The Personal Finance Podcast - The 12 Worst Money Habits (Ranked!)

Starting point is 00:00:00 On this episode of the Personal Finance Podcast, the worst money habits ranked. What's up, everybody, and welcome to the personal finance podcast. I'm your host, Andrew, founder of MasterMoney.com. And today on the Personal Finance Podcast, we are ranking the worst money habits. If you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money newsletter by going to mastermoney.com slash newsletter. and don't forget to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or whatever podcast player you love listening to this podcast on.

Starting point is 00:00:44 And if you want to help out the show, consider leaving a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Now, today, we are going to be doing something fun. We're going to be ranking the worst money habits. And I am going to rank these 1 through 12, where 1 is the absolute worst. and 12 is going to be the least worst of this entire group. Is the least worst? Is that even a word?

Starting point is 00:01:11 I don't know. But this is going to be 12 is going to be the one that is not as bad as all of the other ones in my opinion. So I would love to hear your thoughts on these rankings at the end as well. Let us know down in the comments on YouTube or Spotify, how you feel about these. Because I think these are fun episodes to do it. In fact, we're going to dive into each and every single one of them, why they are problems, how to fix and resolve that situation if you are in that situation. if you are in that situation and get deeper and deeper into why this is important.

Starting point is 00:01:38 And when it comes to money habits, I want you to realize really quickly that before we dive into this, if you feel as though, you know, one of these habits are taking over your financial life or you feel as though you're behind with your money or you feel as though you don't know what to do with the dollars that you already have, I want you to know that you can solve that problem. You can remove these habits from your life. And in fact, many of these out there are habits that many people have struggled with in the past that they have gotten through or they have worked through and not had as much issue in play. So I want you to really look at this and say to yourself and be honest with yourself and say, do I have some of these money habits in my life? Is it an actual

Starting point is 00:02:17 problem or is it just something I have fully under control? And should I remove some of these bad money habits from my life? Some of them you absolutely should. It's pretty black and white. Some of them you can have a little bit involved and it's not as big of a deal. So without further ado, let's get into it. All right, so the first one that we're going to be diving into is trying to look wealthy instead of becoming wealthy. Now, when it comes to this one, this is for folks who are trying to look rich. If you're the type of person who buys the fancy cars, the Mercedes, the Lamborghinis, whatever it is, the BMW, because you are trying to look rich in front of other people or you are trying to be classified in a higher class or higher status than other people,

Starting point is 00:03:01 then you want to rethink why you feel that way. For example, there are different areas of the country where if you do not drive a fancy car or if you do not own a nice handbag or if you do not wear designer clothes, people are going to look at you and say, oh, they are less than. And I think that's a massive problem. And what you don't want to do is give in that peer pressure. Maybe you live in a nice area of your town and many people are acting that way. Maybe you live in a household where you feel as though, hey, when you grew up, your parents or your family members all feel as though you need to have the nicer things.

Starting point is 00:03:37 Or you grew up really poor and you were trying to compensate for the fact that you grew up poor by having all these different nice things. Listen, there's nothing wrong with nice cars. There's nothing wrong with having nice clothes. There's nothing wrong with having a big house. But all these constant upgrades are going to cost you a couple of different things. One, they're going to cost you your time and energy to maintain those things. but two, they're also going to cost you money. And the more that you purchase when it comes to these things,

Starting point is 00:04:04 the more important it is to make sure that you can also save more for your financial future. Because buying the things is not inherently the problem. But the problem is if you are sacrificing your saving and investing and you're sacrificing your financial future to be able to purchase these things, that's going to be really, really important to make sure that we start to fix those problems. The numbers are real. Is many high earners out there making over $100,000, $150,000 per year, they are living paycheck to paycheck. And the number is actually staggering as to how many there are out there.

Starting point is 00:04:39 And a big problem with this is that as you start to make more money, your lifestyle begins to increase. And all of a sudden you start to buy more of the fancy things. Hey, listen, I know that many people fall into this trap. They fall into the trap where they can finally afford the things that they feel as though would make them happy. Maybe it's the nice watch. Maybe it's the nice handbag. Maybe it's the nice shoes. And they feel as though, oh, I've always wanted these things. So I'm finally going to splurge on this stuff. I'm finally going to reward myself. The big one is the car. And when people start to do this, they realize pretty quickly over time, this stuff doesn't make you happier. It doesn't

Starting point is 00:05:14 give you more fulfillment. It doesn't give you much more joy. But it is one of those things that could be a hobby. It could be an interest. And that's okay. So I want you to realize a couple of different things. One, if you can buy those things but also hit your retirement goals, I have no issue with that whatsoever. In fact, if you're on pace for what you want to do when it comes to financial freedom or your financial independence number, that is absolutely fantastic. That means you're probably making some pretty good money or you're prioritizing or spending in a way that makes sense based on what you truly value. But if you're doing this in a way just to impress other people, but you're sacrificing your retirement, then you are sacrificing the most important

Starting point is 00:05:52 status symbol of all. time freedom. Freedom with your time, energy, and everything else is the real status symbol. In fact, a lot of times when you see people driving fancy cars, a lot of times those folks are potentially not in the best financial situation. In fact, there's been studies done of luxury vehicles. And you look at the folks who are really struggling to make payments and a lot of times they have luxury vehicles. Look at designer goods. 80% of the people who buy designer goods typically are not wealthy. And so this is one of those things I want you to understand. Looking rich and being rich are two very different things. And once you start to realize this, and once you retrain your brain to understand that you

Starting point is 00:06:36 going out and buying something to impress other people you don't even like is probably not the best move overall. So instead, I want you to understand that building wealth, having freedom with your time, freedom with your money, having a paid off car, that's the new status symbol, making sure that you are maxing out your Roth IRA, that's the flex we should be celebrating. Making sure you're maxing out your 401K, that's how you know you're bawling. And so between all these different things, I want you to retrain your brain to say to yourself, no, I'm not going to do these things. I'm not going to fall prey to this if it doesn't bring me value.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Instead, I am going to put my dollars towards things that go up in value over time. Assets. I'm going to invest more of my dollars. I'm going to buy some real estate. I'm going to buy a business. And instead, you're going to be able to reap the benefit. that everyone else wishes they have. Why?

Starting point is 00:07:25 Because if you do this early, you do this often, you can buy as much designer stuff as you want to, and it's not going to put a dent in your wealth. But if you do it too early, if you do it before you're ready, all of a sudden, you will stay poor for the rest of your life. I'm sorry, that's the reality. You're going to live paycheck to paycheck for the rest of your life.

Starting point is 00:07:42 It is not a flex to wear Gucci. It is a flex to have a maxed-out retirement account. It is a flex to be at home on a Monday morning spending time with your kids and your family members. And so I want you to understand that looking wealthy and being wealthy are two very different things. So let's put this one on the board. I'm going to put this at number 12 because I think there are things that are more important to understand. But this is going to be one of the areas that I want you to focus on if you fall prey to this.

Starting point is 00:08:08 Many of you need to understand this is a psychology thing. This is a marketing thing. And marketing has told you that if you do not drive this car or if you do not wear these clothes, you are less than. and that is not the case whatsoever. And in fact, I want you to do this exercise. If there was nobody else in the world on this earth except for you, and you took all of the logos, the badges away, would you still drive that car?

Starting point is 00:08:33 Would you still wear those clothes? Ask yourself that question, because if that's the case where there's nobody else in the world to impress and you would still be driving that car and spending that same amount on that car, that's what I want you to think about. Perfect. All right, the next one. using buy now pay later so buy now pay later has become its own behavioral problem and this is separate

Starting point is 00:08:55 from ordinary financing many people for years have been financing things but buy now pay later has become one of those easily accessible things where you can finance almost anything in fact people were making fun of this because you could go and finance your chippole burrito over the course of the last year and so i want you to understand that by now pay later i think for many people is becoming a problem i think it's a problem that is getting worse and worse. And here's the stats for 2025, and I'm sure they're going to even be higher this year. But in 2025, 16% of American adults use buy now, pay later.

Starting point is 00:09:27 Of those users, 26% paid late. Ooh, that is not a good situation. 64% of the late payers were charged extra, and 11% to buy now, pay later users had a payment trigger on overdraft or insufficient funds fee. What does that mean? That means many people who are using buy-now, Now, Pay Later cannot actually afford what they are purchasing.

Starting point is 00:09:50 In fact, 25% of them cannot. And of those, they are paying late. 64% of them were charged extra because they had interest on hand, meaning they were not paying it off when they had that 0% entry fee or interest fee. And so, my friends, this means you are going into debt. And when Buy Now Pay Later interest kicks in, that means you are going into high interest debt, meaning that you are working backwards when it comes to wealth building. If the item that you want, you cannot pay in cash with it, then I don't want you buying it.

Starting point is 00:10:17 So if you want to buy, for example, a computer and you're thinking about buying a brand new computer so that you can have it and on hand, maybe you want to work more efficiently or all those different things. The best way to do this, and we just had somebody in Master Money Academy go through this process. The best way to do this is to save it up in cash. So every single month, you figure out, okay, this computer is going to cost me $1,200. Well, I have an extra $150 every single month. I am going to save that money up in cash. Then I'm going to pay cash in full for that item.

Starting point is 00:10:47 We do not use buy now, pay later here. In fact, I really, really hate the concept of having that in play. Because for many people out there, it just leads to poor financial habits. And the last thing you want to do is to reinforce poor financial habits because that's going to make you say, okay, well, I can do this over and over and over again. What's using buy now, pay later again? I have the extra money on hand. I just don't want to use it yet.

Starting point is 00:11:10 Or what about if we want to use it for, first you do it with a burrito, then you do it with a laptop, then you do it with a camera, then all of a sudden you're fine. financing pretty much everything in your entire life out the wazoo, and you are drowning in payments, and you can never take those extra dollars and put them towards wealth building. And I think one of the leading reasons why people use by now, pay later is because they can't afford the purchase. That's the reason why you would use that. Otherwise, you would save up in cash and be a little bit patient. Patience is going to lead to wealth building if you learn the skill of patience. And so that's where I really want people to understand splitting a price up and saying to yourself, I'm going to invest the

Starting point is 00:11:45 difference or saying to yourself, I'm going to put it in my emergency fund, really is not the move. Instead, I would rather you save it up, pay in cash, and then move on to the next thing. So stop using Buy Now Pay Later. In fact, if you are a wealth builder, I don't want you using it at all. But we're going to put this one at number nine on the board because I want people to understand that Buy Now Pay Later probably is not the best thing for them long term. If you've been listening to this show for a while, you know it's not just me anymore. It takes a great team behind the scenes to make everything happen.

Starting point is 00:12:18 And if I had to hire someone tomorrow, I'd want someone who could jump right in and make an impact. That's why I'd use IndeedSponsor jobs. When workplace chaos hits, IndeedSponsor Jobs helps you reach qualified candidates faster. Your job gets boosted in search results, so you're spending less time searching and more time interviewing the right people. Plus, you only pay for results, which I absolutely love. Sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95%, more likely to report a higher than non-sponsored posts. That's a huge advantage when you're trying to grow your business. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes.

Starting point is 00:12:58 Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is the job for Indeed sponsor jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. Now, if you watch this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube, you probably notice the wood slat walls behind us. We wanted this podcast set to look professional, but also not be a project that was overly complicated.

Starting point is 00:13:42 And I found these slat walls on Wayfair and it completely changed this space. And it's now basically the background that you see in every single podcast or piece of content that we record. And that's one of the things that I love about Wayfair. You can shop thousands of products across different styles and budgets, use customer photos and reviews to see how things actually look in real homes and find something that fits your space. They also have Wayfair verified products that are hand vetted by product specialists, using a 10-point quality inspection. And with more than 20 million verified five-star reviews,

Starting point is 00:14:18 you can feel a lot more confident about what you're ordering. I've used Wayfair for this studio and our home, and I absolutely recommend them for your space. So transform your space with pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair rewards today and get 5% back on every single purchase. Head to Wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home.

Starting point is 00:14:47 Wayfair, every style, every home. All right, up next is we have ignoring investment fees. So, fees can feel harmless. Hearing that your mutual fund has a 1% fee can feel as though it's not that big of a deal. So here's the wild thing, okay? A 1% fee can shave roughly 28% off. your ending balance when all is said and done over the course of a 30-year career. Let's say, for example, you've been investing your entire life and you get to a $4 million

Starting point is 00:15:21 portfolio. Well, all of a sudden, you were going to lose out on $1 million, actually a little over $1 million because you did not watch your fees. Because you invested in a mutual fund instead of something like an index fund. Or you invested into a really high fee reet instead of investing into a low-cost ETF. And so what we need to understand is we need to understand the fees in our investments. If you have not listened to our episodes where we talk about fees on investments, please go back and listen to those episodes because it's really important to understand this concept.

Starting point is 00:15:55 It is a million dollar decision to make sure that you are evaluating fees within your investments. Fees are the way that the financial industry gets those high-rise building on Wall Street or gets the high-rise buildings in Chicago is because fees are what pay. for that. And a 1% fee can sound like it's not a big deal, but it is a absolutely huge deal. Now, you cannot control what the market does, but what you can control is how much you're paying to other people. And so looking at those fees deeper is really important. So where should you evaluate these fees? One is go look into your 401K. Look at the investments that you have in your 401k and see how much you're paying in fees. Many people get pulled into a target date retirement fund and you're

Starting point is 00:16:37 paying a half a percent to 1% in fees. In fact, I would much rather you, be paying a 0.04%, a 0.10%, but anything above 0.30% is starting to get really, really high. Unless it's a specialized ETF or index fund that you feel as though has really big long-term potential, paying more than that expense ratio becomes problematic. You can find a financial advisor to help you for closer to that range. And so I want you to understand that as we start to think through this, and as we start to look deeper into fees, I want you to evaluate that. Secondly, look at the fees in your Roth IRA, make sure the funds that you are, you know, investing in in your Roth IRA do not have high fees. Third, look at the fees inside of your HSA, look in your taxable brokerage as well.

Starting point is 00:17:23 All of these different accounts, you need to have an understanding of how much you're paying in fees and evaluating those investments. Then look at your advisor's fees. If you're paying your advisor 2%, that is just too high in today's day and age. There are amazing advisors out there who charge less than 1% that actually are fiduciaries that are going to be helping. you long term. And so what I want you to do is evaluate fees across the board and then understand how much you're paying in fees. And in fact, if you're evaluating your fees right now, go ahead and leave a comment down below on YouTube or Spotify and tell me how much your fees currently are. And if you feel as though they're too high. And that's going to be one of those things that I want

Starting point is 00:18:01 you to reduce because it is a six figure to multi-million dollar decision to do that. And so when you look at your fees, it's really, really important not to ignore them. Now, there are fees that are hidden and expense ratios as well. Sometimes mutual funds have a bunch of other fees that are added on are tacked on. Sometimes your 401k has additional fees tacked on. So understand and be diligent about finding fees. It's really, really important to do that. So ignoring investment fees, I'm going to put at number 11 because at least you're investing your dollars, at least you're getting your dollars put to work. But this is something that you absolutely need to make sure you're taking advantage of. And if you are paying a huge portion in fees, a really high numbered fees, it'd be even higher

Starting point is 00:18:40 on this list, but I'm going to put it at number 11 because at least you're trying to grow your money and at least you're trying to invest your dollars. The next one is a fun one. So this is financing everything based on the monthly payment. So this is how people become broke with a good income. Is if you think through, okay, well, I've got extra cash on hand, I can just finance this brand new pool, or I've got extra cash on hand, I can just finance this brand new boat. Or I've got extra cash on hand. Maybe I'll just finance the golf cart so I can ride around the next. neighborhood in the new golf car. And so many people ask themselves, well, can I afford a $700 per month payment? And if you're saying yes to that without doing total cost of ownership and understanding

Starting point is 00:19:23 the total cost of what you were paying for, this is how people with good income stay broke. This is how people with who seem as though they have good income coming in and they have a lot of money coming in, it seems as though they get to the end of the month and all of a sudden that money disappears is most likely you can identify a couple of different things. One is they are spending too much housing, food, transportation, but two is that they have way too many payments that they are having to cover. Listen, every single payment that you take on means that you are going to have to get up every single day, go to work in traffic, go to a job that you may like or you may dislike, deal with a lot of problematic situations, drive back home through traffic, and come home

Starting point is 00:20:05 just to make enough money to make that payment. And when you start to reframe taking on new payments in this way, that will show you that you are taking on an obligation for years to have a want. So any depreciating asset out there, I am very pro looking deeper into that appreciating asset and making sure you do a total cost of ownership calculation. But people do this for all kinds of stuff. They do it for a Peloton. They do it for their cell phone. They do it for a couch.

Starting point is 00:20:33 And the more things you finance, the more toys you finance, the more things that you put on some sort of plan or some sort of card means that you are spending so much more. And this is how people who are making $200,000 per year, all of a sudden have $9,000 per month in mandatory payments. And once you understand that the monthly payment methodology is a sales tool, what's the first thing a car dealership is going to ask you when you go in to buy a car? How much can you afford every single month? How much extra cash do you have on hand? And how much do you want to pay every single month for a monthly payment? That is the wrong frame, the wrong question that you should be asking yourself. Instead, you should be saying,

Starting point is 00:21:07 what is the total cost of ownership on this car? How much am I going to be paying every single year in maintenance. How much am I going to be paying every single year in insurance? Is my insurance going to go up? What are the dock fees going to be? What are the closing costs going to be? All those costs need to be associated when you're starting to think through some of this stuff. So don't fall prey to the sales tool of monthly payments. Instead, make sure that you're diligent about running total cost of ownership when it comes to this stuff. And if you're buying a couch, if you're buying a cell phone, pay in cash. You may be saying to yourself, well, how am I going to do that? Go save up for the first phone, pay in cash. And then once you start to have that phone in play,

Starting point is 00:21:41 instead of paying the company with interest every single month, instead, set that money aside in a high-yield savings account, automate it and put it in that high-yield savings account and all of a sudden, when that phone goes bad in two years or three years or four years, you've got the money just there ready to buy the next phone. It's not hard, but most people don't have the discipline to do this stuff, which is why we teach you to automate your money. And in Master Money Academy, we just did it automate your money in one week in class because we want you to automate your money so you can do this over and over and over again. This is why we want you to do that, is making sure that you're thinking about this as you start to go through and not financing every single thing. So we're

Starting point is 00:22:18 going to put this on the board at number seven because many people fall prey to this and many people fall prey to the total monthly payment game. And I don't want you to do that whatsoever. The next one is not getting your full employer match. So if you're someone out there that has a 401k or a Roth 401K or a 457 or a 403B or an HSA and your employer has what we call an employer match meaning they match a certain amount that you contribute to those accounts and you're not taking advantage of that match you are literally foregoing free money you're foregoing part of your compensation package money that you could be getting for free if you just contribute to those accounts. So let's say, for example, that your employer will contribute 5% of whatever you

Starting point is 00:23:09 contribute to your 401k. Well, if you contribute 5%, and they contribute 5%, all of a sudden, you're saving 10% of your income right off the bat. And you have no idea how powerful it is to save 10% of your income long term. If you're making $100,000 per year, all of the sudden, you are putting $10,000 into your 401k every single. year. $10,000 compounded over the course of 30 to 40 years is millions of dollars. And so you are literally not taking advantage of free money. And I want you to understand that the 401k match or the employer match is one of the most important and one of the first things you should do when you're getting your money together, when you're getting your money right. A dollar for dollar matches free money.

Starting point is 00:23:54 Now, for some of you who are new to employer matches, some places will do what is called a vesting schedule, meaning that if you're at your employer for one year, maybe you get, you know, 50% of your employer match vested. Then for two years, maybe it's 75%. And then at three years, it's 100%. So what that means is that the amount of time that you're with your employer, that is how much and what percentage of your employer match you are going to get invested, meaning guaranteed staying inside of your 401k plan.

Starting point is 00:24:23 And so many times, even if you have those vesting schedules, you are still getting that free money. and I want you to take advantage of that as much as possible. So always try to take advantage and get your full employer match at the bare minimum, whatever they will match you at. If you put 7% in and they give you 3.5% for free, do it. If you put 3% in and they will match you at 3%, do it. But whatever they do, it is absolutely free money.

Starting point is 00:24:46 So I'm going to put this on the board at number 10. It is not the worst possible thing you could do if you're investing and doing some other things, but it is something that you got to make sure that you are taking care of if you are not already. It is a six-figure decision over the course of a 30-year career if you do not take advantage of that employer match. I want you to understand that. No matter what you're making, you can do a really, really cool thing with that employer match. All right, the next one is going to be sports gambling. Now, this is one that I think is very interesting in today's day and age.

Starting point is 00:25:18 In fact, a study just came out showing that Gen Z is foregoing retirement contributions to be able to gamble more in sports. and Americans legally wagered about $167 billion on sports in 2025, generating almost $17 billion in sports book revenue. That revenue is money that better is lost before the books even pay their operating expenses or taxes, meaning $17 billion. And guess what? They're already saying this year in 2006 at the time I'm recording this, that number is going to be way bigger. This is becoming a problem. And in fact, there was a study done by NBER that people who do that online sports typically have lower savings and investment rates than people who avoid it. And financially constrained households saw higher credit card debt, lower available credit, and more overdrafts.

Starting point is 00:26:10 So this is simply not replacing entertainment spending. It is displacing saving and investing. And I think that's where the real problem is with this and why I'm getting increasingly concerned. I've talked about this in the past on past episodes. sure, I will wager $5, 10, $10, $15, even $20 on a football game from time to time. But as of late, I have actually pulled back, and as of late, I really have not bet much at all. Because, A, I want to set an example for you guys. I just don't think it's an intelligent thing to do.

Starting point is 00:26:40 I don't think it's smart to do long term if you feel as though you are someone out there who is going to fall prey to this. I don't have a problem if you bet $5, $10, even $20 if you can afford it. But I do have a problem if it becomes something that eats into your retirement savings or it becomes something that eats into your long-term wealth building savings. If you're doing it as part of your entertainment budget and you enjoy it, hey, it's, you know, it makes a game more interesting for you or you having fun with it. Absolutely fine. But if you're someone who feels as though you're getting deeper and deeper into the hole or

Starting point is 00:27:14 you're not saving and investing and you're betting over 20 bucks on specific games multiple times a week, my friends, that is a huge, huge problem. Vegas is always going to win. Now, sure, you may hit it a couple of different times, but the odds are not in your favor. And the sooner you realize that the odds are not in your favor, the better off you're going to be financially long-term. Guess where the odds are in your favor?

Starting point is 00:27:36 Long-term investing over the course of decades. So you need to realize that this is not something to play with whatsoever. You are playing with fire. You are playing with something that has been proven time and time again to cause people to have financial ruin. So here's the way to combat against this. One, what I do is I set parameters, meaning I will not bet more than a certain amount on a specific game,

Starting point is 00:28:02 and I will not bet more than a certain amount in a given month. So for me specifically, a lot of times, I will set these parameters up where starting off maybe it's five bucks. And then you can have your fun, and maybe it's not as fun for you if you're only betting five bucks because you don't win as much. Well, then so what? This is not something to get into where you are just blowing money left and right.

Starting point is 00:28:25 How is it fun to lose $200 every single weekend? It's not. And maybe you win it a couple of different times and you feel as though you're going to stay on top and you get that rush going. It's all just emotions. It's all just emotions coming into play. So instead, what I want you to do is I want you to set parameters, set limits, and make them extremely modest.

Starting point is 00:28:49 if you're going to do this, make them modest. Now, if you've had a problem with the past, you need to delete all the sports betting apps, never do it again. You get one chance. And if you've had a problem or you feel as though your family's gone into debt, you are sacrificing your family's future

Starting point is 00:29:02 so that you can have a little bit of entertainment and sports gamble and get that flutter inside. So I need you to make sure that you're avoiding this at all possible. So this is engineered to be addictive. It is engineered to be something that you can, you know, take on and feel as though you are winning when you're not.

Starting point is 00:29:18 And so I want you. you to ensure that you were avoiding this at all costs. So second rule with this is you have these parameters in place, every dollar you bet, you also invest the same amount, if not double. Minimum. In addition to your retirement goals. So if I contribute $100 to my betting account, I'm also going to contribute $100 to my taxable brokerage account. If you can't pay double, you can't afford it. That way, you balance this out a little bit. Let me just say this really quick. If you're in debt, like credit card debt or anything else, and you are sports gambling, boy, oh boy, is that the wrong mentality. You are going backwards financially and you're deciding to put dollars towards

Starting point is 00:29:55 something that will not work out in the long run. It's not a wise decision. You want to be prudent with your finances. You want to make sure that you are making wise decisions when it comes to this. So I'm going to put this on the board because of the problem that is increasing over time here is number three. The reason for this is because the sports gambling industry is getting worse and worst. The stats that are coming out on this is getting worse every year. At first, this seemed to be for a lot of people harmless, but now it's getting worse and worse. And so if you have an addiction, also please, call, get help. There are lines that will help you literally for free gambling lines. So please make sure that you do not have a problem when it comes to this stuff. All right, D, next one is

Starting point is 00:30:36 cashing out your retirement. So cashing out your retirement is stealing from future you. And I have been amazed at how many people have asked me questions on if they should cash out their retirement to do this or to buy a house or to do this. And in reality, if you can avoid it, cash out your retirement because interrupting compound interest unnecessarily is one of the worst things that you can do. And if you're someone who feels as though you're going to dipping into your retirement as an option, I want you to reframe your brain and say to yourself, ah, this is absolutely not an option for me.

Starting point is 00:31:07 This is not something I'm going to do moving forward. And in fact, I really want you to make sure that you never, ever, ever do this unless it is the worst possible situation that you're ever in. There's nothing else you can do. So cashing out your retirement is something I don't want you to do. So the Federal Reserve found that 4% of retirement account holders permanently withdrew retirement money in 2025 and another 5% borrowed from their accounts. Some common reasons why this happened was job changes.

Starting point is 00:31:33 So cashing out a small 401k instead of rolling it over. So that's mistake number one is if you do change jobs, understand that you can roll your 401k over to your new job and or do a rollover IRA at Vanguard or Fidelity. You don't have to do this where you cash it out. Instead, roll it over. That's going to be one thing to do. So that was just lack of financial education there. A second reason was emergencies, meaning people didn't have an emergency fund in place

Starting point is 00:31:57 that they have to reach out and grab their 401k or their IRA and cash out retirement in that way. Listen, that's why we have you have an emergency fund. It protects against you having to do that. Three, is they are using the account as just a general safe. savings bucket and they pull, contribute, pull, contribute. And that's the third mistake that you can make. This is a long-term wealth-building tool. This is not something that you dip into over and over again and said, you want to make sure that when it comes to your 401k, you are utilizing this as a long-term wealth-building tool.

Starting point is 00:32:27 Now, if you have a true emergency, like you are out of options, you have nothing left, maybe that's something you do, but I probably would say I would never, ever, ever want you to do this. So we're going to put this as number eight, because I really don't want you to do this. This is one of those things that is going to take you backwards financially. But I'm going to put it at number eight because there are things that we're going to be talking about here that can be worse. And if you do a couple of these things, it'll help you avoid cashing out that retirement account, which is the next one. So let's talk about the next one, which is having no emergency fund, which along those lines is the next one. The next one is having no emergency fund.

Starting point is 00:33:03 So the emergency fund is not designed to maximize your return. It is not designed to help you retire. it is to stop you from making terrible financial decisions when life happens. In 2025, only 55% of adults had three months of expenses saved. And in fact, a huge portion of adults do not have $1,000 saved up in cash. This is where I really want you to make sure that you are thinking through this process really quick. Imagine your money is a castle.

Starting point is 00:33:32 And you don't want anything to disrupt the lifestyle of folks within the that castle. And so what you want to do is if intruders are going to come and try to steal money, if that is inside your castle, you want to make sure that you have something there protecting them. And so you want to build what they call a moat. Now, when you build a moat around a castle, this is basically building a waterway around a castle so enemy intruders can't get to the castle. That's what your emergency fund is. It is the moat that protects your finances. It is the guard that protects your finances so you have the ability to be able to build wealth. So the Fed came back with some data, which was the most common, large, unexpected expenses.

Starting point is 00:34:15 30% was major vehicle repairs or replacement. 22% was major home and appliance repair. And 21% was a major medical expense. So that tells you some interesting data right now. Your car, your home, and your health are the three areas where you are most likely going to have an emergency. The fourth would most likely be job loss, where these are major emergencies that are going to pop up over and over again. Cars are going to break. AC units are going to die.

Starting point is 00:34:47 You may have to run to an ER because your kid slips and falls or breaks their arm or you get hurt. And so you got to make sure that you're prepared for this stuff. It's not if an emergency is going to happen, but when will an emergency happen? And so making sure you have that emergency fund in place is really, really important. Now, our goal here is we want you to have an ultimate six-month emergency fund, meaning one month of expenses, pay off high interest debt, then save three months of expenses, then ultimately get to six months of expenses inside of your emergency fund. If you don't have that in place yet, then working towards that is really important.

Starting point is 00:35:17 If you haven't checked out our episode called the 136 method for saving and managing your emergency fund, make sure you check that episode out because that gives you the full guide on exactly how to do this. Now, this fun is what keeps life's inevitable problems that are going to keep popping up. It keeps them at bay. It keeps you stress-free. It keeps you anxiety. It's one of the best things for your financial mentality.

Starting point is 00:35:39 And so I want you to make sure that you have an emergency fund in place. And so we're going to put this on the board as number six. If you don't have one in place, that is a huge problem. I want you to start working towards at least first your one-month emergency fund and start working towards that right now. Do that today is one of the most important things that you need to do if you do not have it on hand yet. And so that, my friends, is going to be a big, big deal.

Starting point is 00:36:02 My relationship with money has changed a lot over the years. Early on, I thought building wealth was about making more money. Now, I know it's really about having clarity. When you know exactly where your money is going and whether you're on track, you make better decisions. That's one of the reasons I love Monarch. It's the personal finance app that tracks everything from your accounts and investments to your savings, goals, and spending. So you can see your entire financial picture in one place. One habit that's made a huge difference for me is my five-minute drill every single morning.

Starting point is 00:36:34 I open Monarch, check my spending, investments, cash flow, and net worth, and I'm done in just a few minutes. It gives me confidence that nothing is slipping through the cracks. I also love the AI Weekly Recap because it'll flag spending changes, upcoming expenses, or shifts in my net worth before they become a problem. Instead of reacting after the fact, I can make adjustments early. It really feels like having a financial advisor in your pocket. Write your own money story with Monarch. Use code PFP at Monarch. to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50.

Starting point is 00:37:09 That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with code PFP. It's kind of amazing how much can change in just a single year. Every summer, the kids are a little bigger, a little more independent, and life looks a little different than it did the year before. And it reminds me that while we can't predict the future, we can prepare for it. That's one of the reasons I like policy genius. See, policy genius isn't an insurance company. They're an online marketplace that lets you compare life insurance quotes from some of America's top insurers side by side for free. And their licensed

Starting point is 00:37:44 team helps you compare coverage, prices, and terms, answers your questions and even handles the paperwork so you can get the right policy without the hassle. For me, having life insurance isn't about expecting something to happen. It's about knowing my family is protected so I can actually enjoy these moments together instead of worrying about what he's not. comes next. And with PolicyGenius, you can find 20-year life insurance policies, starting at just $276 a year for $1 million of coverage. Head to PolicyGenius.com to compare life insurance quotes from top companies and see how much you can save. That's policygenius.com. All right, the next one is lifestyle creep. So one of the biggest reasons that people who are high

Starting point is 00:38:28 earners or people who are regular earners do not become wealthy is because of lifestyle creep. What is lifestyle creep? This means that you begin, to make more money. And let's say, for example, you start your career making $50,000 per year. Then you get a $20,000 raise and you get a promotion. And so now you're making $70,000 per year. And when you were making $50,000 per year, maybe you were spending $50,000 per year. But then you get that raise in promotion and now you have $70,000 per year coming in and all of the sudden you increase your lifestyle. Maybe you get the nicer car and you take on the new car payment. Maybe you get the nicer apartment and you start to take on a higher rent payment. Maybe you start to buy some nice

Starting point is 00:39:05 your clothes and you start to get used to this beautiful lifestyle and then all of a sudden before you know it, you're spending $70,000 per year. So you're still living paycheck to paycheck even though you started to make more money. But then all of a sudden, you're doing well at work, you're crushing it, you're working hard, you're working your butt off every single day. And you get another promotion and now you're making $100,000 per year. And all of a sudden, you're like, wow, I have some extra cash on hand. Let me go spend it. And so you take more lavish vacations. You take on more car payments, Maybe you buy a boat. Maybe you buy a brand new truck.

Starting point is 00:39:38 Maybe you buy the brand new luxury SUV. You got to have the luxury SUV. And all of a sudden you start to take on more payments and increase your lifestyle again to $100,000. Well, as you can see, you're not taking any portion of those raises and any portion of those increases and putting them towards your long term wealth building. So the longer you do this, the more you are just working on a hamster wheel. You are working on the rat race and you will never, ever be able to retire. I'm going to say this again to everybody in the back. You need to understand that every single time you get a race,

Starting point is 00:40:08 if you don't take a portion of that race and put it towards your financial future, you are literally keeping yourself on the hamster wheel. You are literally getting up every single day, going to work, driving through traffic, working for your boss, driving home, getting back, making dinner, having the same old day every single day, and that day is never going to end unless you decide to prioritize financial freedom. The moment you decide to prioritize financial freedom is the moment all of that can change.

Starting point is 00:40:39 Everything in your life can change. But you have to prioritize that first. And lifestyle creep is the biggest culprit of this. Some lifestyle creep is good. Let's get real. We start to get promotions. I want to spend a little more on myself. I want to buy myself some cool things.

Starting point is 00:40:52 I want to be able to spend more and get the appetizers when I'm out to dinner. I want to be able to buy the nicer, safer car for my family. I want to upgrade my house so every child in my face. family has their own room. I want to be able to do cool things. And you should be able to do cool things. Lifestyle creep is good. But using all of your raises, all of your bonuses, towards your lifestyle, that's the problem. So how do you fix this? Well, I like the 50-50 rule. Every time you make more money, put 50% towards investments and savings and 50% towards your lifestyle. That way you can spend some. And you can also take a portion and it goes towards

Starting point is 00:41:29 future you. This is how you have balance with your money. This is how you're responsible with your money. This is how you have the ability to do the things that you actually want to do, but also save for your financial future. And as you start to increase your income, the more you increase your income, the more you can put at that 50% towards your lifestyle. So you can enjoy your life. This is how you have that balance and how you save for that balance. So I'm going to put lifestyle creep on the board at number five, because I think this is one. Many of us have experienced, probably every single person listening to the show, has experienced this in the past. And so you just want to make sure that you were on top of this before it gets worse.

Starting point is 00:42:03 That's all you really want to do. And if you balance lifestyle creep, it's okay in some senses, but it is not the thing that you want to take over your life. And for many high earners, you may be making good money and you're making $200,000 for year, $250,000 per year, but your lifestyle creep has gotten out of control. This is why. This is why you're still in that position and why you need to work on fixing it. Okay. All right, the next one is a good one. waiting until you invest to make more money. This is one of the most common things I hear is I'll invest someday. I'll invest when I make more money someday.

Starting point is 00:42:38 But the most valuable asset that you have as a young investor, the most valuable asset that you have today is the amount of time that you have left on this earth. And the longer your time horizon is, the more wealth that you can build with small amounts of money. You see, small amounts of money over time can grow to a very large, amounts of money. And so over the course of, let's say, for example, you have $500 per month. Well, $500 per month at an 8% rate of return, over 40 years is going to turn into $1.75 million.

Starting point is 00:43:09 Over the course of 30 years, it's going to turn into $745,000. And over the course of 20 years, it's going to turn into $295,000. The same monthly amount, but it's just doing it longer means that compound interest really starts to kick in. Now, only 61% of adults had a tax tax advantage retirement account, like a 401k, an IRA, or a Roth IRA over the course of the last year. And you do not want to wait until you are doing well or you have enough saved up for you to be able to start investing. I don't care if you have $50. I want you to get started today. And I want you to put that $50 loud and proud inside of your brokerage account of your Roth IRA or your HSA or your 401k. And I want you to say, this is going to be a part of my retirement plan one day.

Starting point is 00:43:56 Then as you get that raise, like we just talked about with lifestyle creep, you take a bigger chunk of it and you start to put it towards your investments until you get to the point in time where you're at least investing 20% of your income. That's the goal. Let's get our investment train going. Let's roll that snowball downhill so it can grow larger and larger and larger. Small amounts of money, I want you to say this over and over again. Small amounts of money over time can grow to very large amounts of money. So start planting those seeds. Every dollar you invest is a seed.

Starting point is 00:44:25 and you want to build this orchard that you can live off forever. And imagine, you plant a bunch of seeds and one day you want these to grow into apple trees. And once those apple trees and that orchard is done, you never have to buy food ever again. And you can live off those apples for the rest of your life. That's exactly what investing is. It's planting the seeds so that you can grow these apple trees that are going to produce enough fruit where you never have to work again. So the sooner you start planting those seeds, the sooner you're going to be able to be financially

Starting point is 00:44:58 free. So I'm going to put this on the board at number four because waiting for the perfect time to invest means that you're missing out on your most valuable asset, which is time. All right. The next one is carrying a credit card balance month to month. Ooh boy, I'm going to have to think about this one for a second. What do we have left? We have one and two left.

Starting point is 00:45:19 All right. So carrying a credit card balance month to month, this is arguably one of the most important. things that you need to avoid at all costs. Credit cord debt can cost you anywhere from 15 to 35% and I've seen even higher as of late every single month. You can't find a single investment that is going to give you some sort of return that is like that. And so the first thing you want to do is attack credit card debt with a vengeance. Get after it as fast as you possibly can because that is going to ensure that you avoid high interest debt. And that is one of the pants on fire emergencies that you need to make sure that you have. Here's the crazy part, and this is what's scary to me, is Americans held $1.26 trillion in credit card balances as of Q2 of this year alone.

Starting point is 00:46:05 The Fed found that 45% of credit card owners carried a balance of at least once during 2025, and $10,000 at $25 at $25% is roughly $2,500 per year in interest before you make a dent in principle. So let's think about this for a second, okay? Let's say you go out to eat with your friends. every $100 that you leave on that credit card means you're going to be paying $125 for that dinner. But it gets worse because it starts to compound against you and it gets worse and worse and worse. And so what you need to realize is that carrying a credit card balance is a pants on fire emergency. You need to act as though you have pants on. They're on fire.

Starting point is 00:46:46 And if you don't stop, drop, and roll, it's going to catch the rest of your body on fire. I know that's graphic, but that's exactly what's happening financially when it comes to credit card debt. it is by far the worst thing you can do. In fact, I'm putting this at one right now. I'm going to say it. I'll put it on the board at number one because this is one of those things that you absolutely cannot do. And if you have revolving credit card debt that you keep adding to and paying off a portion,

Starting point is 00:47:09 but you keep adding to it and paying off a portion, I need you to cut up that card as fast as you possibly can. If you cannot pay the statement balance in full, rewards and points and all this other stuff doesn't matter. You need to avoid credit card debt at all costs, no matter what it takes for you to be able to do that. So this is number one for sure on my board. It is the worst possible thing that you can do is have credit card debt.

Starting point is 00:47:30 And if you're scared of this, you're like, I don't want to open a credit card because I don't want to go into debt, then don't. Now, I pay my cards off weekly. If you want to stay on top of your cards, I pay them off every single week. I just did it just before I started recording this episode. It's Friday right now. And every single Friday, my wife and I, we pay off our credit cards in full.

Starting point is 00:47:46 Every single Friday. I do the same exact thing with my business. I pay off my cards in full every single Friday. The reason for this is because it can get out. of control without you even realizing it. And if you don't stay on top of them, then you will feel a month or two throughout your life where it's going to be like, oh, my credit card's a lot higher than I thought it was going to be this month.

Starting point is 00:48:07 The more time you have between paying them off, the harder it is to manage. It just as for anything in life. And so I want you to pay them off and full on a weekly basis. It's part of one of my money routines. We'll have some, we're going to have some conversations in Master Money Academy and some master classes on money routines. But it's one of my money routines that I make sure that I do every single week because I feel better. My anxiety and stress is gone. And in reality, it just keeps me on top of everything.

Starting point is 00:48:29 Does it improve your credit score? No. But it keeps you on top of everything. So you never, ever carry a balance, which is the most important thing. Lastly, the last one we have on the list is spending everything you make. So the last spot we have on the board is number two. So we're putting this as number two. This is arguably one of the most important habits on the board as well is making sure you don't spend everything that you make, making sure you avoid the paycheck to paycheck cycle. and it really doesn't matter how much money you make. If you spend all of your money, you will never get ahead financially. You can make $900,000 per year, but if you spend $900,000 per year, you are no better off than the teacher who makes $50,000 per year, but spends $40,000 per year.

Starting point is 00:49:10 They are way better off than you ever will be. And so you need to understand that income does not equal wealth. What equals wealth is the amount of money that you put in income producing assets or assets that go up in value over time. And so only 55% of adults had enough emergency savings to cover three months of expenses in 2025. And the goal is simply not to increase your income. It is also to increase the gap between your income and expenses. So as your income increases, you got to make sure that you do that. A higher earner with no gap is in the same position as a low earner that has this gap in place that we just talked about.

Starting point is 00:49:46 And so this is why this is at number two. Because it's one of the most important things that you need to make sure that you are taking care of is making sure that you do not spend everything you make and avoiding that paycheck to paycheck cycle. I was in the paycheck to paycheck cycle. And sometimes when you're not making good money, then you are in the paycheck to paycheck cycle and you need to increase your income.

Starting point is 00:50:04 But sometimes when you're making good money, you need to decrease your expenses. It depends on where you are in life, but those are the two ways to get out of this cycle and get out of that paycheck to paycheck cycle. All right. So here's the final board. Number 12 is trying to look wealthy.

Starting point is 00:50:16 Number 11 is ignoring fees. Number 10 is missing your employer match. Number nine is using buy now, pay later. Boy, oh boy, do I hate that. Number eight is cashing out retirement accounts. Number seven is financing everything based on the monthly payment. Number six is having no emergency fund. Number five is lifestyle creep.

Starting point is 00:50:36 Number four is waiting to invest. Number three is sports gambling. Number two is spending everything you make. And number one is carrying credit card debt. Let me know what you think in this list down below. I would love to hear your thoughts. And what order would you do it in if you completely disagree with me? Let me know on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube or any other podcast player that you were listening to.

Starting point is 00:50:56 Would love to hear your thoughts. If you like these episodes or we're having a little fun ranking things, let me know down below as well. And we've got some really, really cool episodes coming out. So make sure you're subscribed on this podcast. Also, if you want to dive deeper with me and you want to get help from me, directly working with me in Master Money Academy is the way to go. You could check out the link down below if you want to learn how to invest and build wealth for your family's financial future. if you've got cash just sitting there and you want to learn how to invest, make sure you click the link down below and I will help you through that process.

Starting point is 00:51:26 Also, if you want to get one-on-one help for me and one-on-one coaching, please shoot me an email and let me know we are launching some really cool stuff when it comes to this. And I would love to hear from you because we are only taking a select few of people when it comes to this program that we basically have put together that will transform your finances. Now, you have to make over $100,000 to your qualify. but if you do make over $100,000 per year as a household income, then make sure that you click the link down below and we will have a application available for you to see if you qualify.

Starting point is 00:51:59 So let me know with that as well. We will have that linked up down below. Thank you, everybody, for being here. We truly appreciate you, and we will see you on the next episode.

The Personal Finance Podcast - The 12 Worst Money Habits (Ranked!)

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.