Are you looking to become a millionaire in your 30's? Growing niche websites and selling them evidently is a great place to start!

Kyle from Financial Wolves is sharing with us today how he accomplished this incredible young millionaire feat at age 31 through online entrepreneurship. He worked hard, grew online businesses, invested his money, and tracked his net worth all the way to a million.

Let's find out more of the details on how Kyle became a millionaire in his 30's!

How to Become a Millionaire in Your 30’s: The Details

How old are you? If you have a family, tell us about them and their ages.

I'm 31 and am married. I do not have any kids (I'm expecting one later this year though). 

What part of the country do you live in? Do you own your home or rent?

I live in Minnesota. I own my home and have owned property since I was 25 years old. 

When did you start tracking your net worth? What was it at that time?

Good question. I started tracking it right after college in 2011. I started getting hooked reading FIRE blogs like Mr. Money Mustache, Financial Samurai and many others. I was super fascinated by the lifestyle.

Reading those blogs motivated me to calculate my net worth. I had a great job out of college and was making good money, so I was eager to calculate it. Well, I did. It was a huge shock.

A -$60,000 net worth out of college (thanks, student loans). I quickly learned that I had a ton of work to do in order to get my financial situation in order. With no assets and limited money invested in the markets, I knew I needed to take action.

What is your current net worth? What are your assets and what are your liabilities?

My family's total net worth is currently $1,026,371 (as of July 2020, thanks Personal Capital). This is comprised up of approximately $1.6M of assets against $0.6M of liabilities.

On the asset side, this is comprised of:

• $0.2M of liquid cash/savings
• $0.15M of business ownership equity
• $0.5M of investment accounts (split between $0.35M of retirement and $0.15M of after-tax accounts)
• $0.8M of real estate value (own rental property and primary).

On the liabilities side:

• $0.035M of student loans – My wife has some student loans that were working to payoff
• $0.6M of mortgage liabilities (rental property and primary).

First, I have too much cash in savings that I need to deploy. Second, a lot of the Dave Ramsey enthusiasts would say I'm crazy for accounting for real estate and online business in my net worth. Well, not me.

It's an accurate snapshot as both real estate and my online businesses produce cash flow. So, by accounting for the value today I'm properly accounting for the benefit of future cash flows.

How to Become a Millionaire in Your 30’s: The Process

What are your current sources of income? If married, does your spouse have other income sources?

My wife and I both have full-time jobs. I started my career out in investment banking and currently work in private investing. My wife started her career out in marketing after college. She made a late switch to becoming a lawyer and has been practicing law for just over a year now. 

For me, I have a few income sources that I pursue. The first being rental properties for cash flow and capital appreciation. The second being online business income.

I like to build niche websites for either full-time or passive income. I've tried nearly every side hustle possible and the many different ways to earn extra income. I found that starting niche blogs was the best for me and I've been the most successful at it. I own about 3 websites at the moment and each of them produces additional cash flow.

Then, I like to reinvest all cash flow from the previously mentioned sources into dividend income stocks that then produce further cash flow. At the moment, all the dividend income gets automatically reinvested. As I'm in harvesting mode, in what I like to call the “income snowball.”

What has been the single best thing you’ve done to increase your income up until this point?

The single best thing that I've done is trying everything and experimenting with every side hustle. It ended up costing me money upfront but it was worth it in the end.

I experimented with everything like freelancing and gig jobs. I found that what was important to me was an opportunity that had high-income potential, low time consumption, and freedom/autonomy.

What I learned is that building websites/blogs was the best fit for me as a side hustle. In the past year, I've sold 2 different blogs for $250,000 of proceeds. And I did this all part-time.

I don't say it to toot my own horn. I say it to put it in context.

It took me nearly 7 years to save that same amount of money in my retirement accounts (I've been contributing the max amount to both my 401(k) and IRA since graduating college). Once I put that into perspective, it clicked for me. Building something that has real value even on an after-tax basis can be significantly more valuable than the low and slow way of saving. Income is powerful.

If you are curious about building websites, here is a step-by-step guide on how to start a niche website.

What ways do you invest your money?

When I was younger, I was a lot more enthusiastic about investing. I'd try to find value stocks, invest in options, find distressed opportunities, etc.

Now, that I'm super busy I like to take a more simple approach by using M1 Finance and Robinhood for my after-tax accounts. I'm all about contributing money and investing on auto-pilot.

This allows me to go out and find ways to earn income. I can maximize my time finding those opportunities that have a significantly higher return on investment than the stock market.

Did you receive an inheritance or windfall of some kind during your life so far?

None.

What debts do you have (if any)? If so, what are they? Which have you paid off?

Right now, it's just mortgage debt and some student loans that my wife has outstanding. For me, I graduated from college with about $60,000 of student loans. I worked super hard to pay them all off in around 5 years. I knew that I did not want to be a slave to a day job and student loans can really do that to you.

How do you track your net worth?

Personal Capital of course. It makes it easy to see my personal financial situation in less than 20 minutes per month, so I can focus more time on finding income opportunities.

What are your annual expenses?

My annual expenses are about $40-$60k per year (all in). I have a very modest city home and that is my largest expense, which is about a $1,400 mortgage payment. This allows me to have enough disposable income to let me explore and have experiences without feeling guilty. 

A huge expense of mine is travel. Then, restaurants and eating out. I'm a bit more of an experience type of person. I'm willing to spend my money on something that will keep me active, happy, and learning.

What is your favorite fintech tool that helps you grow your wealth?

Definitely Personal Capital.

How to Become a Millionaire in Your 30’s: Young Millionaire

Why is it important for you to build up your wealth?

Wealth is not going to directly make you happy. But wealth can unlock flexibility and freedom for you. With that flexibility and freedom, comes with some added responsibility. If freedom and flexibility are important to you (it's high on the list for me), it should naturally progress into some form of happiness.

What is one financial mistake you’ve made during your young millionaire journey?

I should have been more aggressive with my entrepreneurial knack or side hustle journey earlier. Trust me, I did have a blog right after I graduated college but I let it go dormant. I didn't think it had real value. I also did not invest enough time to learn how to do the right things to make it grow into a real business. 

What book has been most influential to you?

I like books like The 4-Hour Workweek and the Millionaire Next Door. Also, I'm a big fan of any book about the “online economy.”

What is one financial hack that has helped you that you think most people don’t know about?

I think time.

Time allocation plays a massive role in building wealth. It's how millionaires (and billionaires) think about their time. A minute, an hour, a day is a token of value.

You should consider how you spend that token before you spend it. If I spend an hour token today, will it unlock two tokens down the road?

Where do you find the most joy in your life?

Travel without a doubt. For me, travel has the ability to open your eyes, listen and be alive.

For the 20-something with a $0 net worth, what advice would you give them to become a millionaire in their 30's?

Don't be afraid to go for the higher risk, higher reward opportunities early in your life. I'm not saying you should go out and gamble on stock options or bet on sports to make millions. I'm saying use the skills that you excel at and using them to your advantage to create or build something.

It doesn't have to be about founding a startup right away. You can dabble with different side hustles on the weekends to unlock a new skillset or financial opportunity.

You don't have to be right every time. All it takes is 1 successful opportunity to have your entire life be set.

Have you thought of developing an online business to become a millionaire in your 30's like Kyle?

Please let us know in the comments below. And check out more young millionaire interviews too!