How To Get Rich In Your 20s (Realistically)

What's up guys, it's Graham here. So unfortunately, it's widely believed that Millennials are the most financially screwed generation in history. After all, mortgage rates are at their most expensive level since 2001. Food prices are rising at the fastest rate in decades, and the cost of living has gotten so high that 40 percent of Gen Z now works multiple jobs.

Fortunately, though, there is a solution and a strategy for anyone who wants to escape the hamster wheel and build their wealth, even when you're starting out with nothing. And better yet, it's not consisting of the generic "work hard, save at least 10 percent of your income, drive a used car, and always smash the like button for the YouTube algorithm." Anyway, in terms of getting rich in your 20s, starting today and actually being able to make a sizable difference using what you already have, here are the best recommendations that have worked really well for me that anybody would be able to follow—regardless of their income background or education—all for the low price of just subscribing, if you haven't done that already. So, thank you guys so much, and also a big thank you to Printify for sponsoring this video, but more on that later.

All right, now before we go into the step-by-step specifics, I just want to say this because it's very important: be careful who you listen to. There's a lot of people out there who have nothing going for themselves, who do nothing with their lives, but who love to tell you what they think that you should do at any chance they could get. These are often the people who tell you that you deserve to live it up when you're young, or that credit scores don't matter, or that you should go to a good college and get a good job to be successful, or that starting a business is too risky and you shouldn't even try because you have a high chance of failing.

Don't get the wrong idea here; usually, the people that tell you these things tend to believe it themselves, and they have good intentions—unless, of course, they have deep-seated insecurities and hate seeing other people do better than them. But the fact is, if you really want to build your wealth, you have to go against the grain and do what most people are not doing. And that includes only listening to people who are where you want to be. In fact, a while ago, I heard a saying that really stands out: "Don't take advice from someone who you wouldn't want to trade places with." Following that is going to narrow down your focus in terms of who you'll listen to, and chances are that's the advice that you should follow.

Second, since the goal here is to build wealth, you'll need to make a lot of money. But one of the ways that you could do that and help speed up the process is with a good credit score. Whether you like it or not, those three numbers dictate whether or not you'll get an apartment, get a low interest rate when you buy a house, leverage your money, or sometimes even get a job. So if you want a step-by-step guide on how you can do exactly that, it's this easy: first, if you have no credit history whatsoever, go and apply for something like a Discover It secured card. They'll just ask you to put down a deposit, usually a few hundred dollars, that they'll give you back in about eight months.

And then from there, all you'll need to do is get in the habit of putting a few small normal charges on the card every single month and then paying it off in full on time. It's that easy. Now alternatively, if you don't want to use a credit card to do this, just Google "debit cards that build your credit," and voila—there's so many options out there.

Second, you should also sign up for a free credit monitoring software like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, or Experian. This is going to help you monitor your credit score on a regular basis for the cost of nothing, and eventually, you could watch it increase over time for free. There's really no downside to doing this; you should just do it.

Then third, after six months of doing that, open up another credit card like the Bank of America Cash Rewards Card, the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card, or Chase Freedom Card. That's because the more on-time payments you have, the higher your score is going to be. So do the same thing as before: open up the new credit card, put a few small charges on it, and then pay it off each month in full by the time it's due.

Then fourth, after about 12 months of doing that, you could open up your first charge card, like the American Express Gold. Now this one does have an annual fee, but it has so many perks and features that pay for themselves many times over. And because it doesn't technically have a limit, it's not going to report credit utilization, which is going to push your score up even higher.

Finally, fifth, after about 18 months of doing this, you should have a credit score between 700 and 750, which will generally get you the lowest interest rates anytime you apply for financing. The third, even though improving your credit score is certainly going to help you build wealth, it's not enough on its own to actually make money. That's why if you want to set yourself up on the financial fast track of a lifetime, it's crucial that you get as much job experience as possible. Every job you take is going to give you a different skill set that you can then leverage into the next career, and each time you try something new you're going to learn what you like, what you don't like, what you're good at, and what you're bad at.

I nearly guarantee as a result of doing all of that, you're going to make more money. In terms of what you could do specifically, since I know everyone wants a really simple step-by-step guide, here's what's worked really well for me: first, you should decide what your dream career is. Then second, find a way to start working on that as soon as possible. If this is something that requires a certain certification, license, or skill, go and work towards that. If it's a career that people do on their own, like being an entrepreneur, find people in the field that you want to get into and see if you can work for them—even if it's for free—just to get the experience so that eventually one day you could do it on your own.

Then from there, number three, if you realize maybe it's not a good fit, you don't enjoy it as much as you thought you did, or maybe it's different than what you expected, try something new and start the process over again. All of this is about using your 20s strategically for the sake of knowledge. Don't even try to make money at this point because I promise the experience that you get now will be worth 10 times more money in the future than what you would be able to make today.

And after that, then leads me to fourth. If your goal is to make a lot of money—like more than five hundred thousand dollars a year—you’re probably gonna have to pick a business that's scalable. Like, let's be real; if you want to build your wealth really fast, you're probably not going to get there with a traditional job unless that job pays you an exorbitant amount of money or you're really good at call options or OnlyFans.

So instead, my recommendation is this: pick a job or a career that's not dependent on how many hours you work. For me, I did this when I was working as a real estate agent. It didn't matter if I worked two hours or 200 hours; if I didn't sell a house, I wasn't getting paid. Now personally, if it were up to me, I think something like sales is probably one of the most underrated careers out there. It's usually a stepping stone to making a lot more money. It'll teach you everything you need to know about time management and customer service, and it'll usually provide the funding for you to do almost anything else you want to do later in life.

For example, I have an upcoming video that documents people who work in solar sales and make almost a million dollars a year. And if you want to see a sneak peek of that, here's what they had to say: "You know, every time you knock a door, whether or not they answer, they say no or yes, you're making fifty-four dollars, right? And then when they're going out in the field, they just imagine fifty-four dollars is hanging on every doorknob."

"Yeah, it's like you don't get paid for the yes; we're getting paid for the no." Or I guess you could just work for UPS because they're paying $170,000 a year. That's a ton of money.

Anyway, overall, I would say that most people you hear about who make a ton of money when they're young do so by starting their own business, and best of all, when it comes to doing this, pretty much everything you need to know is already on YouTube for free. Learning how to be self-sufficient to find the answers yourself is going to help you tremendously, no matter what you decide to do in your life.

Then from there, it's also crucial that you consider earning multiple sources of income. Believe it or not, this step is so important that the IRS actually published their research on high-income tax returns to discover why rich people are rich. And what they found was that the more income sources you have, the more money you tend to make.

Now, of course, if you're curious which income sources are the most common for millionaires, the number one starts with the typical job. For most people, this is the cash cow that makes everything else possible. Like number two: dividend income. This is probably the easiest second source of income for anybody to be able to do immediately, starting today, just by owning a stock, ETF, or index fund that pays you out on a regular basis.

This is also very closely related to the third millionaire income source, and that would be capital gains. This one is often claimed to be the reason why millionaires avoid paying taxes, but in all reality, it's simply because the long-term capital gains tax rate is lower than that of earned income. But the point still remains: this can be very profitable if you do well. For example, fourth, once you start earning money, you could also branch out to rental properties. Sure, it's a lot of work, but with a consistent income, good credit score, and knowledge on a particular market, you could do quite well even during a time where inventory is low.

Then finally, six, you could increase your income by working a side hustle or taking on a part-time job. I personally tend to believe that this is one of the most underutilized income sources that people are not taking advantage of, especially when you consider that people are wasting two and a half hours a day on social media. Just imagine what people would be able to accomplish if they just put that focus on something more productive.

I just think working any type of side business that's independent from your main source of income is not only a good way to make more money, but also diversify yourself just in case something happens to your job. For instance, using Printify is a perfect example, and they just so happen to be sponsoring today's video. Like, for those unaware, the concept of print on demand is something that people do all the time. It's a business model where products like apparel, accessories, and home decor are only produced when an order is received. This means you don't need to stockpile inventory in your living room or make a sizable upfront investment to begin making money.

But guys, to do exactly this, a few years ago, when I was selling merch, the entire business model was just this. Once an order was placed, the clothing would print on demand. I would pay for the cost of those materials after already receiving the order from a customer, and then the item would be sent without me ever having to make an upfront investment. This is ideal because it's risk-free; you don't spend money unless the customer places an order. It's easy to set up yourself, and there are tools that will help you with every step of the process. Even here on YouTube, there's a quick search for practically anything that you need. Plus, once you begin to realize just how many products out there are print on demand, you'll never be able to see it the same way ever again.

Not to mention, Printify takes the process a step further because their prices are consistently cheaper—especially among the products that sell well. They integrate across multiple channels like Etsy, Shopify, Walmart, and coming soon, potentially even TikTok. Their quality is top-notch, they give you a large catalog with a wide range of items to choose from, and if you've already got an existing audience to sell to, you could create a pop-up shop and start selling items immediately. Oh, and they also give you the option to deliver your products in two days, just like Amazon Prime.

So if you want to give it a shot and try it out today, visit the link down below in the description or visit printify.com/gram to get started.

And now, with that said, let's get back to the video. Beyond that, though, no matter how much money you make, if you want to actually build wealth, it's crucial that you avoid what's called lifestyle inflation. This is what happens when you're making forty thousand dollars a year. You're paying all your bills, no complaints, you're getting by. But then you get a promotion to sixty thousand dollars; all of a sudden, you reward yourself with maybe a slightly nicer place, a slightly nicer car, maybe start going out for meals a little bit more often—nothing big, but just small things.

But then a year or two later, you start making ninety thousand dollars a year. All of a sudden, you want to upgrade your apartment, or maybe you want to buy a Tesla Model X because that's what everyone drives when you make ninety thousand dollars a year. I think you could probably see where this is going. I've seen so many situations where people are making a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year and not able to save any extra money than they were when they were making forty thousand dollars a year, despite making four times more money.

And if you don't believe me, nearly half of people making over a hundred thousand dollars a year are living paycheck to paycheck. Personally, I found one of the best ways to overcome this is that anytime you make any additional money, pretend it doesn't exist. Live on the exact same amount as you were before and invest the difference immediately. In this case, if you're making forty thousand dollars and you get a raise to sixty thousand dollars, well great! Now you could save an extra twenty thousand dollars.

Then from there, if you make a hundred thousand dollars, just keep your lifestyle the exact same as when you're making forty thousand dollars and save all the difference. The way I see it, this is not a time for you to reward yourself for making more money. Instead, the reward is that your money now works for you—not the other way around. Or I guess you could just do what I do, which is work so much that you don't have time to spend the money. That also helps.

Okay, in all seriousness, here's the way I think of it: if I want to buy something, I just figure out how much I need invested so that my investments pay for it. For example, if I want to spend a hundred dollars a week eating out at restaurants, I know that I'll have to have a hundred and thirty thousand dollars invested to be able to pay for it. This way, I know that whatever I purchase or spend is sustainable no matter what happens to my income.

Throughout my entire twenties, I lived by the motto that I would invest my money to pay for the things that I wanted and then I would save up for the specific investments—not the thing itself. I promise that by thinking this way, it's going to help change the way that you see money, which then brings me to my last point.

And that is this: studies show that it's usually best to invest your money immediately. I know this is super basic stuff for YouTube, but this concept of passive income really changed my entire mindset as a teenager. It's just this: one dollar invested at 20 years old, at a seven percent return, is going to be worth 21 dollars at the age of 65. However, if you wait and invest that exact same one dollar at the age of 30, it's only going to be worth 10.68 dollars by that same age as 65. This means your money is worth twice as much when you're 20 years old than it is when you're 30.

And when I saw that math, it just opened up the possibilities. All of a sudden, it felt like I was in a race to invest as much money as I could as soon as I could because I didn't want to waste the opportunity to let it grow for as long as I possibly can. In this case, that five-dollar Starbucks you splurged on is actually worth a hundred and five dollars of future money. Those hundred-dollar pair of shoes that you only wore twice is actually worth twenty-one hundred dollars in future money.

Or how about that slightly nicer apartment that cost you a few hundred dollars a month more? That could be life-changing money by the time you're older. So why waste it now?

In terms of a step-by-step guide that you can follow when it comes to this, personally, I would begin by opening up a Roth IRA. This is a retirement account that you're able to invest up to sixty-five hundred dollars a year into, and all the profit you make within that account is completely tax-free by the age of 59 and a half. For anybody who is young, this is especially good for three reasons: first, you're probably not making a lot of money right now, which means you're in a low tax bracket. This means that very little money is lost up front to taxes, leaving you with more money left over to invest.

Second, you'll also be young enough to enjoy decades of compound interest and growth, which means even more money left over in the future. And third, it's incredibly easy to do because almost every brokerage out there offers a Roth IRA that you could set up yourself in like 15 minutes. But just to show you how great this is, if you're able to invest five hundred dollars a month into a Roth IRA and it averages a seven percent return, by the age of 65, you're going to have $2,250,000 waiting for you, tax-free.

If you could just listen to this one thing and follow along to just that, you'll have nearly guaranteed your retirement with an income of ninety thousand dollars a year for the rest of your life just by having that as a nest egg. Then from there, if you're curious what you can invest in, personally, I just take a broad approach and invest in an index fund that covers everything, including the S&P 500. Ideally, all you do is just dollar-cost average on a regular basis. Don't panic sell; don't touch it for 30 years, and then hopefully, fingers crossed, you profit.

The second, if you also plan on living in the same area for more than ten years and you have disposable income, you can also look into buying rental property through what's called house hacking. This is when you buy a property for yourself, rent out the bedrooms or other units to provide additional income to cover your expenses, leaving you with a place left over for free.

Then eventually, if you find another deal, you could eventually move on to that while keeping the previous one for cash flow. This is how I was able to build up a portfolio of rental properties throughout Southern California and Las Vegas in my 20s. In my opinion, this is one of the best ways to build your wealth over time while also keeping your expenses as low as possible.

Now, I understand that even with building your credit, reducing your expenses, switching jobs, maximizing your income, and working a side hustle, it's probably not going to happen overnight. It's also easier said than done, and even if you do everything on the list, it's still not a guarantee that you're going to get rich. But you will have a much higher likelihood of achieving it if you're dedicated to increasing your income, living below your means, sacrificing short-term discretionary income for the sake of investing immediately, and making it a goal that you have to achieve by pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.

In fact, I bet most people would find it incredibly easy to save an extra 10 percent of their income if you just use a website like mint.com, which tracks all of your expenses, and then cut back on the things you just don't need. I know it sounds trivial to start penny-pinching here and there for the sake of saving more money, but all of these things really do start adding up.

So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. As always, feel free to hit the like button, subscribe, feel free to add me on Snapchat and Instagram, and don't forget that you could get some free stocks worth all the way up to a few thousand dollars when you make a deposit using a paid affiliate link down below in the description. You may as well do that; that's pretty easy too. It'll take you like 10 minutes to sign up—pretty good ROI! Let me know which free stocks you get. Thank you so much, and until next time!