I have a new YouTube “crush.” And I mean crush like I mean a current Netflix show that I binge watch from Season 1 through Season 18. His name is Graham Stephan (pronounced gram stef-un). You know what they say about dating guys with two first names (yes, I mean you, Brett Brian and Drew Blake), but I think taking investing advice from two-first-name Graham might be okay.

There are a couple of reason this new YouTube find passes muster. Not only is Graham sincere and easy to listen to, he’s whip smart and self educated and has an uncanny knack for salesmanship. In a YouTube world of fast talking “gurus” and dudes flashing cars and unimpressive “million dollar digs,” Graham is a breath of down-to-earth frugality mixed in with a taste for the finer things. He does have some cars, but in terms of his net worth and monthly cash flow, they are negligible.

So here’s my 3 Reasons Why Graham is The Current Best Thing:

1. Despite an Impressive Cash Flow from his Income and Investments, Graham still lives on a Basic Salary.

Graham has two philosophies in life when it comes to big purchases, they have to make him money or hold their value. T-shirt $2.99 from H&M, Tesla, $40,000+ dollars, paid for itself in one day on YouTube.

Graham didn’t attend college and left his soul crushing data entry desk job in 6 weeks. He asked himself, “What can I do at 18 without a degree? I know, I can sell real estate!” And that he did. In L.A. After working months straight commission and always hand wringing about his next deal, he plotted a way to have other streams of income, including real estate rentals.

YouTube was an afterthought as a “creative outlet.” He consistently and faithfully posted three times a week for more than 6 months before he saw real traction. Now he has revenue coming in from all over the place, but lives on less than $3500/month of personal expenses (and even less if you count the fact that he lives for free in an duplex that he owns, see “house hacking”). His income has steadily grown, in 2018 he has a show about his sources of income that total $59,000/month. In 2019 he has a show on how he “spends” $162,000/month ~ spoiler: he doesn’t.

If that’s not a baller, I don’t know what is. He seems to save for opportunities and has a lot of cash on hand.

2. He embraces both Real Estate and Index Fund Investing

If you know me, you know I love index funds for a diverse and low cost way to be in the stock market. Anyone who touts index funds is not a moron in my book. Graham is not a moron.

3. Graham is kind of Funny, but Not Too Funny that you can’t take him Seriously

Number three is a function of asking spousal unit what he thinks the best thing is about Graham. He also likes that Graham talks about relevant things and isn’t annoying. Here here.

The real value of his videos is that he is a good teacher and a humble steward of knowledge. In other words, he’s not blowing smoke and he’s the first to admit that he made some mistakes, had success and is open about the work and hustle. Although he’s young, he is still a product of a 10 years in the making. But Graham Stephan epitomizes the “compound effect” of consistent, positive action over a long period of time, how it grows exponentially and achieves bigger results with less effort. After being a real estate agent for 10 years, instead of having sweaty palms about where his next deal is coming from, he now has mostly referrals and repeat business.

And his antidote to sweaty palms in straight commission selling was to have passive income through real estate rentals. That has also grown as both appreciated assets and consistent income. With less or more headache. I don’t know, I’m not entirely stalking the guy.

Check Him Out

It’s just: Graham Stephan. He has a second channel called The Graham Stephan show. I like the first one for money education. I recommend him because there are very few people I trust when it comes to money advice. I like Graham because he takes it up a notch, and covers more sophisticated content, allowing us to see (a) all his sources of income and why or how he started in each; (b) how he spends money; (c) what he thinks is stupid (not budgeting).

So check it out! And one day soon, we’ll start our own community on YouTube.

xo, tricia