How to become a multimillionaire in six years (while still having a life) She earns and lives well, yet rents a tiny house and drives an old Corsa. She only started investing in 2007, but she’s already a multimillionaire. Here’s the inspirational story of a savings-superhero and her short walk to financial freedom… Thirty-two-year-old Julia started investing in 2007. “At that stage I finished paying off my student loan and had a lump sum of R60 000 saved up. I had no idea what to do with it so I approached Warren Ingram for advice.” Ingram, our resident financial advisor from Galileo Capital, suggested index tracker SATRIX and Julia agreed. “It felt like I was taking a huge risk putting everything in the stock market,” admits Julia. “But after a year or two, once I understood more about shares, I started seeing the benefits and that encouraged me to save more.” Julia was earning about R25 000 per month. She could’ve, like many people her age, lived it up. Instead she saved about a quarter of her net income. Did she have a life? “Of course I did!” says Julia. “I went overseas every year and visited 30 countries while saving. But I never bought flashy things.” Julia drives a very old Opel Corsa Lite and rents a tiny house in Johannesburg. “I rent, because I enjoy the flexibility,” explains Julia. Julia has tried to keep her expenses the same even though her salary has increased. “I find it easy, because my needs have stayed the same. For example, I’m happy with my old car. Just because I earn more doesn’t mean I want or need more.” Julia saves as much as she can and as her salary increases so does the percentage she invests each month. “I now save about a third of my gross income each month,” says Julia. Did the market crash of 2008 change Julia’s habits in any way? “I just continued investing. And now that I’ve been through one slump I’ll be able to face all the others that are coming.” Currently Julia is earning R840 000 per year of which she invests at least R250 000. “I now have a number of investments; possibly too many,” says Julia. “They’re all index trackers, though. I don’t buy any individual shares.” Julia achieved her first goal – to have R1-million by the time she turned 30. Since then she’s been able to almost double that million. “That’s what’s so exciting about compounding!” says Julia. What if we have a deep, prolonged recession and a resulting market meltdown? “I will continue investing, because everything will be on sale and I want to be financially independent.” Article by Bruce Whitfield
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 20:45:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015