21 Things You Should Never Waste Your Money On

[Music] all right let's jump right into it the number one thing you should never waste your money on unused gym memberships if you go to the gym 6 days a week and use every equipment available more power to you you should probably keep your gym membership because you're getting the maximum value from it however if you can't remember the last time you stepped into your gym it may be time to cancel your membership try have free exercise at home by following YouTube videos if you need resistance use your body people are doing push-ups and body

squats resistance exercises way before the invention of gyms or if you're weird like me get a squat rack in your home office so you never have to leave the comfort of your home to workout the number two thing you should never waste your money on high expense ratios how much investment firms charge you to operate your mutual fund or ETF they not only cut directly into investment returns but too many firms charge way too much and worse without much to show for it investing lowc cost broad market index fund and pay Rock Bottom expense ratio

while still getting full exposure to the stock market my favorite is this the Vanguard Total stock market index fund AKA vtsax which has an expense ratio of 0.04% and the ETF version the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF AKA vti has an expense ratio of 0.03% to put this in perspective this comes out to about $4 to $3 in expense for every $10,000 you invest in each fund if you can make this one crucial decision in your investment Journey it will literally save you thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime the number

three thing you should never waste your money on fast fashion it's tempting to buy cheap clothes why spend $50 on a shirt where you can get something similar for $5 however the low quality material use in fast fashion results in garments that wear out very quickly I've experienced it personally it looks great when you first bring it home but after one wash it looks like you've already wore it for a month so you're needing to buy a replacement every few month or so additionally because fast fashion relies on rapid production cycle and very cheap materials

it contribute to excess waste and the depletion of Natural Resources bottom line not great for the environment there are things for or quality doesn't matter as much however when it comes to closeth consider investing in quality and avoid fast fashion number four thing you should never waste your money on late fees being charged a late fee because you're late with your payment is a complete waste of money not to mention the negative impact you can have in your credit report never be laid on the bill again by setting up automatic payments online do this for

your credit card Internet and other bills if the supplier or the company that you're working with doesn't allow for automatic payment it may be time to look for a new supplier the number five thing you should never waste your money on bank account account fee many banks still charge a monthly maintenance or a service fee to keep your checking or savings accounts open and they're sneaky about it too usually gets automatically deductive from your account without you ever being notified and you might also be thinking the amount is so small only $10 or $15 a

month however these add up to $120 or $180 a year imagine what you can do with an extra couple $ hundred avoid this fee by reading the account requirements many banks wave this fee if you maintain a certain minimum balance make a certain number of transactions each month or arrange a direct deposit or if you're tired of paying unnecessary bank account fees with your current bank and having on the market for a new online banking option I highly recommend you check out SOI checking and high yield savings accounts not only do they offer great rates

you pay no account fees and you can earn up to $250 when you sign up and set up direct deposits of course terms apply again if you've been in the search for a great banking option make sure to check out Sofi and if you use my special link which I'll have in the description below you'll be supporting this channel as well hopefully a win-win for all of us number six thing you should never waste your money on lottery tickets we we buy lottery tickets because we all want to dream a dream of a new future

a future where we don't have to worry about money and where we can live like the rich and the famous however the odds of actually winning the lottery is not good for one of the most popular lotteries in the United States Mega Millions your odds of winning are about 176 million if you're playing a single state lottery like the California super lot your odds increase slightly 1 and 42 million for me personally I'm not sure if I like those odds also for most of the time winning the lottery can actually be a curse rather than

a blessing according to a National Endowment for financial education 70% of lottery winners will bankrupt within a few years because they don't have the financial Habit to manage that amount of money so don't waste your hard eared money on lottery tickets the facts just don't line up to your favor no matter the result the number seven thing you should never waste your money on extended warranties getting an extended warranty on that new cell phone or the new laptop could sound like a great idea however don't waste your money again the numbers just don't add up

look at an example with a cell phone for a monthly premium of $8 a month and a deductible of $200 for a smartphone cell phone insurance will replace your phone if it's broken lost or stolen if you have your phone for a year with the cell phone extended warranty you would have paid about $96 in premium then if your phone breaks you'll then need to pay the $200 deductible and probably receive a refurbished phone as a replacement you can purchase a refurbished phone for less than the insurance policy in deductible from eBay or any other

phone resellers ignore extended warranties they make tons of sense for the company selling them but not for us number eight thing you should never waste your money on buying coffee out every day now buying coffee once in a while is is totally fine my wife and I do this often so we can get some work done outside the house however one a day can quickly add up $5 a day 365 days a year adds up to more than $1,800 almost $2,000 I would say invest that money in a nice latte machine you'll have money left

over and the bet is that once you learn how to operate that latte machine your coffee will actually taste better than the one from Starbucks additionally nothing will impress your guest more than your ability to make latte at home number nine thing you should never waste your money on the theme of buying coffee every day buying lunch out every day similar to coffee this can quickly add up when you do it every day an average person Works around 260 work days a year if you spend $15 every day for 260 days it adds up to

$3,900 now again I'm all for eating out here and there to enjoy good food and good company however to do it every day because you're not being intentional is a waste of money meal plan and pack your lunch to work not only is this good for your wallet but it also tends to be better for your Wast line I've been doing this for over a decade I can tell you from experience it has saved me tens of thousands of dollars over that period also so when I do eat out occasionally I actually enjoy it because

it's a once in a while treat rather than a regular event that I got used to number 10 thing you should never waste your money on buying too much food collectively we waste a lot of food according to the Natural Resources defense Council up to 40% of food in the United States is never eaten this is most often due to the fact that we buy excess groceries which is a direct byproduct of lack of planning you may not think much about throwing away unused groceries and leftovers here and there but understand that every time we

throw away excess food we're literally throwing away money create a running list of exactly what you need from the grocery and for what purpose and when you go to the grocery store stick to the items on that list another tip is to never go grocery shopping when you're hungry we humans naturally don't have good self-control if we don't fill our stomachs before entering the grocery store I guarantee we'll walk out with way more food than we need number 11 thing you should never waste your money on bottled water not only is this bad for the

environment but to buy them regularly is a complete waste of money get yourself a solid reusable water bottle I've had mine for the past 10 years and not only does it prevent me from buying bottled water but it keeps my water cool which motivates me to drink more water throughout the day number 12 thing you should never waste your money on under you subscriptions many businesses Now operate on a subscription model you want to watch a movie you need a Netflix and a Hulu subscription you want to listen to music you need a Spotify subscription

forget the day when you pay once companies want that recurring Revenue stream and they'll ask for it whenever they can now if you're getting maximum value from the subscription then that's great my wife and I use Spotify every single day and the monthly $15 is totally worth it the issue is the unused subscript ion we sign up for a 30-day free trial with the intention to cancel within 30 days but we forget about it so scrub your credit card statement and understand exactly what subscriptions you're paying for and ask yourself if you're getting full value

from it if not don't hesitate to cancel you can always easily sign up again if you want to number 13 thing you should never waste your money on physical magazine and newspaper the no-brainer in this one we're living in the 21st century the digital age your favorite magazine or newspaper is easily accessible via an app on your iPad not only is this cheaper it's better for the environment no need to have a large large pile of magazine newspaper sitting around your house waiting to be recycled number 14 thing you should never waste your money on

cable again we're living in the 21st century you may not get the specific show you're used to on your cable service but there are plenty of entertainment options now available through services like Netflix Hulu and HBO also most Americans who pay for cable TV aren't getting the full value from it it's physically impossible to watch all available programs given the share volum so don't waste your hard-earned money and cut that cable number 15 thing you should never waste your money on expit out a shipping when you're at the checkout at Amazon have notice this option

for an extra $2.99 you can get your toothpaste in the next 2 hours why wait 2 days when you can get it right away who cares if you don't need a toothpaste until next week why I say don't fall for the Temptation most often we're paying a premium for the exped outed shipping because of our lack of planning I need it now because I didn't realize I needed toothpaste until this morning avoid this by planning ahead and don't waste your money on xed shipping number 16 thing you should never waste your money on ATM fees

this is another no-brainer there should never be a reason to pay ATM fees one most places should accept credit cards if not you should try to keep some cash in your wallet for emergencies in the worst case they don't accept credit cards and you don't have a cash the purchase may not be worth it definitely not worth paying $5 in ATM fee to withdraw money from a shady out of network ATM and if you need to pull cash use your bank's ATM or if you use an online bank ensure that the ATM that you're using

is an in network ATM so you aren't charge unnecessary fees number 17 thing you should never waste your money on foreign transaction fee again with credit cards that weigh foreign transaction fees being widely available another no-brainer for those of you who may not be familiar with this fee a foreign transaction fee is a SE charge on your credit card bill that appears when you make a purchase that either passes through a foreign bank or is a currency other than a US dollar essentially if you use your credit card with no special perks in Spain you'll

be charge an extra fee typically ranging from 1% to 3% transaction however you can avoid this fee check with your current credit card company to see if they offer a credit card that completely waves this fee my personal favorite is a Chase Sapphire reserve it does have a hefty annual fee but it's worth worth it when you add up all the benefits number 18 thing you should never waste your money on hotels in the line of using the right credit cards learn how to leverage credit card points to stay in hotels for free if you

can use travel credit cards the right way paying off all the balance opening them up strategically and spending to maximize points you can essentially avoid paying for hotel rooms the rest of your life my family and I haven't paid for a hotel room in over 5 years thanks to travel hacking number 19 thing you should never waste your money on Airline fees Airlines will try to charge you for everything if possible checking in bags food early boarding again if you open a credit card strategically you can avoid these pesky fees for example I currently have

the Delta Sky miles gold American Express card which not only allows me to check my bags for free but I get priority boarding all which I would have had to pay extra Airline fees number 20 you should never waste your money on private mortgage insurance buying a home can be a smart financial decision but home buyers who put down less than 20% typically have to pay a private mortgage insurance AKA PMI the insurance can cost up to 1% of the loan so on a $400,000 loan you're paying $4,000 in PMI each year a better idea

hold off on buying a home until you have saved 20% down and avoid the PMI altogether number 21 thing you should never waste your money on you're wasting money when you're not taking full advantage of all the tax deductions and credits available to you talk to your accountant or study the tax deductions and credits yourself but make sure you're aware of all the savings available to you if you have student loans understand that you can deduct a portion of student loan interest from your taxable income by claiming the student loan interest tax deduction recently made

some upgrades to your home if they made your home more energy efficient like you replace your single pain windows with double pain windows then you might be eligible for the energy efficient home improvement credit make sure to do your homework so you aren't leaving money in the table thank you guys for watching and in the spirit of being smart with your money if you want to learn The Frugal habits of real millionaires please check out my video here until next time all the best