10 Money Tips by Graham Stephan [Challenge Yourself With #9]

Advertising Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links from our partners, which means that we may receive a small commission if you sign up via these links. If you like what we’re doing, consider supporting us by clicking. We do our best to keep offers up-to-date. More info can be found here.

Who is Graham Stephan?

YouTube celebrity Graham Stephan has been providing real estate and financial content on the internet since 2016.

Graham launched the channel to share his real estate achievements, failures, and lessons learned to assist those who wish to accomplish the same. When he isn’t talking about finance, he talks about cars and likes to show off his favorite new models.

Let’s learn a bit more about Graham Stephan and what makes him tick.

Profession/Career:	Youtuber, Real Estate Agent
Net Worth:	$7.5 million
College:	N/A
Date of Birth (Age):	April 21, 1990 (32 years old)
Place of Birth:	Santa Monica, California
Heights:	5 ft 7 in

Frequently Associated With

Table of Contents

[hide]

What is Graham Stephan’s net worth?

His current net worth is estimated to be roughly $7.5M.

For someone worth that much, he’s got quite a frugal nature to him. And it’s inspiring to know that even people who’ve made it can maintain a relatively decent set of rules when it comes to saving and spending money.

Graham Stephan actually created a video in 2020 detailing his net worth at the time.

Where is Graham Stephan from?

Graham Stephan was born and raised in Santa Monica, California.

Graham Stephan’s Early Life – Did Graham Stephan Grow Up Rich Or Poor?

Very little is known about Graham Stephan’s family. We do know that Graham Stephan’s family lived paycheck to paycheck. He could not go to college because his father could not afford to pay tuition.

From his videos and interviews, it is known that he was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1990. He grew up in a middle-class family and was raised by his parents alongside his sister. His father was an artist, and his mother worked in the retail industry.

Stephan has mentioned that he was always interested in money and finance from a young age, and he began working part-time jobs as a teenager to save up money. He has also talked about his experience of attending community college to save on tuition costs and working multiple jobs to support himself.

How old is Graham Stephan?

As of 2023, he is 33 years of age. His date of birth is April 21, 1990.

How Graham Stephan Started in Real Estate?

After leaving school at the young age of 18, Graham Stephan earned his real estate license. While most real estate agents try to sell houses where the properties are selling like hotcakes, Graham Stephan decided to focus on areas that very few real estate agents want to sell in, the areas where houses are less desirable and relatively cheap. Graham Stephan’s strategy earned him less commission on these sales, but made him extremely successful in the number of houses sold.

Graham Stephan was able to achieve over $125 million in value of homes sold, and this made him a millionaire when he was merely 26.

Graham Stephan’s YouTube channel

Because of his well-thought-out financial advice, Graham Stephan’s YouTube channel has amassed a considerable following online. The channel currently has well over 3.9 million subscribers.

The channel focuses on financial advice, including how to save money on rent, motivation towards the millionaire mindset, and investing. If you’re in your 20s, or just starting out on your financial journey, it’s a great resource to check out.

Graham Stephan’s simple money rules to live by

If you’re interested in learning about Graham Stephan’s financial philosophy and tips to help you manage your money, look no further. We’ve compiled 10 money tips for you that Graham Stephan has talked about either on his channel or online.

1. Always track your spending

We’ll begin with the most basic tip as it is the foundation of everything personal finance. How can you save money if you don’t know where your money goes?

We know that Graham Stephan practices what he preaches because he often does a great breakdown of his financial net worth on video. He often gives detailed insights into his financial allocations, which include his holdings in real estate, stocks, bonds, cash, and more.

Some people like to enter their spending into a spreadsheet by hand, while others prefer to utilize software that does it semi-automatically. Which method you use is irrelevant as long as you find one that works for you.

After three months of tracking where every dollar goes, you’ll have a good idea of how much you spend in each category. Following that, you may begin deciding where you want to make cuts.

When you start tracking your dining out expenses for example, you may be astounded at how much you’ve spent. The end goal is to discover any unnecessary expenses so you can cut them out and live within your means.

2. Pay yourself first

When most people are paid, they pay their bills, treat themselves, and then put the rest into a savings account.

This, however, can often be psychologically draining. Consider placing that money into your savings/investing account as soon as you get paid once you’ve tracked your spending for a few months and calculated how much you can save per paycheck.

Graham Stephan himself decided to put that money into real estate. By doing this consistently and diligently, he put himself in a position that allowed him to become a landlord and rake in passive income.

Many people have done so similarly, and you can choose to follow in their footsteps as well.

The important thing is that you start paying yourself first.

And don’t forget to make your savings automatic so you don’t have to worry about it!

3. Keep emergency funds in a high-yield savings account

The need to have a three-to-six-month emergency fund is understandable. That’s something you’ve likely heard a thousand times, and it’s true!

If you’ve worked hard to save all of that money, though, you need to decide where you’ll put it.

It’s not a good idea to keep the money in a traditional bank account. Instead, look for a different alternative that can provide you with greater returns.

The one that we recommend here at Stack Stashers is the Credit Karma savings account, as it consistently provides the highest interest rates of all savings accounts.

4. Pay off all your bad debt ASAP

According to Graham, you’ve got to keep track of your monthly discretionary spending and charges (like going to restaurants or the movies).

Cutting down on your leisurely spending is important because only then can you commit almost all of your earnings to getting out of debt. Until you’ve got your debt paid down, it’s going to be unpleasant, but it’s necessary.

If that seems like a big change, you can always focus on gradually reducing your discretionary spending while paying off your debt more and more each month.

And if you start seeing success with your debt, you’ll feel all the more motivated to make even more changes!

When it comes to debt repayment, some people favor the snowball method (paying off smaller debts first), while others prefer the avalanche method (paying off the biggest debts first).

5. Never get Starbucks

Well, we don’t mean this literally.

We all know that quitting your morning coffee won’t make you wealthy.

Graham, on the other hand, has recommended doing so on his channel, and you can clearly see that he makes his own coffee at home each and every day.

He was so very much frugal in the early days, but that changed over time as he became more and more successful. However, it wasn’t for the reasons that you might think. It wasn’t due to lifestyle creep.

He stated that he became less frugal when it came to paying for time. He realized that his time was worth more than it was before, so it made sense that he would pay for services that would save him time and allow him to focus on the things that actually generate income.

So really, it all depends on how much your time is worth. Could you be making money instead of spending all that time being frugal?

It’s really dependent on a case-by-case basis.

For the majority of us, it would be more beneficial to adopt this mentality. And we’re not talking about coffee specifically.

The “no Starbucks” mentality is easy to learn and can be applied to multiple areas of your life.

Start brewing coffee at home. Stop ordering food from Postmates and Grubhub when you can make it yourself for a fraction of the cost. Don’t order pizza delivery if you can pick it up yourself.

If you quit paying for all of these convenience fees, you’ll be quite surprised at how much they add up to over time.

On rare occasions, such as when you’re sick or exhausted, it’s acceptable to pay for convenience, but be aware of what you’re paying for and why.

Avoid making a habit of something that isn’t beneficial to you.

6. Use your credit cards as often as possible

If you pay with your debit card or cash regularly, you’re missing out.

Consider putting it on your credit card when you go grocery shopping, fueling up your car, or paying your internet bill. Because of cashback perks, you should always be using a credit card rather than a debit card.

Some people enjoy earning travel points on their credit cards to get free flights and hotels while on vacation, which is also terrific!

Look for a credit card that includes the features you want. For example, if you’re a huge foodie who likes to dine out at restaurants, be sure to pick a credit card that has great cashback perks for doing so.

Remember to pay off your credit card balance in full at the end of the month! You don’t want to be stuck with those ridiculous interest rates. You should generally avoid this step for the time being if you can’t afford to pay off your credit card every month.

7. Never buy designer clothes

Even though Graham is a multimillionaire, he still wears $7 H&M shirts.

Why?

Because it makes no sense to spend a lot of money on expensive clothes if you’re trying to improve your financial situation.

Extend this philosophy to other areas of your life, much like the “no Starbucks” rule.

Graham teaches us to consider whether an item’s price is worth the number of hours it will take to pay for it. Are those new pairs of shoes really worth your four hours of work? If not, move along.

The same thinking must be applied to cars, cell phones, and concert tickets, among a multitude of other things. Whenever you make a purchase, consider whether it’s worth your time.

If it is, no problem! Go ahead and get it!

8. Be smart at restaurants

Going out to dine with friends and family is a popular way of spending quality time and socializing.

We don’t have to, and shouldn’t have to, live like antisocial hermits merely to improve our financial status and well-being.

If you do decide to go out to dinner, an appetizer can always take the place of the main course.

In addition, ordering alcoholic beverages is almost always exceptionally overpriced, so be very selective about your drinks. Water is always an option, and always great for your physical health.

9. Create multiple sources of income

This is where Graham Stephan truly shines.

He’s got his real estate holdings, his YouTube channel, his portfolio of stocks and bonds, cryptocurrency, and even a coffee business, among other things.

If you’re living extremely below your means and saving/investing as much as possible, you might hit a financial wall, as it can become arduous and exhausting.

You may want to increase your income to save/invest more money than you now do, with the goal to have some of it being passive income.

10. Take care of yourself to save money in the future

This is a long-term project, but one that must be completed.

Despite being extremely frugal relative to his net worth, Graham pays for a gym membership and treats himself to decent and healthy meals.

Why?

Because it will save him a lot of money in the long run and improve his quality of life. It gives him the best chance of avoiding ridiculous medical bills in the future.

If you can’t afford a gym membership or a meal with a lot of healthy foods, that’s alright. Just find a way to work out at home or stock up on pre-made salads at the grocery store while they’re on sale.

Graham Stephan’s The Real Estate Agent Academy

If you are truly blown away by Graham Stephan’s real estate abilities and want to see if you can benefit from his years of experience, you are in luck! Graham Stephan started an online course called “the real estate agent academy“, which anyone can purchase for $497.

If you are a little weary of the content, keep in mind, the course is refundable, if you viewed less than 50% of the content and purchased it within the last 25 days.

In conclusion

While these tips in and of themselves won’t make you as rich as Graham Stephan, they can mean all the difference between living paycheck to paycheck vs. being able to put aside some money each month.

To start out, you may not want to implement all of these at once. Start with one tip at a time, and make the commitment to add to your money habits little by little. Before you know it, you’ll be a pro at managing your finances.

Have you tried any of the above tips? And if so, did it change your finances in any meaningful way? Let us know! We’d love to hear from you.