The levels of money run from your first earned dollar to a first billion, and each milestone changes how you earn, how you feel and what you worry about. This is the video’s 30-step ladder of money milestones, written as a story of what each level feels like from the inside. It is an experimental, motivational take rather than a financial plan, and the figures are the ones the video uses to illustrate each stage.
The ladder is grouped in five stages: broke to rich, rich, money maturity, real money and the pinnacle.
Watch the full video here, or skip to the breakdown below.
The 5 stages at a glance
- Levels 1 to 10: from broke to rich (0:00)
- Levels 10 to 17: rich (2:32)
- Levels 17 to 23: money maturity (5:37)
- Levels 23 to 26: real money (8:23)
- Levels 26 to 30: the pinnacle (9:58)
Levels 1 to 10: from broke to rich
The early levels are about proof. Each one is the first time you do something with money that you never did before.
- Level 1: your first earned $1. Someone actually paid you for something you did, and you can’t wait to tell people.
- Level 2: your first $1,000 a month. It is inconsistent and fragile, but it makes you ask whether you could do this instead of having a job.
- Level 3: your first $3,000 in savings. After spending on a few little things, you feel personal pride and relief.
- Level 4: a $3,000 month for the first time. You can rent a place alone, pay for your lifestyle and, if the money comes from your own business, feel you will never go back to a job.
- Level 5: your first $10,000 purchase in cash, usually a second-hand car. It feels scary, and tomorrow feels like it will be better than yesterday.
- Level 6: your first $10,000 investment. You realize that keeping money in the bank is kind of dumb and start buying stocks, knowing you can liquidate if needed.
- Level 7: a first $8,000 month. You do the math, see close to $100,000 a year coming and take investing in yourself seriously because you can finally afford it.
- Level 8: your first $15,000 month. Now you feel rich for real, old friends envy you and your parents worry that you are doing something illegal.
- Level 9: your first $100,000 in the account. It changes how you see yourself, and loneliness shows up too, with some weight to the money.
- Level 10: your first $10,000 gift, usually for a parent. Spending on yourself proves success, while giving meaningfully to someone you love means abundance, and you also start to feel responsible.
Levels 10 to 17: rich
At this stage money starts to build structure: businesses that run without you, homes, assets and the first income you did not sweat for.
- Level 11: your first $50,000 month. You have found something that works, you delegate and hire, and for the first time you are not aggressive in growth because you fear it is too good to be true.
- Level 12: buying the home your kids will grow up in. You feel mature and strong, and your identity starts to shift.
- Level 13: the first time your business grows without you. Your job moves from doing work to managing people, which brings an identity crisis and also some personal freedom.
- Level 14: your first $1,000,000 year. It arrives as a mental milestone, with pride, disbelief and sometimes emptiness, because you discover that what you thought was the end goal did not complete you. It is closer to the halfway point.
- Level 15: your first $1,000,000 invested in assets. You choose to save the game and become a capital allocator, usually in real estate.
- Level 16: your first $100,000 a year earned passively. After taxes, management fees and inflation, the video says true wealth earns about 5% a year, so you need closer to $2 million invested.
- Level 17: the home you will grow old in. It is about curating rather than adding more, and the money from here needs a different skill: decision making.
Levels 17 to 23: money maturity
Here the lessons turn from earning to risk, loss, selling and what to do next.
- Level 18: your first single investment of $1,000,000 or more. You buy a piece of a business you are not running and are okay with taking that risk.
- Level 19: losing over $1,000,000 for the first time. Your first big loss teaches more than your first big win, mainly that you are not as smart as you think. It hurts, but it is not deadly, and you go back to basics a bit wiser.
- Level 20: your first $5,000,000 year. The way you hire changes, the business runs on systems and you reach entrepreneurial maturity.
- Level 21: the sale of your first company. After a decade in the making, you feel relief, pride, disbelief and strangely grief, and then ask what comes next.
- Level 22: your first retirement. It feels weird not being the CEO because that was part of your identity, and with so much free time you find everyone else is on a different timeline.
- Level 23: coming out of retirement. After travel and rest, you miss the thrill of solving the puzzle, and you might do it all over again, less desperate this time.
Levels 23 to 26: real money
At this stage, wealth compounds on its own weight and the cost of success becomes visible.
- Level 24: net worth crosses $100,000,000. Assets buy more assets, and your company buys smaller companies. It feels less glamorous from the inside, with a lot of stress, and trust becomes scarce because few people understand your reality.
- Level 25: an IPO. You get public success and discover the bill: legal documents, press and pressure, with your emotional state tied to a ticker price.
- Level 26: your second retirement. You have proved what you needed to prove, reflect more than you chase and think about legacy and what it was all for.
Levels 26 to 30: the pinnacle
The top of the ladder is about scale, structure and perspective.
- Level 27: your investments outpace your past earned income. Since retirement you have made more than you ever actively earned, and you learn that wealth at scale is less about effort and more about structure, patience, positioning and time. You start giving more of it away.
- Level 28: your first billion. You are excited and scared, and you do not want people to know because you do not want to become a target.
- Level 29: your first multi-billion dollar investment. Your fund buys household brands or shapes a city’s skyline, and your reach touches millions.
- Level 30: losing over a billion for the first time. It becomes a headline, and people you will never meet make memes about it. For you, money is a number on a screen, and you make peace with it.
The video closes with a bonus: generational legacy. It asks what it was all for, what impact you had and how to make sure your lineage makes the most of the opportunity you hand them.
Where are you on the ladder?
The ladder shows that each stage solves one problem and creates another. Pride is followed by responsibility, success by loneliness and wealth by the question of what it is for.
The video’s closing question is simple: where are you on the ladder right now? Look at the next level and ask what skill it would require.
FAQ
What are the levels of money?
The video describes 30 levels, from your first earned dollar to your first billion, covering milestones like a first $1,000 month, $100,000 in the account, a first $1,000,000 year, an exit and the first billion.
What is the first level of money?
Level 1 is your first earned dollar, the first time someone gave you money for something you did in return.
How much do you need invested to earn $100,000 a year passively?
The video says true wealth earns about 5% a year after taxes, fees and inflation, so earning $100,000 a year passively takes closer to $2 million invested.
What does a first big loss teach you?
The video says your first big loss teaches more than your first big win, mainly that you are not as smart as you think. It hurts but is not deadly, and you return to the basics wiser.
Does reaching $1,000,000 a year feel like the end goal?
According to the video, no. It often brings pride, disbelief and a moment of emptiness, and you realize it is closer to the halfway point of the money ladder.
Keep reading
- While Everyone is Getting Sick The Rich Are Getting Richer
- Levels of Income (Explained)
- 10 Mental Mistakes That Keep You From Getting Rich
