How April Budgeted Her Way to A Million Dollar Net Worth at 38 - April Stewart

You're listening to Finances Demystified with Dominique Broadway, the podcast that provokes the conversation of money, demystifies all your finances, and shows you how to bring all of your dreams to reality so that you can live your very best life on your own terms. Welcome back to another episode of Finances Demystified with Dominique Broadway, and of course, I am your host Dominique, and I am excited today, and I know I probably say that every single episode, but I'm excited today because today's episode is a little bit different. And today we're actually going to be chatting with someone who has worked with, with me on a one-on-one basis before, and her name is April Stewart. And April is dynamic because she she has been able to become a millionaire by the age of 38. And it was interesting on our call that we had, and I was like, wow, you're like officially a millionaire. And she was kind of like, wait, really? Which was really interesting. So April, I'm so excited that you're joining us today. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk with you.

And yeah, me too. And I, I, you know, I remember, you know, you know, you schedule a session and we were kind of going over your numbers And I had to stop and say, I am very impressed with what you've done so far. And, you know, because a lot of times people, you know, reach out for sessions. Some people have financial issues. Some people are like yourself, they're trying to take their finances to the next level. But it's always really impressive when people are just kind of naturally going with the financial flow and, you know, able to make it happen. And let me just read just a quick little information about April so you guys get an idea of of who April is. So April is an engineer by trade, but she has a passion for personal finance and teaching financial literacy to youth. Leveraging her financial successes and the knowledge that she's gained, her mission is to heal and empower the youth of her community through researching, designing, and teaching personal finance. So April, how did you get into or gain this passion in personal finance? It's not a lot of I get to meet other, you know, financial geeks like myself. So tell me, what kind of originally got you interested in this topic?

All right, and I like the term financial geek because I definitely consider myself that. So I think that my passion for personal finance came from just my upbringing, quite honestly. The fact that I didn't see, you know, good money habits being exhibited around me, you know, in my family and you know, the way I was brought up. And I actually saw negative relationships with money, and I just chose to do the opposite of that. So, you know, whatever it was I saw around me, whatever was going on, I just knew that I wanted to do the opposite and, you know, have a better relationship with money. So, um, I— when I, you know, bought my house at the age of 23, and it wasn't really my plan. I know I want to move after college. I went back home with my parents. I knew that I wanted to move out, and, um, you know, I was going to move with a couple of friends and rent a house. But they were like, you know, if we're going to do this, uh, we'd rather someone buy a house and we help them with their mortgage. Like, we don't all want to continue to pay rent. So, you know, I didn't really want to get a mortgage, but I was like, okay, you know, I'll do it. And, um, I had two friends that were going to move with me and they both ended up backing out. Like one a month before I was closing and then the other one the day of closing. Like when I called her to say I had the keys, um, she was like, oh, you know, change of plans. And wow, she no longer was going to move, but there was no turning back at that point. I had the keys. And so I moved into the house and, um, and actually another thing that happened after that was I, you know, bought my first car cause I figured I'm a homeowner now, I should have transportation to do things related to the house. I bought a car for the first time. And then a month after all of that happened, I was laid off from my job. You know, they were doing like reductions and it was a very scary time to say the least, but it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. You know, I was able to find another job and get back on my feet. And, um, you know, it was great to not end up having to share my house with roommates. So yeah, well, it was initially scary.

Did you ever end up actually getting roommates?

No, never.

No. Okay. Okay.

I've always been here by myself and my mom, you know, later told me, you know, don't ever let anyone move in with you, you know, let your house be your sanctuary.

Yeah.

And that's exactly what it is. So it was a blessing in disguise.

It is, it is. So that was kind of your first real investment, right? Um, and so from there, can you tell us a little bit about like what you've been doing with, with your retirement accounts? I think I was so intrigued with obviously the investment you made with your home in addition to the contributions you've been making towards your future via retirement. And yeah, can you just tell us a bit about, about that and what you've been doing there?

Yes, I've been— I would say like when I first got out of college, I didn't, you know, realize the importance of retirement investment. Like, no one ever talked to me about that. I knew it was a benefit of the job, but I kind of ignored it for my first few years in the workforce. But then I eventually, you know, caught on and realized that I need to invest in retirement. So I started to do that, and of course, you know, I learned that, you know, you always do it at least to the company match. Um, I did that and beyond. And then as I continued to like read up on personal finance and learn more. I, you know, learned that, um, you know, I wanted to contribute as much as possible and get to the point of, you know, now I'm to the point of, you know, doing the IRS max. And, um, you know, I, I think that, you know, there's probably still more beyond that to go because I think ideally you want to invest 15% of your income, um, into retirement. Funding. So I don't think I'm quite there, the 15% mark. So actually, next step, I want to see if there's anything else, you know, I can invest in beyond that. But so yeah, I think it's important to invest, you know, at least at the company match. But, you know, beyond that, if you can get up to 15% of your income.

Okay. So you've been, you know, kind of contributing as much as you can consistently. You haven't had to pull out of your, your retirement plan from work. Work, which I'm sure is also good. But also, I think what I was also really intrigued by was your personal budget and the kind of frugality that you have displayed over, I guess, the past, you know, since you've been adulting, which has helped propel you to hit that millionaire status by 38. Can you tell us a bit about just kind of your monthly budget or monthly spending and how you're able to, to kind of stick with it so that you are able to— I think you're, you're paying double on your mortgage, correct?

Yes.

Um, so can you tell us a little bit about, about that?

Yeah, so I think budgeting is very important. Honestly, I, I don't think you can do this without doing a budget, a monthly budget. And I think, you know, the budget is the most important, you know, toolbox in the toolkit, so— or the tool in the toolkit.

Yeah.

So basically, um, you know, I do a month I mean, I do a budget each month before the month starts and I do a budget for that month. And the thing with budgeting is knowing how to budget. So I remember, you know, years ago I had a friend, sort of a mentor at work, and he wanted— he tried to get me budgeting. And most people would just try to set up a specific budget that they try to live by each month. And that, I mean, that just felt too rigid. I didn't like that. So I never, I never took to that. So, you know, what I do is I create a budget for that particular month. Your life changes every month. So, you know, before the month starts, I think about, you know, what expenses I'm going to have that month, what activities I'm going to do that month, create a budget for that month, and then know that when the next month comes, I create a budget that's specific to that month. And budgeting that way just felt a lot better to me. And it, you know, it made me able to, you know, stick with it. And then also I found that when you start to budget, 'Cause before that I felt like my money was a black hole. I didn't actually know what my money was doing. Once I started to create the budget, I had insight into the money. I actually see my money on paper.

Yeah.

And, um, you know, I could tell my money what to do each month. Um, so I felt like I actually got a raise once I started to budget, cause I realized how much money I actually had. Um, and it, you know, I think once you, discover that, you know, you know where to apply your money to, how much you're actually working with. And, you know, you can often find that you have more than you realize. Yeah, when you're intentional with your money, like, you can do more with it.

Yeah, very true. How do you use— do you use any tools at all to manage your money on a daily— I mean, yeah, that's a daily or monthly basis, other than like the bank apps and stuff like that?

No, I don't. I use, um, Excel spreadsheet. And I guess that's maybe the nerd in me because I just, I like crunching numbers. I like playing with numbers. So I just do it in Excel. I know that there are different apps you can use or tools you can use to do budgets, but I just use Excel, an Excel spreadsheet. Um, and I have, you know, you know, form, you know, something I set up that's automated. I can plug in numbers and then calculate things, but that's the way I do it.

Okay. And When you decided to, um, that you wanted to pay your mortgage off quickly and accelerate that, like what made, how did you make that decision? Um, and then what did you do financially to prepare to double up on your payments?

So I decided to do that because, um, you don't want to be free. Like I definitely believe, you know, the borrower is slave to the lender and you know, you're enslaved when you're in debt. So I wanted to become free as soon as possible. So, um, you know, even before going aggressive with the mortgage, I went debt-free in my, the rest of my life. So at the time I had student loan, I think I had a car loan, um, back in 20, you know, 2018 when I kind of really started this journey, but sorry, 2008 when I started this journey and, you know, really got intentional about it. And I, um, paid off a little over $25,000 in debt in about 8 months. Wow. Um, just focused intensity. Like I put life on pause. Um, I knew that this was, you know, it was for a certain purpose and it's for a certain time. So, you know, I stopped going out, stopped shopping, stopped gift giving, like all that, put all of that on hold so that I could, you know, focus, focus all my income and my resources on paying off the debt. My student loan, my car loan. And, um, and then once I, you know, had that free, um, you know, I was able to use my income to establish an emergency fund. You know, I guess, you know, life's, you know, mishaps or anything that can come along. Like, I set up an emergency fund of 6 months of expenses. And, um, and then from there I started to focus my money on throwing extra at the mortgage. And basically, I mean, because I believe that your income is your, you know, greatest wealth-building tool. So if I cannot have a mortgage and if I just have complete access to my income, like, I mean, that's just amazing. Like, that opens up so much for you. So, you know, I just said I want this mortgage gone as soon as possible, that so that, you know, I just have my income to you know, invest more, to give more, to, you know, do whatever I want to do. And I mean, fortunately I do, you know, I do have a good income. Um, and I keep my expenses, I live below my means. Um, I keep my expenses low. So I really have a lot of room in my monthly budget to do, um, extra with. So my mortgage is my first priority. So I apply, I more than double my mortgage, what I pay monthly. And then, you know, with the rest I give, you know, give charitable contributions monthly. And, um, but yeah, I just think that the biggest thing is, you know, living below your expenses is not just about your income and how much you make. It's about what you do with it. So you can have people making $200,000, but they live this very luxurious, expensive lifestyle and they spend all they have.

Yeah.

You know, and someone could be making $50,000 and living below their means and be intentional with their money and their goals. So, you know, people try to use income as an excuse, like, oh, if I made six figures, I could do that. But it's not, it's not always really about that. It's about what you do with your money.

Yeah, no, it's, it's, that's really true. And that's like you said, that's really what it boils down to. It's all about what you do with it. Cause there's tons of people, obviously we see them all the time who are, you know, um, you know, play sports or whatever, making money and still end up broke, right? So it's not how much you make, it really is what you do with it. So I think that's really important. And so I guess with, you know, obviously you've been buying the house, which obviously has increased in equity, right? Which has helped lend to your increase in net worth and helping you kind of hit that millionaire status.

Right.

Also, too, like you said, the retirement piece. As well. So I know you have a pretty— like I said, with you doubling up on your mortgage, you have an aggressive plan to pay off your mortgage soon. So how many— how much more time do you have, and what's that date where your mortgage will be completely paid off?

So using a mortgage— just a mortgage calculator I found online, I am projected to be done in 2 years. So I believe December of 20— this is 2018, 2019, I believe 2020. Um, so roughly like 2 years from now.

Okay.

Um, mortgage will be done. I'll be completely free.

That's awesome. So 2 years from now, you'll be 100% debt-free, house owned free and clear, um, million-dollar net worth. What, what's next? What will you do that? Cause you'll only be what, 40-something, like you'll be really, really young, um, at that time. So what do you do? I mean, yeah, you'll be 42 and you could probably technically retire if you wanted to. Um, what do you, what are your thoughts? Are you surprised that you're that close to reaching that level of financial freedom? And what, what do you think you want to do next?

I am. And actually, um, like a month or two ago when I, put the numbers into the mortgage calculator and realized I only had 2 years left. Like, I actually was shocked. I didn't realize it was that close. That was really exciting. And that just opened up my mind to just dream. I'm like, oh, wow. Like, okay, yeah. What do you want to do with your life? You're going to have so many options now. So, you know, as I mentioned, I definitely have a passion for personal finance and a passion for for youth and, you know, taking that and bringing this information to them, you know, sharing the knowledge I've acquired, the successes I've had, my personal experiences, you know, to teach them, the generation that's coming behind, and especially Black youth, because I think they're definitely an overlooked and underserved community in terms of receiving financial education. So, you know, I'd like to you know, become the go-to person for youth financial education, you know, maybe doing things like workshops, lectures, development curriculum, webinars, you know, the sort. Like, I want to really, you know, touch my community with, you know, financial education for youth.

Okay, I love it. So what do you feel With, yeah, I guess with kind of your, that your journey so far and your experience with your finances and being, um, well, actually, before I ask you a question, how do you feel like, how do you think you've been able to maintain your consistency and your discipline with your finances? I know that's something that most people are dealing with.

Um, or do you feel like you're just naturally a disciplined person?

Um, But yeah, how do you feel like you've been able to just stay consistent for so many years? Obviously, consistency has paid off for you. Um, so again, how have you been able to stay so consistent?

I do think discipline is, is a natural for me. Um, so, you know, being an engineer, um, you know, I'm very structured, organized. Um, so I think that naturally comes to me, but then I'm also a visionary, like I think about the big picture and, you know, I'm not very impulsive. I don't act on, you know, also all the time what feels good, what, you know, emotionally, what drives your emotions. You know, I like to stop and step back and think about things, think through things, think about the big picture and I also I guess I would say that I'm really driven by, you know, being able to be free and live life on my terms. And I know that if I, you know, if I don't keep myself consistent and focused on doing— I mean, I just know that this is a way to gain freedom. So, so I mean, that, that kind of keeps me on course. Like, I know that that's the end goal. So, you know, I don't, I don't have a hard time with staying with it. Cause I know that, you know, if I really focus in and stay intense with it, that it won't be a long road, you know, I can get it done quickly and then, you know, it'll all be worth it in the end. And then also, you know, I don't, I don't care about keeping up with the Joneses. I don't care about impressing people and keep it. And, um, you know, you know, same life. I mean, you know, I like nice things. I'm similar. I'm still traveling and living my life, enjoying my life, but, um, in balance, you know, in balance with, with my goals and what I believe is really important for me, important for life. And then also, um, you know, I want to, aside from, you know, myself and being comfortable I want these resources to, you know, share with others, share with my community. Like I said, I do charitable contributions. So, you know, I believe that I'm being entrusted with this money, you know, being given stewardship over this money to also share with others and to help others. So I believe that's an important part of what I'm meant to do and why I have these resources.

I love it. I love it. Basically keeping your eye on the prize is kind of what keeps you motivated and I guess that freedom. I guess you're fine with delayed gratification and a lot of people aren't. If I could just insert that enjoyment of delayed gratification to everybody else, then we would be in a whole other different situation, right?

Right.

I guess, are there any last things you want to share or just any lessons you feel like, you know, there's one thing that everyone can do now to, to hit those financial goals. You know, some people may still be able to hit that million-dollar mark by 38 like you. What are those kind of like last parting words? Like, hey, do this one thing now to, to, to get closer to your goals. What's that thing for you that you want to share?

Um, I definitely would say you, you have to start with the budget. Um, and I know that, you know, people, you know, don't want to do it. It seems boring. Um, you know, the topic of financing is boring. You know, they don't want to, you know, concern themselves with that. Um, but I think, you know, you have to create a roadmap. You have to put a plan, um, with your money, you know, put a plan around your money.

Yeah.

And, um, So I think, you know, if they can just at least start there with creating a monthly budget and getting rid of your debt, I would say get rid of your debt and, you know, don't take on more, like, you know, focus on, you know, what you really need to do and not take on unnecessary debt. And I think that if you can free up your income then, you know, you'll, you'll be leaps and bounds along the way. Because I mean, it really is about using your income as a wealth-building tool.

Mm-hmm. Very much, very much so. It's the ultimate wealth-building tool. Okay, well, is there anything else you wanted to share before we wrap up?

Um, I guess I would just say that, um, I think slow and steady wins the race, so whatever, I mean, you know, some people feel like it's too late, or I haven't put these things into place, I haven't started yet, but start wherever you are, do whatever you can. I mean, there may be things that you have heard about that you know to do, put those things into place, and then as you go along the journey, you'll learn more things, you'll figure out more things to add, more strategies to add, and that's fine. Like, you don't have to know it all right now. You know, put into place as you know it, but I would just say start, do something. Like, don't feel defeated. Don't feel like, I can't do it. I would say those that are, you know, much younger than me that are just starting, you know, you can start this road and be on this road. And those are, you know, around my age or older, you know, you can start where you are and you know, get on the road. But I would say just start, just do it, just act like, you know, your life is within your control. Like, you know, don't just let it happen to you. Like, happen to your life, happen to your money.

Yeah, I like that. Happen to your life. That's really good. I love that.

I love that.

Um, okay, so I think also too, just really quickly, when we're talking about net worth, um, and how ABLEs hit that million-dollar net worth status starting— well, by 38. Your net worth is calculated based on your assets minus your liabilities. So basically, if you have, you know, equity in your home, or if you have money in savings accounts or money in investing accounts or anything else that's valuable, you take that number, you subtract how much you owe, and then if That amount is a positive number, that means you have a positive net worth. If you have a negative number, it means you have a negative net worth. So in April's situation, which makes her a millionaire, that means that her assets minus her liabilities are over a million or up, which is really cool. So just to kind of clarify what that means, and we'll put all that like in the show notes, how you can calculate your own net worth and see where you are. You might never know, you might be surprised, you might be a millionaire as well. But yeah, I definitely just wanted to clarify that. So thank you again.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, thank you so much. And how, if people wanted to reach out to you or whatever, what's the best way for them to reach you? We'll put it in the show notes as well.

So my Instagram is @appstore, and it should be in the show notes. And you know, I will say that I'm not Big on social media. Yeah, but I know that, you know, getting to what I want to do with, you know, youth financial education, I'll have to, you know, take on that more. So yeah, right now it's blank, but I will, you know, start to work with that and, you know, get more information out there. And I am actually working to do like some kind of back-to-school workshop in October. Okay, so I definitely will put that out there, and then it's just a way to reach me, like, you know.

Yeah, and then let us know. Obviously we'll share it with the email list and stuff like that for people. Okay, yeah, in the, uh, the DC, Maryland area, I want to come out to that, that workshop. So, um, all right, well, thank you again for joining us, April. I really appreciate you being transparent about, you know, your financial situation and how you were able to build and also really dropping and sharing with other people how they can do the same and that, you know, it is doable with discipline, taking action, um, and just staying consistent and keeping your eye on the prize. So that has been another episode of Finances Demystified. Thank you so much again, April, and thank you so much everyone for tuning in, and we will see and I guess talk to you all very soon.

Have a good one.

Thank you. Thank you.