George Kamel - How I Built a $1M Net Worth by 32

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

I went from negative net worth to net worth millionaire in a decade. How did I do it? Not crypto! In today’s video I’ll share some things I did that helped me get my net worth to $1M by age 32. Pair these with the Baby Steps to accelerate your financial progress!  Links:  Free Coverage Checkup Baby Steps Video EveryDollar Budget Deal: I love a good deal, when you sign up using this link , I’ll hook you up with a 14-day free trial and $15 off your first year of the premium version of EveryDollar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A decade ago, I was like a lot of Americans. I had credit card debt, student loan debt, and I occasionally watched the voice. I was normal, but I was also broke. Here's a picture of broke me pretending to be okay while wearing a disposable H&M cardigan. Looks like you got a little pain behind those eyes. Fast forward to today, not so normal, but in the best way. My wife and I now have a combined net worth of over a million dollars, which is good because it takes nearly that much just to keep our French bulldogs alive.

So you're probably asking yourself, how did I go from negative net worth to a net worth millionaire in under a decade? Well, it wasn't crypto or infinite banking or some secret investment vehicle that only rich people know about, and it for sure wasn't winning the voice, although I'll always have that singer-songwriter passed on YouTube forever. So today, I'm going to share with you some specific things I did and decisions I made that helped me get my net worth up to a million dollars by the age of 32. Now, my hope is that you can take these things and use them to accelerate your own progress

and build your net worth as well. But first, pretend you're Blake Shelton, and I'm an undiscovered Americana alt-folk rock indie country singer songwriter, and smash that like it's built into the front of a big red rotating chair. And when you're done arguing with Adam, classic, subscribe and share too, won't you? You got it, bro. Appreciate it. All right, let's get to it. Here are the 12 things I did to build a million dollar net worth by 32. Number one, I lived on less than I made. Now, this one seems obvious, right? But a recent report found that nearly two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and no financial margin leads to,

to no savings, which leads to debt. So if you're truly living on less than you make, you don't need to use other people's money for everyday purchases, only to pay it back later with interest. Make a zero-based budget where every single dollar has a job and stick to it. It's that simple and it's that hard. But if you get that tip down,

you're going to build wealth really fast. Number two, I got a degree with ROI. Now, I chose to major in communications. And before you laugh at me, because I know communications degrees get a bad rap, what am I doing here today? I honestly don't know. But seriously, I knew I wanted to.

learned to do something involving media, whether it was filmmaking or journalism or publicity or marketing or social media, and it panned out for me. And degree aside, going to college did provide some opportunities, some connections, some relationships that have helped me get to where I am today. And so this isn't just choosing the right major. It's about trying new things and figuring out what your passions are. But regardless of what degree you get, where you go, what you do with it, do it without debt. Because that's going to hold you back in your adult life. It's going to hold you back from building wealth. So if you can't go to that dream school, without debt, don't go. Choose a different school. Number three, I chose a spouse wisely. You heard that right. I married

someone with similar money values and goals. Now, my wife didn't make all the dumb mistakes I made growing up, so when I met her, she was already debt-free living her best life, and I just made it even more best. E, bester? Better? More best. If you're not on the same page with money when you get married, it's going to derail your wealth building journey. When my wife and I got married, we were debt-free, We had the same goals, the same vision. We wanted to pay off our house early. We wanted to build a whole lot of wealth and be really generous. And what that did was it gave us a better marriage and it propelled our wealth-building journey.

And a lot of this comes down to delayed gratification. Yes, we like to go on vacations and enjoy stuff now, but we're future-thinking people. We had a vision for that future and we're building toward it every single day. And the other piece of choosing your spouse wisely is this. Money fights and money problems are one of the leading causes of divorce in America. So if you're on the same page with money, that means less money fights, less money problems. That means a better marriage and a faster path to wealth. Number four, I avoided debt.

Once I realized how much consumer debt was stealing from my paycheck each month, I got out of debt as fast as possible. In 18 months, all $40,000 of consumer debt was gone, and I committed to never go into it again. I cut up the credit cards, I never look back, and I'm telling y'all that is one of the keys to building wealth on your terms. It's not about leveraging debt, it's about managing the income you have, living on less than you make,

and taking that margin to build for the future. That makes a lot of sense. Number five, I invested early and consistently. Now, I kept it simple here. At the age of 25, I was debt-free at that point, and I started investing into my company's Roth 401K. Now, we have a match here, so I invested not only up to the match,

but all the way up to 15%. And if you're following the Ramsey Baby Step 4. So since I was 25, every single month, every single paycheck, 15% was going into that Roth 401K into mutual funds, experiencing a magical thing called compound growth. Now, my wife did the same thing, investing 15% in her Roth 401K, and now our retirement accounts account for about a third of our

entire net worth. So, don't poo-poo this stuff. It works if you work it. A 401k can be a great tool to invest for the future. Don't fall for all these investing trends and traps out there. All it takes is a good old tax advantage retirement account, like a 401k, a Roth IRA, and you can build wealth. Don't listen to these whole life insurance goons telling you 401ks are meant to trap people. It's not complicated. You just got to do it and avoid the noise. Hey, we'll get right back to the episode. but I want to give a quick shout out to our friends at BetterHelp who are sponsoring this episode. Listen, sometimes we know what's good for us, but it feels like we just can't make ourselves do it. Like, I should just go to bed, but I'm a new dad, and my baby just got a diaper rash, and it looks really red.

And sometimes my brain convinces me to check WebMD, and then I click another article and another article, and suddenly it's three in the morning. If your brain tends to work like that, therapy could help. So your brain works with you, not against you. And sometimes it's just as simple as talking things through and learning strategies, to be intentional about doing the things you know you should. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. BetterHelp is flexible because it's 100% online, so it fits your schedule.

Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists at any time for no extra charge. Make your brain your friend with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash George today and get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P-com slash George, or click the link in the description. All right. Back to the episode we go. Number six, I kept learning.

Now, this one sounds a little squishy and feel good, but I'm telling you, I learn new skills for jobs that help me get promotions. I went through a money course called Financial Peace University. I enjoy reading books and listening to audiobooks. You've got to be a lifelong learner if you're going to build wealth and keep it. So learning new skills, taking in more knowledge is so crucial for your wealth-building journey. So take a look.

It's in a book, Reading Rainbow. Number seven, I worked hard. Yeah, I just worked hard. And not just at my regular job, I was doing side gigs and side hustles when I was getting out of debt, when I was trying to pay off the house early. Don't feel like you're stuck just because of your income at your full-time job. You can go out and you can make more money. Now, I've been at Ramsey for 10 years now, and over that decade, I've held six different jobs here.

And that's helped me increase my income as I got promoted into different roles. So work your tail off. It will pay dividends later on in the future. I don't want to work. Number eight, I practiced delayed gratification. Here's what that means. I didn't just buy everything I wanted. when I wanted it. I had a long-term vision, a 10-year vision, and I sacrificed in the short-term

to get to that. And that, my friends, is worth it. Delay pleasure now to have more later on down the road. Number nine, I never stopped giving. Now, this is a controversial one. People say, George, I can't believe you give like that. That's crazy. You're telling broke people that they should be generous. That's insane. Listen, I have a very controversial view on money in that it's not really mine to begin with. You see, as a person of faith, I think of myself as a manager or a steward of what God has entrusted to me. And let me tell you, that is so freeing. Because it's not my money, I just want to manage it well. And giving gives me a very different perspective. It makes me have an open hand. And when I live like that, I live a better life, a higher quality life. And

when you look at what you can do with money, three things. Give it, save it, spend it. And giving happens to be the most fun you can have with money. Highly recommend it. I might like to try that. Number 10. I kept emergency savings. Now, this is a big one. A lot of people have nothing in the bank. They're using margin to leverage debt or invest or buy crap. Listen, you have to have that buffer between you and life to protect your wealth. Because what happens when an emergency hits and you don't have the money? You go into debt, which decreases your net worth. So get that fully funded emergency fund as soon as you're out of debt and you will build wealth a whole lot faster.

Number 11. I bought a home when I was ready. That's a key part to this equation when I was ready. And I did it strategically. My wife and I bought a house we could afford a modest town home and we paid it off early. And the great thing about the housing market is that it goes up over time. And we've seen that over the last few years. And when home prices go up, so does your net worth.

And when that thing's paid for, 100% of that equity is all yours. And this piece of the puzzle is specifically what catapulted us into millionaire status. So how do you know when you're ready to buy a house? Well, you should be out of debt with an emergency fund and have a good down payment saved. Number 12. I got defensive. And no, I'm not talking about defending my honor here. I'm talking about insurance. People overlook this all the time.

But when you think about wealth building, there's offense, things like investing for the future, and there's defense. And that's where insurance comes into play. You see, you could get sued after a car wreck, and it could wipe out all the wealth that you've worked so hard to build. You've got to have the right coverage in place, and you have to know what types you need. And there are 10 types you might need based on your specific situation. And lucky for you, there's a free coverage checkup tool our team created to help walk you

through this and lay it all out. And I will link that covered checkup for you below. It'll take you five minutes, and it is time well spent. All right, I know I said 12 things, but you know what? It's my channel, so I'm going to throw in a little bonus here. Like when you open that 12-count nuggets at Chick-fil-A, and you realize they threw in a little extra for you, and you're like, pluck yeah, I just won the chicken lottery, baby.

So here's the 13th nugget. I didn't care what other people thought. A few years ago, I was putting around on an 09 Honda Civic that had body damage while my friends were buying houses and going on nice vacations. And you know what? I didn't care. I was thinking long-term. And I know you feel the pressure, you feel the fomo, it may seem like you're way behind compared to some of your friends.

friends, your family may be judging you with comments like, you're throwing away money on rent. But guess what? Those people don't pay your bills. And that means they don't get a vote in the biggest financial purchase of your life. And I'll tell you this. Not caring what other people think is a superpower in today's world. And if you can harness that, you'll have more joy and peace and less stress and anxiety than almost anyone you know. And if you have friends or family pressuring you to buy a house or make big financial decisions before you're ready, don't do it. Focus on your goals, stick to your plan. If broke people are making fun of your financial plan, you're headed in the right direction. And sure, there's going to be times and moments where it's hard, but stay the course,

practice gratitude and contentment, and remember your long-term vision. So there you have it. Those are 12 things I did to build a million dollar net worth by 32 plus one little bonus nugget. And if you're saying thank you, to that I say, my pleasure. I didn't say thank you. Now sure, most of our net worth is wrapped up in the equity of our paid-for house and in our retirement accounts. But who cares? We still have plenty of money left over each month to accomplish our goals and enjoy our life.

And that's the power of doing a budget, living debt-free, and living on life. and don't forget the whole time I was doing these things I was working a step-by-step plan called the Ramsey baby steps and if you're new to those baby steps check out the video I made explaining it in detail I'll drop a link for you below as always make sure to like subscribe and share this with your friends who are currently waiting for chicken and a drive-through line that wraps around the building twice they could use an extra nugget thanks for watching we'll see you next time