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If you enjoy finance and TikTok, you would likely already know and be following The Weeblings, a sibling pair based in Singapore who focuses on creating entertaining and useful bite-size finance content on TikTok.
Since starting their TikTok channel in 2021, Sara and her brother Aaron have built a following of more than 30k followers on their channel The Weeblings (theweeblings0). They are also on other social media platforms including Instagram and YouTube.
The $1 Million Journey
As shared on their social media channels, one of the goals for the Weeblings is to build a $1 million dollar portfolio. The siblings frequently share about the progress in their $1 million journey, and the different investments and trades they are making to build towards this net worth.
The Weeblings shared that while long-term investing and active trading are two of the ways to build up their net worth, the financial markets are not the only place they generate income from. The Weeblings also derive income from sponsorships on their channels and projects that they take on for clients to contribute to their $1 million portfolio.
In this latest article for the #MyFirstHustle series, I spoke to both Sara and Aaron about how the idea for The Weeblings came about, what were their motivations for the $1 million goal they have set for themselves and how the various hustles they have done can help them build financial freedom.
Timothy Ho (Timothy): The Weeblings started on TikTok in 2021. How did the idea behind The Weeblings came about?
Sara Wee (Sara): I think it was an amalgamation of many different factors. Aaron and I have a pretty close sibling relationship as well as many similar interests and hobbies, which include finance and productivity. We’ve also always played around with the idea of becoming content creators (we even attempted a faceless YouTube channel about productivity in early 2021) but felt like YouTube was a little too time-consuming to start while we were both either working or studying full-time.
During the pandemic, I (like many other millennials) got hooked on the new Gen Z app, TikTok. I started posting videos on my personal TikTok account for fun and realised that making short-form videos was a lot less intimidating than YouTube, so we decided to start posting on TikTok and find a community there, and the rest is history.
Timothy: It seems like the pandemic years were great for both the financial markets as well as finance content creators as we saw many asset classes and alternative investments performing well. What were some of the most popular topics that people followed The Weeblings for?
Aaron Wee (Aaron): I think some of the videos that did really well for us were our simple Fibonacci tutorial videos, SGX stocks, our $1 million journey updates, trading videos, mile hacking credit cards and some budgeting videos as well.
Most of our content revolves around our journey of growing wealth along with preserving wealth (which we believe are two different skill sets), so I guess those videos are what people follow us for. We do have a smaller group of people who apparently follow us just for our “siblings banter” though!
Timothy: What is the motivation behind the $1 million journey that you have?
Aaron: Financial freedom! Of course, our journey to financial freedom will not end at $1 million — it’s just the beginning.
Timothy: In one of the recent $1 million journey updates, you shared that besides trading different asset classes in the financial markets and earning returns from the investment portfolio, The Weeblings also get income from other areas such as sponsorship, e-commerce, affiliate marketing and agency work. How did you got involved in each of these hustles?
Sara: Our e-commerce business was something we started before TikTok, during the pandemic. I bought a new iPad Pro and wanted a specific type of sleeve: something aesthetic, thin, sturdy and could be used as a table mat when I’m working outside of home to protect my iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard. We couldn’t find one that ticked all the boxes so we decided to make our own and sell them.
Aaron: Sponsorship, affiliate marketing and agency work are all side hustles that blossomed out of our content creation on TikTok (and now, other platforms). They were monetisation streams that came very naturally as we continued to grow our reach on social media.
Timothy: You have quite a few hustles today. How does each hustle help The Weeblings in their $1 million journey?
Sara: Every hustle plays a small part in getting us there. We enjoy investing and trading but also realise that having the capital to invest and trade is important, especially since our investing ethos has always been to focus on safer and more sustainable strategies. Our side hustles help bring in the capital required so that we can continue to grow it via trading and investing.
Timothy: Before The Weeblings, what are some of the other past hustles that you have done?
Sara: Our very first side hustle (that we ATTEMPTED!) was a pet supplies drop shipping online store. We made nothing from that side hustle as we were really young then and didn’t have money to spend on paid ads. We also couldn’t figure out the logistical issues behind drop shipping — time it took for orders to get shipped, tracking problems, etc.
Our first “successful” aka profitable side hustle was our e-commerce store, Woolie, selling the iPad sleeves that I mentioned earlier. We also attempted a YouTube channel about productivity but were too shy to show our faces, so we went the faceless YouTube channel route, which was a lot of work and we couldn’t keep up with posting consistently enough to truly grow (we do have a couple of videos with 20k-ish views though haha).
Timothy: For some, learning how to trade is also seen as a form of side hustle. How did you get started on your trading journey?
Aaron: It started when I was much younger — when I had more time and lesser things to do. I wanted to find ways to make money and simply fill my time; that’s how I eventually found out about trading.
Unfortunately, I had very little money, so all I could do was paper trade until I finally got some capital. It all really started coming together when I was in the last year of Polytechnic and I had gotten my internship pay. Being very conservative, I traded small and never blew up my account, but I never make money either.
Still, by doing so I managed to learn the skills required for trading, and as I grew older, the skills grew with me. As I transitioned back into becoming a student, time became an issue at University; I had to develop a form of trading strategy that required little work and time. I eventually figured out a strategy that worked for me (aka swing trading), but as we’re all aware, there is no free lunch in this world — because this strategy requires less effort, I do not make as much as other traders. I now see myself as more of a part time swing trader.
Timothy: What are some asset classes that you trade?
Aaron: Equities, bond ETFs and commodities are among some of these asset classes. We are more experienced with equities but one of our bigger plays moving forward from 2022 is bonds.
Timothy: For anyone thinking of learning how to trade, what is one piece of advice that you would share?
Aaron: Back test everything. Even though I share my methodologies online, it is important to always back-test on your own, because that is what gives you the confidence to execute the trade.
Timothy: What does the word “hustle” means to you?
Sara: I think the word hustle means to work hard for additional income.
Timothy: $1 million or 1 million followers? Which do you think The Weeblings is going to achieve first?
Sara: Definitely $1 million! I doubt we will ever get to 1 million followers, especially because of our niche and our market. 1 million followers is one fifth of Singapore!
Building Multiple Streams Of Income As A Content Creator, Trader & Investor
While many of us may have one source of income, Both Sara and Aaron are embracing the idea of developing multiple streams of income to help them in their journey to achieve a $1 million portfolio. These include generating income from their e-commerce store, agency work as well as sponsorships and ads that they get from social channels.
From Sara’s perspective, “the word hustle means to work hard for additional income.”
While these hustles help them generate income, The Weeblings also make it a point to get their capital to work for them. They have a long-term investment portfolio that grows over time and also actively trade asset classes such as equities, bonds and commodities to generate additional income from the financial markets.
Trading As A Hustle
Aaron, who has been trading since his polytechnic days, adopts swing trading as a strategy to generate profits from his trade.
It’s easy to think of trading as a way to generate income quickly. However, trading, like most other skills in life, will take us time to learn. For example, Aaron first started with a demo trading account before moving on to trade small amount with a live account.
For those who wish to learn trading, it’s advisable to start off with a demo trading account first. We can open a demo trading account with IG, Singapore’s No. 1 CFD/FX broker (by total number of client relationships. Investment Trends 2022 Singapore Leverage Trading Report). A demo account with IG allows us to practise our trading strategies with up to $200,000 of virtual funds and to get familiarised with the platform first, before we move on to open a live IG account.
With IG’s demo or live account, we can access the IG Academy that offers free online trading courses, live sessions and an IG Community where we can exchange ideas with likeminded traders around the world.
Whether we pursue a hustle such as trading, pick up freelance work or start an e-commerce business, the one we need to remember is that generating additional income is not going to be easy at the start. We first need to become proficient in what we do and this would require time and discipline to constantly improve ourselves before we are in a position where we can more easily generate income from our hustle.
The post Sara & Aaron Wee Of The Weeblings Shares Why They Started Their TikTok Channel & How They Are Building Their $1 Million Portfolio appeared first on DollarsAndSense.sg.
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