He hopped on the internet and began researching how others were retiring early. Six years later, in February 2020, he quit his job at 33 after tucking away enough money to live on his investments. He now has four sources of income that bring him about $28,000 a month and allow him to work as much or as little as he wants to.
As a teacher by profession, he s since dedicated his time to teaching others how to follow their path to financial independence through his website Call to Leap. He s also amassed more than 700,000 followers on TikTok, where he uses his platform to discuss simple financial concepts in short videos.
He hid money from himself by using 2 checking accounts
When he signed on at his job at a consulting firm near Seattle after college, he did something many people don t consider. Okereke had his employer split his paychecks between two checking accounts, after a contribution to his employer s 401(k) program. Twenty percent of what I make goes into a checking account that I can spend, he told Insider. It helps me budget because it s a very little amount of my income that s going there. So if I want to buy clothing, I have to have a tight budget. If I want to buy jewelry, or if I need to do maintenance on my car, it all comes out of that checking account, he said.
Although I wasn t in an annuity plan myself, I now know that many individuals get talked into investing in an annuity without understanding how they operate and what their fee structure looks like. Even without an annuity plan, though, I know the fees I was paying in my 403(b) were considerably higher than the fees I now pay in my self-managed index fund portfolio.
How to make the most of your employer-sponsored retirement plan
Although you have limited choices when it comes to your employer-sponsored retirement plan, it s still important to do your own research before blindly putting your money into investments chosen by an advisor. This is especially true if that advisor is going to make a commission off of your choices, as that can dictate what investments they recommend to you.
1. Donate your check to a person or organization that s been affected by the pandemic
If you re doing well financially, passing along your stimulus check to others could be a great way to spread the money around.
Writer Elizabeth Aldrich found herself in this situation during the first round of $1,200 stimulus checks almost a year ago, and wrote for Insider about her decision to donate the check to pandemic relief funds, mutual aid organizations, other freelancers, and small businesses. Rather than donating to a massive organization, I decided that I would rather find ways to donate my stimulus check that directly impact smaller communities that I m a part of, she wrote. This includes not only the communities I live in, but other communities that are struggling right now: artists and creators, freelancers, and small business owners.
Twelve years later, in 2015, he sold his company, walking away with about $2 million in his pocket at the age of 34. He stayed on with the company for another two years before retiring.
He s now 40 years old and hasn t worked full-time since leaving his company. However, he s been able to double his net worth in the last six years by investing the profits from the sale of his business. His blog, the Personal Finance Club, teaches others how to gradually build and live off their net worth. And it doesn t require building an internet company.
Below, Schneider shares with Insider how he s been able to double his net worth and continue living off his investments.