The most ephemeral but I would argue the most important. I had the goal to be rich, and the mindset to fuel me. If I were to view this as some journey, I would say it was not a painful one nor was it “hard” per say. No job was too low for me, whatever obstacle I face in my part time or official job I never took it personally. Some days I felt redundant, but in the back of my mind there was the goal I set for myself.

It was the belief that the effort I’m putting into was what soothed me no matter what other people would say intolerable.

With a goal, you wake up with purpose, you are more emotionally resilient because you understand that whatever hits you is just temporary, the end game for financial independence is still there.

My overarching goal is to be financially independent, or maybe “rich” if many people would say in the bluntest manner. Over the years I set myself mini goals; maxing out my Roth IRA, contributing at least $10K into my brokerage, increasing my contribution rate in my employer’s 401K.

What You Need to Take From Reading

It is never too late to change your mindset and to start saving, regardless of what stage in life you are in. You do not need to do all the things I did, but I’m confident that you can take some things out of this article. Like compound investing, the small financial decisions we make are what get us to point A to point B.