How Grant Sabatier went from $ 2 million to $ 1 million in his bank account and retired at age 30

At 24, I was bankrupt. With only $ 2.26 in his bank account and no job, he had to go back to his parents. "I literally slept in the bed I'd used when I was a kid," said BBC World Grant Sabatier, author of the book Financial Freedom, which reached American bookstores this week and founder Millennial Money website.

It was 2010 and his parents gave him three months to leave the house. Graduate in philosophy and without even getting a job interview, he started thinking about how to generate money.

It was at that time that he devoted himself to researching the operation of Google Ads advertising campaigns. Over the course of a month, he learned how to manage his system at home – with the courses and tutorials available on the Web – and started looking for a job.

"The first time I applied for a job in digital marketing, I got it," he says. And from there his life changed. He left the home of his parents and set himself the goal of saving and investing as much money as possible.

In just five years, this has raised $ 1.25 million, said Sabatier of New York. "I lived in a miserable apartment, had a miserable car and spent most of my time working and saving money."

But of course, all this money has not been spent on his full time work. In his spare time, he has conducted online marketing campaigns with several clients. "At one point, I had 13 different sources of income."

After one year, he founded his own digital marketing company and six months later, the second company in the same category, with two partners.

"I retired at 30 years old"

"I have raised so much money that I retired at the age of 30 and today, I am dedicated to writing on my blog," Sabatier says. , now 34 years old. "I am retired from the life of the business because I do not need money, I can live with an income for the rest of my life." This is what Sabatier calls "financial freedom", as the title of her book.

"Retiring is not stop working, it's doing what we love." In fact, working in digital marketing was not the pbadion of his life, but he saw it as a way to make money. "From the beginning, my goal was to raise money to buy my freedom." "I have never been interested in money for money, my idea was to get it precisely to have financial independence," he adds. In the end, the key to this whole story, he says, is to save and invest early in life.

"I bought my freedom"

"It took me five years, three months and six days," he says. And the key to achieving this goal is due to several reasons. "There is a bit of luck, a lot of work, to be curious and to invest well in economies."

Sabatier started to invest in 2010, when the market was not going through a good period and was getting great benefits because of the steady rise of its investments.

"I saved 82% of my income, I consider saving as an opportunity and not a sacrifice," he adds. "I thought that for every $ 100 saved, I would buy six days of freedom in the future."

He says that he started thinking about money, not as money, but in time units, which opened up a new perspective.

How come?

The millennium in retirement says that you must follow three steps to achieve financial independence.

1. The more you save, the sooner you will get your financial independence. If you save only 5% or 10%, you will never get this freedom. The ideal is to reach 50%. But for that, you will have to live in a smaller apartment and rent with other people for about four or five years.
2. Take advantage of all the opportunities available to you to make money. You must start with a full-time job and not be ashamed to ask for a pay raise when the conditions are met. In parallel, find other ways to make money that are complementary to your work.
3. Invest what you save.

What did Sabatier invest? In real estate and stock market. "The more you invest, the less you have to sell your time for money."

Now he lives with his wife in New York, and although he is one of the most expensive cities in the United States, he does not spend more than $ 50,000 a year.

"I could spend more, but I will not be happier," he says, explaining that most of the things he likes to do are virtually free, like listening to music with friends or watching movies with his partner. In the end, he adds, "The more money you spend, the more time you have to work."