Written in Partnership with Halina Newberry Grant
By the age of 19, entrepreneur and real estate investor Heidi McNulty had already achieved notable success.
She’d had her first child and purchased her first property, completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business management and accounting soon after. Then she had two more kids and started her own staffing agency.
The upward trajectory didn’t stop there. By the age of 35, she’d sold her business and scaled her real estate portfolio to more than $15 million.
Just when it was time to retire, the unthinkable happened: her husband, Rick, took his own life.
Struggling to process her grief, McNulty took a hard look at her life choices. “I had always made sure I was the hardest-working person in the room, but for so long, I based my self-worth on how much I was making,” she says. “I was so focused on my financial goals that I failed to incorporate any kind of joy. My value was my net worth, and I was unbalanced. As I worked through all my pain, I felt deep and profound gratitude that I evolved my financial philosophy and values when I did.”
It’s a story she details in her debut finance book, Buying Time: A Young Person’s Guide to Building Wealth and Fulfillment. Alongside comprehensive advice on budgeting, saving and investing, the book also offers insights into the higher purpose of building wealth in the first place.
“Through writing this book, I saw that my values had to evolve with my life experiences,” she says. As her mindset shifted, McNulty began to transform from bottom-line focused financial coach to a more holistic one.
Though there’s no shortage of books on financial independence, McNulty intends for Buying Time to offer young readers a better wealth message: how financial security can help people weather existential downturns and guide them towards their higher purpose.
“The way I create value in my daily life now is by setting the intention to be inspiring, loving and generous to others,” McNulty says. “It is my new goal and definition of success.”
Though she still flips between 12 and 20 homes a year, McNulty’s priorities have changed entirely. Today, making money is a source of strength to draw on in service of others—not a way to outrun fear or a method of avoiding self-reflection.
“My goals used to be solely about career and money and today they are very different,” McNulty says. “But I still believe money is a tool to solve problems. For me, it was a bedrock of resilience that helped me through my worst crisis.”
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.