Living On $245K A Year In Anaheim, CA | Millennial Money
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- Опубликовано: 17 авг 2022
- Moses Lin, 29, is a wedding guitarist by trade, and real estate investor on the side. He performs at about 50 weddings a year and invests a portion of his earnings into his real estate portfolio. Currently, he owns four investment properties as well as his residential property. In 2021, Moses made about $175,000 from his music business, and $42,000 from his rental properties, which he reinvested into his portfolio. He lives in Anaheim, CA.
This is an installment of CNBC Make It's Millennial Money series, which profiles people across the globe and details how they earn, spend and save their money.
Moses Lin never thought he’d make any money as a musician. Once, early in his career in 2016, he played a coffee shop for three hours and got $3 in tips.
“I was so discouraged, I literally I went home and I cried,” Lin says. “I was like, I’m never going to make a living performing music. This is never going to work out. And I almost just threw it all away.”
By 2021, though, Lin was working full-time as a destination wedding guitarist. He played around 40 to 50 weddings that year and brought in about $175,000 before tips.
His work takes him to all corners of the U.S., from New York to Hawaii, and even Cancun, Mexico.
The best part: Playing weddings “doesn’t even feel like working. We’re just partying.”
In the last two years, Lin has invested the bulk of his wedding income into real estate. He’s currently the landlord for four properties in Little Rock, Arkansas. He also bought his own home in Anaheim, California, this spring.
In 2021, he brought in $42,000 in rental income and $28,000 in other income.
Watch the video to find out how Lin went from college dropout to wedding guitarist, real estate investor and homeowner bringing in $245,000 a year.
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Living On $245K A Year In Anaheim, CA | Millennial Money
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Bring the Dogecoin person back
Would you do someone from jamaica ? 🇯🇲
@@adept3666 Yes!
l
Thanks so much for sharing my story! I posted a comment allowing people to reply and ask me anything, could you please pin it to the top?
As a wedding videographer, I've worked with him on a few weddings. He is oozing with positivity and just a good hang. Super happy for all the success he's achieved. Well Deserved!
Dude thank you!!
Do you guys know Tony from Encore?
@@chinaboss6683 yes. He works hard and runs several crews to cover multiple weddings each weekend. True hustler. 👏🏻👏🏻.
@@hai.d.nguyen
How much does he charge per wedding?
Yup! That's what got him the success 😉
Finally an episode on someone who isn't a social media influencer. You're winning at life man, kudos to you.
I was just thinking the same thing. I was waiting for him to say “and I have a RUclips channel”
@@Mzbbxhfbfnsx HE DOES
So for u its smart to stay with the old school ways of making money when today u can earn passive income online and actually use your time to LIVE LIFE?!
@@MilenaKoncar most of his income is from playing guitar at weddings and from his rental properties ($175k + $40k), so his RUclips channel is more of a side project/hobby.
The other people on this show lately have been making most of their money from RUclips/social media, including Graham who claims to be a real estate investor first, but actually makes 80% of his income from RUclips.
haha, I really appreciate this comment! I'm definitely no social media guru trying to sell you an e-course lmao!
Hi everyone! Thanks for taking the time to listen to my story. Feel free to reply to this comment and ask me anything!
What advice would you give to someone wanting to make a living off RUclips?
@@kb.gonzalez Great question! I honestly wouldn't recommend it unless you really think you can become the top 1% of RUclipsrs. I have 11k subscribers and 1.4m views, and my total revenue over the last 6 years is $996. Granted, I have to share my revenue since my music is mostly covers, but it's not a very reliable income stream. For me, RUclips serves as a portfolio that gives me credibility with clients, who will pay me $1000+/hour.
Hey, thanks for sharing your story it was really inspirational! I have a master's degree in fashion marketing, but still not living my dream as I thought I would (largely because of issues during the pandemic). I would like to start my own business in fashion and branding soon. What advice would you give on how to go about starting your own business? Are there any specific tools you used, did you have a mentor, accountant, website designer/creator, etc. when starting out? I'm a bit nervous on where to start. Thank you!
@@jamiew.6606 Hey Jamie! I didn't have a mentor/accountant/website designer/etc, I just did it all myself. I'll give you some general advice and some specific advice. General advice: it's always better to do something and be wrong than to do nothing. Just do something, create momentum, and if you're wrong and you went the wrong direction, you learned something and now you can pivot. Don't fall into the trap that your first move has to be perfect or amazing. Specific advice: if you're not sure where to start, a good place would be to just build your social media into a place where you're a subject matter expert on fashion. That's a great platform to build any business from.
@@Moseslinmusic Thanks so much for the advice! That has been my current strategy. To just post more of my expertise and talent on social media and go from there. Just went slightly viral about a week ago (30k views) on one of my videos, so I'll just keep that up even though it can feel discouraging at times when my posts don't reach a large audience. Wishing you all the best!
Met this dude at a wedding 3 weeks ago. SO talented and nice! Keep it up!
Hey Nia, who's wedding was it? :)
What was he doing other than playing the guitar? I just can’t wrap my head around paying for a guitar guy at a wedding. Different culture tho
I loved the bit about he jumps in and learns to swim. It's so true that so many of us wait for the perfect moment to do things when in reality the most powerful thing you can do is just start
Thanks man! I've made a ton of mistakes along the way, but I'm definitely way further along than if I hadn't taken that first step
Thank is an amazing store, Choosing the right industry to invest is very critical, Most times, it amazes me greatly how I moved from an average lifestyle to earning over $63k per month, Utter shock is the word. I have come to realize a lot in the past few years that there are lots of opportunities in the financial market. The only thing is to know where to invest...
The decision to invest is an acknowledgment that comes with certain risks. Not all investments will do well and some may lose money. However, without risk there would be no opportunity to potentially earn the higher returns that can help you grow your wealth.
@@ericchk102 I agree with you and I believe that the secret to financial stability is having the right investment ideas to enable you earn more money, I don’t know who agrees with me but either way I recommend either real estate or bitcoin and stocks.
I keep wondering how people earn money in financial markets, i tried trading bitcoin on my own made a huge loss and now I'm scared of investing more.
@@canary7361 That won't bother you if you trade with a professional like *Mr Gary Mason Brooks* my coach, you may have come across him on interviews relating to bitcoin. He trades, manage trading account and offer mentorship program for clients who wish to become professional investors....
@@nyreggie You allow people to trade for you? that's interesting, I would love to learn, hope it’s safe?
Definitely love it when someone has a positive mindset and has no regrets and doesn't care what society would think...he is completely in control of his own life and that's absolutely amazing 👏👏👏
Finally a high earner that’s genuinely a good person
Most high earners and people in general are good. Don’t let mainstream media brainwash you. There are plenty of good and bad people on both sides of the money fence.
My favorite comment! Thank you so much
A lot of us are….😒
When it comes to weddings, people wanna spend, and also because people have the perception that if they pay a higher price for something like gowns & rings, they have a better value.
Explains why the more he charged the more bookings he had.
I was a successful dog sitter on an app and I noticed the same thing. When I raised my price, I got more bookings with better homes and wealthy clients. I also noticed the more people paid me, the better THEY took care of their dog. After a awhile, I didn't want to work with clients who tried to bargain on lower rates because they didn't treat me or their animals well.
It is great to hear stories of people turning their creative passions into a career and being successful at it!
1 semester left ! might as well eventually finished since it was free
I love this story! That gem about raising his prices and getting better clientele as a result was great too.
Your business will make you rich but investment makes and you keep you wealthy, we all deserve to be successful and have financial freedom, I pray everyone here becomes successful
@Hart Thim You're right, it's obvious a lot of people remain poor due to ignorance
I'm looking for something to venture into on a short term basis, I have about $6k sitting in my savings
Starting early is the best way to getting ahead of build wealth, investing remains the priority
I advice everyone to start investing and never rely on just salary. No billionaire made it through salary
I'm new to this Bitcoin trading, how do I get started with the help of a professional?
“Everytime I charged more, I would book more and the clients were nicer.” 😂
I thought this statement was very interesting too. It made a lot of sense.
its an odd paradox of business, but its true! At least in this particular industry.
He found his calling and can pursue his dreams. Also if he retires as a musician he has his rental properties to fall back on. Good job.
Wow, $175k salary from guitar playing is baller! Dude must be sick on the strings, I've gotta check out his recorded stuff.
Being a wedding entertainer doesn't necessarily mean you're exceptional. It means you're good enough to play at weddings and you're an entertaining personality
@@CatchMeOnPort8080 true!
Being successful is more about people skills than anything else unfortunately.
@@BlowitAllUp honestly I think people skills are worth the price. From my personal corporate experience, having a balance of technical skills + being a pleasure to work with is essential
I would have finished that last semester for the degree. After all that work, may as well finish what you started. Once you get that paper, it is yours for life.
This dude is awesome. Happy for him, being smart with money while doing what he loves. Props
Whats "props"..?
I'm happy for this dude, he's so positive and has a learner attitude, I wish him the best
I would love to hear how he managed his finances during the pandemic and whether he had to find other streams of income when there were less in-person weddings
Rental income and RUclips ad revenue. Maybe Zoom lessons if he really needed the money, which I'm sure he didn't.
He just told you, he made $175k from weddings in 2021.
@@ImNotaRussianBot but the issue was more in 2020 and beginning of 2021.
By mid year couples were saying F it and just moved forward. Business is good for him now but how long can he keep it up.
The economy is worsening. Layoffs are occurring. How many Twitter or Meta employees had weddings planned. Could be anybody.
40-50 weddings is nearly every single weekend. That’s busy especially if he’s traveling around. Many couples at some point may decide to cut this portion out of their budget.
I actually think though that this guy has things figured out. I mean he’s looking at other money making opportunities.
While he’s not promoting college now he’s still not far off from earning his degree. Don’t believe his major was mentioned. It could be Music degree and he’s all set in the future with perhaps being a Music teacher down the road.
We are not seeing the negative side of his business also. He seems like a guy who just goes with the flow. Understands he may get stiffed or even have his guitar stolen or broken or who else knows what. People just need to be prepared.
If it’s people’s dream to be this type of entertainer then great. Just be cautious.
So interesting! Thank you for sharing!!
The only thing I can say to him is "diversify." He has the real estate thing going, but get into the stock market too. My heart sunk when he said he didn't have an IRA.
It is not too late for him to start saving.
IRA is chump change for him. Real estate is far more reliable than the fickle stock market.
I love how down to earth he is, yet he’s killing it with his income bracket 🎶
This has to be my favorite video in this series
What he said is so true. We are all trained and shaped to study hard and get a job. Although it's still applicable for some careers - medicine, engineering, aviation, and law to get a degree. Some don't require it anymore. I did the same at least until 24 years old then I went on to find remote work that's still applicable to my degree. Life changing and I can honestly say --- better than going to the office (in my experience). What they need to do in school is to start educating kids about managing finances and honing your skill to start your own business.
good for him. but only 1 month from graduating. bad advice --dropping out of school. maybe it worked for him but not everyone can be a wedding guitarist.
Strong agree. Even if it’s not required, it’s objective negotiation leverage for any work-related situation.
He only works more or less every weekend of the year (for weddings). Not bad.
PKs represent!! 💪🥰 Love seeing the second generation creativity and hustle
Such a great an informative video. I live in Orange County as well, and this was inspiring. It's good to see young people being positive and doing well.
Awesome video! Great seeing a military veteran crushing it and enjoying the ride along the way YUUUUT!
Agreee
Kudos to you Moses for doing what makes you happy.
I love his calm attitude about what he's doing and where he is going!
Hey I know Moses! Great player and guy. Great to see him do so well !
Loved this story. This guy is so cool and smart.
Agreee
Congrats Moses!! This is so awesome
One of the best Make It videos I've seen!
Wow wish I could find something I could do from home ...I think the problem aswell is that we don't know what jobs are out there. Good for him! Lovely to see people work hard and succeed
Tutor, PA, catering, sewing, knitting, proof reading, homebased work with your computer providing a message service . Check on line, there are loads of home based jobs,
What would be really helpful is for these videos to calculate take home pay post taxes. If you’re living in Cali you will take home a much smaller percent of income vs FL. Similarly if you have a business you take home more vs a salary. That definitely impacts how much the money will seem to be
I can tell you now he’s 1099 or had an LLC I bet he’s taking home more than people think 😂
Hey guys! Thanks for listening to my story :) I'd love to shed some light on this in the spirit of transparency. The beauty of real estate is the massive tax deductions. For example, if my real estate company (LLC) makes 50k in rental income, but spend 100k purchasing/renovating a new property, I "lost money" on paper. That loss can be deducted from my personal taxable income from my music company LLC. So i believe my effective tax rate last year was around 10%
Cool dude. Follow your passions in life and things can work out.
I like that, if you don’t have a backup plan you have to succeed.
Quite agree!
Wonderful story, very inspirational
Good for him this is Awesome!
Congrats Moses - you’re a true inspiration! 🥳🎉
I saw him at Down Town Disneyland and he blew our mind away. So glad to see everything is going well for him
Hey!!! Thank you so much :) I don't perform at Downtown Disney anymore, but it will always have a very special place in my heart
This video is so timely. I'm supposed to start a PHD program this week and am considering not going. Oh, Moses how you inspire me
Please consider the program, especially if there are a lot of career paths it can provide. I graduated in June with a PhD and start a job in a couple weeks making 155k. It required a PhD!
Please think more about this. I say that as someone who didn’t finish his bachelor degree.
did you end up going?
@@aliali-ce3yf No, I deferred for 1 year. I'm going to spend this year following my true passion. I plan to quit my job in a few weeks to travel and start my business. I'm going 100% in. 🤞🏻
@@fatuma2954 cool, hope it works out !
he’s positive and all “if you don’t have a safety net, you have to succeed” good for him, really. But the reality is that SO many people without a safety net do not succeed.
Love the story and the can-do attitude! I was thinking about purchasing my first rental property out of state too as getting into RE in CA is very difficult, but concerned about not having close oversight (even with property managers). I am glad it worked well for him!
I honestly don't see the need for a property manager for only one property though.
I feel the same way.
@@blucow6677 when you are 2,000 miles away it's a necessity
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wow good for him..i cant believe people are paying him 4-6k per wedding...you can get a DJ for $1-5k, but i guess some people prefer a solo musician. im just shocked he can charge that much and people are paying that lol..obviously much cheaper than a band though
that $4900 a month on his primary residence though WTF. thats insane..he can afford it so hats off to him, but that seems insanely high to carry a monthly payment like that for decades. i would want a cheaper property or he could just rent someone for half that price in cali and save/invest the difference
Not every service provider is equal. I suspect that he's not only a very skilled musician, but also someone with strong people skills and a great personality, which are very important qualities for weddings. It's also about relationships and who you know when it comes to these entrepreneurial things
My friend does something similar. People will pay for a luxury.
40 to 50 a year is a small number compared to minion weddings per a year.
His clients are basically the 1% of the 1% getting married.
@noazucar I didnt say he's losing money (although yes he probably is..he could rent somewhere cheaper or buy a cheaper place with a lower monthly payment, and invest the difference in the stock market which would get higher returns over long term). im sure he has a very nice place in cali for $5k a month and he can afford it. it just seems overkill for one person if he doesnt even have a family in the house with him but to each their own...
@@freehypes he is very young! He has plenty of time to start a family
*This was a beautiful story.*
Cute! Heartwarming story
$4-6K per wedding to play guitar for a few hours? Good for him but this industry is such a ripoff over here.
loved this!!
This guy is killing it
Sounds like you've heard his performance? Is he any good?
Loved this story.. inspirational✨… and he lives in Orange County like me! 😀
You should never stop playing weddings. Love your instagram videos.
No other investment vehicles instead of real estate? S&P 500 would give you the same returns with less work 🤷🏾♀️
He said his day to day doesn't involve real estate and that he has a property manager who does everything.
@@njrose1990 he has to find for the homes - that requires constant research.
Meanwhile Roth, 401k, etc are done with auto pay
Lol I'm in both games and one gave me the ff not to work and to employ other ppl I'll let you guess which one it is.
I think he is more into the liquidity of having monthly money from the rent he gets.
i have a friend, an amateur comedian/actor, who also had the same motto about not having a backup plan. needless to say, it didn't work out for her. she's since gone back to school to study nursing.
Marine Corp 🙌🏻 this guy is legit
Wow, he’s so inspiring!
Great story I hope his properties work out for him
Where can i get access to that Rental property excel spreadsheet? Looking into investing and need a dynamic model for the underwriting
Props to this guy for winning in life! Congrats man!
Thats awesome good for him!!!! Very smart and hard work!
Great video! glad to see he’s not a finance guru on youtube
AHAHA I would never! Those guys are the worst lol
Awesome job Moses, God bless you ! :)
When it comes to investing, what’s your say to anyone with *50k $* looking for the best ways to invest and make good earnings off it?
I’ve always been fascinated with investing and I need to start now. Could you possibly give more information about the lnvestment Professional and how I can reach out?
Great stuff! Got it.
I’m delighted to engage in this opportunity, I just found the professional’s web page and have already written her.
Most successful people seek the knowledge and experience of Professionals who help them tackle issues relating to wealth management and growth but might claim to achieve success themselves without any help.
There’s no limitation to what we can achieve if you put your mind to it. You can do it.
That’s insane money. This guy is the 1%. He’ll be over $500k in a few years
That's honestly the goal and I'll make sure to not get discouraged by an eventual recession and keep grinding.
I hope you will do the same !!
If you're making 245k a year with a budget of 6.8k per month there's no way he's saving 10k per month to invest into real estate properties. His net pay after federal and CA taxes plus deductions for social security and medicare would be around 61% of his gross. That's 149k net per year or 12.5k per month. His budget of 6.8k per month only leaves 5.7k in savings per month whether toward retirement or real estate. Only way he's saving 10k per month is if he's getting paid under the table and not paying all of his taxes.
He’s not W2…he’s writing off a bunch being a business owner and property tax write offs on ALL his properties. He might be even claiming depreciation on them too. Sheesh you don’t even know bud you don’t even know
@@andrewangel4662 I don’t disagree small business owners get tax write offs but he would have to be writing off a ton. It says his travel is reimbursed or paid for by the clients and that would be his primary expense as a wedding performer. In either case you can’t write that off. They’ve either already reimbursed you for the expense or they paid for it themselves. I’m not sure what else he would be writing off. I guess he could really be pushing it and claiming he needs a home office and writing off his personal car. Also, the video says his real estate side hustle is not profitable so I’m assuming any tax write offs and rents from that aren’t offsetting his costs so that business is generating no savings.
It says he “tries” to save 10k. It sounds like that’s just his goal, since he has variable income there are probably months where he can reach it. Plus since he works for himself, he gets all the rent and wedding money up front, he doesn’t have social security and taxes from his pay
@@_CallMeRex Actually yes he does. If you’re self employed you pay self employment tax which is social security and medicare. He also must make estimated quarterly income tax payments or else he would have to pay a big penalty during tax season. Collecting 10k gross before tax payments isn’t the same thing as saving 10k.
@@user-ow1bn6qv8q Thanks for the correction, didn't know. Anyway, it sounds like his saving 10k is a goal he's working toward, considering he is also not meeting his goal of buying 1-2 properties with a 50k-60 downpayment a year and projects he'll be able to do that 3 years from now. He's also only been making this kind of money for a few years, assuming he had a 4 year marine contract at 18 and went through 3 1/2 years of college before dropping out in his final semester to take up music full time. time will tell how long it takes for him 3 years to get to the point he's planning on.
Great for him!!!
This dude definitely has it figured out! 👌
Agreee!!! And learning along the way like he said!!
How much this dude charge!? WTF?
Whos paying 3500 dollars for a guitarist at their wedding wtf
Exactly
rich people
People who have money will spend more for the same thing because of the perception that its "better".
Living the dream! God bless.
I am curious to know if there is a way you can invest in shares of a real estate property without having to buy the entire property kind of like how you invest in a share for stocks.
Wow what a great positive guy
Very inspiring story!
What an amazing story!
I want to make money too. Help me, how to do it 😭
What’s the name of the budget app he mentions in video?
“175,000.. not including tips”
IRS enters the chat.
Good for him pursuing his dream despite all odds! Especially since Asian Americans are traditionally not encouraged to pursue unconventional career routes because of the lack of security.
We’re not good looking enough to succeed in entertainment right
@@jessedenver Most of us also lack people skills due to how were raised. We pretty much have to fight our parents and learn things on our own.
@@jessedenver Huh?
'I had addicted to weddings', hahaha, what a great statement
Super happy for this guy. I pursued playing original music my whole life and never made much money. I never thought of doing weddings and playing an acoustic guitar and making $4-6000 each one.
I respect his lifestyle but him acting like real estate is super easy while not making any profit is a little ironic… also a mistake to have no diversification at all, put some money in lower risk activities!
He’s making the money in the long run not the short run. And will make way more than investing in stocks.
@@LL-ex1gp nothing is guaranteed: natural disasters, slow evictions, changes in property taxes, major changes in the local job market can all affect the ability to rent a unit profitably. The risks with stocks are at least more predictable and the fix is just time.
@@LL-ex1gp I agree, but not making money on the homes now means that what he is charging for rent is just covering enough to pay for repairs, the property manager, and the mortgage. He is either in the wrong area or not charging enough for rent to make money. Probably should’ve started without a property manager, eating all his profits with no way to check that what he’s being invoiced for is legit
What a motivational story!!!
42 thousand from rental property? is that before/aft. tax, maintenance etc. Is this pre/post tax 245? playing a guitar is a private gig so 175 pre tax? pretty vague...
WoW wish I would have known this!
I'm a former gigging musician that's done a ton of weddings! Yes, it's fun, but it is work! You're playing people's most important day of the year. That's a lot of pressure! Never short your wedding musician. The saying "you get what you pay for" is a cliche for a reason. Pay your musicians!
Six figure income, musician, doesn't work that much, former Marine. He's a catch
I payed all my bells please stop haunting me
Always at parties.
I wasn't paying too much attention but they didn't mention if he is single or not.
@@eduardogarcia9793 😂😂😂
Graham, Graham, Graham 🌟
Your story is super coool playing guitar for the military!!
Wow, I am a pastors kid too! Nice to know pk's out there.
how does one get a property manager?
Rocking out in uniform, very cool!
I really wish we could've gone into more detail about how he's able to charge thousands of dollars per wedding. No shade, but what is he doing that's so special? Could we atleast hear him play!?! Does he have a large following on social media and he leverages that for pricing!?!
Everything about weddings is overpriced. I'm sure he's a great guitarist and charismatic personality, but even if he were average, he'd still probably do reasonably well (maybe earn a third of what he's currently earning).
This guy is smart. I really wish they would have gone over how the pandemic affected his business. That must have a dark spot for him. Maybe not. Maybe he pivoted. Would have been interesting to learn about either way.
he has 4 properties, i'm sure he is okay even if his business failed. He can never be homeless.
$5,000 in housing and $0 in retirement, this is the kind of episode we need!
Lol did you completely forget about his real estate portfolio?
@@christiansoto3469 no sane financial expert would suggest that a real estate portfolio can act as a retirement plan.
@@Vim_Tim truth
@@Vim_Tim That’s the traditional route. Which he clearly doesn’t want to follow.
Real Estate can absolutely be a retirement vehicle and it also cash flows. You can sale and take the proceeds later on in life or live off of the cash flow and have minimum taxes. The more you know!