Generation Z is challenging stereotypes in employment and other aspects of life that previous generations took for granted. The first members of Generation Z are already achieving financial independence, and some of them are beginning to break the stereotypes of what it means to be a millionaire.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Timothy Armoo, a 29-year-old entrepreneur turned millionaire, mentioned that he doesn’t own a home. “I actually don’t own a house. I didn’t get involved in any residential property or any direct commercial property,” he said.
A millionaire with no home of his own. Armoo co-founded and ran the influencer marketing company Fanbytes. In 2022, he sold his company to Brainlabs for an undisclosed amount, but it’s estimated to be in the eight-figure range. Despite his entrepreneurial success, the 29-year-old leads a lifestyle devoid of ostentation and lavish mansions, which breaks the typical trend among millionaires of buying large properties.
Armoo explained, “Most people see property as their way of building wealth, but I use businesses as my way of building wealth and I don’t have a family, I don’t have a partner now, so why?” He spends only half the year in London and sees no point in investing his wealth in something that brings him no value. Armoo reflected, “I think there’s actually a bigger point here, which is to examine the rules that you live your life by. You should examine them and say, ‘Well, why should I do this? Why should I choose this career? Why should I invest my money in this way?’”
A “scarcity mindset.” Armoo grew up in public housing in a poor neighborhood in London. Due to the lack of resources, he developed a “scarcity mindset,” which made him fear losing everything. He explained, “I was convinced that if I started to spend the money, it would all start to go… I had this spreadsheet where I would track to the penny how much I had.”
In the interview, the young millionaire said that he had to go through the equivalent of shock therapy to overcome his fear of losing everything and accept his new status as a multimillionaire. He recalled a particular incident when he called his bank: “I said: ‘I would like to come and take out a million pounds in cash.’” He then laid out all the money on his bed to have a visceral connection with it. “Dude, if all these fails, if you spend everything on gambling, or you spend it on crypto, or something bad, at the very least, you have a million pounds in cash,” he told himself.
Two-speed investment. After overcoming the fear of losing all of his money, Armoo decided to put it to use. Instead of spending it on luxury items such as supercars, a superyacht, or a big mansion, he chose to invest it. He opted for a more traditional approach, with part of his money invested in S&P 500 index funds and shares of companies like Shopify and Cloudflare.
However, with the other half of his money, he took a more creative approach by investing in diverse opportunities. These included financing avocado, soybean, and mango plantations in Africa that supply supermarkets in Europe, and investing in uranium and lithium.
When money becomes a tool. It’s unusual to see someone with an eight-figure net worth that doesn’t own a house. However, Armoo’s case isn’t isolated. A few years ago, Elon Musk sold all his mansions in Los Angeles and put all that capital to work to achieve his goal on Mars. It’s paradoxical that the man with the world’s largest fortune, valued at $251.7 billion according to Forbes, lives by renting a small prefabricated house of just 375 square feet located near the SpaceX offices, as Musk himself confirmed on his X profile.
Overall, Armoo is an example of a millionaire who doesn’t care about flaunting a high standard of living. Instead, he falls into the category of those that prefer to use their money as a tool to achieve a greater goal—not just Instagram likes.
Image | Timothy Armoo
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