Sal Khan is a 31-year-old millionaire who majors in tech sales as his day job and major source of income. However, he has another lucrative source of income: his real estate side hustle.
Khan branched into real estate investment in 2022 and already has four investment properties that now net him a combined annual income of $8,000.
Defying the Social Stigma
Running the numbers of Khan’s cash flow indicates that he’s by no means a miser. He has a beautiful girlfriend and indulges in frequent dinner dates and vacations.
However, despite his financial freedom, Khan has decided to continue living with his parents. The decision is strategic, saving him rent expenses and permitting him more liquidity.
There Are Cultural Undertones to Filial Relations
Khan’s decision to live with his parents cannot be isolated from his background and upbringing. He was born to Pakistani parents and is the youngest of five siblings. The family’s migration to the United States began when Khan was just 9 years old.
His eldest brother was the first to arrive as an international student in the States.
In Search of the American Dream
Next, Khan’s eldest sister also relocated from Pakistan to the US to practice medicine. This left Khan, his two siblings, and their parents back in Pakistan.
Before long, the father and mother had to join their now-married eldest daughter in Houston. She now had kids, and her parents went to help with raising them.
A Family Torn Apart
At this point in their string of immigrations, Khan was 17 years old and ended up staying with his paternal grandfather, while his other two siblings soon joined the rest of the family in the US.
Khan stayed in Pakistan until 2013, when his parents could sponsor his visa to the US. He was already 20 years old by then.
Pain for a Better Future
Upon arriving in the States, Khan majored in Finance and Economics at the Ohio State University. Right after graduation, he took up a job in the Bay Area.
However, the crisis that came with the pandemic made him relocate to Houston, where he has since stayed with his parents. Initially, crashing with his parents was a temporary arrangement.
How To Live With Your Parents in Adulthood
However, in the long run, Khan found zero-rent a plausible strategy in his wealth-building playbook. Indeed, it has become a bonding experience with his parents, and Khan said he would not trade for anything in the world.
He then explained how the decision has revolutionized his journey to financial freedom.
The Stars Are Aligning
Khan’s lease for his living space was supposed to expire in August 2020. However, the COVID lockdown kicked in before then. Fortunately for him, many business managers, his inclusive, suddenly embraced remote work. So, Khan did not have to be physically present in the Bay Area.
He parked his belongings and moved to Houston, using his parent’s home as a buffer before finding his own place.
Waiting Out the Social Storm
Khan quickly informed his parents about his plan to find a place of his own in Houston after the pandemic abated. But trust mothers to exhibit their lifelong compassion.
His mother encouraged him to stay back, saying, “You can stay as long as you want.” It was an offer too good to pass.
The Backstory
Khan was his parents’ youngest child and spent 10 years away from them during their uneven relocation efforts. So, he conceded that this would be a good time to build a deep relationship with them.
Besides, in the Pakistani culture, the youngest child is expected to nurture their parents in old age.
The Hurdles of Having Your Parents As Roomies
It would also be a family reunion of some sort because his two sisters now reside in the Houston area. It isn’t an all-rosy journey as an adult living with their parents; however, the trio has managed to amicably navigate the bottlenecks.
Finances would have been the chief cause of rancor, but Khan has made it a habit of footing notable and recurring bills in the house.
The Responsible Offspring
For example, Khan pays for gas, medical bills, and the family’s Costco membership. He also, on one occasion, pays his dad’s property tax. He also gives his mom a monthly $200 allowance for her miscellaneous and personal expenses.
Khan also helps with driving his parents around. Though his dad drives, he sometimes needs someone to take him to his medical appointments.
It Was Not All Rosy
Texas may be trailing far behind regarding social and nightlife in California. However, he has taught himself to adjust to the absence of things he misses about the Bay Area.
Khan has since acknowledged that it is a price he needs to pay for his financial unraveling. So far, it is paying off as he has built his financial foundation in Houston.
Navigating Relationships in Your Parents’ House
Dating has been a bit tricky for Khan since he moved to Houston. Many of the ladies he initially met found it difficult to wrap their heads around the motives of a 31-year-old man still living with their parents.
To start a healthy relationship, Khan needed a lady who could see things from Khan’si perspective. He found just that in Nina Nguyen.
Finding a Common Ground
Nguyen is Khan’s 29-year-old girlfriend, who also happens to be staying with her parents. Khan said of Nguyen, “She understands it’s a cultural thing, and we can still be together with someone without actually needing to [share] an apartment or home.”
For these love birds, privacy could mean going for dinner together or spending quality time on a trip.
How Perspectives Can Influence Empathy
Khan said he enjoys his relationship with Nguyen because she does not reverberate the social stigma against adults living with their parents. He said she has at no time suggested that he needs to move out of his parents’.
However, Khan has considered the future of his relationship with Nguyen and already has a moveout plan.
Here’s the Game Plan
In his exposé of plans, Khan mentioned that he is waiting to hit a milestone of $2 million in assets before eventually getting his own residence. He is projecting to achieve this in the next five years.
However, Khan will not call it quits with his parents; he will move them to his new home.
Living With Your Parents and Your Wife’s Parents
Khan’s parents have told him they would still love to stay around him even when he gets a new house. He is equally anticipating that Nguyen would want her parents to continue living with her.
So, Khan intends to outfit a home big enough to accommodate himself, Nguyen, and their parents.
Saving Big to Spend Big
Khan is not a miser and gets as much value as possible from his accumulated wealth. Despite saving about 75% of his salary throughout 2023, a breakdown of his December expenses indicates that he spends big when needed.
In December, Khan spent a total of $5,964. Housing, food, and discretionary expenses were the top expenses.
The Many Ironies of Wealth Compounding
It may come as a surprise that Khan pays a mortgage when he does not own a residence. Well, he has a property in Houston, which he lets out to his older sister’s family at $2,700 per month.
That property is his most lucrative source of passive income, bringing in an average of $584 monthly.
Building Wealth Through Priorities
In addition to his other recurrent expenses, Khan graduated in 2016 with a $22,000 student loan. So far, he has paid off $3,000 and is in no haste to offset the balance.
It turns out Kahn’s federal student loan has a 4% interest rate, and he has limited himself to paying the statutory $234 minimum payment.
Student Loan Can Wait!
Instead of paying off his $19,000 debt at once, Khan has more profitable prospects in mind. After his massive savings from 2023, Khan is the proud holder of $258,000 in real estate assets.
He also has $37,000 in retirement savings. Khan’s notable accumulation is despite his not saving a dime last December.
The Initial Trigger
Khan went into real estate thanks to his brother-in-law and older brother. They urged him to use the majority of his savings to buy rental properties. Khan took their advice and bought a 5-bedroom house in a Texas town with a 20% down payment of $95,000.
Finding a reliable tenant was difficult. Khan eventually let out the house to his other sister, who was relocating with her family from Chicago at the time.
How It’s Going
Since his debut in real estate, Khan has gone over and beyond to put his cash to work. He now has three other properties in his portfolio: a family house in California, a vacation rental in Arizona, and a storage and parking facility in Florida.
At the moment, Khan makes $600 monthly from his rented properties, but he’s looking to increase that when he lets out his vacant California property.
Rinse and Consistently Repeat
Khan is not spending the income from his properties but is trying to accelerate his wealth-building process by reinvesting the proceeds. What he does is to hunt for viable properties to buy and use his real estate income as a down payment.
Khan is focusing on his resolve to become a millionaire while staying with his parents and simultaneously dispelling the accompanying social stigma.