Confessions of a 23-Year Old Thousandaire

Try to save something while your salary is small; it's impossible to save after you begin to earn more.

— Jack Benny

My late grandmother had $30,000 wrapped in aluminum foil, stowed away deep in her freezer the day my grandpa forced her to to go to the bank and open up a savings account.

My grandmother, affectionately referred to as Meme, was full-blooded Japanese and one of the smartest individuals I have ever had the fortune of being around.

When she was 20 years old, she fell in love with a sailor in the United States Navy who was stationed in Japan (my grandfather) — and as the story goes, she decided to follow him back to the U.S., marry him and start a family in a small town call Francisco, Indiana, population: 473.

My grandparents were dirt poor when they got married. I recall my grandmother telling me a story depicting just how poor they were. The first time she was traveling from Japan to the United States, she found herself in a bit of a predicament… she had to use the restroom.

Back in the 50's, many public restrooms required that you slip in five cents to allow access to take a piss. My grandparents were so poor that they didn't even have five cents on them at the time. So, my grandmother had to crawl under the door just to take a pee.

When you grow up poor like that, you are forced to get money smart pretty damn quickly… to avoid having to crawl under bathroom stalls to take a piss.

Thirty years later, after my grandmother had raised two kids of her own, who then went on to raise kids of their own (one of which was me)… my meme finally had quite a bit more money to her name.

She was always big on saving, and taught each of her grandkids the importance of it. By the time I turned 8 or 9, my grandmother took me straight to the bank, opened up a savings account for me and deposited $50 in it.

Every time I saw her, one of the first questions she would ask me in her Japanese accent was, "Are you saving? How much do you have in your savings? cole-son" (the Japanese have a habit of adding 'son' onto people's first names).

After my beloved grandmother passed away years later from a massive brain-aneurism, my grandfather casually brought up one time that she had $30,000 in aluminum foil in her fridge. He said she was weird about putting her money in the bank, and that for some reason she felt safer keeping at least some of her dough in the fridge.

While I am definitely not recommending that you keep thousands of dollars hidden away in various parts of your house like a fat little squirrel smuggling acorns, I am telling you to save, save and save.

Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur/investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks was once asked about his thoughts on investing.

"Don't", was what Cuban had to say.

"The market could go up for years, and you could think you're well off." he told Entrepreneur Magazine, "and then, in a millisecond with high frequency trading, a flash crash can take it all away. That's why you want to have that money in the mattress, so you're protected in case something goes wrong."

I think Cuban shares some great insight here. Granted, there is no way Cuban would have been worth the mind-boggling $3.4 billion that he is today, if he had just shoved all his money in a mattress, but his advice is still sound.

*** Keep reading, and I will share more of my thoughts on the investing side of things in the next couple chapters, but in the meantime… if you are interested in investing, I got a free stock waiting for you here.

But, back to savings. Let's say you make just $500 a week for the next 10 years of your life. Yes, the chances of this are slim to none, but let's just speculate here.

If you are able to save $50 out of every paycheck and shove it under your mattress, by the end of 10 years you will have saved $26,000.

That's a thick mattress.

Personally, I take 50% of everything I make and place it in a savings account. The other 50% of my money goes towards my day-to-day expenses and standard 20-something things like eating too much sushi, drinking craft beer and going to the occasional music festival.

I recommend everyone to place a portion of their income in savings. Most financial advisors recommend 20% of after-tax income. If you can save more than that, great. If not, 20% of every paycheck accumulates into some pretty lofty sums quickly, if done religiously.

It is important to understand that your savings account places you in a position of power over your life.

You don't like your job? Quit, and find one you do like. You really want to start that online knitting business you've been dreaming of since the age of 16? Do it. Are you ready to relocate to a different city? Start packing.

None of this is possible without building up a savings.

So, stuff some money in that mattress, baby.