14 Money Mistakes to AVOID in Your 20’s
Video
Summary
- Don't overspend on status symbols in your 20s; it doesn't impress those who truly matter.
- Invest in education and skills, not in flashy items like expensive watches or cars.
- Take jobs for the learning experience, not just for immediate financial gain.
- Saving money in your 20s should be about investing in yourself to increase future earning potential, not just storing it away.
- Allocate funds for personal growth before spending on other things.
- Automate investing in yourself and make discretionary spending more difficult.
- Don't waste time shopping without a purpose; stick to a pre-planned budget.
- As counterintuitive as it may sound, if you earn more than $15 an hour, consider getting takeout to save time for higher-value activities.
- Choose roommates who support your goals and share similar aspirations.
- Prioritize your living location for convenience to save time and money on transportation.
- Model the right season of life of someone you look up to, not where they are currently if you're not on the same level yet.
- Understand the true cost of purchases by equating them to your hourly wage.
- Focus competition around how much you save and invest in yourself, not just your income.
- Regularly check your bank account; staying informed can lead to better financial management.
- Allow yourself to spend on unique experiences in your 20s, like travel, that you won't have the chance to do later in life.
How To Take Action
I would suggest prioritizing education and skill development over spending on status symbols. Instead of buying expensive gadgets or cars, invest in learning that boosts your earning potential. Take up jobs that provide valuable experience rather than just a paycheck. And remember, saving money isn't just storing it away – invest in personal growth.
Automate your investments into self-improvement and make it tougher to splurge on unnecessary things. Stick to a shopping list that aligns with a pre-planned budget to avoid purposeless spending.
When it comes to living arrangements, share a space with people who encourage and share your aspirations. Pick a convenient location over a less expensive one further away to cut down on commute time and costs. Learn from the early days of someone successful, not their current stage if you aren't there yet.
Consider the true cost of purchases by thinking about how many hours you'd have to work to afford them. Start a healthy competition with yourself to see how much you can save and invest, rather than just focusing on earnings.
Check your bank account regularly and know where your money is going. This habit helps manage finances better. And, while being frugal, allow some room for unique experiences that you might not be able to enjoy later in life, but do so in moderation and without draining your investment account. These experiences can enrich your life beyond monetary value.
Quotes by Alex Hormozi
"Understanding on education and overspending on status when you're in your 20s is stupid"
– Alex Hormozi
"You're trying to cash in early, the earning potential of you getting extra ten thousand dollars a year or twenty five thousand dollars a year in your 20s is so inconsequential"
– Alex Hormozi
"Instead of saving money to invest in assets, invest in the number one asset which is you"
– Alex Hormozi
"Decide how much you're going to invest first before you spend money"
– Alex Hormozi
"Automate the investing and you want to manualize the spending"
– Alex Hormozi
Full Transcript
people make in their 20s that you do not want to repeat and this is one of those don't buy an iPhone buy an Android [ __ ] like if you make these mistakes early you will have to pay for them for years the good thing is that you can avoid them very easily number one understanding on education and overspending on status when you're in your 20s you probably aren't balling and the amount of people on Instagram I see with their check mark that they bought in front of a Lambo that they would ever like we all get it they're full of [ __ ] we understand the people who matter are not impressed if I were a 200 watch all the buddies that I have don't give a [ __ ] the guys who are ahead of you they want to see you eating [ __ ] living poor learning and hustling you driving around in your new rolls or bends or whatever then you're maxing out all of your expenditures so you can Flex to other 20 year olds is stupid now you should take that same money and plow all of that into your own ability to earn more money and that's what somebody who's ahead of you is going to look back and give you that status and respect for like you can get status in your 20s from people who are ahead of you if you're doing the right stuff if you show that you're on the wrong path they automatically likely think they're like he doesn't get it or she doesn't get it they'll never associate with you until you understand the lesson number two taking jobs to earn rather than to learn and this is one of the biggest ones we had a thousand people who applied for a YouTube editor so for editing videos like this so we offered somebody very good pay and the guy said I want an extra three thousand dollars a year missing the [ __ ] plot what he didn't understand was that he was in a season of learning not a season of earning he might be able to go somewhere else and get 30 percent not even three thousand thirty percent higher the people who are going to pay that premium are paying the premium for everything you know and have nothing to add to you if you're taking your jobs right now in order to earn it's not the right season you're trying to cash in early the earning potential of you getting extra ten thousand dollars a year or twenty five thousand dollars a year in your 20s is so inconsequential on the long time Horizon of the skills that you should be learning right now three is that you save money that is a mistake hear me out you want to save money in your 20s but not actually save it you want to not spend it or blow it on [ __ ] and you want to put it into a separate account but that money you want to invest not the dollar cost averaging s p or whatever it is you can do that by all means it's a great way to like have some money later but if you want to become Filthy Rich which is hopefully you know what motivation is here to do you want to invest that money into you and your earning capacity right now you make so little that that the money doesn't matter so like if you save 500 a month if you have a thousand dollars a month you can put that into the calculator and look what it's going to be in 70 years and like cool one it doesn't factor in inflation so when people see that they're going to be worth four million dollars four million dollars in 60 years is also worth like a million dollars today think about how much more you'll get back if you spend ten thousand dollars this year and then you double your earning capacity or you triple your earning capacity instead of saving money to invest in assets invest in the number one asset which is you and increasing your earning potential number four decide how much you're going to invest first before you spend money prioritization comes from taking that's literally prior it comes first right is that you take the money off the top and you say this money has been prioritized for my learning my education and then whatever you have left that you can spend all that money that account you can let it stock pile up and then you see something that you want to learn and then deploy the capital not what do I have left at the end of the month can I afford it you've got this big pile of gold over here that every month you plan to and then when you when you see the opportunity you make the decision you pull the trigger number five automate the investing and you want to manualize the space ending you want to lubricate how easy it is for you to invest in yourself and you want to make it harder to spend on [ __ ] that never comes back to you Dave Ramsey had talked about people having cash rather than credit cards you actually feel pain when you buy things in cash compared to using credit cards the harder it is to buy something the less you buy like the only one even hits your account is the money that you're allowed to spend the other money you've already allocated out to the other thing so I give you a rent account maybe and then you've got your personal investing account SMA you've got your food and your car money whatever number six don't go shopping let's be real you don't need another set of sneakers the idea that someone says I'm gonna go shopping like they have no agenda it just means like I'm going to waste money today stick with the lists that you already have pre-approved in terms of your budget this is my list these are my groceries this is whatever and if it's not on the list you don't buy it it's a very simple habit but that will pay dividends for the rest of your life number seven get takeout don't cook your food very contrarian I know as soon as you make more than fifteen dollars an hour it makes more sense for you to work that day get the take out food and get the time back it makes more sense financially most people can like if you're not being a weirdo you can eat out for 10 bucks ish a meal and you try out twice a day is 20 bucks a day 600 a month maybe if you went to the grocery store it'd be what 100 bucks a week versus 150 a week is the net 50 a week can you not make that up for the meal prep going to the grocery store cutting cooking cleaning you're saving the pennies rather than investing in the Mega Millions which is you number eight people live with the wrong people they have terrible roommates who break things you go out drinking who are late on rent like these are all things that'll distract you from the thing you're trying to do that's like level one worst type of roommate above that you've got people who are responsible Etc but they want the same goals as you they will speak over you their limiting beliefs and they will oftentimes not actually root for you and they will kind of undercut you when you're on this path which is probably different than them and the thing is in the beginning what become success looks like failure you're learning you're not earning they're already pulling their earning trigger they're bragging on the fact they make 70 grand a year whatever if you have a different goal and so never listen to people who have smaller goals for your life than you do making sure that you're living with the type of people who are trying to do the same thing as you are in your life will encourage one another and you guys are kind of like in the game together that's what will shape the way you see the world I do think it's worth living with multiple people in your 20s because one your 20s can be lonely but two it's also just a lot cheaper I lived in a house with seven people in California and I was able to only pay 400 bucks a month in like a nice area which leads to number nine your micro Community matters a lot I would overpay for convenience in terms of being close to stuff close to the highway so I can get on and off and right to places I need to close to a gym and close to cheap places to eat if I can do those things and ideally if I can walk to them I save time and gas I get outside if you live in the middle of nowhere and it takes you 25 minutes to get the gym and 25 minutes to go back there's all this time that gets eaten up I'm willing to pay a premium to save all of the ancillary costs that would go with living somewhere less convenient less safe I would live with more people in a better area than fewer people in a shitty area number 10. since you model the wrong season of life sometimes younger guys will look at what I'm doing they're like oh I'm going to do what Alex is doing the thing is just like you don't have the track record and reputation is built on two things it's built on what you've done and what you say you're going to do and having both of them come true the thing that builds the reputation is not modeling what I'm doing now but modeling what I did before you want to make sure that you model the right aspect of someone's life at the right time flying private doesn't make you rich it means you spend a lot of money sequence matters number 11 measure money in how long it took you to earn it let's say you make 20 bucks an hour if you want to go buy a shirt for 100 bucks you have to think to yourself okay I make 20 an hour 20 payroll tax I'm actually gonna have to work six hours to buy that hundred dollar shirt with tax whatever so if someone said I want you to work all day and I'll give you this shirt would I do it probably not I worked at Smoothie King wait I was 15 15 years old seven dollars 25 cents an hour a six hour shift right so I was making 43 bucks people would go next door I remember noticing this and they would spend 15 bucks on lunch I was like so you have 36 dollars after taxes for coming to work today and 15 of that is you going to lunch next door so you're working six hours for 20 bucks number 12. get competitive with money around what you're saving not what you're making so I told you this is a season of learning not season earning to know what you're going to learn you have to budget towards your investment rather than thinking I'm making five thousand dollars a month and spending five thousand dollars a month meaning I'm profiting personally zero say I'm saving twenty five hundred dollars this month to invest in me I've had people who I know I've been making hundreds of thousands even millions of dollars a year and have nothing they blew everything and so make your PR your personal records around what you're able to put into that bank account every month number 13 check your account every single morning until I started doing it I stayed poor I didn't want to look at my bank account because it would hurt my feelings seriously I just I look at it and I would just feel poor but that's okay you have to confront reality in order to change it man money's pouring out of this thing left and right once I got a pulse on it I knew Tuesdays when I paid this Thursdays is when I pay for this it's a habit that once you learn it it's hard to forget and I promise you just like losing weight if you get someone to measure the weight every day get someone to measure the bank account every day it'll improve number 14. what is it okay to spend money if there's one thing that I probably could have done better is I could have spent money on one-time experiences and what I mean by that is not going to the club and popping bottles going to Europe and doing a you know sleeping in hostels for three months that's a cool experience that you're not going to be able to do when you're 40. we're just not going to do it so there are times of Our Lives that are optimal for certain types of experiences in those windows closed and so if there are experiences that you can only do in your 20s I wholeheartedly support them but you want them to be things that when you're 80 you're proud of giving yourself permission to spend on an experience in a limited fashion you want to drain your entire investment account right you want to go see the grand Canyon for three days go to the Grand Canyon if there's some things that like are a little unique to you I think these are the times that you can do that and it's worth spending the time of the money to do it even if it's not financially makes sense because at the end of the day like you're gonna die it's not gonna matter anyways