Bola Sokunbi started investing during a recession in 2007; about 10 years later, her portfolio had crossed $1 million

Bola Sokunbi graduated from college in 2004. Within three years, she had saved $100,000 on a salary of $54,000. Then the 2007 recession arrived, and many people she knew stopped investing altogether.

She went the other way. At the time, she was reading “Smart Women Finish Rich,” and one idea from the book stuck with her. When the market falls, stocks are on sale, so buy what you can and wait. She was young and did not need the money soon. So she kept putting it in.

Today, she has held a portfolio of more than $1 million for about eight years. She is also the founder of Clever Girl Finance, a personal finance brand. She says her approach rests on three habits, and none of them requires a special talent.

She kept investing through the 2007 recession and now holds more than $1 million

Sokunbi says anyone who invests should first have a cash cushion. This is money set aside to cover everyday costs, such as food, housing, a mortgage, children and surprise home repairs, so you never have to sell investments in a bad month.

She followed this rule herself. Before leaving her full-time job in 2017 to build Clever Girl Finance, she set a goal of saving 18 months of her salary. If the business earned nothing, or if she had to return to work, she would still be covered.

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Her advice for building a cushion is practical. Open a separate bank account that is not easy to reach, and if you have a job, set up an automatic transfer from your paycheck into it. When the money moves without a decision from you, it is easier to leave alone.

She also warns against a common order of operations. If you do not have emergency savings or a steady job, she says, build those first. An employer retirement plan may be worth using in the meantime, but the larger push into investing can wait. Her rule is blunt: money you will need soon should not be invested.

The second habit is having more than one source of income. Sokunbi hears the same reply from many people; they are not business-minded. Her answer is that you can get creative.

Her own start was small. She has twins, and as they grew out of strollers and cribs, she sold the old gear and put the money toward their savings. She sees nothing embarrassing in a part-time job or side hustle.

Her bigger efforts were more ambitious. While working a consulting job during the recession, she ran a photography business from 2008 to 2015, charging roughly $4,000 for a wedding. She also ran a small bridal shop. Those years kept money coming in at a time when she was lucky to keep her consulting job and avoid a layoff.

The pattern continues. Besides running Clever Girl Finance, she takes speaking jobs and writes books. She treats each as another stream of income, so that a slowdown in one does not leave her without pay.

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The third habit is how she invests. Sokunbi admires John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, who helped popularize the three-fund portfolio. It puts money into three groups: U.S. stocks, U.S. bonds and international stocks, usually through index funds or exchange-traded funds.

The appeal is breadth. Funds like these spread money across many industries, including drugs, healthcare, technology, cars and household goods. If one sector has a bad stretch, the others can hold the portfolio steady. She says that lowers risk and helps her get through rough markets.

She does not stop there. She also owns some individual stocks, mostly in companies whose products she already uses. Outside the stock market, she has made some angel investments and real estate investments.

She did not plan to write a book or turn her money journey into a business. What pushed her was a story she kept hearing, that women, and Black women in particular, did not care about their finances. She started Clever Girl Finance to push back on that idea.

Her closing advice is about temperament. Markets will always swing between wild and calm, she says, and looking at how investments have behaved over long stretches can help. With a cash cushion, extra income and a diversified portfolio, there is less to worry about, and she describes her approach as set it and forget it.