- Grant Sabatier built wealth by saving and investing the majority of his money in index funds.
- He’ll always recommend index funds, but he also thinks people should be investing in themselves.
- Specifically, he advises developing AI skills.
Grant Sabatier understands better than most the power of index-fund investing: The strategy helped him build a seven-figure net worth and hit financial independence by age 30.
Today, at 40, he still primarily invests in index funds.
“Ninety-plus percent of my assets are still just in a Vanguard total stock market index fund. I’ve been keeping it simple since I started investing in 2010 and we’ve all seen what the market has done over that time,” he told Business Insider. “So, just being a passive investor in that sense has continued to pay dividends. I really haven’t changed a whole lot, and I still stand by the strategy.”
The self-made millionaire, author, and new bookstore owner will always recommend buying index funds. But there’s one, perhaps overlooked investment that he recommends additionally: “Invest in your skills because skills are future currency.”
Skills allow you to adapt to a world that’s “changing faster than ever,” he said. “Having those skills and keeping those skills up to date is something that you often don’t have to spend much money on — it just takes some time — but it is really, really valuable. I would double down on that.”
Specifically, he’d invest time into learning about artificial intelligence — how it works and how you can leverage it.
“AI is poised to transform most industries in ways we are only beginning to predict. Savvy entrepreneurs are already looking for ways to adopt and adapt so they’re not left behind,” he writes in his new book, “Inner Entrepreneur,” which he describes as a blueprint he’s designed after 15 years of launching, acquiring, and selling business.
Sabatier, who built wealth by buying, scaling, and selling websites, has always leveraged technology to save him time and money.
“We use technology to manage our payroll, health insurance, 401(k), human resource support, podcast editing, email funnels, and more,” he writes. “AI is making this even more accessible and affordable.”
Learning AI is beneficial to any working individual, not just entrepreneurs and business owners.
“More recruiters and companies are going to be adding those questions about AI fluency and experience to their interviews and screenings,” he told BI. “The more you know about it and the more well-versed you are, the more attractive of a full-time job candidate you are, so it’s just as useful in your full-time job hunting as it is pursuing entrepreneurship.”
He acknowledges that AI is a massive space and “it’s impossible to keep track of everything, so try to pick a lane and spend a couple of hours a week experimenting with one or two tools just so you can have a conversation and stay relevant.”
Choosing to invest in yourself by honing a skill doesn’t mean abandoning your investment portfolio.
“You should simultaneously be building your skills while you’re growing your investment portfolio,” he said, which is easier to do if you simplify your investment strategy. “It’s pretty easy to passively invest in an index fund. Use all that additional time you’re saving from tracking individual stocks to learn some new skills or beef up the skills that you have. The world’s just changing so rapidly. I’d rather future proof my skills than add complexity to my investments.”
