How Graham Stephan makes $6 million a year from YouTube

This story is part of CNBC Make It Millennial money series, detailing how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.

Entering Graham Stephan’s Las Vegas home, the first thing you see is a giant 310-gallon aquarium at the entrance. Equipped with changing lights and filled with coral reefs and brightly colored fishes, it’s impossible to miss the YouTube star’s prized ownership.

He describes the $45,000 he’s spent on the aquarium, filtration system and marine life as “purely an expense,” but has no qualms about pouring money into it.

“The level of enjoyment I get from the aquarium is unmatched by any other experience I can afford,” the 31-year-old said. “For me, this is the tank I set up as a kid when I was 12 if I had anything I wanted.”

The aquarium is symbolic of the seismic changes that have occurred in his life since he was first profiled for CNBC’s Make It Millennial Money series in November 2019. Stephan was still working at the time. part-time in real estate and shoots videos for his popular YouTube channel in his 700-square-foot duplex apartment in Los Angeles.

His brand now includes five YouTube channels and a podcast, and his workload has become so stressful that he has hired not one but two employees – one of whom lives with him. all the time. His duplex was replaced with a $1.4 million, 3,900 square foot home 20 minutes from the Las Vegas strip that he shares with his girlfriend, Macy.

After breaking the $1 million annual income threshold in 2019 and earning $5.1 million in 2020, Stephan is on track to earn $6 million in 2021 after expenses, with 3 million dollars comes from YouTube ad revenue and the rest comes from sponsorships and affiliates, as well as selling courses on the Teachable online platform.

He achieved this growth by giving up his real estate career to focus full-time on YouTube, spurred in part by early coronavirus lockdowns that kept him at home making videos. “That’s the point that made me think: ‘I want to explore it all on YouTube,'” he tells CNBC Make It.

Stephan’s life is now all about creating content, and he’s finally allowing himself to enjoy his success.

When the Covid-19 lockdown began in mid-2020 and forced Stephan to stay in his relatively small Los Angeles home full-time, “it really made me reevaluate where I wanted to be and where I wanted to be.” want to work,” he said.

He decided to move to Las Vegas after visiting a close friend who had just bought a house in the development where Stephan currently lives. His friend said that the house was being built next door for sale, and Stephan decided to seize the opportunity. He closed this property in the summer of 2020 and moved in last December.

The new home is a big boon to Stephan’s professional life. While he used to work on videos in his garage, Stephan now has a dedicated office that includes an exact replica of his original shoot still located in Los Angeles. To keep complete continuity between his videos during the move, he even has a aviator-shaped table and a T-Rex skull.

The home also has a full office, bedrooms for his direct assistant and offices for his other employees, as well as a professional podcast studio complete with soundproof ceilings.

Stephan still pays the mortgages and collects rent on his four Los Angeles properties, and decides to sublet his old apartment instead of selling it.

Stephan decided to leave her job as a real estate agent at the Oppenheim Group for several reasons. First, moving out of California forced him to give up his real estate license. And more importantly, he realized that the time and effort he spent selling his home was more spent on his YouTube channel.

Stephan estimates that when his first episode of Millennial Money was released, he spent about 20% of his time on real estate and the other 80% on YouTube, often staying up until 2am making videos.

By the time of his transition to becoming a full-time YouTuber in mid-2020, Stephan’s channel had about 1.5 million subscribers and he was on track to earn $1 million from YouTube for the first time.

Now, his main channel has about 3.5 million subscribers. As of early July, Stephan has earned $1.42 million in ad revenue from his various channels for 2021.

The growth is not only due to the increased number of hours Stephan spends on YouTube, but also a change in the type of content he creates. Although Stephan became famous for creating videos about his investments and real estate income, he has turned to analyzing the news and explaining complex financial topics.

Stephan says reading thousands of comments on his videos has helped him identify a strong desire among viewers for someone who can explain what’s going on in the market.

This change also allows Stephan to create content based on the news of the day, thereby helping to attract subscribers who may not be familiar with his brand. In recent months, he has covered topics ranging from the housing market to crypto to the stock meme.

“It gives me a lot more flexibility to be able to comment on financial news or whatever is going on and make my decisions, as well as some action steps that I need to take. viewers can make from it,” says Stephan of his new strategy.

For Stephan, a typical day begins around 6:30 a.m. – right when the markets open on the east coast. On most days, he stays in his office until 6 or 7 pm

“Ten hours a day in front of the computer doing market research, trying to brainstorm ideas, reading what people want to hear about it,” says Stephan.

Until recently, Stephan was proud of her channel being a single-viewer show. But as he increased his YouTube-related workload during the pandemic, he realized he needed to make a change.

“The moment that really hit me was when I started to see my work decline, even though I was working 12 to 15 hours a day,” he said. “It’s a meaningful starting point when it comes to bringing others in.”

His team currently includes a live editor, as well as another editor who holds Stephan’s home office. Together, the three run all of Stephan’s channels, as well as support his weekly podcast. Overall, Stephan puts out nine new pieces of content each week.

Stephan said of his decision to keep his team tight: “The dynamic in person is a lot different than if you do it over a Zoom call or you do it over the phone.” “We can create more.”

Below are Stephan’s personal monthly expenses as of July 2021.

• House in Las Vegas: $6,448 for mortgage, property taxes, and HOA fees.
• Dish: $820 including restaurant spending and team dinners. Stephan’s girlfriend handles the couple’s monthly bills.
• Car: $632 for his Tesla payment.
• Utilities: $570 for gas, electricity and internet bills.
• Optional: $446 for entertainment fees, pool technology, house cleaning, and credit cards.
• Insurance: $437 for health and car insurance.
• Phone: $50
• Register: $20 for Spotify and Amazon Prime.

Stephan is well aware of his reputation as a thrifty millionaire despite his $15.5 million net worth, but he says over the past few years he’s learned that sometimes spending money can be worth it. than making every penny. While he won’t be stopping by Starbucks anytime soon, there are some places where he’s more willing to open his wallet.

“The biggest thing I can say that I started spending money was being able to buy back my time,” he said. “This is a change that probably happened to me about a year ago when I was overworked and overburdened.”

He now spends $130 to get a technician to service his swimming pool once a month and splits $250 a month with his girlfriend to hire someone to clean the house. He says the cost is well worth the extra time to relax or get back to work.

Stephan still tracks all the money coming in and out of his account, but doesn’t keep a tight budget anymore because his default instinct is to always save or invest new income rather than spend it. He estimates that he saves an average of $400,000 per month, with 60% of that going into his investments and the rest going into a high-interest savings account.

He budgets around $800 a month for food, which includes taking the group out for sushi when they have a particularly effective video. Stephan’s girlfriend pays the couple’s monthly bill of about $300 monthly. He was able to cancel his $220 Equinox gym membership when he moved to Las Vegas because his living community is full of gyms.

When it comes to furnishing his home, Stephan hasn’t cut out any corners. He says he’s spent about $100,000 on furniture and artwork, including a giant neon sign with his “Smash The Like Button” tagline, as well as a valuable piano $80,000 that he bought used for $16,000.

Stephan is busier and more successful than ever, but he’s acutely aware that his career has taken him into uncharted waters.

“We never really knew the history of financial creators on YouTube. Even five or six years ago, no one made a video about finance … to the extent that it is now,” he said. I said .

He no longer has any important income goals he wants to achieve, instead he hopes to one day travel the country in an RV. Until then, though, he remains committed to focusing on YouTube and growing his brand.

“I don’t know how long it will last. I don’t know how far this can turn,” he said. “I’m really optimistic that it will continue for a while, but I don’t know how it will continue to adapt and evolve.”

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