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you don't need a sixf figure salary to
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Achieve Financial Freedom in fact some
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of the most financially secure people I
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know don't earn huge paychecks they've
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just mastered the secret to making their
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money work for them and that's exactly
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what we're going to do in the next 10
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minutes I'm going to show you how you
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can completely transform your financial
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life in just 6 months by following a
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clear month-by-month plan it's the same
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blueprint that's helped thousands of
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people go from paycheck to paycheck
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living to building real wealth if you're
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new here hi I'm I qualified accountant
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and a former investment banker and on
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this channel we talk about all things
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personal finance and self-development
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let's start month number one have you
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ever heard of the ostrich effect this is
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a psychological bias where people
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actively avoid information that makes
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them uncomfortable especially when it
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comes to money so if you think about it
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have you ever delayed checking your bank
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account after a weekend of spending or
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ignored a credit card statement because
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you just didn't want to see the damage
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that is the ostrich affected action our
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brains convince us that if we don't look
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the problem somehow doesn't exist the
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irony is that avoidance actually makes
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things worse stress builds up in the
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background small issues snowball into
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bigger ones and before you know it you
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feel completely out of control but the
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moment you face your finances headon
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something shifts Clarity replaces
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anxiety what if replaces what's next so
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this month month number one is all about
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ripping off that band-aid and taking
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full control step one one calculate your
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core four numbers these are the only
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four numbers you really need to focus on
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at this stage the first is your net
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income so that is the amount that comes
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into your bank account after tax
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essentially your take-home pay secondly
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your fundamental expenses so your rent
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or mortgage your bills food I.E
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groceries Transportation anything that
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is fundamental to your day-to-day living
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then your future you any money that is
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already going towards savings and
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Investments third thing you need to know
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and finally your fund spending the
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fending that's left over for the Little
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Pleasures in life that make it that much
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more fun this when you start doing is
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going to make you feel a bit uneasy you
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might discover you're spending more on
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dining out than you realized or that
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your subscription services are eating up
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a significant portion of your income but
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at this step knowledge is power and
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you'll see in the rest of the video why
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what we're doing in month one is so
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foundational to make this process easier
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I recommend using an app or a
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spreadsheet ideally one that does the
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calculations for you and is really easy
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to use because the last thing you need
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when you're doing something that feels
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like a chore is using a tool that makes
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it even worse you just won't do it less
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friction is key if you want to use my
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intentional spending tracker it's linked
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in the description and it comes with a
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step-by-step video on how to set it up
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as well moving on to month number two
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this month your goal is simple save one
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month's worth of your fundamental
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expenses so if your fundamental cost
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that you calculated throughout month one
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is 2,500 that's your target amount to
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save up I know it sounds like a lot but
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this One Step alone moves you into the
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top percentile of people who actually
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take control of the money a lot of
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people don't get to the stage not
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because they can't cut back but because
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their brain fights against it humans are
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wired for immediate gratification which
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makes saving feel like a loss but here's
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a reframe you're not depriving yourself
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you're buying Freedom so for the next
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month go all in cancel subscriptions
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that you barely use cook at home instead
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of eating out PS non-essential purchases
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and just know that this hit that you're
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taking in this month is temporary if
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saving that amount in 1 month feels too
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aggressive spread it out to 2 months or
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3 months but be honest with yourself
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don't use a stretched out timeline as an
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excuse to keep spending unnecessarily
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because the faster you build this the
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sooner you break free from the paycheck
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to paycheck cycle moving on to month
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three tackle bad debt and start building
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your emergency fund most people try to
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save and pay off debt at the same time
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but end up spinning their Wills that's
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likely because they treat all debt as
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equal and they don't know what to Target
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first we need to separate the types of
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debt out some debt like mortgage or
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student loans can be seen as good debt
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and other types of debt like credit
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cards Consumer loans they're seen as bad
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debt it's stopping you from moving
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forward and comes with a really high
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interest rates so here's the plan rank
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your debt in terms of interest rate from
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highest to lowest for the debt that's
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over 8% prioritize paying off ASAP in
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that order that you listed it's the
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fastest way out how much should you put
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towards a step well you've already
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calculated what you have left over from
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the tracker you filled out in month one
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it's it's the number that you have left
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after paying for all your fundamental
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expenses take as much of that number as
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possible and channel it straight into
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your highin debt repayment plan once
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you've cleared out your high interest
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rate debt instead of paying down the
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rest of your debt shift your focus to
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securing your emergency fund this way
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you're making faster progress start by
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Saving 3 to six months of your
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fundamental expenses so if you have a
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stable job aim for 3 months to start
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with if you're income is unpredictable
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go straight towards the 6 months but
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don't get stuck here forever a lot of
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people pause their financial growth to
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keep stacking cash instead in month four
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you want to start investing whilst
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building out the rest of your emergency
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fund and by the way this emergency fund
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needs to be easily accessible but not
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too accessible so the best place is a
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high interest savings account it takes
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10 minutes to set this up you don't know
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what account to use watch this video
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right here on things to look out for
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when choosing don't laugh at how awkward
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I was in that video it's one of the
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First videos I recorded on this channel
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but it's a good one so month number four
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start investing whilst you're topping up
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the rest of your emergency fund a lot of
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people think investing is complicated
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risky or something you do after you've
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saved for years but the truth is that
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the sooner you start the more wealth
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you'll build so first thing you want to
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make sure that you're maxing out your
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employer benefits this is the easiest
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form of free money if your employer
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offers a retirement match contribut it
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enough to get it it's literally free
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money and a 100% return on your
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contributions if you skip this you're
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leaving money on the table step two open
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a tax advantage investment account where
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you invest matters just as much as what
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you invest in so if you're in the UK
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open up a stocks and shares Isa that's a
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taxfree investment account if you're in
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the US it's eoth Ira that's a tax-free
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retirement savings account you'll have
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different ones depending on the country
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that you're in these accounts let you
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keep more of your gains instead of
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losing them to tax step three invest in
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Broad Market funds keep it really simple
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you don't need to pick stocks in fact
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most Pros can't even beat the market
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consistently so instead invest in index
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funds and ETFs they spread your risk
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across hundreds of thousands of
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companies the S&P 500 alone has averaged
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a 10.5% annual return over the last 20
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years that's the power of long-term
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investing and step four keep building
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out your emergency fund without missing
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out on investing you don't have to
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choose between saving and investing you
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can do both so at first you want to
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prioritize your emergency fund then you
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might want to shift to 70% towards going
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towards your emergency fund and 30%
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going towards investing then 50/50 and
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then once you've built up your emergency
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fund you can focus 100% on wealth
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building this way you're always moving
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forward building security and growing
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wealth at the same time month five
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increase your income every job should
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give you one of two things a learning
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opportunity or an earning opportunity
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ideally you want both but if you're
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getting neither you want to do something
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about it either negotiate a pay rise or
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start exploring better paying
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opportunities in most cases switching
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jobs is the fastest way to increase your
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income and to really drive this point
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home I've got a video breaking down my
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salary year by year for the 9 years I
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spent in Investment Banking and you'll
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see exactly where the biggest pay jumps
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came and that's why I'm saying this if
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you're underpaid or undervalued don't
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just wait for your employer to notice
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make the move that benefits you and if
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you want to try something new create a
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side income sell a skill start
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freelancing monetize a hobby or build an
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online income stream even an extra 200
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300 a month can massively speed up your
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savings and Investments so that's month
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five increasing your income and then
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we're on to month six automate and
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optimize have you ever heard of decision
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fatigue it's a psychological phenomenon
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where the more choices that we make in
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our day the worse our decisions become
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and by the time we get to the end of the
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day our brains are so exhausted and so
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we default to whatever is easiest
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whether that's skipping the gym ordering
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a takeout or just ignoring our finances
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and that's exactly why automation is one
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of the most powerful things that you can
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do for your finances is when you rely on
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manual decisions to save invest or pay
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bills you leave room for inconsistency
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some months you'll be on top of that and
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then other months when life gets busy
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you'll fall behind that's why the secret
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to financial success isn't discipline
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it's removing the need for discipline
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alog together so in this month we're
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doing two things first we're automating
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your entire money system bills and fixed
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expenses you want to set up direct
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debits for rent for mortgage for
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utilities for insurance for debt
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repayments this prevents late fees and
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also protects your credit score then you
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want to automate your savings and
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Investments schedule automatic transfers
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to your savings your investment accounts
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your retirement fund and you already
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know what you can set up in this stage
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because you've already figured out what
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your finances look like you know how
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much you need for your fundamental
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living expenses and so you know what
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percentage you have available to be able
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to allocate towards your savings
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Investments and you want to pay yourself
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first you want to put that into your own
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pocket before paying anyone else and
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then the rest is your every day spending
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use a separate account or a card for
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your fund money your daily expenses this
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makes budgeting effortless because when
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the money's gone you know that it's gone
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the second thing you want to do is
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review and adjust your financial plan
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because your financial plan isn't set in
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stone your income changes your expenses
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shift your goals evolve continuously
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checking with yourself and ask yourself
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are my automated savings and Investments
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still aligned with my goals has my
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income increased if so can I increase my
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savings rate the financial world is
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constantly evolving new investment
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opportunities tax laws money saving
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strategies emerge all the time so the
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more you educate yourself the better
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equipped you'll be to capitalize on
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Smart Financial moves to stay up to date
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you could always subscribe to this
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channel I upload a new video every
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Sunday well most Sundays with the
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primary goal of helping you take control
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of your money and ultimately your entire
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Financial life and then I also throw
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some self-development in there too so if
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you haven't already you can click the
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button below to subscribe and I'll see
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you next Sunday
