Why Americans Are Actually Broke! (2024 Edition)

Brian Preston
Why are Americans broke?

Bo Hansen
Brian? I am excited about this. Not because of the fact that Americans are broke, because I think that we can change it. I think that we can improve the lot of the average american. Cause so many of us right now, we want to put the blame on external factors.

Oh, inflation's high and housing is not at an affordable level and wage growth isn't keeping up. And all these things. And while there is truth to some of these things, I don't believe that's the reason why a majority of Americans out there are not in a healthy financial situation. And we want to draw attention to some of the decisions that you're making that we think you can improve upon. Yeah, without a doubt, there are some struggles out there.

Brian Preston
There are things that are less than ideal. But I got to be honest, there's always going to be obstacles. So we wanted to, instead of having the glass be half empty, we want to kind of tell you what we know from a behavioral standpoint, can actually turn the tide and make the glass half full. So why do we know that this is a problem? Why is this something that we can rest on and say, hey, this is an issue we really need to address, is because the numbers don't lie.

Bo Hansen
If you look right now, according to bank rate, and this survey has been going on for a number of years, the percent of Americans with less than $1,000 in savings is pretty consistently right around 60% of Americans. That means that six out of ten folks could not come up with $1,000 for an emergency without going into debt or without having to put themselves in a precarious situation. That is not where a financial mutant ought to be. So that's preparing for emergency reserves. How about people right on the cusp of actually walking across the threshold into retirement?

Brian Preston
Check out this stat. Median retiree age 55 to 64 only has $185,000 for retirement. We went deeper into the numbers to actually say, hey, the typical saving span of 40 years, if you just made 8%, what would you have to save to recreate or equal that $185,000? It's right around $50 a month, which. Is like, you would only save $50 a month.

I'm the guy who got inspired because I had a high school teacher tell me if I could save $100 a month, which I felt like even working fast food, making $3.80 an hour, I could do. The typical American doesn't devote more than $50 a month towards saving for the future. If you break that out into wages, other things, it's only a few hours a month out of the hundreds of hours that you have actually work in a month as well. So what it sounds like is we don't have an economical problem. We don't have some macro problem, really.

Bo Hansen
The problem is behavioral. The problem is something that is inside of our control. And so what we want to do is we want to talk through some of the decisions the average American is making are some of the reasons why the average American is broke and how we can turn that around. And you said something right there that I think was so, so interesting. Brian, you're talking about education.

And one of the things that I think is interesting, and I think this is the first reason why Americans are broke and tend to stay broke, is that we aren't actually taught personal finance. Yeah, it's no surprise. I mean, if you think about we actually went and pulled which states mandate some type of personal finance in high school. And right now, there's only ten states have fully implemented personal finance classes in high school. However, let me, because I love good news, there are another 15 states that are in the closing section of actually having this implemented as well.

Brian Preston
So we will soon have right at 50% of the states having some type of personal finance. Now, I'll be honest, this always sticks in my crawl. Like, this really upsets me because I think about all the stuff that I learned in high school, and I think about the chemistry that I learned and the. The international cash crops I learned about and how not valuable that you don't. Use beakers every day.

Bo Hansen
Right. You know what I mean? And we had to learn about titration and all this kind of stuff. And meanwhile, the average student graduating right now doesn't understand how compound interest work. They don't understand how to balance a checkbook.

I do that in air quotes. Cause it's different. But how to understand how you match debits and credits, that should be baseline. And yet most folks are not figuring that out. Now, before you just pick on the schools, or I picked on the schools as well, our parents are.

Brian Preston
Are struggling with this. True. And look, I even come from this. I grew up in a household where tons of love in my household love my parents, but they were very quick to share with me that wealthy people don't pay taxes. Now, look, I will tell you that might be true for the ultra rich.

Bo Hansen
The, like ultra, however wealthy. However, for the guy who probably owns a factory down the street. I remember when I got into public accounting and I called my dad the first tax season and said, dad, guess what? These rich people pay a lot of taxes. So I'm telling you, the local business person down the street probably pays a lot of taxes.

Brian Preston
The other thing my dad and my mother just didn't understand investing. Their idea of investing was just put it in the bank. Whether it's a savings account, a CD, that type of stuff is starting in the home front. And if you don't actually learn how to use money as a tool, it really can hinder your performance in the long term. So students are not being educated, and then parents have bad information or misinformation that they're passing along.

Bo Hansen
Okay, so why is this a problem? Why is this something that should be addressed? Well, unfortunately, the first interactions most people have with money are some of the most dangerous. The thing that we get introduced with first can be the largest anchor that exists in our entire financial life. Think about this.

Brian Preston
Student loans. I mean, this is one where a quarter of student loan borrowers said they didn't understand the terms and policies of their loan before they even took them on. Think about what that means. I'm signing up to have tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of debt. I'm signing on the line, I'm 18, 1920 years old.

Bo Hansen
I have no idea what this means, and yet I'm committing to pay back money that I have come nowhere near close to earning in my life thus far. How are we allowing our kids to do this? Well, it's worse than the data actually proves. The point that is true. People truly are signing terms that they don't understand because look at this.

Brian Preston
52% think they don't need to worry about the interest accruing on their unsubsidized loans. 53% think that student loan payments are automatically based on income, not realizing you have to actually sign up to get into those programs. 71% think that private loans are eligible for that public service loan. What is it? Forgiveness.

Bo Hansen
Public service loan forgiveness. Yep. See, we practice this in show prep, and somehow it just didn't get it in there. So it is what it is. Yeah.

And so think about these. These kids, these young adults are signing up for a time period that for most people is only three to four, maybe five years, and they're signing up for tens of thousands of dollars of debt that will lastly take them, that will likely take them decades to pay off. So it's a problem. It is something that can be dangerous. But it's not just student loans.

That's not the only kind of debt that young people are facing. We're also facing credit card debt. It has become so easy in the world in which we live today to subsidize our lifestyle. And instead of being able to pay for stuff today, I can swipe today and pay tomorrow. Well, the stats.

Brian Preston
Look at this. 44. 44% of college students say they aren't taught about credit cards before they just signed up for. They just get one, and, oh, this. Oh, it's great.

Bo Hansen
It just swipes, and it works well. And what I found funny when we were putting this all together is that, look, I know millennials have been falling prey to getting a free t shirt. For a credit card every college campus, but that's. That's not a new problem. When I was in college, at least y'all get a t shirt.

Brian Preston
You can. You can, you know, wash a t shirt. You can wear a t shirt later on and be reminded of your bad decision while you're in college. When I was in college, they were actually getting people to sign up for credit cards with lays potato chips. I mean, these things at the time.

Now, look, I know potato chips cost a little bit more now, but back then, I was like, these people are literally signing up for a bag of dollar potato chips to get credit card debt that's gonna ruin their financial life. So this is not getting better. Well, and it's actually, it's not just college students. It's not just young people. Americans in general don't understand credit cards.

Bo Hansen
38% of Americans. This is according to information by credit karma and bankrate. 38% of Americans falsely believe that they should keep a balance month to month to build a better credit score. Meaning if I pay it off every month, my credit's not gonna get better. That's wrong.

Brian Preston
I think that's exercise. That's not credit cards. That's definitely a problem. And then two thirds of people in credit card debt are still trying to maximize credit card rewards. Do you realize that 1%, maybe 2%, if it's one of those really heavy reward credit cards, is likely charging you a 20% interest rate?

That is arbitrage in reverse, meaning it is turning compounding interest into an enemy, not an ally. Don't fall into that trap. Now. Another problem about being miseducated as it relates to finances is that you don't recognize how easy investing mistakes can be. Incredibly expensive over the long term.

Bo Hansen
Here's a really example. Think about the folks that don't go out there and get their employer matched. We know that 22% of 401K participants out there are leaving free money on the table. Well, if you were to take just that free money you're leaving on the table and compound it over a lifetime. It can be a substantial sum of money.

So that small, seemingly insignificant mistake can be huge. Well, and it breaks my heart. I know the first account to cross into seven figures is typically like the employer 401K. However, listen to this, that for every $1 contributed to a 401K, which we know is a powerful wealth builder, $0.40 out of that dollar comes out as premature withdrawals. These things are leaky.

It's super leaky. Or how about people not even understanding how their 401K works? How many times, Brian, have we seen an educator sat down with a school teacher, school counselor said, hey, yeah, I met with my benefits person and I did my 403 b, and I did my four hundred one k. And I'm just using the stable value option, not recognizing that, hey, you're a young person who has decades for this money to grow. You should be letting these dollars work for you.

When you just park it in that stable value fund, in that conservative holding, this could be costing you tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future. So, bo, how do you do it better? What's the way out? So the very first thing, and you guys, if you're here right now, if you're listening to the show, if you're dialed into the money guy, you're already doing this because step one is educating yourself. How do I begin to understand personal finance better?

How can I separate all the false information or misinformation from actual actionable information that I can take to improve my financial goals? Well, that's why we have been creating this content since 2006 and really trying to show people there is a better way to do money. This is why we lean so heavily into the financial order of operations. Because if you just can understand what to do with your next dollar, you really can maximize every dollar in your army of dollar bills. The other thing that you can do is know when it makes sense to ask for help.

Don't feel like you have to live in the financial world in a vacuum. There are tons of resources out there from blogs and podcasts and YouTube videos where you can educate yourself. But there are also professionals out there that would love to help you, that can help guide you through making the financial decisions that you want to make. We actually have a whole curriculum built at learn dot moneyguide.com to walk you through that so you don't feel like you have to navigate all these decisions completely on your own, isolated in a vacuum. And then the last thing I want you to be fearful when you use debt, scare you.

Brian Preston
You're probably not respecting and you're probably not using that dangerous tool effectively. And that's actually a great transition into understanding that this is a problem about. Americans have a problem with the way they think about money. And this leads to the second big problem, which is debt has gotten to the point where it's. It's expected.

How can you be fearful or scared of something that you've now just gotten so comfortable that it's just expected for everyone? Yeah. Taking on debt right now is the new normal, and this is a dangerous assumption for those that are in debt. This is a problem that's not actually getting better, it's getting worse. 35% of folks say that they're in the most debt they've ever been in.

Bo Hansen
So it's not like, oh, I used to be in debt and things are getting better. No, it's, I started in debt, and my debt situation is actually continuing to get worse. Well, let's dive deeper into the problem, because I do think that this is not all by accident, is because we're actually being pushed to consume more. If you think about the proliferation of buy now, pay later, using the fear of missing out as an emotional tool to push you to consume more is epidemic everywhere. The marketing industry in itself is over a $500 billion industry that is figuring out, how can I get into your wallet, into your back pocket, how can I collect your eyeball so that ultimately I can collect your dollars?

You have to be aware that technically the system, the consumption system, is rigged against you. They care more about money flowing out of your pocket than money flowing into your portfolio. And you need to be aware of that. Well, and this is kind of. It's turned into an issue where, and I'm going to use the air quotes, good debt.

Brian Preston
But really, what in the past, historically, is acceptable debt, whether it's the student loan debt, whether it's buying your first car so you can get to your job, whether it's buying a house. These things, because of social media, as well as using the manipulation or the industry of pushing consumption, is now, these things that were acceptable have been really turned into a Frankenstein version of debt. Products that lock you down, that really take away all oxygen from your wealth building journey. Well, you mentioned automobiles, Brian. We know that right now the average new car payment in this country is $740 over 68 months.

Bo Hansen
These average American is buying a car and they have a car payment, $740, and they're paying that over 68 months. I would argue that Americans in general are over consuming on automobiles, especially when. You lay that next to what we say is acceptable. I'm not willing to use the word good, but acceptable. I still believe paying cash for vehicles is the ideal.

Brian Preston
But I would be a hypocrite myself if I said pay cash and don't do anything else, because my first job out of school, I needed reliable transportation. Didn't have enough. I didn't have any cash when I came out of college, so I had to go finance the first car. So we wanted to kind of do a little bit of a case study. If we know that the typical American is spending $740 a month over 68 months, I'll tell you, that is almost twice as much as what we say is acceptable, which is the 23 eight rule.

So we said, hey, if you put down 20%, finance it no more than three years and no more than 8% of your income. Let's take, like, a Toyota Corolla. It's a great starter Corolla, where you. Put down 20%, 36 months, even if you're buying a brand new one right now, the car payment, even if it's paid off in three months, $561, very. Different than $740 now.

Look, that's still expensive. I'm not trying to discount, because we are in. Interest rates are high. Inflation has caused everything to cost a little bit more. But even if you can't afford, you could save $180 a month.

And here's what's even better. It's the same decision I made when I graduated college. You know what's better than a brand new Corolla when you don't have cash to pay for it? A used Corolla. And that could make those payments even lower.

Bo Hansen
Another problem when it comes to debt is that we are choosing an all of the above approach. I want to get all the different kinds of debts. I have the mortgage debt and the credit card debt and the student loan debt and the auto debt. You need to recognize that all of these things can compound to work against you. Even with our guidelines, we don't want you to have all these different types of debt.

When you add up all of the debt payments you have across all of the money that you've borrowed across your entire financial life, it should not exceed 35% of your gross income. And if you find yourself in the place where you're getting close to that, maybe now is not the time to go buy that new car. Maybe you have to figure out some alternative means to get your debt low down. Because once your debt gets that high compound interest, begins to work aggressively against your future wealth building potential. Yeah, I mean, you're having to work twice as hard.

Brian Preston
I mean, it really is one of those things where time, you can't get more of it. I don't, you know, you always. If you need more income, you can take on an extra shift. You can take a gig economy job. If you.

If you need more money, you can also cut down spending. What you cannot do is you never can get more time back. Once it's gone, it's gone. And I feel like people don't realize that you. When you lose that time, that's the time your money could grow.

Plus, every dollar of debt you take on, that's money you have to pay back. So it really is a twice as hard moment that you have to work twice as hard to get back to even, and then twice as hard to overcome the time that you've now lost out on. There was a survey done by Northwestern Mutual, their planning and progress study, and they found that those folks in their survey that are in personal debt reported spending 30% of their income on debt payments. 30% of their household income was going to debt. Well, just like you said, when you are in debt, your money is having to work twice as hard as it would have to otherwise if instead you didn't have that debt and if instead you could save, and maybe you don't hit the 25% saving number, maybe you're just able to save 15%.

Bo Hansen
If you just look at the median household income in this country, which is $74,500, and you just saved 15% of that amount over 30 years. And we said, on average, you can earn 8% investing those dollars. That 15% saved over a 30 year time period can turn into $1.4 million. So you can choose, I either want to pay down stuff that I've already bought, or I want to have my dollars working for me, building towards a more beautiful tomorrow. That's the way you need to think about debt when you approach how you're accumulating it.

Brian Preston
Well, I think it's so interesting because we were just on the car section, the car payments for 68 months or 740. This, if you actually do the math on, it's $932 a month. Yeah. That's not. You realize most people are so close to this millionaire status, but they're driving away from that success and that wealth.

So, guys, it's these small type of decisions. This is why, if you can understand that, how do you do it better is where you ought to be pivoting your discussion. Treat that debt. I've already told you, it's dangerous. How about it's chainsaw dangerous?

Yes, it's a very effective tool. But one slip, one not respecting this tool that you're using, and it literally can dismember you. Treat it effectively and accordingly so that you don't make mistakes and understand the differences in debt. You should treat all debt like a chainsaw. But high interest debt, credit card debt, consumer loan debt, furniture debt, store debt, any of these super high interest debt, you have to get out of that as fast as you can, because compound interest can be your absolute fiercest ally or your scariest adversary.

Bo Hansen
And you get to choose. High interest debt is working against you. So if you have it on your balance sheet, figure out a strategy to get out of it as quickly as possible. And then also don't forget the tool of building an emergency reserve. That way you can avoid the desperate decisions.

Brian Preston
You know, if you look at our financial order of operations, go to moneyguy.com resources. Cash actually gets two steps. It gets step one for deductibles covered, your highest deductible covered, and step four, which is emergency reserves. As you can tell, the financial order of operations is actually a plan to do and handle every dollar better. And that leads to number three.

Most Americans just don't have a plan. Yeah, we know from research that those who have a plan for reaching a savings goal have the ability, capacity and actually end up saving more and more quickly than those that don't. It's amazing when you actually have a plan. When you write it down, when you put it on paper, when you actually put thought behind it, it's amazing how much more quickly the goals will manifest if you have a plan. But I think most Americans out there don't have a plan.

Bo Hansen
They don't focus on it. They're not thinking about it. They're more just letting life happen to them, trying to live paycheck to paycheck. Well, I think, and I don't even know if I agree with this study that was done because it says 54% of Americans don't regularly financially plan, but then it says the ones who do 30% only plan when they're major expenses. Wait a minute.

Brian Preston
Okay, so, so only when there's a major expense, and then 24% only when doing crisis budgeting, when dealing with an unexpected expense or loss of income. This doesn't sound like a plan. This sounds like a reaction. Exactly right. If you're having a crisis, if you're having a big expense come your way, like a healthcare or so, or you lose your job.

That is not planning. That's having to react and figure out the path forward. Guys, there is a huge difference that Americans just are not getting right. A good plan is about thinking ahead and looking forward, not figuring out how do I deal with something that's already happened. A good plan is proactive and not reactive.

Bo Hansen
Another thing that we see happens with Americans when it comes to plan is that most couples don't actually plan together. They end up attacking their financial decisions independent of one another with no communication. A study done by fidelity said only 57% of couples say they make retirement and long term planning decisions jointly. Meaning I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do and I want you to do what you're supposed to do. And whoo.

I hope that it works out. If you are attacking your finances that way, I'm going to argue that you are being inefficient and likely ineffective and ultimately moving towards your financial goals. Look, I don't mean to sound like the old timer here who's been married 20 years, 26 years, but if you've ever been to any type of counseling with money, they're going to talk to you about communication. They're going to talk about that. That is the biggest thing is if you can control that inner voice inside your head, but you can also control how you discuss major topics with your spouse.

Brian Preston
How is that even possible when 57% of couples aren't making joint long term decisions? I think we're skipping out on that very important communication tool. We know that even when you look at a number, when you look at the highest causes for divorce in this country, finances and financial disagreement is one of those things that always bubbles up to the top. So even if you want to set your relationship on solid foundation and set it up for long term success, communication is key. So how do we do this better?

Bo Hansen
How do we think about it? Well, this all seems silly. Create a plan. Put together a plan of action that says, okay, these are the goals that we want to achieve and these are the steps that we're going to take to get there and then figure out how you actually follow through with executing and carrying out that plan. I was about to accuse you of being captain obvious when you say how to do a better create a plan.

Brian Preston
But in reality, we really have done a lot of content to help you know what steps or how to do it better on creating a plan. So please go check out. We have a show that came out very recently called Financial Planning 101, and it really will let you walk through by the decades. So whatever your age is and whatever spouse, it's a great tool. If y'all want to bridge that communication gap, watch this content together, actually listen to this podcast, figure out a way that y'all can actually do this and use it as a learning and teachable moment.

Bo Hansen
But in reality, creating the plan is just the first step because the second step after you create the plan is to actual follow through with action. Have you set up your plan in such a way that you have small digestible goals that you can work towards? If you're, if you've never budgeted before, maybe you're just gonna figure out, okay, this week, here's how much we're going to spend. We're going to spend this much at the grocery store, we're going to spend this much eating out, we're going to spend this much on the mortgage. And can you do that for a week?

Okay, great. Now can you do it for two weeks? Okay, can you do it for a month? Okay, now can we set up a savings goal? You need to actually be able to figure out how you're going to put your plan into action, or the plan ultimately is no better than the paper that it's written on.

You have to make sure you create a system and a process where you can actually execute. Now, bo, I want to be, I want to be clear, because this came up in our content meeting. You're dead in the messy middle right now. Oh, yeah. I mean, you got three kids, you got a little one.

Brian Preston
So there's just a lot of noise where you're both short on time, money's being pulled in all kind of directions. So when we, when we say something like have good communication or involve your partner, you're like, yeah, that sounds great, but when am I gonna make this out? And you shared a little hack that you and your wife have kind of figured out. What were you sharing in that? In our life, we're getting pulled in a thousand different directions all day long.

Bo Hansen
And frankly, we just don't get to communicate anymore. We kind of see each other, we pass and all this stuff. Or you're yelling at kids when you are breaking bread together. Even when we have dinner, we sit down and have dinner. And dinner is much more about get your foot off the table.

Brian Preston
Ah. Go sit down. Ah. Stop dancing. You know, that's the kind of stuff that happens.

Bo Hansen
One of the things that my wife and I figured out is every night we put the baby down. And while the two girls are getting ready for bed, they're brushing teeth, put in pajamas. Me and my wife go for a walk. And that walk, that time that we are together, it's just us. That's where we talk about our plans for the week.

That's where we talk about our goals. That's where we talk about the importance thing in our current life circumstance. That little bit of time. It's maybe it's 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, whatever it is for you. That time is so important because it allows us to recenter, it allows us to focus, it allows us to have that conversation.

Now, I'm certain that as this season passes, the time and the ability for us to do that will change. But right now, we recognize that even in this messy middle, it matters that we are communicating so that we can stay on the same page, so that we can keep ultimately moving towards our long term goals. So we just covered the lack of plan and how to create a plan. Now let's talk about the way we act with our money. And that leads to the next reason that I think Americans struggle so much.

Brian Preston
Our spending doesn't align with our goals. Yeah, it's so funny. We will say all the time, okay, I've got this plan. I know what I want to accomplish, and yet I don't do it. The very thing I want to do, I don't do.

Bo Hansen
The very thing I don't want to do. I do. Do we know that in 2024, two of the top financial resolutions were, number one, save more money. Number two, pay down debt. And yet still we live in this place where Americans, year over year, month over month, they're not actually moving forward towards these goals.

Brian Preston
That's a noble goal, thinking, saving more money. But here's what I know. And you can pretty much count on the trains arriving in the station on the same clocks, because 60% of Americans next year will also not have $1,000. New year's resolutions are going to come and go, and you can create a plan, or you can have it be intentional that you're going to save more money. But if you don't actually create action, what good was the plan?

If you need proof of this, think about 84% of people who create a budget. They exceed the budget regularly. What good is that? What was the point of even doing? The reason that you have a budget in place is to give you guardrails, is to give you rules, is to give you guidelines.

Bo Hansen
Well, if you are setting the budget, you're not sticking to it. All you're doing is wasting your time. You're not actually moving forward towards your goals. So what can you do? How can you do it better?

How can you set yourself up for success? Number one is you have to know where your money is going. Do you actually have a clear understanding of where your dollars are going? And I will argue, in the day and age in which we live, it's easier than ever to know this because now we all have online interfaces. There are apps that can aggregate every one of our credit cards.

Every one of our banks have an online portal where we can see those transactions. If you're not actually tracking and you don't actually understand where your dollars are going, I would argue that you're not doing it well. If you have trouble saving, if you have trouble getting out of debt, if you have trouble paying down debt, step one is to triage and assess where are my dollars going and how can I approve, how can I improve where they're going to better point them towards my goal? And also, don't be scared to change direction. I mean, if you.

Brian Preston
Because look, the stats show 27% of Americans run up debt for travel expenses. The third of Americans go into debt because of holiday spending. That's not the stuff you ought to get. So if you know where your money's going, it's one thing to see it in the app that you did it on, to go on a trip you shouldn't have gone on, or to buy gifts for people that you couldn't afford to buy gifts for. Do it.

In a way, maybe you went too big on the gifts. I'm not saying don't be generous, but know where the money's going and don't be scared to change. And here's a bit, because that's what, what can you do to make the good habits as easy as possible and the bad habits as hard as possible? If you don't have a lot of discipline, a way you can make the good habits easy, automate as much of your life as possible. If you can set up automatic investment plans, let those army of dollars actually go to places that are going to build wealth automatically.

It's going to make that money that much harder to go into bad stuff, and it's going to force the money into the good habits that actually create wealth. I'll tell you, one of the things that I have figured out, and one of the things that I help some younger people or some people earlier on their journey figure out is I really want to automate the positive things. I want to automate my saving. I want to automate my investing. I want to automate those sort of things.

Bo Hansen
You don't want to not automate. I do not want to automate my spending. So I encourage people. Hey, don't sign up. Don't sign up to have the credit cards auto pay.

Don't sign up to have the utilities auto pay. Don't sign up to have the subscriptions go through. I want you every month, every week, every year, whatever it is. I want you to physically feel the pain of spending those dollars. And if you can feel the pain of that, it will rewire the way your Brian, your brain processes consumption.

Just like Brian said. Make the good goals easy, make the hard goals hard, and you're going to set yourself up for success. I butchered your statement. That's all right. I knew where you were going with it.

Brian Preston
And as long as people understand what we're trying to do with the habits. And that also leads to. I think there is a struggle where people know that there is a difference between being a financial mutant and being a financial miser. I'm not asking you. I know this journey to building wealth will take time.

I mean, it's going to probably take you a decade and a half to really create some tremendous success. But that doesn't mean that I want you to lock up into the four walls and not come out for that 15 years. I want you to bedazzle your basic life. I still want you going on vacation. I still want you, you know, making memories with your family, eating out with each other, or eating at home with each other.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to create blossoming memories. What I think is great, and this is why we love our financial mutant community. We reached out to you guys and said, hey, give us some ideas. What are some ways that you bedazzle your basic life? What are some things that you figured out that don't cost a lot of money?

Bo Hansen
Listen to these. And these are great ideas that you can do. Have potlucks at home with friends instead of going out. That's great. I like that.

Take road trips and hiking for cheap vacations. You don't have to go to the luxury places. Do simple, do it yourself projects to improve your home on a budget. Do it yourself instead of paying someone else. Find cheaper forms of entertainment.

Minor league baseball games instead of major league baseball games. Go to local college sporting events instead of the professional sporting events. And then when it comes time for gift giving, Christmas holidays, birthdays, why don't we make the gifts instead of buying gifts. All of these things are great ways to bedazzle your basic life while still making sure to stay within your budget and be able to focus on what your ultimate long term goals are. Now look, we have shared a lot of the reasons why Americans are bad with money.

Brian Preston
However, I don't think there's ever been a time in history that is more set up or giving you the tools that you can actually build wealth easier. I mean, think about we have a platform now with the money guy show and I would encourage you go to moneyguy.com resources, tons of free stuff for you to educate yourself. Also, you can now buy index funds so easily you can earn over 5% on your savings and cash reserves. There are so many good things going on with investing and making your army of dollar bills effective. Take advantage of this great time to be alive and to build wealth.

Bo Hansen
Americans, unfortunately, are broke, but you don't have to be. You can make behavioral changes now that your future self will thank you for, but you have to be willing to do it. You have to understand what are the pitfalls I should avoid? What are the things that I should be doing? What is a plan that I can put in place, and how can I take meaningful steps today to begin moving along that plan towards my ultimate goals?

If you can figure that out, you don't have to be one of the statistics. You get to be one of the outliers. You get to be a financial mutant. And ask yourself, seriously, control that inner voice and ask yourself what small decision you're going to make today. Not tomorrow, today.

Brian Preston
I want you to watch this show and then make some small decision that not only improves yourself today, but also gives you your great big beautiful demar. Guys, I'm telling you, there is a better way to do money and we're going to keep bringing it to you. I'm your host, Brian Preston. Mister Bo Hansen. Money guy team out.

The money guy show is hosted by Brian Preston. Abound Wealth Management is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the securities and Exchange Commission in accordance and compliance with the securities laws and regulations. Abound wealth management does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through the money guy show. The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial tax, investment or legal advice.

Why Americans Are Actually Broke! (2024 Edition)

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Episode Summary

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Episode Chapters

1: Introduction to Financial Struggles

2: The Role of Education in Financial Health

3: Debt Mismanagement

4: The Consumption Trap

5: Strategies for Financial Health

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