Why We Aren’t Millionaires (Yet) 🫢

We’re halfway through the year (well, technically we’re almost halfway through the year… 181 days down, 184 days left to go!). 

It’s summer, it’s a Wednesday, and it’s also July 1st, which is why we’re back in your inbox with another issue of Money Convos. Let’s jump right in - we have a lot to cover! 

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞 

• Why we aren’t millionaires (yet) 🫢

• Steph’s 1/2 done her spending challenge 🛍️

• Should you invest in SpaceX…? 🚀

• How we save on groceries 🛒🥬

• The suburbs vs the city debate 🌳🚕

Money Convo Of The Month

Why We Aren’t Millionaires (Yet)

Okay, so let’s back up and second and give a little bit of context on that statement - 5.5 years ago (when we were 24 and 25 years old) Dennis and I decided to sit down and list all of the specific money goals that we wanted to achieve before we hit 30 years old… 

…and now that we both are officially 30 years old, we decided to look back on those goals and wow it’s crazy how much things change, but also stay exactly the same, over time! 

There were a few realizations that hit us when we watched our younger selves back - the first one was that we didn’t actually remember the specific goals that we had set for ourselves. Of course we remembered the general financial goals that we’d been working towards, but the language we used, and the specific pathways we talked about, were so different from how we speak and the path we’re on now. 

The second was that if you set goals, and you actually put the work into achieving them, then they will happen… but maybe not on the exact timeline - or in the exact same way - that you originally had in mind. 

So, here are the goals we set, and if we achieved them (or not!) -

Own Real Estate ❌- No… we don’t own real estate (yet!). Ever since we first met when we were ~21 years old, we talked about investing in real estate as a way to grow our net worth, and it was a big part of our plan for hitting a $1 million net worth by age 30. But, as we learned more throughout our 20s, we realized the power that investing in the stock market really has over the long-term specifically. On one hand, it potentially prolonged the timeline for hitting a $1 million net worth, but it’ll also put us in a (most likely) better position down the road. So, for now, we’re very happy that we pivoted and focused on putting as much money as possible, as early as possible, into the stock market (and specifically passive, globally diversified ETFs). 

Grow Multiple Income Streams ✔️- Yes… we do have multiple income streams and ways of generating revenue! Back when we set these goals, we pictured having both a 9-5 job and a side hustle (aka YouTube) as our multiple income streams, but we ended up quitting those 9-5 jobs shortly afterwards. Now, our multiple income streams are all a part of our business (as personal finance content creators). 

Be Millionaires By Age 30 ❌- No… we didn’t hit our big goal by age 30! This goes along with the ‘owning real estate’ goal - when we changed the way that we planned on investing our money, it made this goal less likely to happen by the original timeline we’d set. But, like we said, we’ve realized that when you set goals, and you actually work towards them, they will happen… but maybe not on the exact timeline that you originally had in mind. Based on our current net worth, and the amount that we typically invest on a consistent basis, we should hit this goal in our mid-30’s. Stay tuned! 

Hit The ‘Financial Freedom’ Benchmark 🤔- This is an interesting one, because we never actually wanted to hit ‘financial freedom’ in the traditional sense (aka retiring early), and we also didn’t set an amount that would be our ‘financial freedom’ number. We were more so talking about feeling like we didn’t have to work our 9-5 jobs, and, well, we aren’t! So, on one hand, we do have more free and flexible lives, but we definitely still want (and need!) to keep working. 

Our Personal Goals & Saving Predictions ✔️- Yes… we hit them! These goals were so fun to look back on. Dennis predicted that he’d have between $200,000 to $300,000 in his savings and investment accounts specifically based off of his day job - and he does have that much saved… but his ‘day job’ is now being self-employed. I personally predicted that I’d have $260,000 in my savings and investment accounts, and I’m sitting just above that amount right now. I also really talked about becoming more investment savvy and confident with talking about money by age 30, and I’m proud to say I’ve definitely accomplished that goal. 

If you want to see our real reactions to the original video, and hear more of our thoughts, check out this YouTube video.

$32,000 Or Less Challenge 💰

Another month, another spending challenge update! 

As I said last month, I’ve definitely been spending a bit too much to actually hit my $32,000 or less goal…

…but I’m still committed to sharing my spending totals, and hopefully keeping my spending down compared to last year! 

With that being said, let’s get into this month’s results. 

In June, I spent $3,505.17, and here’s how it was split out -

That means that I have $13,581.02 left in my annual total to spend for the next 6 months of 2026. 

I would now need to spend an average of $2,263.50/month for the next 6 months in order to hit my goal. 

If you want to see us ‘compare’ our spending for June, keep an eye on our Instagram this week!

Should You Invest In SpaceX? 🚀

One of the biggest investing stories of the summer (or really of the year) has been about the mega IPOs… and if you have no idea what we're talking about, this is where companies like SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI enter the conversation. 

Let’s get on the same page here - 

IPO = Initial Public Offering; it's the process that a private company goes through in order to become a public company. 

In other words, when a company is private, its shares are typically owned by its founders, employees and other private investors. When the company becomes public, its shares are listed on a stock exchange and are purchased by the general public. In other words, when you hear the term IPO being used, know that it’s the moment that a company's shares become available to regular people, like you and me.

The headlines discussing these IPOs have been all over the place. On one hand, we've seen a significant amount of coverage that's been focused on Elon Musk's net worth (aka him becoming the very first trillionaire to ever exist), while on the other hand, we've also seen investors questioning whether or not they should invest in a company like SpaceX once it goes public.

Btw, spoiler alert… SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $1.77 trillion valuation.

In general, it seems that all three companies - SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI - are hoping to capitalize on the current excitement for artificial intelligence, which is why there’s a push to go public at a time when investor hype is at a peak. It's similar to what we saw during the dotcom boom, only in this case we have AI companies with massive brand value and founders who move more like celebrities.

Something that's really important for retail investors to remember is that IPOs have had an infamously bad track record of performance. There's actually a research paper that found that a portfolio of IPOs generally underperformed the market by a rate of 2% per year. This means that, regardless of your belief in a particular founder or company, purchasing shares of an IPO hasn’t always been a wise decision, according to the numbers. 

Now to answer the initial question… it's really up to you, but keep in mind if you’re a long-term, passive investor, your globally diversified funds will likely eventually give you exposure to that company anyways. 

You can hear us talk more about that in this video, and if you want to hear more about what’s been going on in general, check out this video.

We’ve Spent $748 Per Month On Groceries 🍋🥑

We’ve spent an average of $748/month on groceries this year, and most of the time we get comments asking us how we’re able to spend so little. 

*Note: Grocery costs differ depending on where you live (globally, but also in the city vs suburbs vs rural). We personally live in downtown Toronto, Canada - so keep that in mind! 

Here’s our overall grocery shopping system - 

• x1 per week grocery run where we refill our fridge with vegetables, fruits, eggs, broth and yogurt, and our pantry with pasta, nuts and oatmeal (we might do an extra mid-week grocery run only if necessary for more fruits & vegetables if we run out - we typically never have any food items that go bad… we only buy what we’ll eat)

• x4 per year bulk stock ups from Ample Foods (large bags of rice) and Costco (meat and household supplies) 

If you want to see a typical month of grocery shopping in action (specifically a stock up month!) then check out this video.

The Suburbs vs The City 🌳 🚕

Lately we’ve been talking a lot about an age-old debate… What's better, living in the suburbs or living in the city?? 

Let’s rewind for a second, because this comparison is strongly impacted by where you lived growing up. 

I was raised in the city - up until I was 15 years old, I lived in downtown Toronto (one of the largest cities in the world). Then, for my last few years of high school, my family moved to the suburbs after my parents bought a house. So, I have experience with both the city and the suburbs. 

Steph, on the other hand, grew up in the countryside near her grandparents’ farm - that’s where she was until she was 18 years old and moved to the city for university, and she hasn’t left since. So, she has experience with the country and the city… not the suburbs. 

Our different experiences definitely shaped our thoughts about where we want to live in the future. 

And don’t get me wrong… both of us love living in the city (and in theory we’d love to live in the city forever), but - having experienced what it’s like to live in the city as a kid - I know that there’s pros to raising kids in the suburbs, too. 

We’ll see where we end up, but for now it’s definitely an interesting conversation to have! 

If you want to hear more of our thoughts on this topic, check out this video.