My Worst Financial Mistake (The #1 Wealth Killer)

hey guys so about a month ago I took a break from the normal content to post a more personal video that wasn't scripted and I just spoke from the heart for over 30 minutes to my surprise it seems like a lot of you preferred that style of video so I'm bringing it back to talk about another topic that I feel very strongly about and that would be money I've recently started to see all these articles breaking down why gen Z is splurging on luxury goods to soo their economic despair affluent Millennials are now exaggerating their wealth to appear richer than they are in social media and there's this new phrase of Doom spending to represent the belief that people are so financially screwed that it's pointless to even try honestly it just seems like these types of situations are only getting worse and there are too many mistakes being made for me just to sit back and not at least acknowledge what's going on along with some potential Solutions so you don't fall into the same traps like I've literally read through every single article that I could find on these topics and I've broken them down into six categories that'll absolutely destroy your money if you aren't careful so here's exactly what to avoid and we'll start here oh and by the way if you prefer this style of video that tends to be a lot more laidback it's less scripted it's more off the cuff just let me know in the comments section I'll do my best to read and reply to as many of you as I can and also big thank you to cook Unity for sponsoring this video but more on that later because anyway I read through a lot of these Doom spending articles and I hate to say it but the situation is a lot worse and a lot more common than expected like this article found that 43% of Millennials and 35% of gen Z has basically given up on the idea of saving any money because the concept of buying a house or a car or paying off any debts seems completely pointless but I'll tell you if you want to make a substantial change to your finances you're absolutely going to regret not focusing on the first $10,000 here's what I mean when you're just starting out let's say you got your first job you're starting to figure things out and you're realizing how expensive it is just to be alive saving money is really really difficult in fact it's now reported that at 73% Millennials are the most likely generation to live paycheck to paycheck so it's no wonder why there's this mentality of well I'm already financially screwed to begin with so I may as well to spend whatever money I have left over now so I could at least enjoy myself because otherwise I'm not enjoying myself and then making no progress towards anything I'd want to buy anyway so uh may as well just spend it but you know what I'll tell you firsthand if you have what it takes to make the first $10,000 then you also have what it takes to make your first million doll and if that sounds stupid it sounds crazy I'll break it down for you it goes something like this excuse my language here it's not me saying this it's Charlie Munger but he once said that the first $100,000 is a but you got to do it I don't care what you have to do if it means walking everywhere and not eating anything that wasn't purchased with a coupon find a way to get your hands on $100,000 after that you could ease off the gas a little bit I know easier said than done but how do you make it to $100,000 when that's more than what most people will ever save well like I mentioned earlier it starts with $10,000 and just like with any goal here's how you could achieve it first you got to break down the time frame the thing is when you set a goal and you don't have a specific time frame to get it done by you're never going to get it done it's like Parkinson's law that suggests that your work expands to fill the time available for its completion so when it comes to saving something like $10,000 give yourself a year to do it second you just got to start right now I've just noticed that you have the most momentum when you're initially excited about the idea of starting something new and then after about a day or so that excitement wears off and you're left with the reality that your entire life has been one giant procrastination so don't do that just start immediately three you got to also create a budget all you need to do to make this happen is sign up for any one of those money tracking websites that Aggregates all of your information together links your bank accounts and credit cards and then it shows you in real time how much money is going into and out of your bank account once you do this I guarantee you're going to see all these random little things that just pop up that you didn't ever actually need and those are the ones that you could cut back on four you then got to pay yourself first I know this is the most cliche money planning advice that everyone always says but it's true by paying yourself first or basically just taking money off the top and transferring it into an account that you do not touch under any circumstances it forces you to live off whatever's left over and by doing so you're going to rack up a lot of savings and then finally five you got to get a side hustle like the fact is it is possible to get to the point where saving more money becomes completely counterproductive like we all know not to spend too much money in a brand new car to rent a luxury apartment on an entrylevel salary or not to eat out at restaurants too much but when you're already spending as little money as you could possibly get away with then making more money becomes the next logical step and with a side hustle or second parttime job that's the easiest way to go about doing this this all means that if you're able to save an extra $10,000 a year and you invest that into the markets which historically has generated a 7% return in 7. 84 years you'll have your $100,000 from there if you just keep doing the exact same thing and you keep saving just $10,000 a year you'll be able to reach that next $100,000 in just 5. 1 years then again if you just stay the course you'll make another $100,000 in only 3.

78 years and another $100,000 in 3 years after that and another $100,000 in 2 and2 years after that this means that theoretically you could go from $600,000 to a million in less time than it took you to go from that zero to the first $100,000 that's why even though it might seem pointless to save some extra money now because it doesn't add up to much if you could just save an extra $28 a day and do that on a regular basis you'll have your first $100,000 and then after that point if you stay consistent that does all the heavy lifting For You Second another aspect that does not get enough attention is the fact that most people are living in extremely unhealthy lifestyle like did you know that 56% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 are either overweight or obese the average American is more than nine alcoholic drinks a week and only 28% get enough exercise you know all of this reminds me of a Facebook post the other day by Alex Becker and he summarized it perfectly he said at 30 I always assumed that I would just have to accept aging at 36 I realize this is simply because most people just have terrible Lifestyles and habits that build in their 20s and catch them post 30 as the negative effects start to pile up declining at 3 to 5% a year due to your habits leads to a massive decline over time you see this at 30 plus as people put on an extra 3 to 5 pounds a year by 35 they're obese inflamed complaining about getting old and assume this just happens it does not age as well as you like anecdotally I found all of that to be completely true like I just turned 34 years old and believe it or not I'm in better shape today than I was back at 25 albeit I have to work a lot harder to get there but the Habit stuck with me like I remember getting my first gym membership at 24-Hour Fitness when I was 19 years old and I would go after work I'd listen to a self-help audio book and I remember thinking to myself that no matter what happened earlier in the day even if I had a really unproductive day I got nothing done but I went to the gym I remember thinking to myself at least I went to the gym I got something nice done for myself today and that's a win to me I guess I just saw Fitness as something that I had Direct control over and I felt really safe knowing that it was 100% on me to make a difference like it was my choice to go to to the gym it was my choice to eat healthier it was my choice to lift heavier it was my choice to stay longer and I think all of that built and compounded to build a lot of mental fortitude this was also one of the reasons why I started eating cleaner I stopped eating fast food I stopped drinking alcohol because why would I want to destroy all the progress I just made it the gym by doing these things that I don't really want to do anymore and no this journey has not always been a straight line for me there's been times where I've not been as good as I should have but it is possible at any age to correct course and get in the best shape you've ever been in in your entire life now separate from that from a financial standpoint there's a direct correlation that employees who exercise regularly earn approximately 9% more than those who do not of course it could be that the personality type to exercise in a regular basis is also the same type to want to advance more within their career but the point Still Remains regular exercise was found to improve energy Focus mood and motivation so if you want a life advantage to getting ahead this is it plus like I mentioned earlier the older I've gotten The more I've begun to realize how important it is to take your diet and the foods you put in your body extremely seriously like when it comes to myself I've just found that when I eat random snacks throughout the day or have a cheat meal because I'm really busy and I just want to save some time it ends up with me feeling tired lethargic and just really demotivated throughout the entire day now thankfully though as I later found out there are options out there that not only save you a lot of time but also taste insanely good and that's thanks to our sponsor cook Unity without exaggeration these cook Unity meals taste like a meeting gourmet food cooked by a private Chef without actually having to go and pay the cost of a private Chef that's because cook Unity is the first chef to Consumer platform that delivers freshly prepared pre-selected meals right to your door weekly it's convenient they use extremely high quality ingredients and best of all picking out your meals is incredibly easy just choose a subscription plan and select from hundreds of meals each week prepared by awardwinning chefs all the meals are delivered fully cooked so all you have to do is heat them up lunch or dinner is ready in a few minutes and there no cleanup or meal planning whatsoever their subscription is also really flexible with options for 4 to 16 meals a week it's commitment free and you could skip pause or cancel anytime with the click of a button it literally takes you seconds and their subscriptions cost as low as $11 a meal Which is less than I previously spent on fast food and if you're wondering what to get I recently tried and loved their mustard crusted Salmon by Luda La fave and crispy tilapia over Greek salad by Chef Ruben Garcia all of it tastes like I'm eating food right from the restaurant except with the convenience of getting it delivered right to my door without without having to get in the car drive wait in traffic stand in line it's all done for you so if you're interested in checking them out which I would highly recommend by the way because they are delicious just go to cookunity docomo and now let's get back to the video all right so if you'd like another super simple practical step that you could start immediately for free that'll put you leagues ahead in terms of building your wealth it's this build your credit score unfortunately this for me was just one of those lessons that I learned the hard way because because growing up I was taught that debt was bad I distinctly remember my parents paying for everything with a debit card them telling me that credit card companies were always out to get you and if you couldn't afford to buy something outright in cash you shouldn't be able to buy it for whatever reason from all the things I saw growing up that just stuck with me and as I started making my own money I started to really like and embrace the idea of only buying things that I could afford outright in cash that I had sitting in my account even as I got older I made my first adult purchase which was a 2005 Toyota Prius and I purposely waited until I had all the money available in cash before I went to buy the car and it was really nice there was something really calming about not having all these random monthly payments and for me I just started to believe truly deep down that this is the best way to manage your money of course I did have a few friends who were telling me to go and open up a credit card at the time just to be able to build credit but I was really stubborn and I thought I was so cool I thought I was so much smarter than them because I never needed a credit card I never needed a loan I thought it was so cool to be able to brag that I could just save up and buy whatever I want in cash and that was until I wanted to buy a house at the time it was 2011 the real estate market was in the gutter and I had $100,000 saved up after four years of working as a real estate agent so I went to all these lenders and I told them I wanted to use this as a down payment to go and buy a property but they all said the same thing they ran my credit report and nothing came up because there's no history there's just nothing there and as a result of that they denied me despite me having tax returns despite me having the down payment it was a no that experience really just taught me that if you want to win the game of money you got to play the game of money this means building your credit score as soon as possible and then use it to your advantage because the fact is the people with good credit scores get the lowest interest rates when they want to apply for a mortgage or get a car or even get accepted on a rental because the person with a good score is more likely to get it than the person with a bad score it might even help them save money putting down on deposits with utility companies like there's so many ancillary things having a good credit score is is going to help you in terms of how to do this all you got to do is open up a no annual fee credit card like the Discover It secured put a few minor expenses on the card every single month that you'd be spending anyway and then pay off the card in full once you do that for 6 months repeat the process with another no annual fee credit card within about 2 years of doing that and paying it off on time in full always no matter what you'll have a whole bunch of positive trade lines on your report and by doing so you'll probably have a pretty decent credit score and no don't get this confused it's not about borrowing money to buy stupid stuff you don't need and wasting it it's simply about taking advantage of the credit system to be able to get the lowest rates possible to be able to get accepted to the things that you would be buying anyway and saving money by doing so without exaggeration hadn't not been stubborn and actually done this when I was 18 years old I could have easily had made another million dollar because I would have leveraged my money during a time where real estate was trading at 1 the value it is today so just let my Misfortune Be Your Blessing build your credit stick with it longterm get a good credit score and hopefully that'll help make you more money now fourth when it comes to stuff like this don't wait for things to happen because it won't I remember the first time this clicked for me uh I just got my real estate license and I began working underneath another agent he would allow me to Shadow him throughout the day he'd give me tasks to work on and I would stay as late as needed to get whatever he wanted done but one morning I showed up and he was out of the office so I spent my time viewing homes on the MLS probably checked my emails every 5 to 10 minutes I spent the entire day in front of a computer doing absolutely nothing then I left and showed back up the next day he was also out of the office so I wasted that entire day too I did absolutely nothing the next day the same thing I did absolutely nothing and it took me about a week to realize like wait a second I don't know how to manage my own time without someone else telling me what to do like let that sink in growing up you're told exactly what to do and when to do it by your parents when you go to school you're told to complete very specific assignments with very specific instructions you get there at 8:00 a. m.