27-year-old earns $650,000 a year in LA, is on her way to $1 million

This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.

When Lauren Simmons introduces herself to new people, she usually says she works in finance.

But really, the 27-year-old is an author, producer, podcast and TV host, angel investor and board member of several financial companies.

It’s a lot for one person, but Simmons is used to taking control of her career. She’s already made history several times over: In 2017, at the age of 22, Simmons became the youngest full-time female trader on Wall Street, and the second African American woman trader in the New York Stock Exchange’s 229-year history.

But while at the NYSE, Simmons learned she was being paid just $12,000 while male colleagues with the same job and qualifications were making upwards of $120,000. From that point on, she made a commitment to herself that she’d never make less than $120,000 a year.

Simmons left the trading floor in 2018 and formed an LLC to manage all of her projects.

In the last few years, she has secured deals on a book, movie, TV show and two podcasts. Her most consistent income comes from speaking engagements (she averages two per month), and she can earn up to six figures on brand deals.

No two days look the same. Simmons works long hours and on weekends, taking meetings as early as 3 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m. because she works with people all over the world. Her most recent project is a hosting job with the streaming series “Going Public,” which requires filming the series itself and traveling to promote it.

In 2021, Simmons moved to L.A and earned $650,000. In 2022, she’s on track to earn $1 million.

Simmons grew up in Marietta, Georgia, with her mom, twin brother and younger sister. She credits her mom’s strict budgeting for how she learned to save 85% of her income, which she began doing while earning just $12,000 in New York City. It was barely enough to pay for transportation while she lived with family in nearby New Jersey, and she didn’t spend any money on going out.

Simmons admits her saving strategy today isn’t the most traditional, but it works for her.

She sends all of her earnings into a savings account and for the most part doesn’t touch it. She also waits as long as possible to deposit her earnings. Simmons closed a few speaking engagement deals in January but will have her business manager hold onto the checks until just before they expire, so she won’t actually see that income until March.

“I like for my money to be out of sight, out of mind so I won’t spend it,” she says.

She’ll sometimes transfer money to a separate checking account,…