How I saved enough money to invest in real estate

What's up you guys, it's Graham here. So, I just realized this is the first YouTube video ever that I've recorded while wearing a tie. What are we celebrating today? 60,000 subscribers! Thank you guys so much for all of your support, for watching anything I put out there, for subscribing, for commenting, for absolutely anything. Thank you guys so much for all of your continued support; it really means so much to me.

So, one of the questions I get asked a lot is: how do they get the money to begin investing in real estate? How do they do it? So, I'm going to be sharing exactly what happened, how I got the money to begin investing in real estate, and a little bit about my thought processes when it comes to making money and, like, saving it and investing it.

And by the way, just a little bit of background on me: I did not grow up in a wealthy family whatsoever. My parents were not the parents to be like, "Hey, you turned 16 today, let's get you a Porsche!" or like, "Hey, you're 18, we got to get you investing in real estate; here's a down payment for you!" I just didn't have parents like that. In fact, I think what shaped me the most growing up was that both of my parents ended up filing for bankruptcy around the time I was like 15 or 16 years old, both at the same time.

I remember going through that and how difficult that was. I remember the value of $20 and just how far you can stretch $20, and you can stretch it a very long way, by the way. But there was a time at that age for me where I distinctly remember how far $20 needed to go and how much money that really was and how much you can get with that. That's always stuck with me, too, because I still act as though, you know, $20 is, you know, a thousand in terms of what you can buy in purchasing power behind that.

So, I think that ended up having a huge impact on me—growing up from a wealthy family and really appreciating the money that you make and all that goes into making money and investing and saving. I really believe for me having that background really provided such a good foundation for realizing the true value of the dollar and just what goes into making money. Because for me, at least, at the end of the day, I'm really such a believer that it doesn't matter how much money you make; it's really how much you can save that really matters the most.

So to start, I began working at Heist part-time. I worked like two to four days a week after school for a few hours. I was photoshopping pictures for a Marine Aquarium wholesaler that would import and export, like, exotic fish and coral and like all that cool stuff. I got paid a dollar for every picture I photoshopped and helped put on the website. So, I worked there after school, and from there I was able to save up really just a few thousand dollars from working part-time after school over the period of like a few years.

By the time I graduated high school, I think I had between like four and five thousand dollars saved up in a savings account. C'mon, that was like over a few years' worth of part-time work after school. Because I didn't get into any colleges, I ended up going for my real estate license, and thankfully that savings I had—two thousand dollars—was enough to pay for all my licensing courses, for insurance, business cards, marketing materials, everything that's needed to become a realtor. That pretty much was my savings, and that lasted me to pay off all those things.

So, I began working as a realtor, and at the same time, like, money was really tight. I didn't have the luxuries to go out and like get a brand-new car or get expensive clothes or do anything like that. So, I really did this very minimalistic. I went with pretty much what I had. The first car I had was a 1996 Ford Explorer, and that was the car I would use to drive around. I was so embarrassed about that car, by the way, that what I would do is when I would pull up to a showing, I'd park down the street. I'd park it early so nobody would see me and then I'd walk down to the house so people wouldn't see the car I pulled up in. And it was like a kind of...