How To Become a Millionaire by 25

What do these people all have in common:

• Catherine Cook
• Matt Mickiewicz
• Juliette Brindak
• Jermaine Griggs
• Sean Belnick

Maybe you haven’t heard of these 6 people before? Well, what if I added the names Mark Zuckerberg and Michael Dell to that same list? Would it make more sense?

These are all individuals who’ve become millionaires before age 25!

• Catherine Cook – My Yearbook
• Matt Mickiewicz  – 99 Designs and Flippa
• Juliette Brindak – Miss O and Friends
• Jermaine Griggs – Hear and Play Music Group
• Sean Belnick – BizChair
• Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook / Meta
• Michael Dell – Dell Computers

They all share some common traits: they started a business in high school or college. They have drive, desire, and entrepreneurial spirit. They manage to get it all done. And I’m sure there is a bit of luck thrown in.

Let’s break down what it really takes to become a millionaire by 25.

It All Depends On When You Start

Being a millionaire by 25 all depends on when you start making money and how fast it grows. Let’s say you had nothing to start with.

If you start making money at 16 years old, you would need to earn $305 per day to make it to $1 million by 25.

Starting at 18, when you graduate high school, means you would need to earn $391 per day to make it to $1 million by age 25.

What about if you don’t start until you graduate college? Then you need to earn $685 per day, assuming you graduate at 22 years old, to become a millionaire by 25.

Do you think you could earn $305 per day?

How To Make $305 Per Day

Let’s just say you start at 16 years old, and are shooting to be a millionaire by 25.  Since it only takes $305 per day net, could you do it?

For reference, $305 per day is only $111,325 per year or $9,150 per month – something that’s completely doable, just challenging. And as long as nothing is holding you back from earning more, you can make this much per day!

Let’s break down how you could earn $305 per day online and offline:

How To Earn Money Online

There are infinite ways to earn money online. Here are some of our favorites.

• Write 6 articles per day at $50 each. Here's our guide on how to get paid to write.
• Complete 6 design jobs on Fiverr (make sure you have add-ons to get you to $50 net)
• Help small businesses on with virtual assistant work for $300 per day

Look at our list of online side hustles to build more income. Or check out this list of high-paying side hustles that can earn you well over $1,000 per month.

How To Earn Money Offline

In today's world, we love to think about ways to earn money online - but you can also earn money offline as well!

• Start driving or delivering food – see how you can do this with Doordash.
• Get an after-school job – $12 per hour for 4 hours per day is $48
• Mow your 10 of your neighbors lawn’s for $50 a month – $16 per day average
• Provide tech services for your friends, family, and neighbors – $200 per month for 1 neighbor a month

Now, you also don’t have to go all-in on any of these.  You can mix and match.

Let’s say you get an after-school job, and make about $50 per day.  You then can get home from work and write 5 articles online for a total of $250.  Even better if you work at a place where you could write articles while getting paid – double jackpot.

The Real Truth About Becoming A Millionaire At 25 (Or Why It's Not That Simple)

The examples above are, by nature, overly simplistic. There are two additional factors that you should keep in mind, one that helps and one that will make becoming a young millionaire more difficult.

First of all, all of the numbers above are net earnings. That means that if you have additional business or living expenses, you would need to earn even more each day. Plus, this is a number you have to earn each day. 365 days a year - for multiple years. That's not really realistic.

But the one factor that you have in your favor is that the numbers above ignore any increase in your net worth from the power of compound interest.

If you started at age 16 and earned an average 7% annual return, you'd only need to earn and invest about $221 a day. 

Of course, there are a lot of factors in projecting this kind of calculation, so there's a wide margin of error for your exact daily number. Still, this can help show the power of compound interest and starting your investing as early as you can.

Entrepreneurship Can Lead To A Big Payday

Working and turning hours into dollars is nice, but it doesn’t always give you a big payday.  All of the individuals we highlighted at the beginning of the article made it to $1 million by 25 by starting their own companies – and you can do that too.

The big thing to remember when starting your own business is to make sure that you’re providing value and solving a problem. There’s a lot of money to be made if you can solve a problem for people. You can also do it on nights and weekends, when you’re not in school.

But entrepreneurship is about working towards the big payday.  It can be daunting not getting any money while you’re building your business.  But, if you’re living at home or going to school, it may not matter that your business makes no money up front. If you want the big payday, you should focus on starting your own company, just like most of the young millionaires we’ve profiled have done.

Focus Will Help You Become A Millionaire

The truth is, the only one that can decide what to do is you. What is driving you to be a millionaire by age 25? Instead of focusing on becoming a millionaire by age 25 or any other arbitrary number, you might want to just focus on making good financial decisions, like spending less and earning more.  

Or, making a million dollars by 25 may not be that important to you. Instead, you’d rather focus on traveling and adventures. That’s okay. But if you do want to be a young millionaire, it is possible. It will take a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but the rewards may be worth it for you.

And even if you miss the goal of 25, I'd venture you'd be on a great track financially.

What are your thoughts on the possibility of becoming a millionaire by 25? Possible or not?