Gen Z is changing many stereotypes about work and other aspects of life that previous generations took for granted. The first members of Gen Z are already achieving financial independence, and some are beginning to break the stereotypes of what it means to be a millionaire.

In a recent interview CNBCTimothy Armoo, a 29-year-old young entrepreneur who became a millionaire, says he doesn’t even have his own house. “I don’t actually have any house. I haven’t tied myself to any residential or commercial property,” he said in the interview.

Millionaire but doesn’t have his own houseTimothy Armoo ​​is the co-founder and director of influencer marketing company Fanbytes. He sold his company to Brainlabs in 2022 for an undisclosed amount, but that figure is in the eight-figure range. However, despite his success in business, the 29-year-old maintains a lifestyle that is far from ostentation and lavish mansions, thus bucking one of the common trends among millionaires: buying a large mansion (or three) that then needs to be maintained.

“Most people see property as a way of building wealth, but I use investments as a way of building wealth and I don’t have a family or a partner.” The young millionaire claims he only spends half the year in London, so there’s no point in investing part of his wealth in something that’s not going to bring him anything. “I think there’s a bigger point here, which is to examine the rules by which you live your life. You have to examine those and say, ‘Why should I do this? Why should I choose this profession? Why should I choose this?’ He thought, ‘Is this the way I should invest my money?’”

Marked by a “scarcity mentality”. Timothy Armoo ​​said that he grew up in a housing estate in a poor London neighbourhood and that the lack of resources caused him to develop what he calls a “scarcity mentality” and that the fear of losing everything again accompanied him throughout his life. . “I was convinced that if I started spending money, everything would start to disappear. I had a spreadsheet where I kept track of how much money I had, down to the last penny,” he said during his interview.

The young millionaire says he had to undergo shock therapy to overcome his fear of losing everything and come to terms with his new billionaire status. “I rang my bank and said, ‘I want to come and withdraw a million pounds in cash.’” The young man then spread the cash out on his bed. “I just looked at it. The reason I did it was because I wanted this contact to be very genuine for me, and I said to myself, ‘Man, if all else fails and you spend it on gambling or cryptocurrency or something bad, at least you have this million pounds in cash.’”

Investing at two speeds. After overcoming his fear of losing all his money, the millionaire put his money to use. Instead of buying super sports cars, a super yacht or a huge mansion, the young man decided to invest his money. He opted for a more traditional profile, partly through S&P 500 index funds and stocks of companies like Shopify and Cloudflare.

But with the other half he is getting much more creative, betting on things as diverse as financing avocado, soy and mango plantations in Africa that supply supermarkets in Europe, or investing in uranium and lithium.

When money becomes a tool. It’s unusual for someone with an eight-figure net worth not even own a home. But Armoo’s case is not an isolated one. Elon Musk sold all of his Los Angeles mansions a few years ago and spent all of that capital on his goal of reaching Mars. It’s paradoxical that the man with the world’s largest fortune is worth $251.7 billion. ForbesLive in a small prefab house of just 35 m² for rent, located near the SpaceX offices. Information confirmed by himself from his X profile.

Leaving the distance aside, the example of Timothy Armoo ​​goes beyond the usual canons of millionaires who flaunt a high lifestyle and choose to use their money as a tool to achieve a greater goal than what Instagram likes.

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Image | Flickr (Mark Hakansson)