I invested during the 2007 recession and grew my portfolio to over $1 million in 10 years. Here's how I got by.

Brianne Garrett

Tue, Apr 15, 2025, 10:07 AM 4 min read

• Bola Sokunbi saved $100,000 in three years on a $54,000 salary, after graduating college in 2004.

• She continued to save and invest, even during the 2007 recession, and started Clever Girl Finance.

• Sokunbi said during tough economic times three tactics helped her continue building her investments.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bola Sokunbi, a certified financial education instructor, author of the soon-to-be-released "Clever Girl Millionaire," and founder of Clever Girl Finance based in New Jersey. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I graduated from college in 2004 and saved $100,000 in three years on a $54,000 salary. Then, in 2007, the recession happened.

A lot of people stopped investing, but I had been reading "Smart Women Finish Rich," one of my favorite personal finance books at the time. I remember the guidance: The stock market is on sale. Buy what you can and just ride it out. I thought, "I'm young. I don't need this money anytime soon." So despite the panic, I'm going to save and invest.

I was fortunate enough to avoid getting laid off from my consulting job, and I was side-hustling my life away with my photography business.

Off the heels of saving that first $100,000 and starting my company, Clever Girl Finance, I've been building an over $1 million portfolio for the past eight years. Making this happen — even in tough economic times — isn't as difficult as you'd think. Three tactics have helped me invest and build.

You always need to have a cash buffer, meaning you have money set aside to cover your expenses — kids, food, housing, mortgage, unexpected home repairs, that kind of stuff — without having to cash out investments.

When I transitioned out of my full-time job to build Clever Girl Finance in 2017, I set an intention to save 18 months of my salary beforehand. Even if my business didn't make any money or I needed to go back to work, I still wanted to have enough of a buffer.

I always tell people to open a separate bank account that they don't have easy access to. If they're employed, they should build an automated transfer from their payroll into this account

It's also really important, even if you're working full time, to have other sources of income. People will say to me, "Well, I'm not business-inclined." Well, you can get creative.

I have twins, and one way that I brought in extra money towards their savings was to sell stuff as they grew through every stage of their lives. They outgrew their strollers, so I sold their strollers. They outgrew their cribs, so I sold those too.