I was 27, working full time and scraping by on $750 a week. Now at 35 I’m a millionaire, have three luxury cars and paid cash for my mansion: Here’s how I did it

Sydel Sierra, 35, from Perth, became a millionaire at the age of 30, despite ‘throwing away a minimum wage job’ at the age of 27

A young expectant mother has revealed how she turned $900 into millions after becoming frustrated with her minimum wage job and cheap lifestyle.

Sydel Sierra, 35, from Perth, chooses between her Aston Martin, a Porsche and a limited edition Maserati every time she has to leave the house.

She paid $4.5 million cash for her ‘family home’ on the Gold Coast and is happy to spend $30,000 on a fun weekend away.

Moreover, she is completely debt-free.

But Sydel didn’t come from money — and just seven years ago she was “scrambling” on minimum wage while running her parents’ martial arts academy.

She earned $750 a week by trading time for money and budgeted for even the most basic “luxuries.”

“I now pay $3,000 a night for a hotel room when I travel – my old self wouldn’t believe it – I’d have to stretch myself out for a three-week trip,” she told FEMAIL.

The self-made multimillionaire has maintained her down-to-earth personality despite making more money than she ever thought possible.

In 2016, everything changed when she decided to take a huge risk and invest her entire savings in cryptocurrency.

“I kept hearing about it, so I read about it and decided to try it,” she said.

The young woman’s life now revolves around luxury – pictured here with a $3 million Aston Martin

Sydel has traveled the world in luxury ‘a few times’ since she ‘made more money’ than she ever thought possible

“I saved $2,000 and I was so scared to invest it,” she admitted.

But one of her investments took off. She put $900 into it and within three months it had become $110,000.

“It was unbelievable that I had never seen six figures before,” she said.

‘I was terrified of handling my own money. “I didn’t want to make one wrong click and have it all disappear,” she said.

Despite her fears, the young woman went from strength to strength and admits that at times the gains were overwhelming.

“I would take out $100,000 to pay for part of my vacation.” Refresh the page and the investment was up $200,000,” she said.

Before getting into cryptocurrency, the young woman worked in the family business and earned $750 per week

She now spends more ‘on one night in a hotel’ than she would have earned in a month

The young woman then went on to ‘scrape the cream off the top’ of her investments to fund a new ‘high-roller’ lifestyle – and says being able to ‘push the cash out button’ is important.

‘It’s important not to get too emotionally attached to the numbers on the screen; you have to convert them into real money by paying them out,” she said.

‘Because then the crypto winter will come and the funds will withdraw by 90 percent.’

These ‘winters’ can feel long and are ‘less fun’, but Sydel has managed to get through them without sacrificing the finer things – or getting a ‘job’.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Sydel revealed she’s happy to spend €30,000 on a weekend away – and is able to spend like never before

‘There is less shopping and spending. But once you do it long enough, you’ll be ready for winter and get enough out of it to fund your lifestyle before it goes away,” she said.

‘Timing is important: people buy at the top and then become cynical. You have to be patient because when the next gold season comes, it’s better to have some skin in the game than none,” she said.

The young woman has a crypto portfolio of $4.5 million, but has also used her success in this field to purchase investment properties, including houses, and agricultural land to diversify her portfolio.

Sydel was so excited when she started making money that she taught her parents how to do it too.

Sydel helped her parents ‘get into’ crypto investing and was proud of them when they walked into the bank and ‘paid all their debts with one check’

“They walked into the bank and paid off all their debts with a single check,” she said.

She said her parents were like many middle-class entrepreneurs with a few different debts and mortgages.

She said she could have done it for them, but teaching them how to do it felt incredible.

“They are now retired and travel a lot,” she said.

The expectant mother usually travels or ‘lives a holiday lifestyle’ on the Gold Coast. She says that ‘work’ is more of a hobby.

“I have written books, teach a crypto training program and enjoy public speaking,” she said. ‘I just do the things I like when I feel like it.’

Sydel now chooses between a Porsche, Aston Martin and Maserati every day when she leaves home – although she is expecting a baby, the Maserati will soon be her main vehicle as it is the only one suitable for a baby seat

But she no longer has to ‘trade hours for money’.

In fact, she often puts only a few hours of active effort into her portfolio each month.

Sydel could have retired after her first year in crypto investing, but decided to do a “slow fade-out” from the academy because it was a family business.

She has helped other people learn to trade and claims that late 2024 and early 2025 will be lucrative for those in the industry.

“This happens about every three or four years – I got in before it happened in 2016 and benefited from it again in 2021,” she said.

She said she helped a woman invest in 2021 who achieved great success.

“She put $4,000 into it and is now worth over $9 million,” she said.

Gearing up for the next gold season, Sydel suggests newcomers invest some money in a “safe” option like Ethereum – which won’t deliver the huge financial benefits but will grow over time.

She says she should then choose a riskier “coin” because it can sometimes yield incredible dividends, such as her $900-$110,000 turnaround.