- How a millionaire making up to$220,000 a month spends money
- 来源:青少年编程大本营
这个故事是CNBC Make It's Millennial Money系列的一部分,该系列介绍了世界各地的人们,并详细介绍了他们如何挣钱、消费和储蓄。
——CNBC
内文图片 提供者:CNBC
This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which profiles people around the world and details how they earn, spend and save their money.
Graham Stephan earns most of his money making YouTube videos
Graham Stephan pulls up to a high-end Hollywood Hills property in his matte black Tesla Model 3. It’s a four-bed, 2,300-square-foot home listed for $2.169 million by The Oppenheim Group, where Stephan has worked as a realtor since 2015.
He’s sold multiple properties like it — and every time he closes a deal, he collects a nice commission check.
As of September 2019, Stephan has earned $77,152 in real estate commissions on the five properties he’s sold so far this year. But that represents just a fraction of his income. While the 29-year-old millionaire got his start in real estate, he now earns most of his money making YouTube videos.
Stephan, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, never dreamed he’d make his living as a YouTuber. He was earning good money as a realtor, a career he started at 18 after he didn’t get into college. He’d watched YouTube videos for years — “it was my version of TV,” he tells CNBC Make It — but didn’t think he had the personality to be a creator himself. “It looked like such a fun thing to do and I’d always wanted to do it, but I also felt like, Who would want to watch me?”
About three years ago, he decided to film and upload a video. It was an explainer on how to be a successful real estate agent that he shot “selfie-style” on his iPhone.
“I remember that video getting nine or 10 views,” says Stephan, “and thinking, Oh my God, nine people somewhere have seen this video! So I started making more videos. Once I started doing about two videos a week, the growth really just exploded.”
Today, Stephan has close to 1.5 million subscribers across two channels. He earns an average of $90,684 a month on the platform and will bring in well over $1 million for 2019. His videos cover a range of topics, from how to build wealth as a teen to buying a Tesla “for free.” And he regularly posts reaction videos to CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, offering commentary on how the subjects could improve their finances.
This year will be the first time he’s earned seven figures in a calendar year, a milestone he’s been striving for since 2017. “Two years ago, I made a goal challenge video,” says Stephan. “My goal was to make $1 million in 2018.” He didn’t quite achieve it, but he surprised even himself by hitting it just a year later.
What he earns
Stephan currently has six revenue streams. His average monthly income is $150,420, though it goes up and down month to month, as low as $61,200 and as high as $221,300 in 2019. He’s on track to earn a minimum of $1.6 million this year, but could bring home closer to $2 million, he estimates.
The numbers below are based on Stephan’s income as of September 2019.
YouTube: $90,684/month
Stephan’s main YouTube channel, Graham Stephan, has over 1 million subscribers and focuses on his experiences in the real estate industry. It’s earned him, on average, $81,428 a month in 2019, though the most he’s made in one month from the channel is $136,330.
He launched a second channel, The Graham Stephan Show, in May 2019. It has over 200,000 subscribers, covers a variety of money and business topics and has brought in, on average, $9,256 per month in 2019, though he’s currently earning closer to $24,000 per month from this channel.
Stephan estimates that 85% of his total yearly earnings come from YouTube. Still, he treats it like “bonus income” and hasn’t spent any of it. “If YouTube were to vanish tomorrow, I would be disappointed,” he says, but from a money perspective, “it’s never been something that I’ve relied on.”
Teachable: $28,837/month
Stephan sells two online courses: “The Real Estate Agent Academy,” which focuses on how to get started in the industry, and “The YouTube Creator Academy,” which helps people grow their YouTube channel and turn it into a business.
The classes, which he started selling in early 2018, earn him nearly $30,000 a month. “Since it’s all online, that’s pretty much all profit,” says Stephan, who pays $90 a month to use the platform Teachable. “There’s almost no overhead whatsoever.”
Graham Stephan became a millionaire at age 26
That said, creating them was “quite the ordeal,” he admits. ”‘The Real Estate Agent Academy’ took me nearly a year to make. That involved speaking with over a dozen real estate agents about their careers, what they wished they learned, what they wanted to improve on ... filming each segment, editing and then putting it together in such a way that the user wouldn’t have any questions whatsoever.”
Rental income: $15,105/month
Stephan owns and rents out six properties in Los Angeles, including the duplex he lives in.
Three of the properties are paid off, and he is paying down mortgages on the other three. Although Stephan brings in $15,105 from his tenants, after factoring in expenses, which include mortgages, property taxes and insurance, he earns about $5,000 a month in profit.
Renting space has never been challenging, he says: “In L.A., there’s such a shortage of housing. Finding tenants has been so easy.”
Real estate commissions: $8,572/month
Stephan’s career started in real estate. “I got into it as soon as I turned 18 because I had no other options,” he says. “I didn’t get into college and I saw getting my real estate license as a way to get one year of work experience and then reapply to schools. But it turned out to be a career I really loved.”
He didn’t earn a lot at first — “It was like $500 or $600 commissions every few weeks,” he says — despite working 10 to 12 hour days, six to seven days a week. “I didn’t sell my first house until about nine to 10 months into working full time, but once I sold my first, that gave me the confidence that I could actually do it.”
Even after he started seeing success, he lived with his dad to save money. After five years of living at home and saving all of his commission money, he had enough in the bank to buy his first property, which he still owns and rents out today. He moved into his own place in his early 20s and continued to work his way up in the real estate industry, eventually selling between $12 and $20 million worth of real estate a year, “which would translate to about $250,000 to $500,000 a year in gross commissions,” he says. That’s roughly what he was making before his YouTube channel took off.
Stephan still works as a realtor associate for The Oppenheim Group, a brokerage that sells luxury property across L.A. He doesn’t spend nearly as much time as he used to selling properties, though. “At this point, it feels like I’m doing YouTube full-time just because of how much time I spend on it. It’s become such a profitable endeavor that it’s not worth it to me anymore to show properties, unless it’s a really good client or a repeat business that I want to help sustain.”
Still, he brings in an average of $8,572 in commissions per month.
Affiliates and sponsors: $7,222/month
Partnerships with various companies earn Stephan an average of $7,222 per month.
“Generally, there’s a contract signed between myself and the sponsor outlining the details of the expectations,” he explains. “Typically, it’s a 45-90 second mention in the first minute of the video.”
What he spends
Here’s a breakdown of how much Stephan spends in a typical month.
Mortgage: $2,872
Stephan lives in a duplex in Mid-City Los Angeles that he bought in June 2017. It’s a house divided into two separate apartments and includes a parking space and a garage, where he films his YouTube videos.
His monthly mortgage payment is $2,872, but he rents out the other half of the property: “Between the equity I get [from renting] and the tax write-offs from using the garage as my office, it basically works out to be a free place for me to live.”
He counts property taxes ($535) and insurance ($135) as business expenses.
Transportation: $632
Stephan’s car payment runs $632 a month.
He bought a Tesla Model 3, which start at $35,000, in April 2019 — but, in a way, Stephan argues, the car was free. He made a YouTube videoabout the purchase that ended up going viral, he says, and the video itself “paid for the entirety of the car.”
There’s a reason he decided to finance the car rather than pay for it in cash: “It makes financial sense to keep the loan: It’s for six years at 3.75% interest — and I know I would make more money by not paying down that loan and, instead, investing in real estate and getting a higher return somewhere else.”
Food: $350
Stephan spends about $200 a month on groceries. He price shops at Trader Joe’s, Ralphs and Smart & Final: “I’ll make the rounds and stock up on whichever item is the cheapest at which store.”
His simple palate helps keep his bill down, he adds: “You’ll see in the fridge, it’s eggs, oatmeal, ham, cheese, bananas and then some frozen foods.” And he doesn’t mind repeating meals: “I eat the same thing for breakfast that I have for 10 years: two eggs with ham and cheese, and half a bagel with the generic brand cream cheese.”
Stephan spends another $150 on restaurants. He loves all-you-can-eat sushi, which he splits with his girlfriend, and his guilty pleasure, McDonald’s. “That’s my treat,” he says of his trips to the golden arches. He only indulges after finishing all of his work. “I will purposely use that as an incentive to get all my work done. … So, yes, I guess you could say I will work for McDonald’s.”
Stephan and his girlfriend split meals to save money
Insurance: $340
“I have the cheapest health plan,” says Stephan, who pays $215 a month and doesn’t have vision or dental insurance. He pays $125 a month for car insurance.
Gym: $220
“My gym membership is absolutely, ridiculously way too expensive,” says Stephan, who pays $220 a month to work out at Equinox. But it’s convenient, he adds: “It’s right down the street from my office at The Oppenheim Group.”
Credit card annual fees: $129
Stephan has 12 credit cards: nine for personal use and three for business. Four of them are rewards cards that come with annual fees. He pays a total of $1,545 in fees per year, or about $129 a month.
“I definitely get value from them because of the signup bonus that I get, the points I get back and the perks with the cards,” he says.
Everything else: $551
Utilities and Wi-Fi: $200
Cell phone plan: $85
Miscellaneous: $266 (Amazon Prime, entertainment budget, hair cuts and pet care)
What he saves
“I end up saving about 99% of my income, just because my income is so high and I keep my expenses so low,” says Stephan, adding: “I’m probably extreme in terms of saving and frugality, and I think a lot of people probably find it pretty intense. But I love it. I love the challenge of saving and trying to handle my money well and grow it.”
He keeps between $20,000 and $30,000 in his checking account at all times. Besides that, the rest of his money is automatically sent to various high-yield savings accounts: “Pretty much all of them earn over 2%, so at least I’m getting something on my money, and it’s not just sitting there.”
He’s not saving for anything specific, but plans to eventually buy another property when he finds the right one.
"I end up saving about 99% of my income, just because my income is so high and I keep my expenses so low."
Graham Stephan
When it comes to investing, “my focus has always been real estate and trying to generate more rental income,” he says. He does have some money invested in a Roth IRA and a SEP plan, which are both retirement-specific accounts, but he doesn’t contribute to them on a monthly basis.
He also has about $26,000 in outside investments through stock trading apps, though, “I don’t contribute anything to these at all,” he says. “It’s just something that’s sitting on the sidelines.”
Scaling his income on YouTube
Stephan didn’t monetize his YouTube channel overnight. “It took me a few months to actually see any money whatsoever,” he says. When he first started earning money, it was less than a dollar a day.
After a few months of posting videos, “I started making a few cents a day,” he recalls. “Then it grew to a dollar a day, and I remember thinking at that point, OK, if I go an entire month, that means I can eat an all-you-can-eat sushi dinner entirely for free just with YouTube.”
After a full year of making videos, he earned $26,000. It exploded from there.
“I started seeing a lot more growth in the second year,” he says. “I made about $260,000.” In his third year on the platform, he’s on track to make more than $1 million.
“In terms of scaling my income like that, I think a few things played into it,” says Stephan. For starters, he was selective about what he posted: “I dedicated a lot more time to the content that I felt my audience would really want to see and that I felt would do well for a YouTube algorithm. Half the time, it’s giving the audience what they want to see, but also playing into what I think YouTube is likely to promote.
“Secondly, I think there’s a snowball-like growth, in that the more subscribers you have, the more you will get — it constantly builds on one another. But you have to put in the time at the very beginning to get to the point where I am today.”
Becoming a millionaire at age 26
Stephan’s original goal was to be a millionaire by 30, but he hit that goal four years early.
His net worth crossed $1 million when he was 26. Becoming a millionaire was an exciting milestone at the time, but now he’s more apathetic about it. “I hate to say it, but the hedonic treadmill of life is very real in the sense that, you do get used to things after a little while.”
To become a millionaire, “You don’t need to be as extreme as I am,” says Stephan. “You don’t need to skimp on every purchase. You don’t need to work 12 hours a day. But you do need to think outside the box. … What works for me won’t necessarily work for everyone. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all approach, but you do need to think creatively and do something differently than what most people are doing.”
He has no desire to be a billionaire — “I don’t even know what I would possibly do with that amount of money,” he says — but his next net worth goal is to reach $10 million.
In terms of lifestyle goals unrelated to money, “the only thing I really want to do that I haven’t done is travel,” he says, adding: “I could do that if I wanted to, it’s just not the right time.”
What the experts say
CNBC Make It spoke to Ashley M. Fox, founder of Empify and a personal finance coach with experience managing the assets of high net worth individuals, to get her thoughts on what Stephan is doing right with his money and where he could improve.
He’s done an excellent job maximizing his income
t’s not always easy being self-employed, especially when it means putting yourself out there on a public platform, says Fox: “I think it takes a lot of self-discipline and confidence to do what he does. In a world where so many people want to be hidden, he chooses to be seen.”
Stephan’s ability to utilize his personality and technology in tandem to generate income “is phenomenal,” she adds. “He’s put himself in a position where he’s created a passive income, and he doesn’t have to rely on working at a job he hates, which is really great.”
He should make his money work even harder
While it’s OK for Stephan to keep some of his money across high-yield savings accounts, it shouldn’t be the only place he stashes his cash. “You cannot save your way to wealth,” says Fox. “No wealthy person has built their wealth off of maximizing and utilizing savings accounts.”
Besides investing in real estate, Fox recommends Stephan invest in the stock market using index funds, which hold every stock in an index such as the S&P 500, including big-name companies like Apple and Google.
"No wealthy person has built their wealth off of maximizing and utilizing savings accounts."
Ashley Fox PERSONAL FINANCE COACH
Investing in index funds “allows him to diversify his investments, but also gives him the ability to generate additional wealth because he’s not just relying on a savings account,” says Fox. “He’s 29 — he’s going to live through a few recessions, so his money will go up and it will go down. But the average return of the stock market over the past hundred years is anywhere between 8% and 10%, which is way more than what these high-yield savings account yield.”
Another investment he could consider is a real estate investment trust (REIT), Fox adds: “That allows him to invest in commercial properties but not have to be the landlord.”
He should aim for more than $10 million
“He needs to think bigger,” says Fox. “He can easily get to $10 million in five to six years, so that’s not pushing himself. He’s not living out his truest potential. He’s living in a level of comfort.”
While Stephan doesn’t have aspirations to become a billionaire, that’s an attainable goal, she adds: “What’s wrong with being a billionaire? If you’re making a billion dollars, imagine how many more lives you can impact.”
Fox encourages Stephan to think about what makes him happy and not be afraid to spend on those experiences: “Where would you volunteer? Where would you travel? Would you build a school? Do that with your money, too. And I think you’ll find more joy in giving than you do in saving and keeping.”
At the end of the day, “He needs to take advantage of the greatness he’s created,” she says. “He’s showing the world how to live an abundant life on YouTube — and he should, too.”
What’s your budget breakdown? Share your story with us for a chance to be featured in a future installment. We are especially interested in hearing from people in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou .
教育
-
- 不要再问孩子“作业写完了吗?”
- 每一个幸福快乐的妈妈都在“母亲大学”找到了力量孩子一放学回家,你就急着问他,“你作业写完没”“没写完赶紧去写”......殊不知这句话背后,透露出多少你不知道的秘密。请全天下的父母记住一句话:“孩子不怕...
- 母亲大学
-
- 注意!涉及沈阳考区4万多考生!参加这项考试需持核酸检测证明
- 紧急通知:4月1日起沈阳地铁有重大调整!2021年度二级建造师执业资格考试于5月29日、30日举行。明日是最后一天,也是报考人数最多的一天,沈阳考区报考人数为40536人。沈阳市考试院再次提醒所有考生,参加考试必...
- 沈阳晚报
-
- 清华副校长怒批中国学生:你们这么优秀,去国外打工却很满足?
- 清华副校长施一公:我们有多少极其优秀的中国学生去了国外能脱颖而出的?这个比例非常小!每一年能考上清华、北大的学生也是几千人而已,就拿去年2020年来说,清华北大的招生人数一共也才7000多人,还包含了内地...
- 爸妈说事
-
- 请转到朋友圈!中考、高考生家长会感谢你的,这个对他们有用!
- 没有意外 就是成功——写给中、高考考生的家长们四年前我的孩子参加了中考,一年前我又成为一个没有节假日、没有周末的高三学生家长,陪孩子度过了高考。现在回想起来,还清楚记得那时的心情:每天仔细地操持着...
- 班主任研究会
-
- 人民日报:老师,从疲劳到癌症只需四步!请保重好身体!(再忙也要读一读)
- 2020年9月高考优秀作文专辑9月出炉,买买买!高考第一品牌语文月刊代码46-88每月一本定价12元。其中每年8月高考优秀作文点评专辑、9月高考试题分析专辑、12月最新高考分类练习专辑、4月最高高考冲刺AB卷二...
- 语文日刊
-
- 2021报考捡漏,这几所大学的分校,毕业证一样,报考分数竟相差50分
- 分校、分校区,虽然只是一字之差,但是证书的含金量天差地别。但是,有些分校毕业证书完全一样,录取分数却相差很大,今天慧姐就来盘点一下。一、概述校区,实际上就是同一所高校,并未单列招生代码,只是学生生...
- 高中学生家长慧
-
- 梁鸿鹰:翻看着发黄变脆的纸页|往事
- 1978年日记所见文|梁鸿鹰教育……就像是在土地上种庄稼。我们的天性好比土壤,我们的教师的训诲好比种子,对青年人的教诲就好比适时播种……——希波克拉底我们出生时所缺少的一切,成年时所需要的一切,都来自...
- 当代
-
- 一个都不少,全部考上大学!
- 点蓝色字关注“央视新闻”高考临近在许多高三学子紧张备考之际江苏扬州有一群学生,已被高校录取但这个成绩背后饱含着汗水与泪水因为他们全部都是聋人↓↓↓“单考单招”考试中班上10名学生全部上榜今年4月扬州...
- 央视新闻
-
- 男孩留遗言跳楼自杀:“对不起,我控制不住玩手机,你们生个更好的吧!”,想要毁掉一
- 中小学家长慧点击上方蓝字关注关注点击进入→在线教育,为孩子找一个优秀的辅导教师文 | 朗读君来源 | 朗读君英语(ID:langdujun170)手机好似一个杀手,随时在威胁着孩子们。几天前,看到一则新闻:安徽黄山的...
- 中小学家长慧
-
- 中考提前5分钟发卷子,竟然是让做这些的!
- 考了那么多试,各位考场达人是否认真思考过:为啥所有考试都是提前5分钟发卷?不研究,不知道,一研究吓一跳!万万没想到,提前5分钟发卷还有这等用处!考前5分钟用不好,考试全白考!到底这5分钟的正确打开方式...
- 袁意
-
- 江门市开展党史学习教育工作会议召开,省委巡回指导组到会指导
- 昨日,江门市开展党史学习教育工作会议召开,深入学习贯彻习近平总书记在党史学习教育动员大会上的重要讲话精神,认真落实中央决策部署及省委工作安排,传达省委党史学习教育巡回指导工作任务和有关要求,推动我...
- 江门发布
-
- 贵安新区公布2021年义务教育阶段招生方案
- 近日,贵安新区2021年义务教育阶段招生工作实施方案公布。详情如下:招生原则 (一)坚持依法办学原则。由贵安新区社会事务协调局、各乡镇人民政府和贵安教育管理处统筹,按照“公平、公正、公开”的原则,全...
- 贵阳晚报
-
- 关于选大学及专业的13条忠告,很专业、很走心!
- 随着高考的临近,大家越来越关注志愿填报的相关信息,今天分享一个家长对于帮孩子挑大学选专业的一些经验总结,并提出了13个忠告。内容稍长,但回答了对高考志愿的大部分困惑,值得细读。选择正确才能收获跟努力...
- 好课堂
-
- 王元:纯粹数学的美丽与哀愁
- 没有应用的数学才是好的好就好在它没有应用王元:纯粹数学的美丽与哀愁本刊记者/宋春丹发于2021.5.31总第997期《中国新闻周刊》5月14日,中科院院士、中科院数学所原所长王元在北京病逝,享年91岁。在中科院数学...
- 中国新闻周刊
-
- 北大教授吐槽学渣女儿:跟倒数第二名有很大差距!网友评论亮了
- “不辅导作业父慈女孝,辅导作业鸡飞狗跳。”近日北京大学教育学院副教授丁延庆一段吐槽女儿的视频火了。丁教授全名丁延庆,他6岁能背下整本新华字典,本科就读于北大,后来进入哥伦比亚大学学习,获得了教育学...
- 齐鲁晚报