Let me walk you through how someone in Russia, Jamaica, or Thailand could realistically build a net worth between $250,000 and $500,000 by age 70, even starting from modest means. The secret isn’t a lottery ticket or inheritance—it’s the boring magic of compound interest combined with entrepreneurial hustle.
Let’s start with some baseline assumptions. In these countries, median monthly incomes vary considerably. In Jamaica, the median monthly income is roughly 100,000 to 150,000 JMD (about $650 to $970 USD). In Thailand, it’s around 15,000 to 20,000 baht (approximately $430 to $575 USD). In Russia, median salaries hover around 50,000 to 70,000 rubles monthly (roughly $540 to $750 USD at current rates). We’ll work with a baseline of $600 USD equivalent purchasing power per month for our calculations.
Now, here’s where the side business enters the picture. Suppose you start a modest side venture at age 30—maybe teaching English online to students in wealthier countries, selling handmade goods on international platforms like Etsy, doing freelance graphic design for overseas clients, or running a small tourism-related business. You don’t need to build the next tech unicorn. If this side business generates just an additional $300 per month in profit after expenses, you’ve increased your monthly income by 50%. That brings your total monthly income to $900.
The critical move is living on your original income of $600 and investing that entire $300 monthly side income. Over time, as your skills improve and you optimize your business, let’s assume this side income grows modestly—say it reaches $500 monthly by year ten and $700 monthly by year twenty. You continue your discipline of investing every dollar from the side business.
Here’s where compound interest becomes your wealth-building partner. If you invest $300 monthly starting at age 30 and earn a conservative 7% annual return (the historical real return of global stock markets after inflation), you’ll have about $136,000 by age 60 from just that initial investment level. But remember, we’re assuming your side income grows over time.Let’s run more realistic numbers. From age 30 to 40, you invest $300 monthly at 7% annual returns. That decade alone contributes about $52,000 to your portfolio, which grows through compound interest. From age 40 to 50, your side business has matured and now generates $500 monthly for investing. That decade adds roughly $87,000 in contributions, but the compounding effect on your earlier investments means your total portfolio is now around $190,000. From age 50 to 60, you’re investing $700 monthly, adding another $122,000 in contributions while your existing portfolio continues growing. By age 60, you’re looking at approximately $380,000.But we’re not stopping at 60. From age 60 to 70, let’s assume you slow down the side business but keep investing $400 monthly from a combination of reduced side income and now being able to save from your primary income as expenses like raising children have decreased. That final decade, the real magic happens. Your existing $380,000, compounding at 7% annually, nearly doubles to about $748,000. Even adding just $400 monthly over those ten years contributes another $70,000 in new capital.
By age 70, you’re looking at a net worth exceeding $800,000 from investments alone. Even if we’re more conservative and assume some years of lower returns, market downturns you had to weather, or periods where you couldn’t invest as much, cutting these projections in half still leaves you comfortably above $400,000.
What makes this achievable even in countries with lower average incomes is the combination of three factors. First, the side business income, especially if it’s online or service-based work for international clients, often comes in harder currencies or at rates closer to global market prices, giving you advantages over purely local income. Second, the cost of living in these countries means your primary income can still cover your needs while you invest the side income entirely. Third, the power of starting early and staying consistent means compound interest does the heavy lifting in your later years—notice how the final decade from 60 to 70 adds more wealth than the previous three decades combined.
The hardest part isn’t the mathematics—it’s the discipline of maintaining that side business for decades and resisting the temptation to spend the extra income rather than invest it.
