You Can Change Your Finances in 6 Months… Here’s How

if you genuinely want to change your life fix your financial problems and live your rich life this is the six-month blueprint you need to follow imagine waking up knowing exactly where your money is going without tracking every latte imagine hitting your savings and investing goals making money decisions with total confidence all aligned with how you want to live your life I've helped millions of people bus drivers teachers millionaires make that a reality and now it's your turn I'm going to show you the exact step-by-step system that's going to work for you and you can spread

it out over 6 months or tackle it in one month for a fast start your pace your choice but listen closely if you can't give me 10 minutes of your attention as I cover the first month of this plan which has the most important action steps I'm going to struggle to help you so let's get to work month one build the foundation of your rich life month one is all about defining your rich life and creating a clear plan to make that a reality if you don't get this right your whole six-month plan will fall

apart because it's not customized for your needs Define your rich life a rich life isn't really about money it's about living intentionally spending on what truly matters to you not what Society or Instagram or your neighbors say is important so ask yourself what do I actually care about what what kind of Life do I want to live and what am I spending on that I don't care about if your life looks like everyone else's buying a house leasing a car chasing the latest gadgets and not really thinking about what makes you individually feel great and

live a meaningful life that's a red flag you might not be living your rich life you might just be copying someone else's I've got a new way of looking at this I want you to spend extravagantly on the things you love love maybe it's a wine tasting trip to Napa maybe it's flying lessons maybe it's having the best seat at every concert you attend and I want you to cut costs mercilessly on the stuff you don't care about if you don't give a damn about cars why are you driving that car right now these are

some examples of what I call Money dials or Universal spending categories like Travel Health or relationships I use these to imagine imagine and design my rich life I want you to do the same for example having a driver waiting at the airport precooked meals someone to help clean the house I've turned that dial way up but social status stuff like watches I don't even wear a watch I've turned that dial all the way down that is my rich life I know my money dials I want you to identify one right now one money dial that

you you love the one that you would spend 1,000 5,000 $10,000 right now if money dropped into your lap and you had to choose and then I want you to choose the thing you care least about spending money on maybe it's food you're happy pouring oats into a bowl putting a little water in there and just eating it out fine lean into that once you've decided on those money dials I want you to decide on two types of goal first short-term goals the building blocks these are immediate wins like pay off highin debt put enough

money aside for Christmas gifts these give you breathing room and confidence second long-term goals the Big Dreams this is where you dream big you want to buy a house start a business retire early with a long-term plan and consistent saving and investing these are 100% achievable but unless you know what your rich life looks like and the goals that'll get you there you'll be like the captain of a ship who has no idea where you're going useless now I know a lot of people going okay REM but I want numbers tell me how to do

this all right fine I'll give you numbers the second thing you're going to set up in month one is a conscious spending plan what if you could make sure you were saving and investing enough money each month and then use the rest of your money guilt-free on whatever you want eating out travel massage well you can takes a little bit of work the only catch is that you have to play plan where you want your money to go ahead of time even if it's on the back of a napkin and you got to know your

four key numbers here's how to do it first start with your take-home pay this is how much you earn after taxes and deductions it's the foundation for creating a conscious spending plan next break your spending into four buckets first fixed costs 50 to 60% of your take-home pay these are your non-negotiables your rent or mortgage utilities groceries Transportation Child Care debt once you've added up your total spending I want you to add 15% to cover the expenses you might have forgotten about like car repairs or medical bills my conscious spending plan already has this built

in for you you can get a link in the description below number two Investments 5 to 10% ideally more this is where real wealth is created this is your future money think retirement accounts think about index funds within those accounts or any other Investments that are going to help you grow while you sleep third savings goals 5 to 10% these are short and Midterm goals things like building your emergency fund saving for a big trip even saving for a house and finally number four my favorite category of all guilt-free spending 20 to 35% of take-home

pay that's a lot of money here's the best part this is where you get to spend extra stantly on the things you love eating out travel Hobbies whatever lights you up why does this matter because it frees you to spend guilt-free on what you love whether that's spoiling your family taking amazing trips without second guessing every purchase and if there's no way you can currently spend 20 to 35% of your paycheck guilt-free every month maybe that will give you a gentle kick in the butt to I don't know finish watching this video by the nice

man who will help you get your financial numbers in order month two build a moat month two is about building yourself a financial mode that's the thing that's going to make you less vulnerable and the first step is starting an emergency fund this is going to be your financial safety net for when life throws you a curveball medical bills car repairs or especially if you lose your job without an emergency fund the danger is that you end up relying on credit cards or rating your savings or retirement accounts to pay for Essentials my standard advice

is to gradually save up 3 to 6 months of essential living expenses or fixed costs calculate your monthly Basics like rent groceries and utilities or use my conscious spending plan in the description below to do this automatically and then multiply that number by three or six that'll give you three months or 6 months of expenses then open a high yield savings account Nick name it just in case and send a set amount like 50 or 100 or whatever fits your CSP directly from your checking account to your emergency fund and if you really like that

feeling of safety you can expand it you can make it six months 8 months 12 months once you are consistently building your safety net it's time to confront the financial bully who's been following you around highin debt getting rid of highin debt is one of the most powerful things you can do with your money let's look at one of the most common examples somebody who has credit card debt and only pays the minimum amount every month let's take a real example you have $6,000 in credit card debt with a 25% interest rate or APR the

minimum payment each month might be interest plus 1% of the balance so your first payment is $185 of that money only $60 actually pays down the balance of the debt or the principal the other $125 is just paying interest now listen closely if you keep paying the minimum it would take you over 25 years to pay off your debt and you would pay almost $112,000 in interest this is the equivalent of a little boy letting his school bully take his lunch money on the first day of school then coming back with his pockets jingling every

single day for the next 30 Years debt can feel overwhelming but with a clear plan you can take control and eliminate it start by listing all your debts all your cards how much you owe for each their APR or interest rate and minimum monthly payment immediately you have more clarity if you have unmanageable debt one of your first calls should be to your lenders to try to reduce that interest rate yes sometimes they will actually drop your interest rate the worst they can say is no and if they say yes you're already one step ahead

list how much money you can put aside each month to crush this debt now remember the only way you'll actually know this is if you download the conscious spending plan from the description and plug your numbers in it will become immediately apparent how much you can use to pay off your debt maybe it's $100 a month maybe it's $500 a month that's a start assuming you want to pay the least possible amount of interest on your debts and you want to get rid of this debt fast here's what you're going to do keep paying the

monthly minimum on all your cards maybe that uses $400 of your $500 amount next use the remaining $100 to pay off your highest interest debt that way you are plugging the biggest hole in your boat once that's paid off move to the card with the next highest interest you can kind of think of this as a reverse way of investing every dollar you put towards highin debt is a dollar that you are saving in future interest it's basically taking you closer to your rich life do you see how you are taking control Congratulations by the

end of month two you've tackled the Urgent stuff debt spending and your emergency fund even if it's going to take you a while to fully fund them you have a plan and you know when it's going to be done plus you've started to Define your rich life now it's time to make that Vision a reality month three build wealth like a pro in month three you'll create simple automated systems to build wealth no stress no complicated spreadsheets just steady predictable growth let's get started with how to invest speaking of Investments if you'd like Financial advice

that actually works and less spam from Crypt Bros who tell you that it's going to the moon and even though we used to hate government regulation now we really want the government to get involved because it means we can pump our bags click subscribe and turn on notifications for more videos like this debt holds you back but investing sets you free it's how your money grows quietly in the background even while you sleep here are my four laws for investing one index funds are your new best friend I know a lot of you love dogs

some of you love your spouse try starting to fall in love with lowcost index funds these are collections of hundreds of stocks that mirror the performance of the overall market and historically for the last 100 years the market has gone up it goes up and down but over time it has gone up averaging about 7% after adjusting for inflation 7% per year on average is a lot of money now this is a simple way to invest while getting pretty great returns no need to track the stock market no need to log on and look at

all these stocks every day none of it pro tip if you want to make this really easy you can use something called Target date funds from lowcost Brokers like Schwab Vanguard or Fidelity you simply pick the year you want to retire and then you look for the fund with that name and the fund does all the work for you like Vanguard 2060 it automatically diversifies and rebalances as you go along so that your Investments get less risky the older you get two time in the market beats timing the market invest early even with small amounts

even 20 or $50 a month and your wealth will Stack Up dramatically thanks to time and compound interest compound interest means you're going to be earning interest on your money and then that interest is going to earn even more interest that starts to snowball almost exponentially let me show you some real numbers let's say you're 30 years old you already have $5,000 invested from when you were in your 20s but now you got a raise you can afford to start contributing let's just say $1,000 a month after 35 years when you're 65 years old you'd

have invested a total of $425,000 but thanks to compound interest you would have $1.76 million in the bank do you see what this means it means you made $1.3 million in investment returns do you see how amazing that is with that money in your account you could spend almost $6,000 per month for the rest of your life and safely never run out this is why it drives me insane that so many people think investing is this super complicated thing that they don't know how to do you can learn I'm telling you how it works right

now third max out your tax efficient accounts let me put it this way if your employer offers a 401k match and you're not taking advantage of it you are leaving free money on the table it's like walking past a $100 bill and saying No thank you look into your 401k if you can contribute to a Roth ra let that money grow and it can be withdrawn tax-free when you retire if you're eligible for a health savings account you can use that as an investment account with a triple tax advantage these are amazing investing deals that

you have access to as a normal person don't worry about all the rich people's secret Investments they're mostly BS you have access to amazing cheat codes the government gives you to incentivize investing take take advantage of them fourth fire your 1% AUM financial adviser let me blow your mind for a second see most financial advisors charge based on a percentage they'll charge something like 1% of your total portfolio doesn't sound like much right wrong without fees a $100,000 portfolio would grow to about $761,000 after 30 years but if you're paying a 1% fee it shrinks

to around 574 th000 meaning that fee quietly ate up 25% of your total returns pull out your wallet you freaks yeah I'm talking to you watching this video right now oh you have $100 in your wallet give me $25 right now and then whatever you have in your wallet next year give me 25% of that and on and on and it's going to compound and I'm going to use it to buy a BMW and then I'm going to park cross lines and make everyone inconvenience around me be nice or me you're trying to help people

keep it simple stick to lowcost Target date funds or index funds at lowcost Brokers like Vanguard Fidelity or Schwab which frankly will beat most financial advisers in terms of performance over the long term and if you do have a more complex financial situation or you want personalized help that's okay use a financial adviser who charges a flat fee or an hourly fee that's what I've done in the past and when you do this you're paying pay for advice not paying a percentage of your money a great option for a flat fee based financial planner is

our sponsor facet facet will help you understand and expand your financial opportunities by providing you flexible access to a team of financial planners cfp professionals and a team of professionals providing guidance across retirement planning tax strategy Estate Planning and more instead of taking a percentage of your portfolio there's an affordable flat membership fee and when you have complex questions about your money like can we retire when can we retire what if I want to leave my job and start a new career how can we pay for kids college how are my investments doing it can

be really helpful to have a professional run some scenarios and give you a second set of eyes on your financial picture we've even partnered with fet to run scenarios for many of the couples on my podcast who have complex Financial situations they're incredibly helpful look a financial planner is not for everyone but if you want a second set of eyes on your finances check out their membership options at fet.my needs to go it's time to make it automatic you think I want to sit around moving transferring money keeping track of it in a spreadsheet no

you want money flowing to your accounts without lifting a finger no more Miss bills no more guessing how much money you have have to spend each month and no more logging on to online banking or using freaking apps on your phone I have no financial apps on my phone why would I have that it's all automatic automate your rich life here's how it's going to work let's say your salary hits your checking account on the first of the month let's start with your 401k say that you get a 5% match from your employer so you

want 5% automatically sent to your 401k so that you get that full employer match next Roth IRA on the 5th of the month when you are sure that your paycheck has hit your account you automate a monthly percentage of your income let's say 5% to go from your checking account to your Roth IRA or other tax efficient account where it can grow tax advantage sometimes taxfree ideally in something like index funds retirement savings done next let's talk savings you're going to send an automatic amount a percentage of your paycheck to your savings goals maybe 2%

of your income goes to your wedding savings account another 2% for your house down payment the last 1% tops up your emergency fund paying yourself done next your credit card this is what you will use for guilt-free spending and regular bills you set up a direct debit from your checking account to pay this credit card off automatically in full immediately no more late fees done finally miscellaneous bills things you can't use a credit card for like utilities rent Etc you can actually automate this too you set up a direct debit from your checking account and

you let it flow it can be done online or your online checking account can even issue a check every month boom one less thing for your to-do list now if you want more detail on this automation or you have an irregular income you don't get paid the same each month I have a video here that's going to show you how to set this up all right now by month 4 you got your main systems and your strategies in place but there's still one thing that will hold you back I'm talking about you month four conquer

your money psychology in month for it's time to take a serious look in the mirror and have a conversation with yourself about your invisible scripts around money those beliefs that you hold so deeply you don't even realize they're there they're invisible shaping how you save spend and invest your money until you understand these stories you will never be able to challenge them and start to change them here are some scripts that I come across all the time money is evil money is bad you've heard it before rich people are greedy if I make too much

money changes people yeah money does change people it made me more adventurous more spontaneous more generous this script keeps you stuck scared and small money is not bad money is a tool that allows you to live the rich life you want to what matters is how you use it I'll always be bad with money I'm not good with money I'm not good at math stop it nobody is Bor B knowing how to manage money but you can learn the basics this isn't some cryptic language that only ancient priests understand if you believe this script you

will never take the small simple steps that actually make a difference next I need to make more before I start saving or investing or the equivalent must be nice there's no way I can put aside even $20 a month for investing ah the classic procrastinators excuse if you are waiting for the perfect salary or some magical future moment moment you're going to be waiting forever give me your spending I guarantee I can find $50 a month immediately of money that is being wasted that could be redirected to something more aligned with your rich life I

know I can do it what I want is for you to know you can do it I deserve to treat myself or you only live once you can't take it to the Grave listen if you want nice things great I like nice things but you can't use these piffy little phrases to justify overspending on random things that is how you stay broke while convincing yourself it's all about selfcare so I want you to take 10 minutes and write down everything that comes to mind when you think about money no filters no judgment just focus on

your internal money dialogue things like I'm never going to have enough money I came from poverty I'm going to die in poverty or I can't learn this stuff then ask yourself are these beliefs helping you or holding you back if they're holding you back I want you to make a decision that you are going to consciously change them now you know another thing that most people never do talk to their Partners about money until there's a disaster why are we like this why do we only talk about money when something goes wrong let's fix it

if you don't have a partner go ahead and Skip to month 5 have a money date this month I want you to sit down with your significant other and have a 30 minute money date no Str no spreadsheets you don't even have to talk about numbers just an open conversation about money how you feel what you want what's holding you back here's the agenda for your money meeting number one start positive it's going to take like 5 minutes pick a calm quiet time start with a compliment you are so great at finding travel deals thank

you it always makes our trips amazing number two discuss your rich life this is like 10 minutes ask them what does a rich life mean to you if we could spend more on something we love what would it be start from a place of possibility number three unpack your money scripts this should take about 5 minutes ask them what' you learn about money growing up how do you think that that affects you now see just like you need to know your own invisible scripts you also want your partner to explore theirs and Number Four review

the numbers five minutes I'm talking about sharing the basics of what you've learned over the last 3 months income savings big expenses remember this is 5 minutes we're not pulling out a spreadsheet even me an Optimizer who freaking loves them I have to tell myself don't do it REM don't pull that spreadsheet out with 45 tabs that looks incredibly beautiful don't do it you just want to build awareness and connection and number five end on action 5 minutes celebrate a win and pick one small step hey let's set up a travel fund this month so

that next year we can take that trip or when should we talk next how about 2 weeks from now this keeps the momentum going and you're both going to look forward to talking about money next time try it your relationship and finances will be stronger if you do if you want to go in depth on this get my new book money for couples where I lay out a 10-step system to help you create a rich life with your partner all right you have your money systems in place you're getting a grip on your money psychology

now we need to address the elephant in the room month five negotiate everything remit I want to fix my finances can I just make more money yes you can make more the problem is too many people focus on making extra money instead of fixing holes in their leaky bucket so they have debt they have no Investments they have poor spending habits that aren't actually aligned with anything they care about but you are in month five you've already fixed your leaky bucket you know exactly what you would do with a cash injection so let's start with

the most common way of increasing your income negotiating a salary raise now a $10,000 raise can compound into hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime too many people though settle for less than their market value because they are afraid of the conversation they don't know how to approach it I'm going to show you how here's how to do it step one prepare your case track specific examples of how you've added value hit goals or saved the company money step two research your worth I want you to use websites like glass door

payscale salary.com to find the market rates for your role and your experience step three practice the conversation you can use this script I've been reflecting on my performance of the last year and I've consistently delivered X specific results based on my contributions and Market data I'd like to discuss adjusting my compensation to Target number how can we make this happen step four don't simply accept the first offer generally speaking you may not get an instant cash infusion if they push back that's okay ask about flexibility explore alternative benefits like bonuses or vacation days now this

was a very small summary of how to do it I have a full video on how to do this if you need more information and if you can't negotiate if you're being underpaid like so many people are apply for other jobs during the job hiring process you have more leverage than than you'll ever have to negotiate your salary next let's talk about negotiating expenses when it comes to Building Wealth the biggest wins often come from cutting major expenses I'm talking about housing cars recurring bills if you can cut those down and keep those fixed costs

below 60% of your take-home pay that is a big strategic move that frees up money to save to invest and even to spend on the things you love so let's break down where you can get big wins number one housing costs this is your rent or mortgage now housing is most likely your biggest expense but it doesn't always have to eat up all of your income you can negotiate your rent yes you can do this you can downsize or if you're renting you can look for better options when your lease is up homeowners During certain

times you can call your lender to ask about refinancing at a lower rate but truthfully housing makes the biggest difference but it's also the hardest one to change number two transportation the second biggest expense for most people also pretty difficult to change let's talk about it owning a car can be more expensive when you factor in gas Insurance maintenance loan payments all of it think hard do you really want to go into debt to own the latest Ford SUV first of all why do you even want a Ford they suck they break down whatever this

is my own personal trauma does your household really need three cars do you truly need to buy a new car even though your last one is only 5 or 7 years old make decisions on how long to keep your car because these changes can save you hundreds even thousands of dollars a year number three recurring bills cable internet subscriptions look at your monthly bills are you still using all of them are you using that gym membership can you cancel what you don't need or negotiate lower rates here's a pro tip if you go to the

retention department of many subscriptions or companies you let them know you're thinking of cancelling will often get a major discount number four interest rates High interest credit cards or loans eat away at your potential abild wealth if you're paying 25% Plus on credit cards you need to stop that pay off your credit cards as quickly as possible but also call up your credit card company and ask for a lower rate something as simple as I've been a customer for over 6 years I'd like to request a lower interest rate on my credit card that five-

minute call could save you thousands of dollars number five fees I'm talking about late fees overdrafts fees are basically pure profit for companies and a complete waste of your money could be a bank fee overdraft fee late payment charge even a gym membership penalty you can often get these Wave by simply saying hi I notice I have a $35 overdraft fee on my account I like to have that waved please in other words take control of your money by now your finances are in better shape than most people but living a rich life is not

a one-time thing it's about setting up habits and systems that grow with you month six scale up your rich life in month 6 you'll have your first of many monthly money check-ins with yourself or your partner to keep your financial ship sailing in the right direction here's what you do number one celebrate your wins I want you to stop pause and acknowledge your wins too many people going through life saying it's so scary never feeling good about money when are you going to feel good when you're 95 years old you finally look in your freaking

investment account go oh that's actually pretty good I didn't realize that you're dead do it now start to feel good paid off another chunk of debt hell yes hit a savings Milestone high five celebrate Solo or with a partner you took control you made changes and it's paying it off you deserve to appreciate yourself for that next review your numbers look at the key numbers income expenses investment debt notice what's changed and compare them with your conscious spending plan yes these spending percentages are just guidelines but sticking to them will help you live a very

rich life number three make adjustments are you on track to pay off that credit card debt by your target date if not maybe you need to cancel a few subscriptions maybe you need to cut down on eating out did you earn unexpected income you should already have a rule for what you do with unexpected income and that should be broken down by percentage the important thing here is that you are course correcting you are constantly listening and noticing what's going on we made a plan are we on track oh something went off track that's okay

let's fix it this check-in takes 1 hour per month you know you have plenty of time to find it and it will result in you living a very rich life the second thing I want you to schedule on your calendar is the much rarer but equally important 6mth review this's just 1 hour every 6 months two items will always be on the agenda for this review number one revisit your Rich Life vision is it still what you want for example if you could spend $10,000 guilt-free would you still choose to spend on the same money

dial and number two update your financial plan maybe you got a raise maybe your priorities changed maybe something broke in your house that's life and your financial plan should change with it so adjust your spending savings and investment accordingly that can include allocating more money to new priorities like a trip for a friend's wedding and try to be aggressive with debt repayment and Investments but also remember you got to spend a little bit of money on yourself that's okay overall I love doing this at 6 months because if something has gotten off track you still

have another 6 months to correct it before the end of the year the beauty of this system is that it grows with you now ask any athlete Chef or business owner and they're not going to tell you here's the magic formula to be super successful in 2 weeks they're going to tell you do the fundamentals stay consistent your experience is going to compound and after just a few months your life is going to look completely different so do the basics don't be the person who says oh these are good steps I should do them someday

now you might have noticed we never covered one of the biggest money topics should you buy or rent you might be surprised click this video to find out why renting might be the best financial decision you ever make