George Kamel - How To Stop Living Paycheck-To-Paycheck (Without Getting A Second Job)

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

Right now, nearly 8 out of 10 people are living paycheck to paycheck. Womp womp. So today, I’m looking at how we got here and sharing practical tips to help you break the cycle.  Links:  Make Your Brain Your Friend Today With BetterHelp Learn more about Ramsey financial coaching EveryDollar budget deal: I love a good deal, and when you sign up using this link, I’ll hook you up with a 14-day free trial and $15 off your first year of the premium version of EveryDollar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recent data tells us that right now, 78% of people are living paycheck to paycheck in America. That means nearly 8 out of 10 lax bros on your amateur men's team, just trying to survive the next stick check, are also trying to survive until payday. I recognize that as an extremely specific example. I like to lax and I like to party. Now, where the percentage is high is that, we're not just talking about low-income earners here. In fact, Americans in all income brackets are now living paycheck to paycheck. And if you don't believe me, here's proof.

For lower-income earners making less than 50,000 annually, 76% are paycheck to paycheck. For those earning between 50 and 100,000 annually, 65% live paycheck to paycheck. And for those high-income earners making more than 100 grand, 47% are still living paycheck to paycheck. Let that sink in. Almost half of people earning over $100,000 annually

are paycheck to paycheck. That is insane. And it got me thinking that this problem can't just be an income issue. These numbers must allude to a deeper, pervasive societal behavior problem. And I'm not just talking about the recent surge of socks and sandal wearers.

Whoa, what, socks and sanders. Gross. I'm talking about people living way above their means with no margin to speak up. People who put off saving, rely on their credit card as their emergency fund, and never gain ground financially. But listen, if this is you, you don't have to stay on that hamster wheel, buried in weird pencil shaving flakes, struggling to get a literal drop of water from a cold metal spick. You can get off that wheel.

You can break this cycle, but you've got to get started. So today, I'm going to give you some really practical tips to help you break that paycheck-to-pache cycle so that you can find extra money. eliminate stress and actually make progress toward your money goals. But go ahead and like and subscribe to the George Campbell channel. Not only will you get no nonsense wealth building content that actually works, but you're going to join a community of now over 100,000 subscribers who are also future millionaires. So thank you to all of you who have subscribed to get us to this point so quickly.

I'm so so grateful. You will not regret it. And if you do, you can always hit unsubscribe, but that would make me really sad. All right. First tip. Do a no spend challenge for one. That's 30 days if you're tracking at home. Now, if you've never heard of a no spend month,

the name pretty much explains itself. Context clues, people. Golly, who raised you? What you say about my mama? Huh? So here's what you do. You basically freeze all spending on everything for a month except on the essentials.

Food, housing, utilities, insurances, emergencies. You name! And no, Disney Plus is not essential. Okay, you can fall asleep without sweet life on deck in the background, I promise. It took me three weeks, but I slowly weaned off. weaned off and I'm doing great now. Thanks for asking. You know what else is an essential? Door-dashing Shrimp Alfredo, tickets to Beyonce's Renaissance tour, or that spray tan, Dylan. I had a best friend

named Dylan. Nice guy. Hope he's doing well. You see, the whole point of this no-spend challenge is to hit the reset button on your finances. That way you can get a handle on where you are and take a good hard look at how much you spend willy-nilly. Because if you're struggling with a spending problem, you need to step back and get some perspective on your normal spending. Are you clicking that buy-now button out of emotion, discontentment, disorganization? Well, it, literally pays to take a beat and find out what's going on. And guys, this is just 30 days. Okay, you will survive.

And if you have kids, include them in the challenge. Because chances are, they'll want to participate and they'll want to win more than you do. Kids love games. I am a dad now. I know these things. Mostly my kid's game is pooping. It's not a game to her. It's no joke.

She's really good at it. Next tip. Switch to cash. I'm serious. Dollar bills and dimes are still legal tender in this country. Just ask the tooth fairy. Although rumor has it, she's dabbling in Zell now. And yeah, it probably won't make sense.

to use cash for everything, like your mortgage payment, for example, but you can easily switch to cash for certain spending categories, especially the ones you spend too much on, like groceries and restaurants. You see, when you use a credit card, you have no real idea of how much you're spending in the moment because you get the bill later and it's someone else's money. But there's something about physically handing over your musty, hard-earned cash that will make you think twice before spending it. And it makes you feel gritty and irreverent, like an urban cowboy, if you will.

That's how I feel, like an urban cowboy. A what? In fact, studies show that people tend to spend more with credit cards than with cash. Think about this. If you've only got 50 bucks in your wallet, you're going to get creative to stretch that dollar. Because watching those bills leave your wallet makes you think twice about what you're spending instead of mindlessly just swiping your credit card and worrying about it later. Plus, using cash keeps you from spending money you don't have. With cash, if you can't afford it, you can't buy it. It's that simple. So if you blow your grocery

budget at the beginning of the month, you're going to feel it at the end of the month. And when you realize you don't have an endless supply of money at your fingertips, you're more likely to change those spending habits. Trust me, seven consecutive days of tuna fish sandwiches may be the best overdraft protection there is. Hey, we'll get right back to the episode, but I want to give a quick shout out to our friends at BetterHelp who are sponsoring this episode. Listen, sometimes we know what's good for us,

but it feels like we just can't make ourselves do it. Like, I should just go to bed, but I'm a new dad, and my baby just got a diaper rash, and it looks really red. And sometimes my brain convinces me to check WebMD, and then I click another article and another article, and suddenly it's three in the morning. If your brain tends to work like that,

therapy could help. So your brain works with you, not against you. And sometimes it's just as simple as talking things through and learning strategies to be intentional about doing the things you know you should. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. BetterHelp is flexible because it's 100% online,

so it fits your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists at any time for no extra charge. Make your brain your friend with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash George today and get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com,

slash George or click the link in the description. All right, back to the episode we go. Next tip, set up automatic savings. Yep, you can literally save money without even thinking. Just set up your bank account to automatically transfer funds from checking to savings every month. Or you can even set up your direct deposit to automatically transfer a certain percentage of each paycheck into that savings account.

So let's say your take-home pay is around $5,000 per month. Well, if you set up 10% to automatically transfer to a savings account every month, before there's a chance for you to get your grubby hands on it, you've saved $1,000 starter emergency fund in two months with little to no effort, almost as little effort as was put into the making of Gile. And until Benefer make an appearance on this YouTube channel, I will not stop. And yes, that's my secret goal to get Benefer on this channel. After a year of automating those 10% savings,

you would have $6,000 safe in the bank with zero effort after the simple act of setting up your automatic savings. And the best part is, what this really teaches you to do is live on less than you make. Pretend that money was never there and thank yourself later. I want to thank me. Next, set up a recurring budget meeting on your calendar. And if you're married, yes, attendance for both parties is required. You see, creating a monthly budget is a non-negotiable if you want to get out of this paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.

Much like leaving before the encore at a Jason Maraz concert to beat the traffic is a non-negotiable for me. Real pro tip, leave before the concert starts. Now, if you're not budgeting at all, you're basically winging it every month, just hoping there's enough money to keep the lights on and put food on the table. And believe me, that's going to get old real fast. Like anything you want to become better at, budgeting your money is not a one-and-done thing. You've got to do this every single month so that you're always coming back, reviewing your progress, tracking transactions, and making adjustments. And hey, budget meetings don't have to be a drag.

Bring popsicles. It's a wonder what a bomb pop does for the spirit. And if you don't know how to get started, I personally use the every dollar budgeting app. It walks you through how to create your budget, and you can start tracking your expenses for free. And get this, on average, first time every dollar budgeters, immediately find an extra $332 bucks in their budget and cut it. their monthly expenses by 9%. That's a life hack. And it's a huge step to breaking the cycle of of money stress right there. If you want to check out every dollar, I'll drop a link below. All right.

The last tip is to talk to a financial coach. We all know it's hard to do things alone, like flipping a mattress or hugging. It just doesn't work out right. I feel so safe. So if you've been stuck financially, I encourage you to get some guidance and accountability to help you get out of this mess. And listen, I'm not talking about your opinionated neighbor who thinks they invented debt leverage or your bossy BFF, Cindy. I'm talking about an actual trained financial coach, which is different from other finance-related jobs. There's CPAs that will help you with taxes, financial advisors to help you with investments, but coaches work with you to create a start-to-finish plan for your money and help keep you on track. And that voice saying,

you don't need a coach, you should be able to figure out this money stuff on your own. Tell that voice to can it, okay? The experts are experts for a reason, and when we have a third-party enter into our situation, it can be a game-changer. Imagine not knowing the first thing about cars, but then telling yourself, I drive this car every day, I should be able to fix it, and then you blow off the mechanic and you try to change out the blinker fluid yourself. Come to find out, the teenager at O'Reilly Auto Parts gave you the wrong blinker fluid. Everyone knows Tesla's use synthetic. Now, if you're wondering who to trust, I'll drop a link below to a network of financial

coaches trained by our team here at Ramsey. Listen, you'll only start saving money and ditch that paycheck-to-paycheck life when you learn healthy money habits and let your future needs be more important than your current wants. You deserve to do more than just survive from month to month, so start acting like it. Be intentional with your money, and remember, it's not all about how much money you make. It's more about how you spend and save the money you make. Now, this one might seem like common sense, but so do roundabouts, and people still seem to screw those up.

It's called yielding. Ever heard of it? Now, earning more money can help, but it's not necessarily the answer, and it doesn't make you a better manager of your money. Don't increase your income just to keep living a lifestyle you can't afford. Income doesn't make you wealthy. How you handle it does.

All right, guys, that's it for today. Don't forget to spread the love and share this video with a friend who's always jonesin for the next payday. Smells like money. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Satisfied.