@jinushaun

How do you get / keep clients? Don’t they ever require face-to-face meetings? Do you have one client that feeds you all the work?

I have many clients – a few big ones who feed me continual work (20-25% of my earned income) and many many project based clients who supply the rest

I face the same issues you do, except that I have enough saved (in theory) to actually be retired.

The reason I am not is health insurance. I pay $10,000 a year and can only see it going up. I can generate an income of $40,000/year, but with so many years before Medicare kicks in, I could be really screwed in ten years if my insurance is $20,000 or $25,000. (I do not think this is impossible).

I have a web design business, and I love the work, but I can’t see how I can move around with it. The fact is, most of my clients are local (in the Pittsburgh area) and need some hand holding. If I moved to Santa Fe or Bali, I think I could keep some of my current clients for whom I act as an out-sourced webmaster, but I would have a hard time getting new ones. Since much of my work is project based, I’d see a drastic income drop.

My boyfriend is a professional illustrator and he really can do his work anywhere, as long as he can scan it and email or FTP it back to his clients.

How do you expect to deal with this?

Thank you for your insightful response and advice.

Your assumptions are correct and I do have to raise my income significantly to reach the goal of $1 million by age 40. You’re also correct in saying it’s not necessary to reach the $1 million milestone, but I’ve always been attracted to challenges, so I see this as one as well, not because I need it.

It is however, nice to have a cushion and I see it as a ways to be able to make choices and even positively affect my community.

Thanks again for the advice!

If these are accurate assumptions, then I’d say it is possible that you’ll make it to $1mil by 40, but tricky. You’d probably have to do pretty well with your investing… From what you’ve written though, I don’t think you’d really need a million dollars for anything other than a milestone though.

Realize that $1mil in 17 years won’t buy the same things that $1mil today does, due to inflation (assuming there is inflation over the 17 year period).

However, if you continue saving 50% of your monthly income, and make reasonable returns on your investments, you’ll probably be able to reach a level of 300x your monthly expenses at around age 40.

Good luck to you. You’re much farther along than many are at age 23. My suggestions are pay off your student debt, keep saving– when you earn more, save more, don’t spend more, and stay away from expensive cars and houses.

What exactly is your goal? I visited your page and was unable to visit your about page due to a 404 error. What would you like to accomplish in 2010?

Good luck and keep your eye on my blog, really going to go for it in 2010

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’m glad you agree!

Yes, it is possible to have your cake and eat it.

I agree with you, especially about blogging. Blogging is the equivalent of giving yourself another job and isn’t good for leveraging time. I only have one blog at the moment, mostly to discuss finance, share my own personal journey, and network with others on this topic. I find it fun to write about these topics so I don’t really care of this one is my money maker or not. It also leverages my strengths by showcasing my writing (whether it’s good or not is yet to be determined) and gives me another point of advantage even say in an interview.

I think websites that focus on timeless information and products are a much better focus of time to make money. That’s why I have a few other sites devoted mostly to timeless information, whether it’s travel or hobbies, that only need to updated a few times a year.

My idea isn’t for simply websites and blogs as they are today, and I realize the world will be a completely different place in 30 years, but 30 years is plenty of time to adapt to new strategies and competition. I’d rather take my chances with a growing online market that offers mobility than the whim of whomever is my boss at the moment. Thanks for your thoughts and posting this article.

Ryan

Blogs do require some consistent activity even if it is just organizing other people (my main concern there is that if staff writers are good enough to keep readers coming back to your blog, what’s keeping them from starting their own blogs?) although that activity can be pretty low e.g. around an hour a day. (I spend less time than that on this blog.) There must be some kind of new content coming up; I really doubt that what has been written on this blog will draw the same kind of enthusiasm 30 years from now, when I’m 64, as it does now.

Congratulations on getting down to Hawaii and saving money at the same time. After a similar decision as yours, I’m saving up in the winterlands:(

At age 23, I’d suggest directing some of your savings toward an account that is accessible before age 60. Especially if it might be used as start up capital for low risk businesses.
Good luck,
Jeff