The Rachel Cruze Show - 10 Habits That Scream “I’m Trying to Look Wealthy” (My Reaction)

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Do you want to actually be rich or just look rich? In this episode, I’ll react to 10 habits that scream, “I’m trying to ...look wealthy.” Plus, find out how to build real wealth instead! Next Steps: 🎥 Watch my video Create Your First Budget in 5 Simple Steps. 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!   Connect With Our Sponsors:   🏥 Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries. 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💰 George Kamel 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman  📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:05 I saw an article online that had a list of 10 habits that scream, I'm trying to look wealthy. So I'm going to go through those today and give you my opinion. And also, later, I'll share three proven steps that will actually help you become really wealthy, like in the real sense of the word, which is key. All right, drop your reactions in the comments as we go and be sure to like, subscribe, and share this video with a friend. All right, number one, the article says, excessive displays of wealth. So luxury cars, flashy logos, high-tech gadgets. And it is kind of this idea that like insecurity is loud and confidence is quiet. And so when you see people that are so big and so out there with their money, usually it is a sign of like, okay, what are they trying to prove maybe as a person?
Starting point is 00:00:53 And or are they just trying to prove that they are successful. And because of that, they may or may not even have the money, but they're trying to look successful. So I would agree with this one. not obviously, not everyone that has a nice car or luxury stuff is not wealthy, right? Some of them are. But definitely more people look more wealthy than they are in today's world. Number two, constantly job hopping. So I thought this was an interesting point.
Starting point is 00:01:17 And so what this article was implying is that, you know, when you go job to job, you'll probably get an increase of your salary. And so you're just doing that to continue to make more money because of your lifestyle creep versus just investing in like a stable job, you know, long term, which in today's world is like five years. You know, that, again, it's like that stability aspect and growing as you're growing within your job versus going job to job to get that hike. So I wouldn't have thought about this one, honestly, but I could see it because if you're needing more money, like instantly because you are spending more than what you're making, this could be a short-term fix. And then long-term, it does not look great on your resume. Number three, dependent on credit cards.
Starting point is 00:01:59 So when I read this, I was like, oh my gosh, I love when people, you know, talk about Ramsey in a sense in our content because this is what we talk about all the time. And when they agree on our stance, when they're not Ramsey people, I'm like, oh, even better. So yes, we do see this, that credit card debt is at an all-time high. I mean, it's officially reached over $1 trillion, which is crazy. Now, some people are charging the credit card to keep up with basic necessities, but we're also seeing, again, without lifestyle creep, what are those necessities? And we do find that you add in more to your life and you have to keep up with that. And sometimes your income doesn't keep up. So you end up
Starting point is 00:02:36 going to credit cards, which is making the situation worse. So here's one thing, though, I am going to add to the list, not taking internet safety seriously. You guys, trust me, that's going to cost you because we are on the internet all the time, right? We do so much shopping, so much work, so much booking travel, like everything that's out there in the world is online. And so we're putting our information out there all the time, which means it is out there for people to get, to steal, and to even trade or actually make money off of your info. Some of these companies do that. And with Delete Me, they go in and remove your online information. I just got my Delete Me report recently. They come out like once a quarter and they've saved me close to 65 hours of doing
Starting point is 00:03:21 research of trying to remove my information online. You can save up to 20% on annual Delete Me plans, which ends up being around $9 a month. So you can click the link below to check them out or go to join DeleteMe.com slash Rachel. All right, back to the list. Number four is living in the moment. And I can see this because when you splurge just kind of on these quick hits and get it maybe at a small scale, but when you live on that impulse life, you are, you may be looking great, but you're not doing things long term that are actually going to create wealth, things like saving for the future and investing in retirement and all the stuff. And so when you see people that are very impulsive, again, you may think like, oh my gosh, they just may have tons of money. Like, look at them.
Starting point is 00:04:04 They can just, you know, book that trip or buy that thing and they don't have to save up. Well, sometimes they're charging it to debt. Like sometimes you're using debt to do that. And because of that, then they are, again, digging deeper in this hole, financially speaking, because in order to get out of that, they have to pay all that off before they, they're going to be able to. start saving and investing. So what's crazy is people that actually have more patience end up becoming wealthier because they look at the long term versus the short term. Number five, and not budgeting. So if you think that you're somebody that's like, oh yeah, I'm comfortable. I don't need a budget. Like no big deal. Let me just tell you. That's not the case. So if you hear
Starting point is 00:04:40 people that are saying that, you know, again, they may try to look like, oh, yeah, no big deal. I don't have to budget because I have so much money. It's fine. But can I tell you, even wealthy people follow a budget. That's actually what keeps them wealthy is that they have intentionality around where their money's going. And so don't let this kind of free living feeling of like, oh yeah, it's just not a big deal. Or again, under the assumption of someone must just have tens of money that they don't have to budget. No, wealthy people have a plan for their money. And so if you need a monthly budget, make sure to check out every dollar. It is so easy. It is so effective for budgeting. Number six is obsessed with appearance. And so it can be expensive,
Starting point is 00:05:19 if you guys like to get all the beauty treatments and all the bougie designer clothes and the shoes and the accessories and the vacations and like all the things like all of that is very very expensive and when you're obsessed with that and that's where you're putting all of your money and or all of your debt towards it's getting you nothing because at the end of the day not only does it not fulfill you emotionally when you're just buying stuff and crap that you don't need but it's also you know you're putting money into things that again i'm not against some of those things that Like if you want to do Botox or buy a nice bag, like again, I'm not against those, but it's the priority of which you are living your life.
Starting point is 00:05:56 And for a lot of people that are just trying to keep up, they end up spending money. And sometimes money they don't have to keep up that appearance because they're so obsessed with it versus saying, oh yeah, I'm so confident in who I am that like I don't need all that stuff. If I want it, it's fine, but it's not this need. And when it becomes a need, you become desperate and you end up spending so much money on it. All right. Number seven is avoiding important financial discussions. People that just like don't want to talk about it, they're making.
Starting point is 00:06:19 this level of denial and they may not want to see it, right? So if someone does have the ability to say, oh, yeah, you know, we have some margin and some peace in this area of our lives, you're more likely to talk about it. And so it can be very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable to talk about money, especially if you're not in a good spot financially. So if someone is very reluctant, either they've had like really big past hurts in their life or they get to this point where they're like, oh yeah, I've made so many mistakes. I don't want people to like, I don't want people to see it. All right, number eight is lack of financial knowledge. So this is interesting because I always say that personal finance is 80% behavior. It's only 20% had knowledge. But there is still that 20%.
Starting point is 00:06:59 Like you still want to be able to understand what is going on with your money. And that's everything from like your mortgage rates to what a retirement match is in a 401k, what leasing a car is versus you know, buying a car with cash or on payments. And so understanding how money works is always very, very crucial. And if people don't know the basics of that, but yet they look like they're doing really well, I probably have some questions. Number nine is always needing to have the latest and the greatest. So people that are really secure, like they don't need to prove it, right? By being like on the forefront of every single trends. They're okay. They're confident in their own skin. But again, back to that idea of just spending to show an appearance of something. If that is
Starting point is 00:07:40 constant in someone's life, again, I would I would be curious about how they really are doing financially. And number 10, no long-term financial goals. So this was a good one. And I agree. Like, if you are living in the moment day in and day out, like, you're probably going to end up being broke. And I'm all about being present, enjoying your life. But you have to be looking out far enough of like two years, five years, 10 years. That's everything from, I want to, you know, save up for a down payment for a home. I want to help my kids with college in the next eight years, you know, retirement's coming. Like, when you look far out, there's wisdom in that. And so if you are not at all caring about that and you're just living in the moments. I think that's a pretty
Starting point is 00:08:19 dangerous place to be financially. So all of that list, again, some I agree with. A lot of them I do agree with. Some of them I had never thought about, but I think it's a great list. But I'll give you my list of three to actually really help you become wealthy. Number one is to get out of debt. If you are using your money, your income, and instead of investing it and your money making money for you, you are making money for the bank, you're going in the wrong direction. Number two, I would say to have an emergency fund. So when you have cash in the bank, ideally three to six months of expenses
Starting point is 00:08:49 and things come up, you fall back on your money versus falling back on the bank's money. So that puts you in a good spot financially. And then number three, start investing. When you invest 15% of your income into retirement, it is a beautiful thing. What happens over the long term.
Starting point is 00:09:03 Compound interest is wonderful. So again, living debt free, having savings and investing, like it sounds so simple and it's not flashy and exciting. But let me tell you, just put those rhythms in your life. have fun on top of that, but it's amazing the peace and the stability that comes with that. Now, if the idea of budgeting specifically sounds nice, but maybe you're a little intimidated,
Starting point is 00:09:24 learn how to create your first budget in five simple steps in my next episode. Click here for that, or if you're listening on a podcast, I'll put a link below. All right, you guys, remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.

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