The BIGGEST Wealth Killers in Your 20s and 30s (AVOID THESE)

Now you want to go out and buy a house? You can't. You want to get that asset called a piece of rental property? You can't. Because you have poor credit, because you co-signed for somebody who really needed your help and pulled on your heartstrings. Don't co-sign. Don't be mad at me. I'm just telling you the truth. Been there, done that. Guys, I've personally made some insane mistakes with money over the years. From foreclosing on properties, to running up a credit card bill, overdrafting checks, bad credit, keeping student loans into my 50s. Look, I've made a lot of mistakes with money over the years. But I've also made a lot of good decisions with money as well. What I want to do on this video is I want to try to help you avoid some of the mistakes that I've made in the past. If you're in your 20s or 30s or maybe even your early 40s and you're watching this video, this will give you some things to watch out for that I experienced that you don't have to go through. So guys, your first big wealth killer in your 20s and 30s is financing cars. In my opinion, you need to try to avoid car payments and you don't have to buy brand new cars. Look, buying a new car with payments on it just burdens you in the long term. With higher monthly payments, you have a car that's depreciating in value, going down in value, and of course you're paying interest payments. And you may say, well, I get a really low interest rate. I get it. But you're still making payments on something that is going down in value. You can easily buy reliable used cars with cash and not have to worry about an ongoing payment. And don't worry about how you look to other people. It doesn't matter. So avoid financing cars and avoid that new car. You really don't need it. Now, the second biggest wealth killer in your 20s and 30s is racking up this credit card debt. Look, let it go. Change your lifestyle. Change the way you think about credit cards. There's nothing wrong with having a credit card, right? If you have a credit card and you can pay it off quickly every single month, but you just want to use it because you want to build up some type of credit history, I'm not mad at you. But just use it for things like groceries or things like gas for your car. Things that you have the money for, but don't use the credit card for stuff that you don't need and for things that you don't have the money to pay for. This is where everybody gets into an issue with credit cards. Me, myself, I actually built up credit card debt before too. I understand. It's easy to do. That's one of the reasons that in 2011, I stopped using credit cards. I haven't used a credit card since and I found a way to live without this safety net of a credit card. But carrying a balance over from month to month, you're just paying a whole bunch of interest and you really don't realize it. Credit card interest can be 20 and 30% and people just don't realize it. It just becomes a part of their regular monthly payment. Leave the credit cards alone and if you want to use them, use them responsibly. But in the wrong hands, a credit card will destroy your wealth. Now the third wealth killer for people in the 20s and 30s is skipping over the 401k match. If you have a job here in America, if you have a job that offers a 401k, a retirement plan and they match it, please get the match. Don't leave the match. The match is there for a reason. It helps you. It's almost like free money. Don't leave money on the table by not getting your 401k match. Forgetting about getting the match is something that you will regret when you get 10 or 20 or 30 years out from now. You'll say, boy, I wish I had got the match sooner or at least got the match. Listen, don't leave free money on the table. Now speaking of investing in 401ks, the fourth wealth killer is just not investing enough money at a young age, right? A lot of times what happens is when we're in our 20s and 30s, we don't see or think about the fact that we're gonna be 50 and 60 one day and we're gonna need the money that we've accumulated at a young age at that time. So we don't put a lot of emphasis on investing more and investing more so that we'll have more down the road. And I'm saying that's a huge wealth killer and I'm guilty of it, not investing enough. For many years, I only put 5% of my income towards my job's retirement. And that was a big, big mistake because I probably lost out on half a million dollars, maybe a million dollars or more by not putting enough in. And I'm saying when you're young, stretch yourself, push yourself, take it to the limit and do as much as you can in terms of investing more and more money because the more you invest at a young age, the more you're gonna have at an older age. You gotta let compound interest work for you. And the younger you are, the less you have to put in to get that money to work hard for you down the road. If you wait until you're 40 and 45 and 50 years old to wanna catch up, it's very, very difficult. So while you're in your 20s and 30s, stretch, put as much in as possible and you'll see the results ultimately down the road. Now, the fifth wealth killer for people in their 20s and 30s and I'm really guilty of this one too, is accumulating student loans and keeping those student loans around for way too long. Look, when you borrow excessively for your education or trying to get a higher degree or more skills that you borrow money for, whether it's college or trade school, whatever, you gotta consider the return on your investment. In other words, you don't wanna go in debt from student loans, $200,000 with a degree in social work. You gotta be thinking about these things and whether or not you wanna get your master's and your doctor degree or whatever, your higher degree, is it gonna be worth the money that you have to spend on it and then the debt that you're gonna be accumulating to get it? Look, if you have to, go to a community college for a couple of years. I've never had an employer say, hey, where did you go to school as a freshman and sophomore in college? That doesn't matter. When you go to a community college, you're getting the same 60 credit hours that you'd be getting at a much more expensive college but you're getting it at a local community college or go to college slower. Instead of taking four years to get a bachelor's, pay cash and make it take six years or seven years or even eight years. Look, those extra years that you spend in school working and paying for college are better than coming out of college with a four-year degree in four years and having to owe 30 and 40 and $60,000. And if you get loans to go to college or get some type of degree or certification, pay them off as fast as possible. Don't let them sit around and wait on the federal government's program that may or may not be there to pay them off for you. Now listen, some people have done that and it's worked out great. Other people have waited around and it hasn't worked out great. Pay down your student loans as quick as possible. As I said, I had student loans until I was in my 50s. You don't want that. I had student loans for 31 years. You don't want that. Trust me. Now the sixth wealth killer is just buying all these gadgets and all of these upgrades in technology or upgrades for your cell phones every year or two. Look, you may think it's not much. I just went out and got a cell phone about eight or nine months ago, cost me about $1,500. Look, if I go and replace that every year or every two years, that's $1,500 a year that I could be putting somewhere else, putting it in an investment, putting it in a stock or ETF or something different. And that's just one upgrade. If I do that with several things, it becomes a wealth killer trying to put two and three and $5,000 into upgrades on everything that I have every single year or two. And you may not be saving tons of money by not getting the latest upgrade. But at the same time, when you don't get the latest upgrade on whatever you're trying to upgrade, it also teaches you delayed gratification. It teaches you patience. So it has far-reaching consequences to actually wait before you upgrade stuff or wait before you get the latest gadget, right? It teaches you more about building wealth on top of saving you money. Now, the seventh wealth killer is one I may get pushback on and that's okay. It's overspending on living situations. The biggest expense that we all have is where we're gonna lay our head at night, our shelter, right? And I know that paying for rents nowadays is expensive, at least here in America. Just a couple of years ago, rents went way up and they've stayed way up. And it can be hard to find a place to live that is safe and has good schools to send your kids to. Look, I understand all of that. But when you pay too much for rent or where you live, it leaves less and less room for growing your money and investments and building wealth. You may have to get a little more creative about your living situation. Maybe it's moving back home with parents. Maybe it's living with friends and family. Maybe it's living with roommates, right? Maybe just for a short time while you save up money to buy a home. The days are over that everybody can afford a place to live by themselves. So sometimes you're gonna have to do what you gotta do in your 20s and 30s to save some money somehow to either get out of debt, invest more money or buy a home and get to a different level in terms of your personal finances. It may mean a year or two of sacrifice or three or four years of living with other people. Whatever it takes. Another wealth killer is overspending on vacations. Look, I know we all wanna take that cruise. We all wanna sit on the beach somewhere. We all wanna travel over to Greece and over to Dubai and hang out, relax and have some fun. But listen guys, splurging on luxury travel or frequently booking these expensive vacations, a lot of times those things are fine and dandy but you gotta remember you're paying something for those. Not just today but a little bit is coming off the top for later on down the road for you. You're losing some of your ability to build some wealth, right? So you gotta understand that kicking it today affects tomorrow. And sometimes it's really hard to see that when you're in your 20s and your 30s. You're not really looking at the fact that one day you'll be in your 50s and you'll be wishing you had some of that money back. Nothing wrong with getting these experiences. I'm all for that. That's okay. But just understand what's being sacrificed. Yeah, I know we wanna look good on our vacations and all that good stuff. We wanna spend some relaxing time away from it all and we all wanna get the loves and the likes on the social media platforms that we're on. But just remember, there's a sacrifice for overpaying or spending too much or spending a lot on these luxury vacations that we all tend to wanna go on. Guys, if you get value from this video, please smash the like button below and please consider subscribing to this channel if you're not already a subscriber. And also, don't forget to share this video with your friends and your family. Now, let's get back to the video. Now, the ninth wealth killer for people in their 20s and 30s is day trading, gambling, and trying the get-rich-quick schemes. You gotta be patient. It takes time to build wealth. It's not done overnight. It's not something you can just flip the script and all of a sudden you got a bunch of money. Look, it doesn't work that way. It may work that way on TV, social media, certain YouTubers, but in real life, for most of us, it's gonna take some time. And get-rich-quick violates so many principles that it just doesn't make sense to rely on that or to chase that. Listen, there's nothing wrong with day trading. If you can day trade and you feel comfortable that you are putting the money up, that you can lose, there's a lot of day trading that has made people lots of money. But there's a lot of people that day trade that have lost a ton of money. So you gotta be careful with the get-rich-quick schemes. They're out there more now than ever before. And they look good, right? You get on a YouTube channel and this person is saying all the right things. They got the right personality. You kind of feel a bond with them and you like what they're saying and how they're saying it. Next thing you know, you're dropping $1,000 for a course or you're dropping $5,000 for some one-on-one mentorship. But listen, don't try to get rich quick. Leave the gambling and some of the day trading and this making money fast, leave that stuff alone. Look, it's not a prerequisite that you mess up money in your 20s and 30s by following some get-rich-quick scheme or by putting all your cash in here or there. You don't have to do that. Now, number 10, the 10th wealth killer in your 20s and 30s is co-signing for other people. Look, I know you wanna help other people out. You got a heart to help out your friends, your family and all these people. But look, co-signing can be a huge mistake. Listen, give and help as many people as you can. It's all good. But don't attach your name to loans and co-sign for other people. I don't suggest it. Co-signing for friends and family, it puts you on the hook for other people's financial obligations and other people's financial abilities and capabilities and responsibilities. It's not yours. But you can potentially damage your credit to a point where now you wanna go out and buy a house, you can't. You wanna get that asset called a piece of rental property, you can't because you have poor credit because you co-signed for somebody who really needed your help and pulled on your heartstrings. Don't co-sign. Now, the 11th wealth killer you gotta be careful about in your 20s and 30s is falling for this, I make more money, so I spend more money. It'll get you every time. Thinking that every time you get a raise, great, now I'm gonna go out and spend more money on something. You may not think about that consciously, but it happens if you're not careful and intentional with your money, right? But when you live in a way that says that when I make more money, I'm gonna spend more money, guess what happens? You stay lower middle class for the rest of your life, right? Because if your spending goes up every time your salary goes up or every time you make more money, what's the point? This is why people who make $100,000 and $150,000 a year, this is why they feel like they're living paycheck to paycheck and they still feel poor. Yes, inflation went up and the cost of living went up, right? But a lot of people that make more money every year, they just spend more money on things that they don't have to spend more money on. You may have to spend more money for goods and services and the things that you buy. But oftentimes, you're taking more vacations when you make more money. You're buying more shoes when you make more money. Matter of fact, you're buying a higher quality of shoe when you're making more money and you're doing the things that you don't have to do, but you choose to do because you make more money and you feel like, hey, I'm working too hard and making too much money to be spending the same that I was spending five years ago. You live by that mantra, then guess what? You're going to stay right where you're at, right in that middle class. Now, the 12th wealth killer to be careful about in your 20s and 30s is not paying your bills on time, right? This also runs your credit down and you got to be careful because you want to have that credit to actually buy assets at some point. So pay your bills on time. It may feel a little rough right now, but you're benefiting by making sure that you have better credit down the road. You want to stay conscientious of your credit in your 20s and 30s and it's just the right thing to do to pay your bills on time. Value your name, value your credibility in general, not just for the sake of having good credit, but for the sake of being in the habit of doing the right things with your money and paying your bills on time with your money. It's just a good habit to have. The 13th thing that is a wealth killer in your 20s and 30s is the club and the bar. Hanging out at the bar, hanging out at the club. That's a good way to lose a lot of money and lose a lot of time. Think about it. You spend $200 a month at the bar or the club and that $200 a month is about $2,400 a year and over the course of 10 years, that's about $24,000. Now, if you take that same $24,000 over the course of that 10 years and you put an 8% or 9% return on investment on it because you invested it instead of spending it at the club or in the bar, that $24,000 may be closer to $35,000 to $40,000. Well, here's the deal. Doesn't sound like a lot of money, right? But you also spent time doing those things. So, the three hours, the three or four hours you spent doing it, you could have been researching, learning, making money, creating something, doing your side hustle, building your business, getting more knowledge, right? Look, it's nothing wrong with having fun. Having fun is a good thing. But remember, the club, the bar is costing you money and it's costing you time. And those are two things that you're always gonna want more of when you get older. You talk to a person who's 50, 60, 70 years old, the thing that they're gonna wish they had more of is money and time. And guess what? Money and time is what you spend in your 20s and 30s when you're hanging out at the bar or you're hanging out at the club. Don't be mad at me. I'm just telling you the truth. Been there, done that. Look, the deal is this. There's wealth killers that are out there for you in your 20s and 30s just waiting on you to spend money on. You gotta make intentional financial decisions. Always be focused on your long-term goals, your vision. Whatever that is, always stay true to that vision. In your 20s and 30s, I challenge you to have enough nerve to be different. You see the crowd go left? Consider going right. If you see the crowd go right, you need to strongly think about going left. But these are the wealth killers in your 20s and 30s that you gotta avoid. Guys, if you got value from this video, smash that like button. Drop a comment and let me know, is there another wealth killer that I left off the list? Share this video with other people. And do me a favor, check out this video right here where I talk about the four assets that you wanna be purchasing in your 20s and 30s and never selling. Until the next video, peace.