[00:03] millionaire in my 30s and I'm telling you this while I'm currently in Kyoto, Japan in this machiya, which is a traditional Japanese townhouse that's over 100 years old. I am living a life that I never imagined that I get to
[00:17] live. But before we get any deeper, let me show you what just made it official. It's this email that I just got that said that my license is expiring and that's when it hit me. I am not renewing this anymore. Now listen, to be real
[00:32] with you, I have not worked as a nurse practitioner in the last 5 years, but I have been holding on to that license as a security blanket because you know I'm going to always keep it real with you. As crazy as a lot of people thought I
[00:44] was for doing this, I also felt that it was kind of insane to walk away from a stable career like that. But I realized I don't want a stable life. I want a life of financial freedom. I want life freedom. I want time freedom. And so
[00:58] that crazy decision that everybody see I mean is the reason that I am now a self-made millionaire that is retired in her 30s and I am completely debt-free. And today I want to not only talk to you about how I was able to do it, but how
[01:13] you can also retire early too, no matter where you're starting from. So first that we've been taught our entire lives scam. The idea that retirement is something that you do when you hit 65 or
[01:26] something that you do when you hit 65 or maybe 67 after working over 40 years and then you finally get to enjoy life. So if the average life expectancy is about 70 and then they're saying that I need to retire at 67, I mean the math is not
[01:39] mathing here. But here's the part they don't tell you. You don't have to wait until the government says you can retire. You can build your own form of early retirement in your 30s, 40s, 50s, whatever that may look like to you.
[01:51] Because retirement is not one size fits all, it is not just hit this number and you're done. It is completely individualized. It is dependent on your goals, your income, your expenses, whatever your freedom number is. Come on
[02:04] probably saying, "Monique, all that sound cute, but how did you actually do in that mirror and I was like, "You know what? It's time to get real with myself." I had over 6 years of school. I had 7 years of experience in the medical
[02:19] field and I was still [music] sitting in over six figures of student loan debt. And I was like, "Hold up, wait a minute. How am I still working this hard and still this stressed?" And that was my wake-up call. Now let me tell you this
[02:32] part because this is a part a lot of people try to look past. I did not just about I'm going to be a full-time entrepreneur and I'm going to just, you know, go with the wind and just see where the world takes me. I used my
[02:45] 9-to-5 as seed money. The money that funded where I was trying to go because your job does not have to be a prison. You just have to change your mind and think about it as this is an investor in the life that I'm trying to live. So to
[03:00] start working towards being at this point that I am right now, being able to financially [music] free, don't have to stress or worry about money ever again, I had to figure out my real numbers. How
[03:12] much does it cost for me to live? So the things that I put together in a list was how much I made, how much money I owed, how much I was spending, like my expenses. And I'm talking about annually for all of these things. And at the end
[03:25] of that, I found my number, which was how much I needed to live. But guess what? After looking at all of that, it most definitely humbled me, but it also set me [music] free. You know, sometimes the truth hurt, but the truth shall set
[03:39] help you to be able to create a plan. you need to go if you don't know where you're at first. And I don't care where your numbers are. I don't care how much money you are making. You can do this
[03:54] with a McDonald's check. And no offense to anybody that's working at McDonald's, you have to get [music] whatever you can, however you can until you can get to in life. But after figuring all of that out, that's what exposed the truth.
[04:08] [music] where I was trying to go. And that's when I decided I needed to build a new income stream. And this is another thing I want you to hear me on. I did not go out here and start 20 different side hustles. I focused on one. I
[04:23] side hustles. I focused on one. I perfected one. And for me that was content and digital entrepreneurship. Now that won't look the same for everybody and even getting into content or just into this digital entrepreneur
[04:35] world, it may not look the same way that it did for me. I'll be honest with you, the way that I started on YouTube is not very typical for every single person. very typical for every single person. But my first YouTube paycheck in 2020, I
[04:49] believe it was, with less than 20,000 subscribers at the time. It may have been 10,000, but my first check for 11 days was over $3,000. And I was like, "Hold up, wait a minute." That's it right there. But I really want to just
[05:04] be real and lay it all out there so that you can really understand where I'm point. I hope you're taking some notes, y'all, because these are the things that we really need to know and understand. But when I started to grow my income, I
[05:18] did not touch my income. And what I mean by that is, yeah, I had to touch it, of out here trying to upgrade my life. I didn't go out here trying to buy the biggest houses and the biggest newest
[05:30] cars. I didn't run shopping going to grab a Chanel bag or go and get a new Rolex and all of these different things that everybody get excited about when they first get their hand on some money. Me and my husband sat down, we came up
[05:42] with a plan like, "Okay." He like, "Honey, I'm going to just handle these bills. I'm going to allow you to go ahead, go ahead first and go to war with all of our debt and whatever else you want to do." And so I paid off every
[05:54] want to do." And so I paid off every credit card, every loan, any kind of car notes that we had left. So here's the truth. It wasn't really my income that retired me. It was becoming debt-free that did it. Because when you don't owe
[06:07] anybody anything, your money becomes yours again. And so everything that became mine, I started to save aggressively and I started to invest in things. I started to make it work for me instead of giving it to everybody else.
[06:23] But the best thing that I could ever do for myself was build digital income streams that I am able to do anywhere in the world. And that's why I'm sitting right here in this machiya in Japan. I'm able to travel anywhere and work from
[06:38] anywhere and I can bring my family along with me. I never want my income to be tied to a particular location. If I'm in Japan, money's still coming in. If I'm in Paris, money's still coming in. It's still coming even when I'm sitting at
[06:51] home on my couch. And that's what I call life freedom. And I want the very same thing for you. Now, you don't have to do exactly what I do. Maybe you don't want to retire in your 30s. You may not want to stop working, but you want to stop
[07:05] work part-time. Maybe you want to travel. Maybe you want to build something on your own. But whatever you define it as is what it should be for to have to figure out is what are your numbers, what is your timeline, and what
[07:21] When you know those three things, you can reverse engineer your way to early retirement even from your 9-to-5. So just start by first figuring out how much it costs you to live for 1 year. And I'm not talking about your dream
[07:34] life, what you're over there getting million-dollar yachts just floating in the middle of the ocean. I'm talking about just a normal life. Is it 30,000 a year, 50,000 a year, 80,000 a year or more? Once you figure out that number,
[07:47] more? Once you figure out that number, then you want to multiply that by 25 and that's going to determine what your early retirement target number is. So if you want to spend $40,000 a year, you will need a million dollars invested. If
[08:00] it's 30,000 a year, that's 750,000 invested. If it's 20,000 a year, that's half a million. That's the number you need to retire before 65. So after you get that number, the next thing that you will need to do is increase your savings
[08:16] rate. Why am I telling you this? Because on average Americans save 4.5% of their monthly income. So if you are making $5,000 a month, 4% of that is about $200. And this is why a lot of people have to retire at their 65-year age. But
[08:32] if you get intentional about this and out of that $5,000 a month, you are able to squeeze $1,500 in savings because you're cutting corners, you're being strategic, you want to really make this work. That's
[08:45] going to increase your savings rate to about 30%. Now I know, I know, before Look, don't even fix your lips to say it. [music] I know that it's easier said than done, especially during these times. But if you are trying to reach
[08:57] this goal, then you are going to have to figure out a way to make [music] this work for you. But more than anything else, the main thing you're going to have to do is increase your income. The more you make, the more Uncle Sam's
[09:10] going to take. Yes, that's true. But however, the more you make, the faster you are going to be able to get to that freedom number you're looking for. And just have to go out here and get a brand new job. There are many different ways
[09:23] that you can do this and that's why on this channel, I dedicate all of my energy and time into finding the best ways to start increasing your income. And I know that again, with even that is not one size fits all. Some things will
[09:39] work better for others. Some, it may work for you, it may not. You may have to tweak it or find a new way to incorporate this into something else. But you will never know if it's going to work for you unless you actually try. So
[09:52] after this is all said and done, I want to just leave you with this. Early retirement is not about luck. It's not about going viral, and it's not about having a perfect plan. It's about you just taking a moment to look at your
[10:04] life, and if you feel like you need to decide that something needs to change, just a special person that this can happen to. I just got tired. I was tired of being broke, tired of being scared, and tired of living the same year over
[10:18] and over again. And the very moment I decided I wanted more, that's when life ask for cuz you just might get it. But in case nobody else in this world ever told you this, friend, come here. Come sit down. I just want you to know yes,
[10:33] you can retire early. Your early may not be 20, 30, or 40. Maybe you want to retire at 59. That's all right, too. But yes, you are also allowed to change your life. You're allowed to want more than being in survival mode every single day.
[10:47] And if you start today, not next year, not when things settle down, today, your 30s, your 40s, your 50s these can look completely different. So, here's my challenge to you. Wherever you are in the world, tonight sit down and figure
[11:02] out what your numbers are. Write out all of your expenses, and yes, all of that stuff you just bought on Amazon, too. Figure out what your freedom number is, and then write down one thing that you can do this week to help you get there
[11:15] cuz it only starts with one thing. I am rooting for you harder than you know. I have some past around this table waiting for you to come take a seat in retirement with me. But I hope that this helps you out, and other than that,
[11:28] helps you out, and other than that, until next time. We are out. Peace. until next time. We are out. Peace. Going to enjoy your pay in a day.