we all desire a bigger bank account but you'll need to do more than just think optimistically
to avoid making the same financial blunders you do almost every day from billionaire investors
to linkedin career counselors we've gathered financial advice from the best in the business and
today we'll show you how your money is stolen from you every day so grab some popcorn and a pen and
paper one paying for unused services one of the wonderful aspects of technological advancements
is that we now have access to enough services to keep us occupied and entertained indefinitely yet
managing all of these services can be costly at times and it's possible that the price will
be higher than you think in fact according to a 2018 report uk people waste 553 million pounds
every month on services they don't use or may even forget about with 40 percent of consumers
continuing to pay for services they don't use according to another survey 72 percent
of respondents admit to paying for a subscription they rarely use for three months or more implying
that the typical person spends more than 250 pounds per year on services they don't use gym
memberships were at the top of the list for the most under-utilized subscriptions with 50 of the
2213 persons pulled confessing to only going once or twice a year tv and music streaming services
as well as hobby and magazine or newspaper subscriptions were among the most underutilized
offerings some 29 percent of respondents claim they forgot they were paying for the service
and a similar percentage say they continue to pay for something they don't use because they might
need it in the future another 28 of those polled said cancelling a subscription was too difficult
so they didn't bother what's worse many customers continued to pay for these unneeded services even
as their monthly expenses increased one in every four consumers keeps paying for a subscription
despite discovering the price has gone up and 46 failed to cancel after a free trial period four
percent of people have inadvertently continued to pay for an ex partner's membership obviously the
statistics on squandered subscription money are dismal but the question we must address is why
does this happen the basic answer is that many people do not conduct regular financial audits
they could have calculated how much money they were wasting on unused subscriptions
every month if they had studied their monthly credit card statements and made the appropriate
modifications to save rather than waste that money if they had reviewed their monthly credit
card statements so if you think you're paying for services you don't use very often take a look at
your spending at the end of the month and see how much money you could be saving 2. not investing
it's often the acts we don't do that cost us the most money and this is especially true in the
case of investing taking advantage of the stock market strength has shown to be a terrific way
to grow your money for over a century but millions of americans still fail to invest
in fact as of april 2019 45 percent of americans said they were not invested in any kind of equity
including individual stocks mutual funds and 401k or ira accounts it's understandable that
some people might be apprehensive to invest with the 2000 bust in the 2008 recession we've seen two
significant market crashes in the last decades with many individuals losing their life savings
and their houses nonetheless consistent investing has been shown to be successful in growing wealth
and every day you do not invest is a day you are losing money to be honest there is no greater
anecdote to exemplify this point than steve and jeff's in the story jeff started investing when
he was 25 years old he invested 10 000 a year for 10 years before retiring at the age of 35.
with just 10 years of contributions jeff had amassed almost 1 million dollars with his
initial 100 000 sitting in the market earning the historical 7 return steve only began investing in
his mid-30s and because time was not on his side as much as it was for jeff he had to invest eleven
thousand dollars per year from the age of 35 to 65 in order to have the same lump sum at the end as
jeff to put it another way steve had to spend an extra 230 000 throughout the course of his
investment career to get the same place as jeff the point is every day that you put off investing
you're basically losing two hundred and thirty thousand dollars three ignoring opportunity cost
life is one big game of decision making whether you recognize it or not
we make decisions about what to dress who we spend our time with which schools we attend and
how we spend our money all of these choices have an opportunity cost attached to them
when attempting to reduce the amount of money you lose every day you must consider opportunity cost
which is described as the loss of potential benefit from other choices when one alternative is
chosen the cost of going to college versus going straight into the workforce after high school is
an example of opportunity cost that will connect with many people the most common expenditures
associated with attending college or tuition books and housing however this does not include
all the costs associated with this decision one significant cost that many people overlook is
the income lost as a result of seeking this degree rather than working let's say you could find a job
paying forty thousand dollars a year right out of high school if you went to college for four years
and did not obtain any raises you would lose a hundred and sixty thousand dollars in salary
not to mention the fact that you probably paid thirty five thousand dollars per year in tuition
books and housing making the true cost of this decision three hundred thousand dollars
rather than the one hundred and forty thousand dollars you'll be handing over when evaluating
how you spend your time the same opportunity cost notion can be applied what's the cost of
spending four hours a night viewing netflix for example if you add another source of income you
might have to forego some of it which is then added to the cost of your tv watching decision
most people will say that they have no other way of earning money than their 9 to 5 work thus their
daily downtime is free but i believe that everyone has the ability to master a skill that will help
them earn more money and drastically improve their financial situation 4. not paying strategically
there's no denying that spending money results in a loss but some people make matters worse
by paying incorrectly you might be wondering what he means when he says paid incorrectly
as you may be aware there are a variety of ways to pay for products
you can pay with cash credit or debit which has been increasingly popular in recent years
two of these three payment methods on the other hand will cause you to lose money every day
while the third will allow you to gain money while also providing you with several benefits
while cash and debit have their uses particularly when it comes to monetary control paying with
credit is the only method to alleviate the strain of making purchases credit card incentives support
this and these rewards can be highly lucrative unfortunately credit cards like everything else in
life have downsides and they may be costly if you aren't attentive to begin if you pay an annual fee
for a premium credit card make sure you're getting more value for your money than your spending
second if you can't make the payments and are charged interest your credit card will transition
from a money-making instrument to a money-sucking component of your life as a result if you want to
avoid losing money you should begin paying more strategically 5. working below your true rate
working at an undervalued rate is another way you're losing money every day
let's face it the majority of people work a 9 to 5 job to make money and unfortunately a big portion
of that group is paid less than they deserve for example many college graduates end up working in
retail or grocery stores because the employment market is either too competitive or there's no
need for the skills they learned in high school others on the other hand keep decent positions
and produce excellent results while still being underpaid there are two primary causes for this
the first is that they work for a profit driven firm and the company's primary goal is to keep
expenses down in order to increase profits because they want to cut costs as much as
possible they'll aim to pay you as little as possible many employees on the other hand are
too afraid to ask for a raise and instead accept whatever meager pay they're offered
rather than presenting a case for a permanent boost both situations will force you to labor
for less than you deserve ultimately leading to leaving money on the table 6. losing money at work
if you know anything about business you know that money is always exchanged for more money
if you're saving or making money for the company you deserve a raise deliver peak
performance for at least 30 days prior to asking for a promotion ideally go to your manager at the
end of a successful project and always back up your case with facts highlight the statistics
whether you brought in three clients or work twelve hour days although most raises are between
two percent and three percent you can increase your compensation by as much as 10 by changing
positions or divisions the fix is pretty easy yes the current economic situation makes you feel
fortunate to have a job but it doesn't imply you should labor like a mouse 7. avoiding negotiation
negotiation is another money-sucking factor that may not have been high on your list on this side
of the world many market vendors rarely give true prices for their wares most of the time
you're expected to haggle and lower the rates even further this guideline of negotiations holds true
in the professional sector as well when you apply for a new job you should anticipate negotiating
your compensation rather than accepting the first offer according to a harvard business school study
women are more inclined to accept the first offer made to them resulting in a loss of money and
professional advancement opportunities it's past time for a paradigm shift how do you fix this
well it's pretty simple when it comes to saving money weighing different possibilities and knowing
what rates other merchants are giving will go a long way knowing what other employees make before
starting a new job is also important this is also true of online retailers when shopping for a new
phone scout for a few online and physical places to compare prices and avoid getting overcharged
always keep in mind that refusing to negotiate has a cost eight thinking budgets are evil
the vast majority of us regard them as a constraint we can't say we blame you
they're not exactly entertaining you'll feel better and more focused once you've
identified the empty calories in your budget saving for the long run is nearly impossible
if you don't know what you spend each month for three months keep track of every single
expense from parking meters to rent only over a 90-day period can spending habits be observed
it's akin to a litmus test for good or poor habits once you've identified the money sucking holes
make the necessary adjustments the ultimate fix to your little or not so little budgeting problem
change to a more positive mindset think of budgets as the money version of a healthy diet
well thank you guys so much for watching if you enjoyed the video give it a thumbs up and
subscribe if you're new with that said have a good one and i'll see you all in the next one