Tess Waresmith had to learn about investing the way most people do — through trial and error.

The 36-year-old founder of Wealth with Tess began investing in her mid-20s and made a mistake right off the bat. Unsure of what to do with her investments, she trusted a financial advisor who charged her high fees and saddled her with an underperforming, overly complex portfolio.

It took some self-education to realize she could do better on her own, and once she took control of her investments, things flourished. Waresmith’s portfolio currently tops $1 million, with the majority of assets spread among real estate, stocks and crypto.

For anyone looking to replicate her investing success, Waresmith suggests starting simple before slowly branching out into new arenas.

“My No. 1 investing philosophy is learn as much as you can about anything you’re interested in and diversify,” she says.

Here’s what she means.

Waresmith began by investing in index mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, which still make up the bulk of her stock portfolio.

Index funds are a favorite of investing pros for two reasons.

First, they’re cheap. Because these funds merely aim to track the performance of a given market index, they don’t need to employ a high-priced manager to run the portfolio. That means investors pay very little — in some cases 0.03% of assets or lower — in annual fees.

Plus, for new investors, they’re an easy way to gain access to a large swath of the stock market. Buying a so-called “total market” fund, for instance, gives you exposure to 95% of the U.S. stock market.  

The case for broad diversification is simple. By owning a large variety of assets, you mitigate the risk that a downturn in any single one of them could derail your overall portfolio.

“Index funds are a great way to get started and to understand the basics of the stock market and to get your money invested in a really diversified, low-fee way,” says Waresmith. “Once you’ve done that, I think it’s a great jumping off point to continue to learn.”

Much of Waresmith’s outside investing is in real estate, but you don’t need to begin buying property to broaden your horizons and diversify your portfolio beyond the basics of index funds.

“If you have a good portfolio and you want to take a little bit of money and learn, there’s so much power in knowledge,” Waresmith says. “I’ve never discouraged someone from exploring other opportunities outside index fund investing. You just got to know the risks.”

The major risk is that some investments — particularly speculative ones, such as cryptocurrency — have the chance of producing harshly negative returns. That means you’d be wise to allocate no more than you’re willing to lose on more experimental portfolio holdings.

“Most of my investments are in index funds, but I do have a small portion in crypto, and I do buy some single stocks or market-specific ETFs,” Waresmith says. “I’m interested in women’s health ETFs or cannabis ETFs, and so I’ll invest a smaller portion in those.”

The more you educate yourself about the workings of different corners of the market you’re interested in, she says, the better. Just make sure you have a solid foundation first.

Expanding into riskier investments “is not something I would necessarily suggest to someone just starting out,” she says.

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Plenty of people would be happy to earn a six-figure salary. 

Though $100,000 may not go as far as it used to, it’s still a relatively high income for Americans. The median personal income for 2023 was just $50,310, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. 

Still, personal preferences and local costs of living for necessities like rent, food and transportation make everyone’s monthly budget unique — even if they’re in a similar income bracket.

Here’s how three different individuals, who were all 24 years old when CNBC Make It profiled them, earn and spend their six-figure incomes around the world. 

Steven Guo is an e-commerce entrepreneur living in Bali, Indonesia, who founded several businesses on track to bring in nearly $2 million this year. He’ll take home $254,000 himself in 2024.

Still, he chose to move to Bali, Indonesia, to enjoy a high quality of life at a “fraction of the cost” of what it would be in California, where he moved from. 

“I’m definitely much happier in Bali because of how great the lifestyle is,” Guo told CNBC Make It earlier this year. Since his living costs are relatively low, he’s able to put a large chunk of his income toward his investment accounts. He aims to save $60,000 a year. 

“I typically don’t like to spend too much money on myself,” Guo said. “Most of my expenses go towards food, but if I do spend money, it’s typically towards gifts for family or my girlfriend.”

Here’s how he spent his money in September 2024.

• Savings and investments: $5,583 toward a Robinhood brokerage account and a Roth IRA
• Discretionary: $1,942 for shopping, gifts, travel and health expenses
• Housing and utilities: $1,691 for his share of a monthly Airbnb rental, Wi-Fi and utilities
• Food: $539 on takeout and restaurants
• Subscriptions and memberships: $430 toward his annual Amex fees, Amazon Prime, YouTube Premium, a personal assistant and a storage unit
• Insurance: $223 on health and travel insurance coverage
• Transportation: $97 on a scooter rental and taxis
• Phone: $30

The struggle millennials and Gen Zers have had to buy homes has been well reported. But Sharon Kim, her brother and his wife found a creative solution by pooling their funds to buy a house together.

“I did not ever imagine that I would be living with my brother, with his wife, purchasing a home post-college,” Kim previously told CNBC Make It. “I didn’t really think it was possible with all the student loans I had and still figuring out my career.”

Kim secured a $94,000 salary as a UX designer at a tech company in 2023. She also creates lifestyle content for her YouTube channel, which brought in $51,000 that year. 

She first moved into a 1-bedroom apartment in New York City with her brother and his wife after graduating from college in 2023. But the space was cramped, so they started looking into homes they could afford to buy with their combined funds. 

After a lengthy search and several rejections, the group purchased a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house in the suburbs of New York City for $750,000 in early 2024. 

Her portion of the mortgage is Kim’s biggest monthly expense. And at $2,500 a month, she acknowledges she could probably rent an apartment with roommates for the same amount in the city, but owning a stake in the house “feels more worth it,” she said.

Here’s how she spent her money in July 2024.

• Housing and utilities: $2,876 for her portion of the mortgage, water, oil, electricity and Wi-Fi
• Discretionary: $636 for new bedding, bedroom fixtures and tithe to her church
• Home upgrades: $533 for paint, baseboards and a new showerhead
• Food: $404 on groceries and dining out
• Student loan repayment: $285
• Retirement savings: $216
• Subscriptions: $116 on her gym membership, Spotify, Amazon Prime and Apple Cloud storage
• Phone: $64
• Insurance: $41 for medical, dental and vision

Kevin Levu earned his licensed vocational nurse credentials after joining the army in 2017. He wanted a role that would also give him skills he could apply once he finished his military service. Upon getting out of the army, he started taking classes to become a registered nurse and get a broader scope of responsibility with patients. 

But after seeing the lucrative opportunities for travel nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic, Levu put his studies aside in 2023 to take a contract as a travel nurse at a county jail in Placerville, California. A year later, working on another contract at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, California, Levu expects to earn $112,000 by the end of 2024.

“This is the first time I’ve ever made over six figures compared to my other jobs, and it’s just different,” Levu told CNBC Make It. 

Though he considers himself a “frugal person,” his income has given him more “breathing space” in his monthly budget, which has been a relief, he said. 

When he’s not working, “I just stay home, play video games, or I hang around on the beach. I try to keep costs low.”

Here’s how Levu spent his money in June 2024.

• Savings and investments: $9,063 toward savings, a Roth IRA and a health savings account
• Housing and utilities: $1,450 for a one-bedroom rental
• Food: $836 for groceries and the occasional takeout order
• Discretionary: $534 for household goods and clothes
• Insurance: $379 for health, dental, concealed weapon, auto and life insurance
• Gas: $174
• Phone: $162
• Subscriptions and memberships: $79 for his gym, Netflix, Spotify and Patreon

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Multi-millionaire Shark Tank judge Barbara Corcoran is known for her business prowess. But her success isn’t only limited to professional endeavors.

Corcoran and her husband, Bill Higgins, have been married more than 35 years. She attributes the longevity of their partnership to their unique sleeping arrangement.

“I’ve had a separate bedroom with Bill for like 40 years,” Corcoran said on the Today Show earlier this year. “I have to invite him in — he invites me in occasionally.”

In a more recent interview with People, Corcoran said she likes to sleep alone because she needs time to recharge.

“I think there’s something to be said about your own private space,” she told People. “I lead a very busy life. I have a huge family that I’m always entertaining. I have very sincere, active friends and so what I need more than anything else is a respite, and my husband is not relaxing.”

When Higgins wants to chat at the end of an exhausting day, sometimes Corcoran can’t muster the energy to contribute to the conversation.

“I run a little short,” she said. “Better I go to my room, and I have an hour to myself.”

If Corcoran wants to spend the night with Higgins, she’ll invite him into her bedroom.

“If I go to the living room, my husband follows me,” she said. “I go to my bedroom, he doesn’t dare come in. I have to invite him into my bedroom and I like it that way.”

Setting these types of boundaries can actually strengthen a relationship, Lisa Bobby, a psychologist and clinical director of Growing Self Counseling & Coaching in Denver, Colorado told CNBC Make It.

“You are setting limits for yourself,” she says. “You are not controlling the behavior of others. You’re telling people what you will or won’t tolerate with the choices you make.”

If you have a partner you might feel responsible for their happiness. This is something you need to un-learn, Bobby said.

“Setting healthy boundaries is about detaching from the idea that you need to manage someone else’s emotions,” Bobby said. “Your job is to take care of yourself emotionally and let other people take care of themselves emotionally.”

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The Internal Revenue Service is sending up to $1,400 to around 1 million tax filers who qualified for Covid-19 stimulus checks in 2021, but didn’t claim them.

In an unusual move, the IRS is proactively issuing payments to taxpayers who missed claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit, a tax credit that allows people to receive the Economic Impact Payments — also known as stimulus checks — they missed in 2021. Originally designed as a self-claimed credit, the agency is now ensuring eligible taxpayers receive the payments they are entitled to.

“Looking at our internal data, we realized that one million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a press release. “To minimize headaches and get this money to eligible taxpayers, we’re making these payments automatic, meaning these people will not be required to go through the extensive process of filing an amended return to receive it.”

If you haven’t filed a 2021 tax return yet, you can still qualify for the credit — but you must do so by April 15, 2025, according to the IRS.

The stimulus check, part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, was the final payment issued to provide financial relief during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Known as the Recovery Rebate Credit when claimed through a tax return, it provides up to $1,400 per person, with the exact amount dependent on adjusted gross income and phased out at higher income levels:

• Single filers: You qualify for the full $1,400 if your AGI in 2021 was $75,000 or less. The credit begins to decrease for incomes over $75,000 and is fully phased out at $80,000.
• Married filing jointly: You qualify for the full $2,800 (for two people) if your combined AGI in 2021 was $150,000 or less. The credit begins to decrease for combined incomes over $150,000 and is fully phased out at $160,000.
• Dependents: Families can receive $1,400 for each dependent in 2021, regardless of age, but the amount is subject to the same income phaseout limits as the primary filer.

The IRS will automatically send payments to taxpayers who qualify, including those who filed tax returns with blank or $0 entries for the Recovery Rebate Credit data field, but were still eligible for the credit.

No action is needed for eligible taxpayers to receive these payments unless you haven’t yet filed a 2021 tax return.

Payments are being sent now and should arrive in “most cases” by late January 2025, according to the IRS. Payments will be automatically deposited using the banking information listed on the taxpayer’s 2023 tax return or sent by paper check. Eligible taxpayers should also receive a separate letter notifying them of the payment.

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These days, the American Dream for many people is leaving the United States.

With its high cost of living, political tensions and often exhausting hustle culture, there are numerous reasons Americans seek a different lifestyle in another country. They may want to see their money go further or crave a more relaxed culture. 

Regardless of their reasons, many of the Americans living abroad interviewed by CNBC Make It report increased life satisfaction and little desire to return to the States.

Here’s why four Americans who have settled abroad don’t plan on coming back for some time. 

For Cara West, her daughter’s safety was a major factor in choosing to relocate to another country. West and her family lived in Austin, Texas, in 2022 when the deadly mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

“There were so many things that started to come to light after becoming a mother in the U.S. that made me truly understand that the U.S. does not really support families and mothers and children,” she told CNBC Make It earlier this year.

The 33-year-old luxury travel concierge and content creator first brought her family to Portugal in January 2023 to give living abroad a three-month trial. The slower pace of life in Europe had an immediate impact.

″[My husband] saw how happy I was, how much of a glow I had, how much time we were spending with each other and as a family,” West said.

From Portugal, they returned to the U.S. and started planning and packing up their life in Texas. By July of 2023, when the lease on their apartment ended, West and her husband were ready to begin living as digital nomads. After nearly a year of roaming around, they settled in Syros, Greece, in June 2024.

“In the United States, it’s all about hustle culture and your worth is tied into your productivity,” West said. “But here in Greece … rest is really valued.”

She and her family have also enjoyed the ease of traveling around the rest of Greece from their home on the island of Syros. 

“It’s really easy to get around the country. You can take the ferries, you can take flights,” West says. “Overall, our life is just so much more fulfilling here in Greece.”

West is excited to grow her family and give her daughter a global education through homeschooling and continuing to travel.

“Just being able to see the world, to meet new people, to experience a new language, cultures, traditions — it’s just so special and something that we aren’t really exposed to enough in the United States,” she said.

Steven Guo first became an entrepreneur as a preteen hosting Minecraft servers. Since then, he’s continued to build successful businesses. Now in his early 20s, he’s founded several e-commerce brands on track to bring in nearly $2 million in combined revenue this year.

Despite that financial success — which earned Guo a salary of over $250,000 this year — he chose to move to Bali, Indonesia, where it costs a “fraction” of what he was previously paying to live in Southern California.

“I’m definitely much happier in Bali because of how great the lifestyle is,” Guo previously told Make It. “Bali really is a place where my work-life balance finally makes sense.”

Guo spends his mornings working and typically goes surfing or explores the outdoors in the afternoons. He splits a four-bedroom Airbnb in Canggu, a resort village on the southern coast with ideal surfing conditions.

“I get to spend tons of time with my friends. I also get to spend a lot of time doing the activities that I like,” Guo said.

Though he makes a decent living, Guo knows how success can change quickly for a business. He lives frugally to help ensure he can navigate any challenges or setbacks, which he’s able to do without skimping on quality in Bali.

“I typically don’t like to spend too much money on myself,” he said. “Most of my expenses go towards food, but if I do spend money, it’s typically towards gifts for family or my girlfriend.”

At first, Iceland seemed like a wild card for native New Yorker Jewells Chambers. But after living there for more than eight years, she now earns a living sharing the country with her thousands of podcast and YouTube subscribers.

“It felt as if there was something magnetic that has been pulling me in this direction, and I still haven’t been able to put my finger on it exactly,” Chambers said of her move to Iceland. “I know it has something to do with the nature, because that has been and continues to be such a rejuvenating piece for me.”

Chambers was inspired to move abroad when she was in high school in Brooklyn.

“While the professor was talking about U.S. economics and politics, something in my brain was just like, ‘I don’t think I’m meant to live in the U.S.,'” she said.

After college, she wound up marrying an Icelandic man in 2015. He wanted to return to his home country and Chambers got on board after she landed a job with an Icelandic tourism company. The couple moved to Iceland in 2016.

To do her job as a marketer better, Chambers started trying some of the unique outdoor adventures Iceland has to offer. Her “life changed,” she said. “Everything became about nature and understanding, respecting and then being able to market that out to our potential customers. And I loved it.”

Chambers started her own podcast, All Things Iceland, in 2018 as a way to share her experiences and answer questions her friends and family had about her expat journey. In August 2020, she left her day job to focus on All Things Iceland full time. 

She and her husband divorced in 2023, but her business has continued to grow and allowed her to live well in Iceland while taking full advantage of the country’s natural beauty and financial advantages. She doesn’t pay any health insurance premiums, for example.

“When I made that decision and stepped my foot down that day when I came to the country full time, it just felt right and it has continued to feel that way,” Chambers said. “So for the foreseeable future, Iceland is my home.”

Valerie Valcourt had it made, by some standards, earning over $100,000 a year working in tech in Seattle. But “the paycheck wasn’t worth the detriment to my mental health,” she previously told CNBC Make It.

Valcourt decided to fulfill a childhood dream of attending pastry school in France, where she now lives. She initially applied and was going to start her pastry chef training in 2021, but she didn’t feel financially prepared at the time. 

When she finally moved to France in 2022, she planned to stay for just seven months. But her internship was extended and she landed a full-time job in November 2023. She’s now planning on staying in France for the foreseeable future, she said earlier this year.

“I’m happier here than in the U.S. It’s been lovely,” Valcourt said. “I love being able to travel, the accessibility to nature, discovering new parts of the country. It’s been so much fun. And of course, all of the pastries.”

She’s making a fraction of the six-figure salary she earned working in tech, now earning about $30,000 a year in France. But Valcourt pays considerably less in rent and says fresh, quality food is affordable in the French countryside.

Additionally, Valcourt appreciates the French lifestyle, which feels more relaxing than the American hustle culture that burned her out. “The French culture is like, when it’s time to rest, it’s time to rest, and also have a glass of wine every now and then,” she said.

Still, she expects to return to the U.S. eventually.

“My family and friends are there, and I miss them more than I can say,” she said. “And it feels important to one day go back to my roots and bring what I’ve learned from France to the U.S.”

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