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Financial Freedom

FOMO: Is 50 the new 30 when it comes to mortgages?

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There is news circulating in the media that talk coming out of the White House is a new mortgage product: A 50-year mortgage.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the standard 30-year mortgage has been kicking people’s ass. The 50-year mortgage could give more people a chance to get on the property ladder as so many young folks are locked out. However, with a 50-year house payment, you could buy a home at 30 and not pay it off until you’re 80! This would mean a mortgage of this time period could become a debt trap!

Like 99% of folks choose the 30-year mortgage, which is the banks most profitable product. So imagine a 50-year mortgage. I am sure some banks would be quite eager to roll this product out tomorrow.

I hear rumblings from many financial pundits that this could have negative consequences for many Americans. There are many finance gurus that are anti-debt. The outrage from the peanut gallery is not without merit. However, let’s consider that millions of Americans are already unable to afford to buy a home due to average home prices starting at $400,000.

This blog is dedicated to financial freedom. We do not advocate for debt. However, renters net worth pails in comparison to home homeowners.

The average net worth for a homeowner is around $430,000, which is significantly higher than the average net worth of a renter, which is approximately $10,000. This means the typical homeowner is about 43 times wealthier than the typical renter, a gap that has been widening considerably since the pandemic.

The average home price in the U.S. in 2019 was approximately $383,900 for a new home and $258,000 for an existing home. As of late 2025, the median home sales price in the U.S. is approximately $415,200 to $440,000, while the average sales price is higher, generally around $512,800.

Homeowners net worth have gone up like gangbusters. Right along side with their property values. Home appreciation is going up faster than wages.

Within about five years, home prices have gone up about $150,000-$200,000!

It used to take couples 2-3 years to save up a down payment. Now some sites are reporting it could take as long as 5-10 years of saving!

What gives?! That is longer than it takes to finish a college degree. I do not want to be stuck in my parents basement for that long. I want out the basement as soon as possible.

The longer term mortgage gives people options.

Once on the property ladder, you can rent out your home or sell it for a profit. As a renter, you lack those options.

Real estate is a great way to build wealth and escape the rat race sooner. You benefit from the appreciation in the rental property or in a primary residence once the home is sold.

The 50-year mortgage allows folks to need less time to save up down payments and to get the keys in their hands quicker!

What any financially savvy person really wants is flexibility. Just because you have a 50-year contract doesn’t mean you can’t finish it in 25 years. You just plug in the numbers on a calculator to see what the payment would be on a 25-year mortgage and bam! You just cut your time in half to be in debt to the man.

Many homeowners are also fearful of selling and leaving their low fixed rate 3% mortgage rate behind.

Therefore, it is also being floated that homeowners would be allowed to transfer their old rate to the new home. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

A mortgage payment on a 30-year home for $1,000,000 at 7% is $7,000 with 5% down. That same mortgage plummets to $4,729 at a 3% rate.

That is a savings of $2,271 per month.

And even lower on a 50-year loan. Probably around $3,500 per month.

You could put the difference toward maxing out your 401k and Roth IRA.

Would you be willing to sign up for a 50-year home loan?

About the author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

Financial Freedom

Lions and Tigers and Bear Markets! Oh My!

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Good Afternoon Ladies and Gents!

October is now upon us. That means pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin pie.

The air is crisp. And it’s also sweater weather. Time to break out those pullovers.

For those of you who grew up in the 90’s, you probably remember the yearly reruns of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, that would come on every Halloween.

I miss those simple days.

Even though things have changed since then, some things can still remain simple. Meaning you can keep your investing simple.

I know tons of fortunes have been made in real estate. Even my home has gone up in value.

See my post on How Supergirl inspired me to buy property

However, real estate is a very active investment. I am always looking for passive income. And stocks provide the passivity I am looking for.

I didn’t spend all that time in my youth slinging hash and serving customers for nothing. I did it to buy my freedom. To say adios to corporate overlords.

And watching the government enter another day in the shutdown, just made me want to work harder to exit the rat race sooner.

Although index funds are the best way to invest, the market has been moving up and down so much it’s enough to give you whiplash!

However, please stay the course.

Jim Cramer from CNBC show Mad Money gave his listeners a reason why years ago.

Host Jim Cramer believes that there is always a bull market somewhere, you just have to keep investing to get to it.

He was homeless for about six to nine months in 1979 after a thief stole everything from his apartment, leading him to live in his car, a Ford Fairmont, spending nights parked at highway rest stops. After graduating from Harvard and working as a crime reporter, Cramer’s apartment in California was robbed, leaving him with nothing.

And as if that wasn’t enough, they also cleared out his checking account, which held the money he needed to pay rent. He ended up getting evicted. Poor guy!

He used this time to develop a consistent saving and investing discipline that he credits with helping him become a millionaire.

He decided to invest $100 per month. He said his car insurance costs that much. His rent costs that much — and I’m saving on rent. Basically, he used the money that would have gone towards the rent to invest.

Investing during hardship: Even when he was at his lowest point, Cramer continued to invest $100 a month into the Fidelity Magellan Fund. He said that this consistent investment discipline, even when he had very little, was a key factor in his becoming a millionaire.

Lessons learned: Cramer described this period as a difficult but foundational experience that instilled in him a lasting commitment to saving and investing. 

This was during his 20s.

He thinks that people in their 20s have no excuse for not putting more money into their investments — even if they think they’re broke. He says he hears from people in their 20s say they are broke all the time.

He was literally homeless! As his finances became more stable, he increased the contributions he made each month, and by the time he was 45, he had around $1.5 million. He attributes that success, in part, to starting early and consistently investing each month.

After approximately 20 years of continuous saving, Jim was a millionaire.

He says investing in the stock market is a good long-term bet.

I concur.

After hitting $500,000, I am working on my next rung on the investment ladder, which is $750,000. I estimate I can get there with consistent saving and market returns in about 2 years or 24 months.

But who’s counting.

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

Celebrities and Money, Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Investing

How I made it to $500,000. Checkmate!

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It was a cold summer night when I finally got home after running errands.

The fall season was fast approaching. Alas, it was the last days of summer. No more summer concerts or cookouts. It felt so sad to see it come to an end.

Was this how Belly felt in The Summer I Turned Pretty? When Cousins Beach was in the rearview mirror as she drove away. It was time to move forward and move on.

Christmas was three months away. I was trying to get all my holiday preparations organized. Christmas tree. Check. Christmas decorations. Check. Holiday travel plans. Check.

I also had another check to do. My financial checkup. It was time for my monthly fiscal health check.

The stock market had a nice bump happen within the last 30 days. I had also been investing in AI companies for months and some stocks had started to takeoff!

I figured I would piggyback off of Nvidia and invest not only in them, but some of the companies that they were investing in as well. Below is Nvidia stock portfolio.

Stocks Nvidia currently owns

Nvidia started investing in AI stocks at the end of 2023. According to its latest 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was released weeks ago, it now owns several high profile ones:

  • Applied Digital Corp (APLD), founded in 2001, which builds data centers for customers. Their position is worth $63 million as they own a 3 percent stake in the company with 7 million shares.
  • Arm Holdings (ARM), founded in 1990, which helps semiconductor companies design advanced computing chips. Their position is worth $280 million.
  • CoreWeave (CRWV): Nvidia’s biggest equity holding, this cloud computing company provides GPU-accelerated infrastructure for AI workloads. Nvidia owns 7% of CoreWeave’s Class A shares, according to filings as of June 30, 2025. This stake of approximately 24.3 million shares makes CoreWeave Nvidia’s largest equity holding, at about $900 million.
  • Nano-X Imaging (NNOX), founded in 2018, which develops AI software to improve the efficiency of medical imaging. They did own 59,000 shares. However, they sold its stake in the company in February 2025.
  • Nebius (NBIS) is a technology company that provides artificial intelligence infrastructure. Nvidia owns a minority equity stake in the company, having acquired over 1.19 million shares in late 2024. Nvidia: The Real Winner In The $19B Microsoft/Nebius Deal. It’s stake in the company was $33 million at the end of 2024.
  • Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX), founded in 2013, which is using AI to transform the drug discovery process. Their position is worth $56 million as they own 7.71 million shares.
  • Serve Robotics (SERV), founded in 2017, which develops autonomous delivery robots with a focus on serving the last mile of a delivery. Their position was worth $25 million as they own 3.73 million shares. However, they sold its entire stake in Serve Robotics at the end of 2024.
  • SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN), founded in 2005, which is a leader in conversational AI technologies. The company recently paid off $200 million in debt to be able invest more in their technology. Nvidia previously had a position worth $10 million as they owned 1.73 million shares, but sold them all in late 2024 and early 2025.
  • WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD): Nvidia’s smallest position ($23.6 million) is in the autonomous car company WeRide, which is working to commercialize self-driving vehicles. Not only is WeRide backed by Nvidia, but the company also uses Nvidia GPUs and AI software in its vehicles. Nvidia is also working on autonomous driving technology.

Nvidia is currently worth over $4.2 trillion. So I figured investing in them and the same companies they put millions into was a pretty good bet! It turns out I was right. I have earned tens of thousands by doing this.

My own portfolio had gone from $375,000 to $4400,000 since my story had been featured on Business Insider and picked up on Yahoo! Finance.

I typed this amount into my retirement calculator and saw that if I continued with my 14.3 percent compound rate and investing $1,333 per month, I could have over $500,000 by May 1, 2025. I was about 500 days from having half a million in investments. This was in December 2024.

I actually hit my target in my portfolio in September 2025. Screenshot below was taken to mark the occasion.

From there, I could have $1 million in another four or five years. I would officially be a millionaire.

Looking back I had to reflect on how I got here.

This is my story.

Starting out: $0

Growing up in the 90’s, I was eager to get start working and earning my own money. As a teenager, I worked as a cell phone operator making $9 an hour. I later went on to work as a waitress for $2.65 an hour plus tips.

Standing on my feet for hours on end made me realize that this was not the career I aspired to have. Constantly being on your feet is fine and dandy when your young and paying your dues, but not in your 40’s with back problems and bad knees worn out from years of playing sports!

I could clear anywhere from $30-$50 a night working part-time at Shoney’s. If I had only been fiscally savvy back then, I would have started investing at 16. But hindsight is 20/20. I did not have the financial knowledge then that I do today. I saved $0.

However, my time would come. I would become financially literate and put all that I had learned to good use in the years to come. I job hopped quite a bit in my early 20’s while I was trying to figure out what interested me. I worked for an authorized cell phone dealer for AT&T and Nextel.

I was an administrative assistant and a receptionist for a cosmetic medical doctor. I learned from there that beauty costs a pretty penny. Literally.

I guess I will just invest in a more expensive facial cream with at least a 30spf to keep my skin healthy and youthful because Botox is expensive! I was making $12 an hour here. I couldn’t believe the amount of money women were shelling out for beauty treatments. Now I understand why Rihanna and Kylie Jenner started their beauty businesses. People still buy lipstick even in recessions!

Investing in my 20’s: $0 – $25,000+

Back in 2006, I was just getting started in the working world. I got a job working in lending for a federal credit union. I opened up a 401k asap!

I wasn’t earning much when I first started out. Around $25,000-$28,000. However, I knew I had to start somewhere. By the time they laid me off during the 2008-2009 Recession, I had at least $8,000 in my investments.

I was reading 10 books a year on personal finance at this point.

I also made a decision that I wanted to be wealthy.

I set out a goal of $1 million.

Every time I had an extra $20 bucks, I would invest it.

I paid off my expensive car loan and used that money to invest as well. I bought a SUV for $24,000 in 2003 and had negative equity of $6,000 so I owed $30,000 in auto loans! My payment was $448.65. It took until 2009 to pay this off. I have not had a car payment since.

Every birthday and holiday, I also invest money into my Roth IRA.

New job, higher retirement contributions: $50,000 – $500,000+

By 2012, I was well on my way to a millionaire in the making. I had been watching the Suze Orman show, read the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, the Automatic Millionaire, and hundreds of finance articles, books and blogs at this point.

I also witnessed people losing their homes and jobs. That was a scary time. I decided I would live off rice and beans if I had to in order to become financially free.

I was able to double my income from my 20’s and increase my investments.

I started with $5 and increased my contributions at one point to 25 percent of my income. Within 10 years, I went from $50,000 to $400,000 in my investment portfolio.

Instead of shopping, I would put that money into my Roth IRA. And with that job that laid me off in 2009, I invested that $8,000 in my 401k by rolling it over into a Traditional IRA and put almost every penny in Apple stock. That investment turned into over $25,000.

I then sold a portion to invest in a property and put some of the funds into buying shares of Google before the last two most recent stock splits. Alphabet’s first stock split was in March 2014, when it split 2-for-1. The 2022 split created two classes of shares: Class A (GOOGL) for shareholders with voting rights, and Class C (GOOG) for shareholders without voting rights. On July 15, 2022, Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, executed a 20-for-1 stock split. My small investment in a few shares of GOOGL turned into hundreds of shares.

At this point, with over a 15 percent rate of return, I started earning compound interest and dividends to the tune of over $56,000 a year.

Over the last decade, I had read so many stories of celebrities going broke, I knew I had to do something different. Athletes were also going broke at a record pace. It was reported by Sports Illustrated in 2009, that most athletes went broke within 3-5 years after retirement. Here are just a few cautionary tales below.

MC Hammer

The late 1980s hitmaker filed for bankruptcy in 1996 after amassing a fortune of around $70 million. His spending included a $30 million mansion with a recording studio and an entourage of 200 people. As of 2025, it was reported his car was being repossessed and he was being sued for allegedly failing to make payments on a $100,000 Land Rover.

Toni Braxton

Toni Braxton filed for bankruptcy twice: once in 1998 and again in 2010, when she claimed debts between $10 million and $50 million.

In an interview, Braxton said her her first bankruptcy was due to a spending addiction, but that the second occurred when she canceled her self-funded Vegas show after receiving a diagnosis of microvascular angina, which causes chest pain.

The singer declared bankruptcy in 2010 after amassing $50 million in debt, including money owed on a mansion she couldn’t afford. She reportedly didn’t wisely spend the advancements her record label gave her for her albums.

Burt Reynolds

The actor declared bankruptcy in 1996 with $11.2 million in debt after an expensive divorce and extravagant lifestyle.

Michael Jackson

In 2004, his financial advisers declared that he was all but broke and would be unable to repay a $70 million loan to the Bank of America.

Teresa Giudice

Teresa and Joe Giudice were first featured on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” in 2009, the same year they filed for bankruptcy. They claimed they were nearly $11 million in debt. In 2013, they were charged for attempting to defraud lenders and hiding income during their bankruptcy. They both served prison time.

Sonja Morgan

Teresa Giudice isn’t the only member of the “Real Housewives” family with financial issues. RHONY cast member Sonja Morgan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 after divorcing her husband. She reportedly stated that she owed $19.8 million to creditors and had $13.5 million in assets.

Morgan settled her debt in 2015.

Antoine Walker

Antoine Walker amassed $108 million in his 13-year-career as a Boston Celtics player. But in 2010, he had to declare bankruptcy with $4.3 million in assets and $12.7 million in liabilities.

Two years later, Walker was debt-free. Today, he’s an advocate for financial literacy.

As you can see from above, earning millions is not a guarantee that you will not run into financial troubles. We are living in expensive times. These are the most unpredictable times I have ever seen. Where a bad medical diagnosis or divorce can bankrupt you. Fraud and Ponzi schemes are running rampant.

Forget get rich quick.

When you are not trying to get rich quick, you will get rich slow.

You have to ignore the negativity and naysayers. You need to invest in yourself through education, having healthcare and home and car insurance.

I myself decided to get a $1 million life insurance policy so in case anything ever happened to me, I would be able to leave money to my family. I went through AAA with a medical exam to get a 10 year term policy. If you are looking for some life insurance yourself, you can use this as a barometer: 25 times your expenses. Therefore, if you spend $100,000 a year, then you will want a $2.5 million dollar policy.

After seeing so many celebrities’ have tax and other financial troubles, I decided I wanted to go a different route. I keep my fixed expenses low. I spend less than I earn and always save and invest. I make sure any extra income from bonuses, second jobs, side hustles and windfalls go into my Roth IRA.

As I write this, it is was definitely a walk down financial memory lane. I set a goal and I made it! I knew that a goal without a timeline is just a dream and without a plan is just a wish. So here was my goal: 500 days to $500k. I was just 500 days or 12,000 hours from $500,000. I am five, scratch that, four and a half years away from being a millionaire. That is 1,825 days.

I am marking the days off the calendar and making sure to have fun along the way. By the time I hit send on this post, I will have crossed one more day off the calendar. Only 1,824 days left $1,000,000 and me becoming a 401k millionaire. I set the bar high. I am running toward the million dollar baton…and am reaching out to catch it.

After years of working toward this goal, there was only one thing I could say to myself.

About The Author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

Financial Freedom

500 Days to $500K

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A dream is a wish your heart makes. – Cinderella

My dream always starts the same.

I am running.

So fast.

It’s as if I am chasing a shooting star.

Then I stop. I come upon a door. Not the infamous Red Door in Insidious. But a Black Door. It has a sign on it. The sign says Freedom.

I reach my hand out to open it and then…the dream ends.

However, when I open my eyes, I realize this dream could actually come to fruition. This dream can come true.

It was just like Cinderella said, “If you keep on believing; The dream that you wish will come true.”

My retirement numbers showing across my computer screen read $404,069. I was inching ever so closer to my starting goal of $500,000.

A part of me was jumping for joy. I knew this was a pretty good amount of savings to have in retirement as my research showed me less than 10% retire with $500k.

According to the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, only 9% of American households have saved at least $500,000 for retirement. The average retirement savings across all families is $333,940, and the median is $87,000.

In addition, Ramit Sethi, in a recent episode of his podcast told a couple that had $468,000 saved between the two of them would be more than fine and were set up for retirement.

I’m only one person. So I figured I was doing pretty well.

The sleepless nights of lying awake thinking about how I’m going to pay the bills was over. I was earning enough to put away over $1,000 a month in my retirement accounts.

I had a family that cared about me.

I was able to take vacations to the beach.

And like that scene in The Summer I Turned Pretty when Susan says, “if you are lucky to be able to spend a day at the beach, you are lucky enough.”

But another part of me was sad, that my $500k journey was ending.

At one point, I was brown bagging my lunch 5 days a week, counting my spare change, eating brown bananas, studying up to 5 hours a day about personal finance and clipping coupons.

I longed to be free.

I wanted to go back to the days I slept in until noon, spent the day reading on the couch during lazy weekends like I did when I was a kid. Alas, it did not seem meant to be.

However, one day I came across a blog called Mr. 1500 Days. This was probably 8 years ago in 2016. He said he wanted a different life for himself instead of retiring in his 60s and so he set out to retire with $1M in 1500 days.

I thought to myself, I want the same thing. Freedom. No get-rich-quick schemes. Just good old-fashioned investing.

Do you want to retire in your 70s or live it up and retire in the Bahamas when you’re 44?

I knew I wanted the second option. So, I had to figure out a way to invest more money.

The simplest route was to pay off my car. I was spending hundreds of dollars a month on that gas guzzler SUV to the tune of $450. Instead of paying the bank, why not invest in my future self?

I felt I heard Eminem on my shoulder saying you only get one shot! You get one life. There are no do-overs! This is not a dress rehearsal. This is real. And if you want your dreams to become reality, then you have to start sacrificing now.

Debbie Allen’s famous 1982 speech in Fame always plays in my head.

I just kept thinking to myself that I had a dollar and a dream to make myself some cream. I was gonna have to fight for my freedom. Fight to be free from consumerism and instead conserve my money. So I cam up with a plan. Get to $500K in 500 days.

From here to $500,000

Here are the stats:

  • Money in the stock market: $402,714
  • Money in my brokerage accounts: $1,355

So, I have $404,069 and need to get to $500,000 and I am giving myself 500 days, or a little over a year. I’m going to assume my average return rate of 13.9%. I’ll also be contributing between $1,100 -$1,333/month towards my investments.

Total Savings in US Dollars (The breakdown of interest)

YearsFuture Value (13.90%)Total Contributions
Year 0$404,069.00$404,069.00
Year 1$476,230.59$420,065.00
Year 2 (500 Days)$502,180.46$425,343.68

So, actually over $500,000. I expect to be able to increase the amount I put in per month over time by at least 1% minimum per year.

Sure, I could run into some hurdles along the way. I could have a loss of income or the stock market could crash. It makes me no difference. No matter what happens or how many different curveballs come my way and plans I have to make, I will keep the goal.

Hope this post inspires you to dream.

Here’s to less work, more freedom! Cheers!

Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Investing

How to make your teenager a millionaire

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Hey you.

Yeah, you!

Come closer.

My voice is but a whisper.

Autumn is in full swing. As I sip my lemon tea, to ease my dry throat, I will share with you the secrets that have been passed down to me from money gurus everywhere.

But before I say anything, you stop me. You say no. Not here. The masses must hear this too.

Therefore, I promise to share this on my website for all to see.

This blog will be my microphone.

I am now stepping up to the podium.

I adjust the mike and clear my throat.

I say, “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Please excuse my voice for breaking the eloquent silence of nature. But I made a promise to share with you some great news. It is possible to help turn your broke teenager into an adult millionaire. Would you like to know how? I will tell you. Have your teenager invest $3K per year for five years and then let it sit for the next 40 years without adding another penny.” That’s right. Let me say that again for the cheap seats in the back!

Have your teenager invest $15K over a five year time period and let it ride for four decades to accumulate $1M.

I can just hear the scoffs and skepticism out there.

The math ain’t mathing, as Taraji P. Henson, would say. Surely, you jest. But I assure you there is truth to my words.

Enough, talk. Let me show you what $3K can do.

If you scroll down the tweet I posted below, you will see after 40 years, your teenager can grow their $15K to over $1M. Well, $1,003,013.58 to be exact. You just have to convince them that it’s worth it.

You can even offer incentive.

Say your teen earned $3K, with their summer job or college internship, you offer to match what they invest. So if they invest $1,500 then you also give them $1,500 for a total of $3K. Since they cannot put in more than the total amount they earn. Now there’s some food for thought.

Imagine this is your parent talking to you about what it is like to run their household.

Below is them trying to turn you into a millionaire!

Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Self-Made Millionaires

Her First $400K

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As I write this, the Biden Administration has extended the payment pause on borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan for another 6 months.

Might I offer a suggestion: take that money and put it into a rainy day fund or invest it in an index fund (VTSAX) or individual stocks (The Trillion-Dollar Club such as MSFT or META).

Now that I have offered my savings and investment advice, let’s talk about how I got to my first $400K.

They say the first $100K is the hardest. I remember from years ago a time when Drake tweeted that. Don’t remember? That’s cool. I have a copy of his tweet for you to see below.

Well, my money target was higher since I figured I’d go big or go home.

I made my target $400K.

I totally borrowed that title from Her First 100K blog, but I am sure Tori Dunlap will not mind if I borrow it if it helps motivate people to become financial independent.

Although I have a six-figure compensation package now (salary + benefits), it did not start off that way.

You will not believe some of the jobs I have had on my path to becoming a self-made woman millionaire. Let me share 4 of them with you here.

1. Waitress ($2.65 per hour + tips) – Back when I was still in high school I did a summer job as a teenage waitress at Shoney’s. It wasn’t glamourous, but the tips were pretty good. Some days I could clear $50-$100 bucks a night! That’s some good money to a teenager. And the menu there was huge. There was no way I could remember it all. I mean who do they think I am. Sheldon Cooper. I do not have a photographic memory. However, lucky for me, this restaurant had a buffet so it basically sold itself. I was mostly there to bring drinks and the check. It was physically demanding though as it required you to stand virtually all-day. I did get 50% off any food I wanted and the cooks in the back were great. This is my foundation on what it takes to earn a $1. Like Britney Spears says, “work b*tch!”

2. File Clerk/Loan Analyst ($28,000/year) – I was still working my way through college when I got this job. I answered an ad and went in for an on-the-spot job interview and got the job! Essentially, I helped maintain loan documents and helped manage bank customer accounts at a credit union. This job would set me up for what was to come, which was my foray into lending and finance.

3. Night Auditor ($20 an hour + tips) – This was another job I got from answering an ad on Indeed. They were offering $18 but I negotiated $20. Never underestimate the power of negotiation ladies! And the funny thing is when I actually started doing the job, I did so much work that I really should have been making $25 at least! You have answer phones, check-in guests, keep the hotel lobby clean, manage guest complaints and do point-of-sale transactions for the hotel market by the front desk. Then there was the lounge at the hotel that was a mini nightclub that was open until 2am! We did have a few celebrities come through, but I mostly just stayed at the front desk. And did I mention I worked overnight from 11pm – 7am! However, it was fun overall because I had a great coworker. I even had a guest tip me $100 for calling him a cab. Sweet!

4. Associate Director (over $80,000k+/ year) – After college, I applied for another job in lending. Basically, counseling families on how to navigate the financial minefield that is financial aid. I also completed two Master’s degrees and started this blog on the side while doing my job. This blog is my side hustle and it did start to generate some income eventually. However, when asked by Business Insider for the article they published on me, I declined to go into details.

All these jobs helped put me on the path to where I am today, which is female millionaire.

Every time I earned more, I invested more.

I started with a fistful of dollars and turned a small $5,000 investment in Apple into an investment portfolio over $400,000!

The next leg of the journey is $500,000.