- What you do with your money right now is so important
if you wanna become rich, but why?
Well, the world is on shaky ground
with a wealth bubble set to pop and energy crisis
in the works and a looming threat, a recession.
It seems like all hope is lost.
Well, not quiet.
However, millennials are running out
of time to build wealth.
It's no surprise that American household debt just
hit a record high of over 16 trillion
and credit card balance has increased by $46 billion,
in the second quarter of 2022.
I completely get that the current situation
has left some people in dire circumstances
and sometimes debt is the only logical solution.
That's why today I'm gonna be running
through the four things you should be doing
with your money right now.
And they might not be quite what you think.
Step one, humble yourself.
Hi guys, it's Mark.
So 72% of U.S. adults now use social media.
So it's no surprise that a lot of people waste time
and money trying to keep up with the Joneses.
This means striving to achieve our own,
as much as the people around you.
When it comes to pushing yourself to achieve more,
this isn't a bad thing.
However, when it comes
to stretching your budget to buy things you don't need,
it's a big problem.
In reality, luxury goods are often purchased
to increase self-esteem and provide a sense
of belonging that often isn't found elsewhere.
Trying to keep up with the Joneses with excess spending
and credit card debt is a bad move.
When I was much younger, the way I was able
to beat my family and friends was actually
by doing the polar opposite to them.
Instead of buying things I couldn't afford
to impress people on the street that I didn't even like,
I began to think about the kind
of future I wanted for myself and my family.
This led me to making the minimum payments every month
on all my debt and then using any extra money to pay
off the debt with the highest interest rate.
This is now commonly known as the debt avalanche method.
This is proven to be one
of the most efficient ways to clear debt fast.
Give it a try if your struggling with debt.
I always found it beneficial to gamify things
by striving to beat targets.
Ripping the debt chain
off your neck allows you to think freely and move
on to the fun part, saving money and growing your net worth,
because after all money makes money.
I'd like to set you a fun, small challenge that
if completed correctly will open your eyes
to the power of saving money and compounding.
Today, save one penny in a piggy bank.
I know it doesn't sound like much but stick with me,
tomorrow save two.
On the third day, save three.
We're really building up the cash here, but seriously,
keep increasing your saving amount daily by one penny.
And at the end of the year,
you'll have over $650 saved up,
all starting from one simple penny.
If you don't actually want to use a piggy bank,
then you can use one of those apps that round
up your purchases then saves the difference for you.
If you can afford more,
then of course this is great.
While doing this,
it's important not to inflate your lifestyle.
I actually recently had a guy called Hugh on my podcast,
strike it big,
who lived on 10K per year while still paying a mortgage?
- What's it like living on 10K a year?
I sold my car and bike to work two
and a half miles every day.
I made packed lunches every day.
I didn't buy any new clothes
or items unless absolutely necessary.
The goal was really to try and track my path
to financial independence by the time I'm 40.
And the way I went at it was level one,
which is why I teach everyone, is get your expenses down.
I bike to work.
I went pretty extreme.
I'm like an all in or nothing type of guy.
And I probably went a little bit too far.
- Well, I always say that you can only save so much.
There's a limit to how much you can save.
However, there isn't a limit to how much you can earn.
So I would always personally focus more on earning.
- That was the same equation I got to.
- That brings me to step two, spend strategically.
Now this might sound like the opposite
to what a lot of people tell you,
but usually when you go against the crowd,
you end up achieving far more than the average person.
It seems like there's a theme appearing in this video.
When I was younger, my dad would always stress to me
the importance of saving as much money
as I could in my bank account.
And maybe just maybe,
one day I could afford a house of my own.
However, this is playing
into exactly what the banks want you to do.
Here's why.
Throughout the years,
the most influential companies of each generation have been
in different fields.
At the moment, six out
of the top 10 companies in the world are in the tech sector.
However, as these industries shift in popularity
one thing remains constant, the banking system.
But how do banks consistently manage to stay on top,
grow their power over the years
and build bigger and bigger skyscrapers?
Well, an economist named Richard Werner
had the same question.
He gained access to the back end
of the banking system and did an experiment.
The aim of his test was to monitor where exactly
the money was coming from.
Surprisingly, it didn't come from the bank's deposits,
nor did it come from the reserves.
It effectively just appeared
from thin air backed only by an IOU note.
And he states, this is where 97%
of money comes from.
Debt creation on a mass scale
like this is only possible because of the millions
of people that save the majority of their money.
Therefore, by doing this,
you're just helping more bankers get rich.
Of course, I believe you should have
at least an emergency fund of three to five month
if you live in expenses, however, once you've done that,
you should be focused
on using the money to increase your earning potential.
You are paid in direct proportion
to how much value you bring to the marketplace.
Therefore your main aim should be to increase this value,
so you have even more cash to play with.
Think of it like leveling up your character,
instead of just saving useless gems in your game vault.
My son Curtis started his business as a videographer.
However, continually spent his money strategically
to learn new skills.
Quickly, he bought more cameras that allowed him
to increase his day rate from $200 to $300.
Next, he gained a drone commercial license
that allowed him to start charging 500 pound per day.
And now after learning copywriting, editing, presenting,
social media, branding and leadership,
he's charged up to $10,000 per day.
No matter what job or business you have,
there is always a way to spend your money
strategically to level
up your earning potential.
But we need to discuss how to spot the good investments
from the bad ones.
But first I'd like to thank today's sponsor public.com.
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Step three, develop your Spidey sense.
You know how Spiderman has the ability
to know when something bad is about to happen?
You need to be like this with your money.
There are so many sharks
out there looking to scam you out your hard earned cash.
During a crypto rally,
I unfortunately saw so many 18 to 20 year olds
YOLO their life savings into scam coins.
This is so disappointing,
as it isn't just about the money they lost,
it's also about the opportunity cost involved
with throwing that money away.
There is a phrase that making your first 10K
is the hardest, and that is often very true,
as you're able to leverage that 10K to earn even more.
Everything is easier once you have momentum.
However, when you lose a lot on a scam or a bad crypto coin,
it can completely halt that progression.
There are three main things I look out for
when I'm unsure about something.
First, does it sound too good to be true?
Now I took one look at many
of the crypto lending platforms and wouldn't touch them.
This is because they were offering eye watering amounts
of interest and it just wasn't sustainable.
This was a good decision,
as many of these companies
are now bankrupt like Celsius and Voyager.
Second, is the utility of the investment obvious?
When I look at most NFTs,
I can't see any obvious uses for the product,
at least not something that justifies the crazy prices.
This is because during a bull market,
most people are buying them in hope
that they will increase in value,
so they can sell them later on and make a nice profit.
This means that it's only a matter
of time before the asset crashes in value.
And unless you want a very stressful life
of checking your investments on the daily,
then I'll steer clear.
Third, are you being driven by your brain or emotion?
This one is hard to identify,
as it's very common for people to convince themselves
that they're making a logical choice.
However, often it's just a way to justify their emotions.
Many scammers and hardcore salesmen rely
on this by pushing certain mental triggers
to make you buy whatever they're selling.
A lot of the time it's digital products.
Most of these online courses can often be useful.
However, before making any big purchase decisions
it's a good idea to wait seven days to see
if you still want it.
This tricks your brain into giving you the dopamine hit
and allows you to think far more clearly
about your purchases.
Step four, build your empire.
Becoming a millionaire,
it's a lot like rolling a snowball
down the hill and watching it gain momentum.
In my early twenties, I had a houseware of $150,000
a flatware of 46K,
a business with 116K worth of stock that was all paid off
and a 100K in cash.
My business was also turning over half a million
and I could have easily sold it for $300,000.
I know this because I had suppliers
that would've purchased it instantly,
as they were expanding like crazy.
When you have an abundance of cash,
many opportunities open up and accelerate the snowball.
At this point, you no longer need the majority of your money
for increasing the value you offer to the marketplace.
This is because of the role of diminishing returns.
When you first start investing in your skillset
even small amounts make a huge difference.
However, once you get to a certain stage,
it becomes increasingly more expensive for marginal gain.
Now, lots of people will say
that you can become financially free
from property investing, which can be true.
However, to do this effectively
you would almost have to treat it
like it's its own business.
And it's no longer
the passive investment it was promised to be.
Therefore, in my opinion, you should firstly
build up a liquid asset portfolio.
I'm talking blue chip stocks and crypto.
Recently, I heard someone say
that if you can't write a check
for $1 million within the next couple of days,
then you aren't actually a real millionaire.
This is a good way to look at it.
As there are so many millionaires that have
their network tied up in their family home
and never get to benefit from it.
I built a sizable stock portfolio rapidly
and then reinvested the cash flow
into more stocks and finally investment properties.
Now I'm getting a bit older.
I'm so glad that I have those investments that bring me
in money without me having to even think about them.
My stock portfolio is mostly made up
of index funds with quite a bias towards the America market
through the S&P 500,
This has served me unbelievably well over the years.
If you just take one thing from today,
then it should be never lock your baby money away
as you won't reach the major leagues.
Let it play, so your wealth journey can get underway.
If you wanna increase your income,
but don't know what business to start,
here's some business ideas I've hand selected for 2022.
But don't click on it just yet.
Make sure to subscribe,
if you want to grow your wealth, okay?
I'll see you over there.