In the world of consumption we live in today the thought of living by the
mantra less is more is a far-fetched idea i mean if you don't own at least
three more iphones and your best friend then you're uh loser right well let me
tell you that it's true that less can be more for instance less fights with your
partner means more happiness in your relationship moreover less fast food
means more sexy glances from becky at the gym the same principle can be
applied to your money and in this video i will share with you how financial
minimalism will make you wealthy and word on the street is that for every new
subscriber i get one of my subscribers will get approached by their gym crush
tomorrow so hit the subscribe button below and before we begin know that i'm
a cpa but i'm not your cpa so before you do anything with your money please
consult professional financial advice because this video is for entertainment
purposes only so first off what is financial minimalism while there is no
official definition for this term the word minimalism can be defined as a
style of extreme simplicity and when taken in the financial sense it
basically just means that your financial aid revolves around what you need and
cuts out what you don't for example do you need to own a few shirts yes do you
need to own 50 designer shirts probably not now beyond cutting down the number
of garments in your closet what are some other ways that people employ financial
minimalism in their lives good question as i just mentioned financial minimalism
can be employed in the consumer goods you buy but it can also manifest in many
other aspects of your daily financial life in fact whenever i talk about
saving money i discuss cutting down your big three expenses of housing
transportation and food and financial minimalism can be applied in all areas
of your finances as well for example when it comes out saying do you really
need that 2 500 square foot home for just you and your dog i mean last time i
checked the poodle didn't need three bedrooms to itself by identifying that
that two-bedroom apartment will do you can easily save yourself hundreds of
dollars a month while also still meeting all of your living needs now what about
that fancy car of yours sure it feels great to always have a brand new car in
the driveway but is it necessary after about the fifth drive in that car that
new car smell will lose its flare but those massive monthly payments won't
cease to sting when the money leaves your account in this instance financial
minimalism would indicate that a used vehicle will still get you from point a
to point b without the hefty price tag and this is a fact of financial
minimalist religion finally let's talk about food do people want to live
minimalistically eat yes do they let their eating hobbies take every penny
from their wallet absolutely not for financial minimalists the reading style
is more likely to come in the form of bulk food prep than postmates and
dinners though both options will fill you up but the cost of these two are
vastly different now at this point you probably think that being a financial
minimalist sounds extremely mundane i mean what's the point of making money if
you're going to be living in a tiny box and only eating ramen noodles right well
first not everyone takes financial militarism to that extreme but second to
those who have adopted financial minimalism this way of living feels
anything but restrictive and here's why we live in a world today where society
places on us the expectation to own as many things as possible our possessions
in effect equal our worth this is why people who drive around in exotic cars
get more praise than joe who drives around in a 10 year old prius
alternatively buying the nicest house on your block will have your family and
friends raving about your new place much more than that responsibly bought one
bedroom apartment that would suit the financial minimalistic lifestyle better
unfortunately this false sense of worth that most of us attach to our material
gets is hurting us in so many ways first is making us strain ourselves to never
miss a step on the consumer spin wheel these days over 50 percent of
millennials are working side hustles on top of their 9-5 jobs and what part of
this effort is due to stagnating wages and significant rises in cost of living
it's also due to people's fascination with possessing every material good
under the sun this is why you see people still lining up to get the newest iphone
the day it's released even though the new model is nearly identical to the one
that they already own are you stupid or something however for 99 of people
living this materialistic lifestyle is simply unsustainable even if you have a
high paying drama max out your credit cards there will always be someone else
with more spending power than you will make your new jaguar look like a lemon
beside their 2022 bugatti it's this realization right here that presents the
first marker of why people who practice financial minimalism obtain wealth
earlier than the average american consumer instead of playing a game they
can't win they unplug from the consumer matrix and instead seek enjoyment from
what they have and not what you hope to have in the future for instance a
financial minimalist will be just as happy if not more happy with two plain
white t-shirts than chad who owns 50 gucci shirts and counting
now i'm not saying that as soon as you adopt the financial minimalistic
lifestyle that you'll be wealthy doing so won't drop five million dollars into
your bank account overnight the first step towards wealth for those who adopt
this practice is the attainment of the feeling of wealth before their account
supports this fact for example someone who can live happily off twenty thousand
dollars with an income of a hundred thousand dollars will feel significantly
more wealthy than someone who earns a hundred thousand dollars and spends a
hundred thousand dollars now you may be saying to yourself but i don't want to
just be wealthy in my mind i want to be having more zeros in my bank account as
well and this too can be achieved when financial minimalism is adopted as i
pointed out earlier when you adopt a financially minimalistic lifestyle you
will naturally be living much more frugally it's pretty obvious that owning
a mansion versus a one bedroom apartment will have you paying two very different
mortgage payments and these savings will appear in all aspects of your finances
once you've learned to live off less however one cost that many people
overlook and that may be the most important for building monetary wealth
is the opportunity costs that financial minimalist sidestep by adopting this
particular way of living now if you're unfamiliar opportunity cost is the
benefit giving up when another alternative is chosen for instance
getting out late and getting blackout drunk comes with the opportunity cost of
having a productive morning the next day in a more consumer-centric example
buying that 50 000 boat means giving up an opportunity to acquire another rental
property unfortunately in life you can't have your cake and eat it too an
opportunity cost is a great example of this being the case however guess what
happens when you stop living your life with the sole purpose of owning every
material good ever made that's right you stop incurring these opportunity costs
for example since you didn't buy those designer shoes you didn't give up the
chance to save money this month spend money on a course or buy a shelf's worth
of new books as you're probably coming to realize financial minimalism is
simply about allocating your resources in a less consumer-centric way and this
is powerful when it comes to your wealth creation efforts as you can imagine when
you aren't blowing every last penny you have on useless material items you'll
have more money to save and invest for most people investing for the long term
is the only way they will ever achieve real levels of wealth and they can thank
their friend compound interest for that pleasure however one often overlooked
way that financial minimalism will contribute to your overall wealth is by
giving you back time that you wouldn't otherwise have had if you're in a
constant spending frenzy as i mentioned earlier a ton of people these days are
working two or more jobs and many of these circumstances are due to people
trying to keep up with their poor spending habits fortunately when you
adopt financial minimalism you unlock precious time that you would otherwise
not have access to which is wealth in itself if you ask me however in a more
practical sense this time gained back is half of your wealth building pie we just
talked about having more cash as being a way to generate significant wealth to
regular investing but you should be putting your abundance of time towards
making more money as well this means that instead of being forced to work
more overtime at your dead-end job or working a part-time job for minimum wage
you can instead spend time on a side hustle or business that will allow you
to take your income to the next level whether you realize it or not those who
become wealthy and those who don't only have one thing in common
how they allocate their two most important resources of time and money by
adopting financial minimalism you will instantly gain access to more of both
which is why it is such a powerful generation tool that anyone can employ
so you now know that financial minimalism can streamline your path of
wealth right you may even think that it sounds perfect in every single way but i
can tell you it isn't sure being a financial minimus will allow you to live
more simply and have access to more money than you've probably ever had
before but as the saying goes without sacrifice
there is no progress and unfortunately many people take this idea of sacrifice
a little too far we see this mistake being made all the time in the financial
independence retiree or fire community where people are enticed to live off as
little as they can in an attempt to retire at the earliest stage possible as
such they wear rugged clothes shower once a week and refuse to get around by
any other means that on foot now i am all for saving money but when i have to
sacrifice my personal hygiene to get there one must reconsider the cost of
their actions and this is where the imperfections of financial minimalism
come to life many people who are striving to make the most financial
progress in the shortest period of time often give up everything in their
day-to-day life to get there they cut out that coffee date with that cute girl
at work or they push off a family vacation until they have at least 250
000 in the bank sadly that girl isn't gonna wait around forever and your
opportunities to vacation with your kids will only last for so long which is why
financial minimalism needs to be met with some sensibility should you still
prioritize living simply yes but not at the cost of giving up all enjoyment in
your day-to-day life so the final question we need to answer here is how
do you maximize financial minimalism to achieve all of your financial
aspirations without ruining your lifestyle in the process here's what i
suggest first gain an appreciation for what material goods in your life
actually bring value and which don't for me having a home gym allows me to be
self-reliant when it comes to meeting my health goals and saves me a ton of time
commuting so this is a purchase that makes sense for me however buying an
expensive car that would only cause me heart palpitations when i bring it to
the dealership for repairs isn't where i feel my money is best used so taking
some time to assess your own spending values will allow you to start to craft
a spending plan that makes sense for you then once you cut out all these
unnecessary expenses ideally you'll have more access to the two core resources
that are required for wealth generation time and money with your time you need
to be using it to learn and grow more specifically since you should have
saving down pat at this point you want to learn how to earn more money whether
that's getting good at your job starting an online business or developing a skill
that you can use as a well-paid freelancer which i teach my students how
to do in my course side hustle success which of course i've linked down below
then when you continue to gain access to more money the final step is to move as
much of that money into assets so we'll grow your wealth over time assets like
real estate growth stocks index funds are all vehicles for wealth creation
that you must use to get ahead because saving alone simply won't do it at the
end of the day adopting the financial minimalism lifestyle is about two things
first it's about detaching from the consumerism mindset that plagues most
people which in turn will naturally allow you to feel more financially
abundant second it's about freeing up more cash to put towards your future
wealth goals therefore when done right becoming a financial minimalist now will
have you feeling wealthy now and being wealthy
in just a matter of time thanks for watching if you enjoyed the video please
hit the subscribe button below and keep watching one of the next two videos to
keep leveling up your money game