Logan Allec is a CPA, personal finance expert, and founder of the finance blog Money Done Right, which he launched in July 2017. After spending nearly a decade in the corporate world helping big businesses save money, he launched his blog with the goal of helping everyday Americans earn, save, and invest more money.
Here is Logan’s Story…
Where I Started
I graduated from college in 2009 with over $35,000 in student loan debt, which is insane given that I worked at least 20 hours a week throughout college.
Tack on another $15,000 car loan (because I was sick of taking the bus to work) shortly after I graduated and started working a full-time job, and I was 21 years old with over $50,000 in debt!
Yes, my net worth was negative $50,000.
And I was only making a little over $25 an hour at the time as an entry-level accountant!
Needless to say, this was not exactly the starting point for financial success.
I remember lying on my bed one night when it hit me that all this debt could prevent me from having the successful life that I always dreamed I’d have, and I resolved to take steps to change my financial situation so that I could get to where I wanted to be.
How I Made Things Better
Increasing Income
Well, the first thing I figured out was that I would need to figure out ways to make a little extra money every month.
So I started with the most obvious place where I could make more money: my job.
Since I was a staff accountant at the time (and not in management), I was eligible to be paid overtime.
So unlike my other coworkers who did everything they could to get their work done as quickly as possible, I was always asking my bosses if there was more work I could do, where there always was.
In California, employees can make time-and-a-half for hours worked after eight hours in a day and double time for hours worked after twelve hours in a day.
Because I made it a habit to work as much as possible — 18-hour days were not uncommon — there were some days that I made over $700 during the day when you added in meal allowances!
And yes, there were times when I worked 24 hours straight and made over $1,000 in a day including meal allowances.
This extra income made it very easy for me to pay down my debt and increase my net worth rapidly.
Decreasing Expenses
Another thing I did during this time was decrease my expenses.
I quickly became known as very “cheap” by my friends, but I didn’t care.
One time I even brought my own meat to a restaurant and asked the waiter for some boiling water so I could cook it myself (sorry, Pioneer Pho in Artesia, California).
I also ate a lot of cheap grains like oats during this time so I could save money on food.
Another thing I did was share a room with three other guys so I could minimize my rent to $275/month in expensive Orange County, California.
Where I Am Today
Somewhere along the line, I got tired of working all those long corporate hours, and I resolved that before I turned 30 years old, I would leave the corporate world and become an entrepreneur.
I tried various things over the years, including real estate investing, with some success.
However, while the things I tried made for good investments, I could not figure out how I could scale them as rapidly as was necessary to replace my income.
But in 2017, I decided to try my hand at blogging since I heard that some successful bloggers were making multiple seven figures a year.
“Multiple seven figures?” I thought. “Wow, if I could just haul 10% of what they’re doing, I’d be happy with my blog.”
So I launched my blog, Money Done Right, in July 2017 (it was actually a rebrand of another blog I had started five months previously).
I then applied myself to diligently study the habits and monetization strategies of other successful bloggers.
Within six months of launching Money Done Right, I felt comfortable that I could quit my job and go full-time with it.
Within six months of launching Money Done Right, I felt comfortable that I could quit my job and go full-time with it.
I then put in my notice, and in March 2018, I quit my corporate accounting job to become a full-time blogger!
Since then, my life has taken a 180 for the better. I have way more free time for friends and family, and I just welcomed my first child Hunter in May, and I’m so happy that I get to spend so much time with him here at home.
I never could have imagined that my life would look like this when I had a net worth of negative $50,000 at 21 years old.
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Pinyo Bhulipongsanon is the owner of Moolanomy Personal Finance and a Realtor® licensed in Virginia and Maryland. Over the past 20 years, Pinyo has enjoyed a diverse career as an investor, entrepreneur, business executive, educator, financial literacy author, and Realtor®.