How I Raised My Net Worth To $6,000

Broken, jobless, car-less, hardly any credit, drunk and hungover-that is how I would describe my life about 1.5 years ago. All of 2017 and some of 2018 were rough for me. At that point in my life I didn’t even see a future, much less dream of a big life for me anymore. I had given up on what I wanted to achieve for myself.

Then mid 2018 I started to snap out of my mostly drunken state of mind. I knew I wanted more out of my life-I wanted to be healthy, happy, and successful. Now, I am nowhere near where I’d like to be, BUT I am so much closer than I was 1.5 years ago!

I want to share with you how I basically went from a net worth of $0 to now a net worth of roughly $6,000 at the time of this writing.

What Is Net Worth?

The term “net worth” is used to describe the value of assets minus liabilities, aka debt.

Assets can include things such as:

• Car
• Real Estate
• Cash
• Stocks/Bonds/Mutual Funds
• Crypto-currencies
• Savings/Checking accounts
• Retirement savings
• Any item that has value (Jewelry, Gold/Silver coins, collectibles, antiques etc.)

Liabilities can include:

• Car loans
• Mortgage
• Student loans
• Personal loans
• Credit cards
• Medical debt
• Taxes owed

To find your net worth, add up the total of all your assets and add up the total of all your debt owed, then take the total of your assets minus your debt and you get your net worth.

Mine looked something like this: Assets =$16,000 Debt=$10,000 (16,000-10,000 = 6,000) So even though the value of my assets is around $16,000 I owe $10,000, taking my net worth down to just $6,000.

But how did I do this in such a short period of time?

Start Where You Are

First and foremost, I started where I was-which was at the very bottom!! I started looking for a job and after filling out what felt like 100’s of applications and a couple of interviews, finally I was hired where I currently work.

Once those paychecks started to come in I started to save some cash here and there. At first it wasn’t a lot from each paycheck-I’d put away maybe $5-$15. But I’d put that away in a separate savings account so I would not spend it. It’s like “Out of sight, out of mind” kind of deal. My mom had always said “Pay yourself first” so that’s exactly what I did!

After a few months I realized I needed my own car because borrowing my parents car just wasn’t cutting it. But in order to get a car, I needed credit. So I opened up a credit card. I won’t lie-I was dreading getting a card, always had a fear of getting into so much debt that I wouldn’t be able to get out.

But I played it smart-my line of thinking was to act like it was my DEBIT card. First, I knew I had X amount of money I could spend each week, and that’s what I did with my card. I didn’t go over what I knew I could spend, and if I did, I would stop my spending until I had my balance back at $0. Secondly, I paid it off every WEEK instead of monthly, saving me paying any interest on it.

Watching The Snowball Effect Take Place

Once I was paid each week from my job- I put away some savings, then paid off my credit card and made sure there was enough in my checking to cover any other bills or expenses for that week, holding me over til I was paid again.

I built my credit within a couple months, enough to where I was confident to buy a car. I was able to get the car with nothing down and a reasonable 4% interest rate on the car loan.

Now that I had the car, not only was I able to get to work without worry, but I was able to pick up Uber and Lyft as side gigs-making me extra money on the weekends.

The extra money helped me to start saving more each week and helped to put more into the monthly car loan (which is leading to paying it off quicker while building my credit even further-Chain reaction here!)

With the extra money saved I was able to start looking at crypto, stocks and savings certificates.

My snowball looked liked this:

Job–>Saved a little from each paycheck–>Credit card to build credit–>Bought a car with good credit–>Side jobs with the car–>Saved more money from the side gigs–>Started investing since I was able to save more per week

Now all I am doing is concentrating on adding to my portfolio, building my investments bigger and making sure my money is working for me, instead of working for money all the time.

Final Thoughts

If you are currently living paycheck to paycheck like the 78% of Americans (according to a 2017 study), with zero or close to zero savings then follow a simple plan like I did and watch your net worth grow.

• Remember to pay yourself first (no matter how big or small the amount is) from each paycheck. I recommend putting it into a separate account that you do not touch.
• Set a budget and do not spend more than what’s in the spending budget. (Take your lunch to work, make your coffee at home instead of hitting up a cafe, don’t buy anything unless you truly need it, etc.)
• If you can, take side gigs to make extra money on the days you’re not at your regular job. (Even cutting your neighbors’ grass is a side gig! I did it!)
• Open a few savings accounts. I have 2 general savings, and 2 certificate savings-which give me more interest per year than just a general savings account.
• Finally find ways to make your money work for you by investing it. Think long term- stocks, bonds, certificates, real estate, etc. I personally like stocks that pay me dividends either monthly or quarterly for investing with them.

If you are at a point in time where you would like to start investing using the same platform I use then click here. It is easy and free to use, plus if you use my link you will receive a free stock (as will I) just for using them! So why not take advantage?!

Thinking you’ll need a boat load of money to start investing? Well, think again! There are stocks out there that anyone could get into and afford, I’m talking $3-$50 to start. So take action and start growing your net worth!

The picture at the beginning of this post is showing that the past 3 months I’ve gained $199.22, and the picture below is showing my gain of $229.95 since I opened my account and started using it (I opened it around November 2018).

Please keep in mind that the total my stocks are worth ($774.92) is not what I started with. In fact I bought little by little. My first few stocks that I got into were between $7-$14. So do not get thrown off if you do not have a significant amount to start with yet.

Always remember to start with what you can and NEVER invest with what you can not afford to lose. All investment is a risk and always do your homework when deciding what you are putting your money into!

Did this post help you? Please leave a comment or question below and feel free to share with your friends!

To your success,

-Brandi Marie 😀