Financial guru reveals how she hit impressive net worth by 29
A young woman has revealed how she amassed a huge net worth by the age of 29, and the “extreme” method she initially used to get there.
A young woman who has amassed an incredibly impressive net worth has revealed exactly how she did it, along with the “extreme” measures she used at the start of her financial journey.
Queenie Tan, 29, is a well-known licensed personal financial creator who has amassed a huge social media following.
The Sydney-based finance guru runs the popular online platform Invest with Queenie, where she helps people achieve their financial goals, and is also building a budgeting tool called Billroo.
Ms Tan hasn’t even hit her 30s yet and her net worth has already reached the $1 million mark, an achievement that many Aussies feel they can only dream of.
However, the 29-year-old believes taking control of your finances doesn’t have to be a completely daunting, complicated process and can even be enjoyable.
Speaking to news.com.au, Ms Tan revealed she hasn’t always been a financially conscious person and didn’t start really focusing on her spending and saving until her early 20s.
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“I grew up with my single dad who was extremely frugal – he reused everything, even cutting up old T-shirts as cleaning rags” she said.
“At first I found it annoying, but once I started working I realised he was showing me the value of every dollar.
“I’ve had times where I overspent, but overall those lessons stayed with me. Now I try to balance enjoying life with making sure my money is working for me.”
Once she started focusing on her finances, her first major goal was to save $100,000.
In order to get there, Ms Tan lived extremely frugally, using side hustles on top of her regular job to increase her income and being very strict about spending.
“I would often go out with friends to cafes and not order anything to save money,” she said.
“It was extreme, and I kind of wish I didn’t put so much pressure on myself.”
It took about four years but, ultimately, her hard work paid off, with Ms Tan reaching this milestone in 2019 when she was just 22 years old.
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She maintains that reaching that first $100,000 was the “hardest” part of her financial journey so far, noting that once she hit that goal it made reaching $1 million “so much easier”, thanks to compound interest.
“Now I’m not as frugal, but because I have my money working for me, I don’t have to be,” she said.
After that first milestone, she started focusing on her $1 million goal, doing so with a combination of tracking her net worth every month, consistently saving and investing any money she didn’t need to live and trying to avoid too much lifestyle creep.
Ms Tan hit her goal this year, and her total net worth is now over the $1 million mark.
This figure includes cash in the bank, shares, superannuation, cryptocurrency, gold investments and the equity she has in her business.
She also has a home and an investment property, with the equity in those homes, which is the property value minus the loans, added to her total net worth.
She pays herself a six-figure salary through her business and also receives income to dividends and rental payments.
The only debt Ms Tan has is her two mortgages and she keeps around six to 12 months of living expenses in a high-interest saving account.
In July she released her book, The Fun Finance Formula, which aimed at helping people who feel overwhelmed with money by giving them practical strategies to make managing finances simple and even enjoyable.
For those who are just starting out on their journey to financial freedom, the 29-year-old encouraged people to start small, noting that even investing $5 at a time is a good start.
“Track your spending so you know where your money goes. Focus on building what I call ‘fun and skilled money’, money tied to your skills and efforts, because once you know how to earn it, it’s scalable,” she said.
Ms Tan said one of the biggest mistakes she has made along the way has been over complicating investing and spending too much time researching individual stocks instead of just diving in.
“I learned the biggest mistake is not investing at all,” she said.
Ms Tan’s ultimate goal is financial freedom. She wants to have enough money in assets so she can generate enough passive income to cover all her expenses.
“I don’t want to have wealth for wealth’s sake, but freedom and flexibility to live meaningfully, enjoy life, and give back along the way,” she said.
She believes she will need a few million dollars in assets to generate enough passive income to do this.
“But, I also want to enjoy the journey to financial freedom along the way,” Ms Tan said.
“I’ve realised that more money doesn’t make you more happy, and the goalpost keeps on shifting. Being happy now is more important, and taking care of my health.”
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Originally published as Financial guru reveals how she hit impressive net worth by 29
