How I Built a $90K Portfolio in 1 Year Following a Simple Strategy

The simple steps I took to build wealth

I have a strong conviction that people need to see their financial life as a side job. While being a millennial is not easy and we are constantly bombarded with consumerism, we are the most educated generation and we should take advantage of it.

The FIRE movement has been quite inspiring to me. I have mentioned FIRE on my previous stories, and if you have no idea of what it is I suggest you look back here:

So Easy but So Hard

A lot of people might not be able to replicate what I did, but everyone can start changing the way they handle money. We should make it hard to spend money as it is hard to earn it.

It takes a full month of work to get a salary, but it takes much less to spend it all for most people. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, you should realize that you will most likely have to work for the rest of your life. Sorry for the bad news.

To accomplish what I did, I had to make choices. Being an above-average earner, it is so easy to forget about the value of money. Buying new clothes, upgrading a car or changing to a new phone. Everything is so accessible on a swipe of a card and so fast, that we just follow the crowd.

I am sorry to say, but in order to build wealth, you have to become mentally strong to ignore your peers and society in general. You should set your own goals and hold yourself accountable for them.

Not everyone is ready to be their own boss, but that is what I did for 12 months. This is why the journey was hard but worth it.

So now I will go through the simple steps that made me build a $90K portfolio in just 1 year.

Living On a Budget

While no one likes to live within limits and feel controlled by money, we have to be conscious about our spending.

We need to stick to a spending limit on all our monthly expenses. Being disciplined with our income is the basic step most people are not able to do.

People tend to look for immediate rewards and spending our money is just the most natural prize we can get after a hard month of work.

Note all your expenses and set your own limits, so you are able to build a positive cash flow between your income and your expenses.

Automating Savings

Once I get my income available in my bank account, I pay myself first by having automatic transfers to savings accounts, pension plans, and investment accounts.

This is so simple to set up and can mentally be a strong deflector of bad spending habits. I have around 30% of my income, automatically saved every month simply because I already know how much I will be spending during the month.

While I save more than that most of the time, I always have a buffer in case I have an unexpected expense which always happens. So being flexible here is also a key point.

But being flexible is not the same as relaxed. Increasing certain expenses, just because you have a large buffer, will take you out of the game in the long run.

Tracking Progress

Since fluctuation of expenses can happen, we need to look to our 12-month goal and measure our progress. If we want to save $60K, we will need an average of $5K a month.

If you spend more in 1 month, you will have to compensate on the next ones. It will not be a straight line as much as we want it to be. The road is twisty.

There were months, I would not spend a dime to stick to my plan because I spent more than expected the month before.

Saying no to yourself and to others is a necessary tool that we should master.

Investing Following a Strategy

The money you save needs to grow to fight inflation. This is why savings accounts are not enough to become wealthy. With current interest rates, we need to take extra risks.

My personal choice is the Stock Market but any other type of assets are fine as long as they produce returns higher than inflation. Real estate, crypto or P2P are just other options.

Always inform yourself about investments and understand as much as you can. There is no “one size fits all”.

I did not save $90K! In fact, it was much lower. So Mr. Market had a part to play in my success story.

If you are to be exposed to the financial markets, strategies do not have to be complex. Most investors only need a simple ETF that tracks the market, with low fees to become wealthy over time. The key factor is the consistent contributions.

2019 was a bless and I have outperformed the market by double digits through risk exposure to more volatile equities. However, research states that outperformance is an exception to the rule in the long-run.

Understanding Everything Takes Time

No one will get rich from one day to the other, as much as some of us believe it. It can happen, sure, but it is unlikely.

We just have to accept that becoming wealthy, takes time and effort.

As long as you keep saving and investing your money on a consistent basis, the results will come. If you do something often enough, it will become a habit.

That is how I read my financial performance in 2019, controlling the financial aspect of my life became an automatic behavior.

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Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. Always do your own research when investing.

This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions