I’ve long held the belief that there’s much more money out there than we know. This belief is a large reason why I think the underbelly of the economy is fine as consumers are cashed up. Therefore, it’s with no surprise that CNNMoney highlighted a list of excellent young super-savers who have amassed tens of thousands of dollars while still in school.
The one person that stands out the most is Grace Goldoni, who says she’s saved $300,000 from age 11 until 18. Saving $43,000 a year after tax is an incredible feat at any age, and in any country. When I was 18, I think I had an unimpressive $2,000 to my name! At least I had an ancient hatchback with a broken muffler and a discolored driver’s side door to pick up the ladies in college!
To save $300,000 means you have to make about $400,000 or more in gross income before taxes. Doing the math, Grace made an incredible $58,500 or more a year since age 11 and saved 100% of it! Some of you may be thinking that there must be a typo, and that $300,000 should really be just $30,000. I was thinking the same thing as well, but the CNNMoney article has been up for over a month now, long enough for them to fact check and make sure she’s being truthful.
Would you put your name and face out there and not speak the truth? I wouldn’t and I’m sure none of you would either. Therefore, we can assume Grace really did save $300,000 from baby sitting, tutoring, and selling textbooks. Perhaps she had a little help from her parents and relatives as her profile says, but it can’t be more than 50%, otherwise, that would dilute the point of her working and saving money. And let’s say her parents and relatives did give her 90% of the $300,000, saving $30,000 by age 18 is still impressive! Grace and the parents of all these young folks should be applauded for instilling work ethic and thrift in their children.
I’d love to hear your excuse for why you aren’t saving more? My excuse for not having that much by 18 was because McDonald’s, licking envelopes, moving boxes, and temping only paid me $3.25-$4.5 an hour and I proceeded to spend at least half my earnings on girls and fixing my beater! Furthermore, I don’t think I was legally able to get a work permit until after age 14, so she had a head start.
Grace Goldoni is a true Untemplater by doing what not many, if anybody can do by age 18. Do you agree?
Photo: A Ferrari Italia at the SF Auto Show by Sam. What you can buy with $300,000. You can also buy around 295,000 cheeseburgers after tax from McDonald’s as well. Yum.
Disclaimer: I cannot verify the veracity of CNNMoney’s article profiling Grace Goldoni and her savings amount and have provide my own opinion based on the numbers. The purpose of this article is to highlight what hard work and saving at an early age can do for one’s finances.
Regards,
Sam
Much like you I did make money but saving was not something I was taught at an early age and nor was it a concern. I simply wanted the latest shoes, new tapes(yes tapes) for my walkman and spent it on clothes and arcades. Expectations must be high when you have 300K by 18. Wouldnt want to see a story years from now about her going broke.
Why the assumption that her parents gave her less than 300,000? Another scenario to consider; her parents gave her .5M and she only spent 200,000 from age 11-18. Commendable that she didn’t spend it all, but not so impressive in the end.
Because Grace implied that she saved $300,000 and didn’t receive more.
But, good point!!
Wow, I clicked on the link you had to the primary article, and low and behold, she’s beautiful! To have both beauty and brains, look out world!
Shoot, I would have been impressed if she just had $30,000 to be honest…
Thanks for finding and writing about this great feat for an 18 year-old!
Yeah, not bad huh? Makes you wonder sometimes…….
That is an awesome story. While I saved a bunch at that age, it took a while to get to that amount!
Congrats for getting to that amount! It is an accomplishment in itself even if you are older!
I can’t turn back time, but going forward, I could teach my kid about the magic of compounding and ROTH. Maybe I’ll simply show this post when he is old enough!
That car is worth salivating for Sam! 🙂
Say no to ROTH! I have a whole article called “Be A SLOTH and Don’t ROTH” that explains why a ROTH is bad news bears 🙂
I love the car. Money! Not in red though. Too flashy!
I guess my excuse for not saving more is that I love to travel 🙂
I did actually earn a pretty decent amount of money by babysitting and working a part time job in high school, but I spent the majority of it on traveling and my car. Nowhere near $300,000 though!
Good excuse, “living and enjoying life!” I hear you on that one!
Any net worth in the thousands for a high school student is impressive enough, let alone what Grace Goldoni accomplished. Even rarer to have a young person so self-motivated.
Yes, even $1,000 is impressive by age 18 imo, let alone $300,000!
Yeah, this is pretty wicked. I didn’t have much money to speak of after graduating college. I put myself through college debt free but had no savings to mention. Props to her.
Wow that’s sweet you put yourself through college debt free. That’s impressive too Jon, nice job!
Saving $30K is amazing, but how did she earn it? Perhaps a small business or investing? She may be a future Warren Buffett.
She said by baby-sitting, and selling text books. Mentioned her parents helped too. Not bad!
That is awesome however she managed to earn the money. I would think she had some support from her parents which is cool if so, and impressive that she didn’t just go out and spend it all. I don’t even know if I had $500 when I graduated high school! Great job well done for her!
Even if she had 99% support from her parents, saving $3,000 by age 18 is pretty darn good. Hope she keeps it and grows it!
Even if she did save only $30,000 that’s still ridiculously impressive. I think you had me beat at 18 – I probably only had a few hundred (and I was probably pretty happy about it, haha).
Still, I had a negative net worth at 21 when I graduated from college, so this girl could have shown me what’s up… and paid for college out of pocket! The funny thing is people have trouble saving $300,000 in an entire career – and she did it before her career even started. She should probably write a book, haha.
That’s what I was thinking! Even if mom and dad gave 90% of the $300,000, the fact that she still managed to amass $30,000 on her own and NOT spend is an amazing feat! Although I’m sure her expenses were minimal.
Question now becomes, can she continue given she will probably have to provide for herself after college, maybe? Easy to blow $300,000!
There’s a pretty big gap between putting away $50/month and having $300k. But there are definitely quite a few people who decided not to party constantly in high school and ended up making themselves wealthy instead, like this guy: http://mixergy.com/teitelbaum-whatrunswhere-interview/. You don’t always need a lot of experience to be smart.