Can a 25 Year old be Financially Free by 35?

Can a 25 Year old be Financially Free by 35?

Michael ZuberPro Member
Member since 2018 · 111 posts · 121 votes

I got an interesting question from a 25 Year Old the other day and I thought I would post the topic here to see what others thought of my advice and what I got right /wrong.

My first thought after hearing the question -  it is absolutely possible and in fact likely assuming a few things happen over the next 10 years.

1) You must focus on keeping your expenses low.  Where Baby Boomers and Gen X generations went wrong is we bought houses, cars and had kids in our 20's which meant we increased our expenses by a lot making financial freedom much harder and thus we had to stay in the Rat Race longer. If you can keep your expenses the same or nearly the same at 35 as they are at 25 you have taken a huge step towards financial freedom.

2) You must take action, learn your market and secure solid positive cash flow rentals or other side hustle, that are conservatively financed and allow for easy long term hold through any market cycle.

Frankly I think Millennials have a great chance at producing a record number of 35 Years that retire Financially Free as they are making life choices that for now keep expenses very low and thus allow them to get to financially freedom quicker than other generations.

What do you  think? Did I offer bad advice?

Z

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Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
7y

To be this different...one has to be different.  Buying a house isn't the problem.  It's  the fancy house with the fancy car payment and not wanting to be inconvenienced by having a rental or roommates with it at first. 

I did it at 31, but nobody was asking me for advice as I drove my beater with my brown-bagged lunch living in a trailer park.

Most won't work and sacrifice enough, not to mention bother to get their phone out of their face long enough to even meet people or do critical thinking of their own.

See this reply in the discussion

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  • Waipahu, HI · Member since 2018 · 121 posts · 81 votes
    7y
    @Michael Zuber http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/
  • Specialist · Gooding, ID · Member since 2018 · 22 posts · 5 votes
    7y
    @Michael Zuber. There is a young man named Jaelin White in YouTube. His claim is he started in real estate using the wholesale exit strategy as a about to graduate 18 yo high school senior and is now a 21 yo financially free centennial. So yes, I believe it can happen. He interviewed a 15 yo on his channel that is a 6 figure earner because his father paid him $20 per book report based on any success book the 15 yo wrote. My kids are now doing the same thing and I hope they are financial free before they ever hit their 20s. Hope this helps.
  • Rental Property Investor · Ithaca, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y
    @Michael Zuber One last piece you could add: Patience. My generation is the “I want it now” generation. We don’t understand the value of the P word yet. A lot of my issues stem from wanting everything done yesterday and wanting the rewards today. As I grow my business I realize it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I try to remind myself this when I feel I’m running in circles.
  • Ian WalshBusiness Member
    Lender · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    100% they can do it.  They have to make a lot of well planned decision, have a lot of self discipline and laser focus.  They can do it with out a doubt.  Age is not relevant.

  • Investor · Hendersonville, NC · Member since 2013 · 757 posts · 281 votes
    7y

    Short answer: No. You always have to watch your back. There are no free lunches, as my dad would say. Words like "hustle" "hack" and "guru" are misleading and dangerous. Read books. Meet people. Try deals. Then read more books. It takes years to build a stairway to heaven.

  • Investor · Crystal, MN · Member since 2013 · 486 posts · 277 votes
    7y

    @Michael Zuber

    I read through a lot of these posts, not all, and I have a couple things to share.  First,  your statement about Millennial's making life choices to keep expenses low is not supported by data.  The average Millenial age 25-34 has $42,000 in debt, and much of that is not student debt.

    Second, I'm surprised no one has defined what being financially free is.  Some have said it means different things to different people...post modernism is persistent, but not logical.  Financial Freedom involves what Dave Ramsey says, the ability to live like no one else.  The Bible says that the debtor is servant to the master.  How many people are chained to their jobs, not free to truly take a stand on an issue, because getting fired would ruin them?  The average millenial has $42K in debt, the average american has $38K in debt.

    Free from debt, and free from the worry about money is being financially free.  But being rich is not necessarily financially free.  I don't see how that is possible outside a relationship with Christ, personally, because some on this board, or in real estate, will endlessly acquire more and more properties, at the expense of their marriages, families, and their own health.  Scrooge was considered financially free, but he loved his money so much, the accumulation of wealth made him not financially free.  

    Look at how many lottery winners lose all their money, and how many sports figures end up broke, after earning millions.  

    So, the acquisition of debt funded properties, even millions in money in the bank, is not financial freedom.  Read 'The Millionaire next door' for more proof of very rich people who were slaves to their own wealth.  Financial freedom is being free from debt and free from worry about money.  

  • Rental Property Investor · Torrance, CA · Member since 2016 · 724 posts · 1k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:
    Originally posted by @Robert Bowker:
    @Russell Brazil your basing their net worth on the value of their home in time. That’s a false assumtpion and true net worth is based on liquid assets.

     Im basing the statement on the statistics of the adult population. Home owners have a net worth on average in this moment of roughly $195,000. Renters have a average net worth of $5,000.  Whether someones assets is liquid or illiquid has zero to do with a net worth calculation.  When the average net worth of a renter stats approaching the average net worth of a home owner, I will then reconsider whether owning your home is a good idea or not. Until then, the numbers speak for themselves.

     But these statistics are based off of the average citizen. The vast majority of people are not investing in rental properties. Of course a homeowner will have a higher net worth than someone who owns no real estate at all. The argument is that buying rentals is a better use of capital than buying a home if choosing one over the other. I'd bet the average net worth of a renter who also invests in rental properties is far higher than $5,000. Probably higher than the average homeowner that only owns their residence. 

  • Russell BrazilBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
    7y
    @Jonathan Hulen then you also need to keep the comparison apples to apples. If you want to use a renter who invests in real estate, you need to compare them against a homeowner who invests in real estate. And while that stat is not available, I have very little doubt whose net worth is higher. You can choose to build your own wealth with your monthly housing costs, or you can choose to build the wealth of the investor you pay monthly rent to. Owning isnt for everyone, and thats a good thing, because I like collecting rent.
  • Michael ZuberPro Member
    OP
    Member since 2018 · 111 posts · 121 votes
    7y

    @David Moore - Like the way you think.  Thanks for taking the time to write this as it did help me expand my thinking and more importantly how I will address the question next time

  • Rental Property Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2015 · 503 posts · 504 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:
    @Jonathan Hulen then you also need to keep the comparison apples to apples. If you want to use a renter who invests in real estate, you need to compare them against a homeowner who invests in real estate. And while that stat is not available, I have very little doubt whose net worth is higher.

    You can choose to build your own wealth with your monthly housing costs, or you can choose to build the wealth of the investor you pay monthly rent to. Owning isnt for everyone, and thats a good thing, because I like collecting rent.

     It's very difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison. Even if both the renter and the homeowner are investing in real estate, there are so many other variables. If the renter is choosing to rent because he wants the ability to move to a better market if his home market is no longer profitable, he may have better investing opportunities. A homeowner is less likely to pick up and move. If the renter decides to invest in syndications that are only available to accredited investors, then he will get to that status faster than a homeowner (if they both started with the same net worth) because a primary residence doesn't count in the calculation. 

    I think the fact that homeowners have a higher net worth is really a case of correlation, not causation. Homeowners, as a whole, are more responsible with their money, and tend to have higher paying jobs. It doesn't mean that one should go out and buy a home just because it will result in a higher net worth in the long run (even though it will, for most people).

  • Real Estate Agent · Cupertino, CA · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    You will be paying tax living or not-living. Focus on a balanced life style to make most out of yourself.


  • Rental Property Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2015 · 503 posts · 504 votes
    7y

    deleting accidental double post

  • Lender · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 658 posts · 626 votes
    7y

    According to Mr. Money Mustache, retiring super early is just a math equation. Whether you do it with real estate or index funds (or something else that works for you) is an implementation detail. What you then do with all the free time you have on your hands is a high-class problem you will have to solve.

    In my case, I started my journey 20 years too late (but I still made it to the finish line -- better late than never). Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the water cooler talk at work was to buy as much house as you could afford because the price would always go up, your mortgage would always be paid down (and be paid off by the time you retired at age 65), and you would always get raises at work each year.

    By the 1990s, I figured out this approach wasn't working as well as I had expected it would. I then searched the Internet for "retire early" (using the Alta Vista search engine, since Google was available only to Stanford University members at the time). Ten years later, I crossed the threshold for being able to retire early.

    I still kept working, luckily, because the Financial Crisis of 2008 taught me to be prepared for the unexpected. I now understand the value of a margin of safety (have much more investment income than you need because it's always easier to do something with excess income than it is to make up a shortfall of income).

    Question: If you spend time on a hobby you really enjoy doing and the hobby happens to bring in more money than you spend on it (taxable income), is it still a hobby?

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