I started my financial odyssey at $4.25/hour with my first job in the 90’s and now I’m managing millions of dollars in cash. Most people dream of getting to a million+ dollar portfolio so that they can retire and live a carefree life but I’m sorry to tell you that things don’t actually work out that way so let me explain why…
The image above is a mind map of my current investment matrix and the journey here didn’t happen in one day, one week, one month or even one year, it literally took decades to get here.
It all started with a minimum wage job and as my skill set grew so did my career. As my career grew, so did my income and net worth. Over time it all snowballed to a larger and larger career and net worth to where I am today. My investments started with a savings account then a 401k then real estate, equities, bonds and other investment instruments and continues to grow.
So can I just take it easy, retire to a tropical island and just let the cash roll in? The simple answer is no. While it certainly is possible to sit back and not manage anything and just hope that everything turns out for the best, the truth is that money needs to be managed daily.
The journey here taught me that money, in many ways, is just like a ‘person’ in of itself. Money, just like a person, needs to be fed, needs to grow, needs to reproduce, needs friends & family, needs to be loved and needs a final resting place.
Over the next few months I’ll share with you what I learned and while everyone’s financial odyssey is always different, there will hopefully be some useful lessons for everyone.