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Living On $1.6 Million A Year In Los Angeles | Millennial Money
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November 21, 2019
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November 21, 2019
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10:11Now PlayingGraham Stephan, 29, earns $1.6 million a year and lives in Los Angeles. A millionaire by 26, Graham’s income fluctuates between $60,000 and $221,000 per month depending on how much he earns from real estate commissions and YouTube related-revenue. He also owns several rental properties in the Los Angeles area. Between his high income and budget-conscious nature (and 20 cent iced coffee), Graham saves nearly 99% of his income.
This is the latest installment of Millennial Money, which profiles people across the U.S. and details how they earn and spend their money.
Read more about Graham's budget breakdown here
Graham Stephan pulls up to a high-end Hollywood Hills property in his matte black Tesla Model 3. It’s a four-bed, 2,300-square-foot home listed for $2.169 million by The Oppenheim Group, where Stephan has worked as a realtor since 2015.
He’s sold multiple properties like it — and every time he closes a deal, he collects a nice commission check.
As of September 2019, Stephan has earned $77,152 in real estate commissions on the five properties he’s sold so far this year. But that represents just a fraction of his income. While the 29-year-old millionaire got his start in real estate, he now earns most of his money making YouTube videos.
Stephan, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, never dreamed he’d make his living as a YouTuber. He was earning good money as a realtor, a career he started at 18 after he didn’t get into college. He’d watched YouTube videos for years — “it was my version of TV,” he tells CNBC Make It — but didn’t think he had the personality to be a creator himself. “It looked like such a fun thing to do and I’d always wanted to do it, but I also felt like, Who would want to watch me?”
About three years ago, he decided to film and upload a video. It was an explainer on how to be a successful real estate agent that he shot “selfie-style” on his iPhone.
“I remember that video getting nine or 10 views,” says Stephan, “and thinking, Oh my God, nine people somewhere have seen this video! So I started making more videos. Once I started doing about two videos a week, the growth really just exploded.”
Today, Stephan has close to 1.5 million subscribers across two channels. He earns an average of $90,684 a month on the platform and will bring in well over $1 million for 2019. His videos cover a range of topics, from how to build wealth as a teen to buying a Tesla “for free.” And he regularly posts reaction videos to CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, offering commentary on how the subjects could improve their finances.
This year will be the first time he’s earned seven figures in a calendar year, a milestone he’s been striving for since 2017. “Two years ago, I made a goal challenge video,” says Stephan. “My goal was to make $1 million in 2018.” He didn’t quite achieve it, but he surprised even himself by hitting it just a year later.
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Living On $1.6 Million A Year In Los Angeles | Millennial Money
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