- Hey, everybody.
So real quick announcement before I start this video.
The long awaited return to my YouTube course
is finally over.
That's right, Master YouTube opens up today,
like right this very minute,
and it'll be open for the next two weeks.
And so if you wanna get a kickstart on your YouTube journey,
then you can join thousands of students
in the Master YouTube community.
(upbeat music)
In this course you won't find any clickbait tactics
that don't actually teach you how to make great videos.
You'll learn how to come up with original ideas
and I'll show you exactly how to write a compelling script.
We'll cover the fundamental elements
of how to film yourself on camera,
and I'll introduce you to a process
for how to edit your videos twice as fast.
We wanna take that main storyline
that we worked on in our script,
and we wanna bring that into our project timeline.
You'll also learn how to make compelling titles,
clickable thumbnails,
and how to earn your first 1,000 true fans and beyond.
- For me to purchase this course was quite a big thing,
and it was the best decision I made in 2021.
- I've got over 33,000 subscribers.
I put pretty much all of that down to doing
the Master YouTube course.
- Yes, my channel's grown.
Yes, I'm monetized now, which is wonderful,
but none of that matters as much as the fact that
I now feel confident and excited for every video I make.
- If you want a roadmap to build
a successful YouTube channel with integrity,
then go to slowgrowth.com/masterYouTube,
or click the little link in the description below.
Alrighty, let's talk about personal finances.
(chill music)
Personal finance is like a prostate exam.
Most people don't think about it until their forties,
you probably shouldn't talk about it with your mom,
and it's a literal pain in your ass.
But it's also something that has the power
to completely change your life.
So long before I started my YouTube channel
I was an aspiring filmmaker and broke college grad
struggling to get out of a really bad financial spot.
And I discovered that despite the profoundly
unsexy nature of the topic,
there was no shortage of finance advice out there,
and most of it was terrible,
like the bloggers convincing you
to live off of credit card points
and the well-meaning uncle
that tells you to just declare bankruptcy.
- I declare bankruptcy.
- Among the minefield of questionable finance advice
I did find some strategies that actually worked,
and so in this video
I wanna share the 10 biggest personal finance lessons
that changed my life,
taking me from broke college student
to financially free 34 year old with a healthy prostate.
I hope my mom's not watching.
Income isn't everything.
Up until a certain point
it doesn't matter how much money you make.
Now, obviously you need to have your basic needs met,
and you need enough cash left over to build up some savings.
But if you don't get serious about cutting back
both on your expenses and your overall spending
you'll likely never get on top of your finances.
And that's because of a little thing called lifestyle creep.
No, I don't mean the friend from high school
who is clearly trapped a pyramid scheme
and keeps offering you the freedom lifestyle.
Otherwise known as lifestyle inflation,
lifestyle creep is when discretionary spending increases
as your income does.
You get a 5K pay raise,
and instead of using that money to pay off your debt
you think about all the things that you can buy with it,
a new flat screen TV,
maybe you finally update that bathroom.
How about that vacation that you've been dreaming of?
I mean, you deserve it, right?
You worked really hard for that pay raise.
I personally know a lot of people
who make well over six figures
and they're living paycheck to paycheck,
and have barely made a dent on their student loans.
And it's because they haven't put together a plan
for how much to save.
It all comes down to setting a percentage
of your income to the side.
20% is a good number to start with
and then continue to dedicate that amount
even as you make more money.
Better yet, pretend like you never got the raise
to begin with and throw all your extra money
at your debt or savings.
Diversify your income.
If there was ever a time to start a freelance business
or side hustle it's right now.
When I started as a freelance filmmaker 10 years ago
I had no idea where I'd end up,
but within a few years
I went from earning $10,000 a year to over six figures.
When it comes to expenses
there's only so much that you can cut back on,
but freelancing and consulting
are some of the best ways to increase your income
over a short period of time
because there's no ceiling to how much you can earn.
Chances are if you can find a dozen examples
of people making a full-time living
in a particular field as a freelancer,
then you can make it happen as well.
Almost everyone has a marketable skill,
whether it's writing, or music tutoring,
or teaching people how to organize their closets.
And if you don't think you have a skill
that you can make money off of,
that brings me to my next point.
Invest in your personal and professional development.
Now it might sound counterproductive,
but as the saying goes,
you've gotta spend money to make money,
unless it's your Facebook friend
trying to sell you essential oils.
In that case, run away.
With an almost unlimited amount of books, courses,
and online tools at our fingertips
you can upscale in pretty much any area
that you can imagine.
Whether it's becoming a video editor or an accountant,
there's endless ways to increase your value
to both employers and clients.
So one of the first things that I ever invested in
was a pair of headphones.
I had just made my first $100 as a filmmaker,
and I knew that I wanted to invest
back into the quality of my videos.
It wasn't really about getting a return on my investment.
I was just obsessed with trying to make
the best videos I could,
but it turns out that's exactly what you need to do
to get a return on your investment to begin with.
When you put your money into the right education,
tools, and resources, it can pay back in dividends.
And no, I'm not gonna use this as an opportunity
to pitch my course, Master YouTube,
because that's just too on the nose.
Say yes to everything.
So as you advance in your career or business,
you'll naturally become more selective
about the work that you take on.
But if you're just getting started out
now is not the time to get picky.
You're never too good for any work.
If someone wants to film a promo video of
their foot massage parlor, dive in feet first.
Then take that extra cash you made
and throw it at your debt or savings.
You probably won't have to film videos
of people getting their feet massaged forever.
Unless, of course, you're into that sort of thing.
Move in with your parents, seriously,
even if you're over 30.
Move in with your parents
or at the very least find some roommates
to help lower your biggest monthly expense, your rent.
This is one of the best financial decisions
that I made early on when I started to tackle my debt.
Since the 1960s, the amount of adults living at home
has been steadily increasing,
and it hit a high for the century at 52% just last year.
And that's no coincidence.
Property prices are soaring
and student loans are higher than ever.
I'm not saying that it's fair,
but these are the cards that we're being dealt,
and we've gotta take ownership over our lives
to try to improve our circumstances.
If you're lucky enough to still have your parents around.
This is going to rapidly increase
how much you can pay off when it comes to your debt,
or to save up in general.
Stop buying crap you don't need.
I've probably talked about this one enough before,
but a friendly reminder never hurt anybody.
Stop buying crap that you don't need
and start putting that money into your savings.
Pay attention to how you feel
just a few months after a big purchase.
Did it solve all the problems
that you thought it was going to?
Are you any closer to happiness or contentment?
How much closer would you actually be to happiness
if you were to instead chip away at some of your debt
that's been weighing you down?
Showing a little bit of patience and determination
towards your personal finance goals
can go a really long way.
Track the important stuff.
You don't need to track every last cent.
But if you wanna make headway
towards your personal finance goals,
you're going to have to start tracking
your progress along the way.
One of the first things that I did when paying off my debt
was to pull together the total amounts,
monthly payments, and interest rates
for each of my loans into a spreadsheet.
For the four years that I paid off my debt
I checked that spreadsheet more than Instagram,
even when I had nothing to add,
and even when it felt like things were barely moving.
I would literally just open up that spreadsheet,
log in and delete my loans one by one
to see what it would feel like
when I would actually pay them off.
And that was a really powerful visualization exercise
that kept me motivated towards the finish line.
If you can't stomach the idea of a spreadsheet
there are a lot of other great apps that you can use
to automatically track your finances,
like Mint or Goodbudget.
The important thing is that
you get a bird's eye view of your finances
so you can finally start to get a grip
on where this ship is headed.
Read one personal finance book a year.
This isn't just about taking in new information.
It's really about getting a reminder to keep going.
If everyone in your life is renting BMWs
while living paycheck to paycheck
it's not exactly going to motivate you to be responsible.
Immersing yourself in the stories of people
who have already forged the path before you
will help to keep your eye on the prize.
I've linked to some of my favorite personal finance books
down in the description below this video.
The return on investment of a good personal finance book
is immeasurable.
Cull your feed.
Here's the thing,
sometimes we forget that
there's that little unfollow button on Instagram,
and while we all have our guilty pleasures,
like trash reality television shows,
our culture already has a powerful influence
over the decisions that we make.
By unfollowing the bad influences on our lives
we can start to cultivate a feed that's supportive
and encouraging,
instead of people reminding us all the time
of the things that we absolutely need to have.
And hey, while you're at it, you can go follow me.
I promise there are barely any videos
of me doing trendy dances,
and it's mostly just personal development advice.
Finally celebrate your progress.
Becoming financially free
doesn't mean that you have to eat nothing but ramen
and move into a cave far away from civilization,
although the way that things are going,
that doesn't sound that bad.
It's important to make room to celebrate
and enjoy life along the way.
Make sure to set milestones and rewards
as you progress from debt filled to debt free,
whether it's a nice bottle of wine,
a new pair of headphones,
or finally replacing your busted laptop.
By celebrating those wins, no matter how small,
you give yourself the motivation to keep going.
The truth is that for the most part
becoming financially free is a very slow
and uncomfortable crawl
with plenty of twists and turns along the way.
But the payoff is worth the effort.
Imagine a life free from stress about money.
Imagine being able to quit your unfulfilling job.
Imagine reading the left side of the menu first.
There are a lot of people out there
giving personal finance advice that's just plain crap.
And when it comes to shit advice,
well, just leave that for your next prostate exam.