Personal Finance

Thoughts on Building Wealth as a Salaried Earner

Over the past few weeks and months, I’ve become obsessed with building long-term wealth from a salaried perspective. Two key events triggered this shift: I committed to getting married, and after more than two years, I finally started earning a regular and sizeable salary at Rafiki.

In light of this, I’ve shopped around for advice on wealth-building, but much of what I found was either useless or not tailored to my circumstances. So, I decided to create a plan that works for me. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m sharing it in the hope that others might find it useful too.

Here’s what I’ve realized about wealth-building: people often make it sound more complicated or exciting than it really is. They throw around terms like “diversification,” “compound interest,” and “real estate is always a win,” but at its core, it’s actually pretty simple—and frankly, a bit boring: don’t spend more than you make, and focus on increasing what you earn. Beyond that, build a cushion to weather financial shocks so you’re never forced to sell your best assets during tough times. Get that right, and you’ve already outperformed most people.

I used to think I’d get rich from some big windfall—like an IPO, an acquisition, or a lucky bet. I was convinced I’d be a millionaire by 30, maybe earlier. The plan was always to take huge risks, get huge rewards, and let those pay for my financial mistakes. But then life happened. My startup failed, I turned 31, and I wasn’t a millionaire. That fantasy of a windfall vanished, and I realized I needed a more sustainable plan.

The truth is, I’m not giving up on big wins. I still believe I’ll eventually build something of huge value. But until then, I need to ensure financial stability. The worst thing would be to have to sell my best assets during a crisis. So now, my approach to wealth is different: I’m not trying to “get rich quick.” I’m focused on building a solid foundation that lets me take big swings without putting myself at existential risk.

A lot of this shift comes from life changes: I’m getting married, and I now have pre-existing health conditions like hypertension. Red Bull and pizza-fueled sprints to build a company just aren’t an option anymore.

When something like that hits, especially alongside marriage, you can’t take reckless risks anymore. You need to provide security—not just for yourself but for someone else too. This doesn’t mean you stop taking risks; it means you structure your life in a way that allows for risk without threatening your survival or health.

Honestly, I’ve found that when you give your money a clear purpose, it’s easier to be disciplined. My money now has a purpose: to provide stability, allow freedom, and ensure I never have to sell something valuable just to survive.

Here’s how I’m doing it.

Step one is building a safety net. For me, that means saving up an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses beyond my monthly budget. Nothing crazy—just $1,000 to start and then $100 a month after that to keep it growing. Once I’ve got that base, I’m paying off any debt and then building up to six months’ worth of living expenses, which is around $10-15k. I’m setting aside $1,500 every month to hit this target, then $300 every month to grow it to 12 months.

Next? Cash flow. I want investments that generate income without requiring any day-to-day involvement from me. I’m not interested in running small businesses or picking up side hustles I dislike. I’m looking at bonds—something safe and guaranteed. My goal is to generate $30k annually from passive income to cover all my living expenses. To do that, I’ll need about $200k invested in bonds. It sounds big, but it’s achievable with consistency.

Here’s why this works for me: by keeping my personal expenses low, I don’t need much to survive. A lower “burn rate” makes it easier to handle tough times. If I lose my job, I won’t panic about making rent or paying for health insurance.

Once I hit that $30k annual cash flow target, I’ll have the flexibility to take on bigger, longer-term projects without stressing about immediate cash flow or having to liquidate prematurely during financial shocks. Keeping my living costs low allows me to invest in things that might take years to pay off—illiquid assets, startups, whatever.

This approach also means I’m never operating from a place of desperation. I’m not chasing the next investment fad or throwing money into a scheme that promises fast returns but has a high chance of blowing up. I’m building a fortress, brick by brick. The bigger that fortress gets, the more risks I can afford to take outside of it.

While this may seem like a perfectly laid-out plan, I’m also a big proponent of common sense and knowing when to break my own rules. There are times when it makes sense to go off-script. For instance, if a friend is building a startup and I trust their ability to execute, I’ll put in $1,000 that I can afford to lose. But this doesn’t mean I’m out there actively looking for strangers to invest in or taking on reckless bets. The key is knowing when to bend your own rules without breaking your entire strategy. It’s about balancing discipline with intuition and understanding that sometimes, calculated risks are worth taking—especially when they involve people you believe in.

This isn’t the most exciting path, but here’s the truth: most people lose their wealth not because they made bad investments but because they didn’t have the liquidity to ride out tough times. When things get hard, they’re forced to sell their best assets at the worst time. I’m building my financial base so that I never have to do that.

Once I’ve built this base, I’ll have the freedom to start thinking about illiquid, high-risk projects. Maybe that’s real estate. Maybe it’s investing in startups. Perhaps it’s even building my own startup again. The point is, I’ll have the safety net in place to take those bets without worrying about survival. Until then, I’m willing to play the long game.

A lot of people make the mistake of going for the big payoff too early. They put all their money into something that takes 10 years to pay off. Others invest in assets that accumulate fast in value but are illiquid, leaving them without enough in the bank to survive a $10k crisis. I’m not trying to be that person. My focus is to build my base first so that I can weather these shocks. Once that’s done, I can take all the risks I want.

This isn’t a get-rich-quick plan. It’s a get-rich-slow plan. And I’m okay with that because the faster you stabilize yourself, the faster you can start taking on the kinds of projects that actually create wealth. When you play for the long term, you win by not losing. That’s what I’m focused on right now.

The upside? By giving my money a clear purpose and keeping my burn rate low, I can take bigger risks sooner than most people. It’s a paradox: the more disciplined you are about protecting your downside, the more opportunities you open up for massive upside. And that’s the real game—staying in the game long enough to win.