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After helping thousands of people with
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their money, working in banking for nine
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years, and qualifying as an accountant,
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I've noticed something pretty
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interesting. The people who see the
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biggest improvements in their finances
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all tend to do the same things. It's not
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about earning a massive salary or
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getting lucky with the next big
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investment. It's about being strategic
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with the money you already have and
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making some key shifts that most people
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overlook. So, in this video, I'm sharing
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five things that you can start today
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that can dramatically improve your
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financial situation. I've seen these
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work time and time again, both during my
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career and in my own finances. Starting
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with number one, build systems, not
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discipline. Most people think improving
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your finances is about being more
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disciplined. But the truth is that
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discipline is unreliable. Sure, you
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might be better with money for a week or
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two. Maybe you watch some of my videos
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back to back and it motivates you to get
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on top of your finances. And then life
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happens. A few weeks later, you've
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forgotten that you need to be good with
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your finances. You have some bad days, a
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few stressful weeks, and then your
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willpower just runs out. The hack here,
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as James K famously says, you don't rise
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to the level of your goals. You fall to
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the level of your systems. When it comes
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to finances, you want to think about
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automatic transfers so saving happens
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without thinking. Set up a direct debit
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for bills so that you never miss a
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payment. Use separate accounts so you
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can't accidentally spend your emergency
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fund. And delete shopping apps to make
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impulse purchases harder to do. The goal
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is to make good financial decisions
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automatic and bad financial decisions
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hard to take. When you build the right
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systems, good choices end up just being
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the path of least resistance. And
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speaking of systems that save your time
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and make your life easier, there's one
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tool that I use all the time that's
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completely transformed how I organize my
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work. One of the biggest time wasters in
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most businesses is just trying to find
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things. Documents, emails, links,
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meeting notes, and the bigger the team
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gets, the harder it is to stay on track
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of everything. That's exactly why I've
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been using Dropbox Dash and it's given
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me hours back every single week. Dropbox
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Dash is AI powered search and
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organization that connects all of your
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work apps in one place, making it super
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easy to find, to organize, and to
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securely share content with the right
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people. Dash connects with all your work
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tools, Dropbox, Gmail, Google Calendar,
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and so many more, and searches
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everything in one place. It learns your
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habits, suggests relevant content, and
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finds whatever you need, even if you
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forgot where you saved it. And the
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really cool part is that you can
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actually chat with her. So, I'll type
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something like summarize our Q4 goals or
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where's the latest script draft, and
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Dash will give me the answer pulling
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from the files, the emails, meeting
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notes, all of it. And it shows the
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source so you know exactly where the
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info is coming from. As well, I've also
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started using a feature called stacks.
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Basically, you can group together
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related links, files, decks, whatever,
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and keep it all organized around a
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specific project. I use it for launches,
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and I just send the stack to my team.
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You can try Dash with your team today
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using the link below. Thank you,
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Dropbox, for sponsoring today's video.
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Number two, measure what matters. For
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the first few years of my banking
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career, I thought I was doing well
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financially because my base salary kept
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going up. I started on 35,000, got a pay
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rise to 37,500 and then to 40,000 and
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then I got promoted and it went up after
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that and I felt like I was making
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progress. It wasn't until years into my
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career that I finally sat down and
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tracked my finances properly. And at
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that point I realized the gap between
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what I thought was happening and what
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was actually happening was completely
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out of sync. I found spending that I
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couldn't explain, subscriptions that I
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wasn't even using, but they'd continued
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for months if not years. Impulse buys
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that felt reasonable at the time, but
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absurd in hindsight. And so, overall, as
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my income went up, so did my spending,
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which meant I was saving a smaller
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percentage overall without even
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realizing. I was measuring success by my
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income, not by my progress. And that's
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the reality for most of us. We think
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we're in control because we sort of know
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what we earn. We kind of know what the
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rent or mortgage we're paying is. We
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know that the bills get paid, but unless
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we're actually tracking our key numbers,
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we can't improve what we don't measure.
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So, here's a really simple fix that you
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can start today. Set up a tracker with
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just three categories in it. Your
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fundamentals, so these are things like
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your essential living costs, rent or
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mortgage, bills, insurance, groceries,
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uh minimum debt payments, fun, which is
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all your eating out, entertainment,
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clothes, all the things that you enjoy
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spending on. And then the future, future
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you, which is investments, retirement,
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contributions, everything going towards
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your future. Every month, just spend 20
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minutes going through your bank
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statements and sorting every transaction
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out into one of these three categories.
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If you want to use the same one that's
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on the screen right now, it's completely
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free and it's linked in the description
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below. It sounds really basic, but it is
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powerful. The first time I did it, the
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first time I allocated my income into
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these three categories, I realized I was
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spending so much more in one area than I
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was in the future you area. And that one
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exercise showed me what I needed to do
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to move forward. You can't get to where
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you want to be if you don't know where
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you are right now. Number three,
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differentiate impulse from intention.
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Learning to tell the difference between
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what you want right now and what you
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actually want can have a huge impact on
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your money goals. I say this because a
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2023 study found that over half of
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impulse spenders say that it's delayed
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their biggest financial goals like
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saving for an emergency fund, saving for
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retirement, or paying off debt. Impulse
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spending and intentional spending feel
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the same in the moment, but that's the
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danger. Impulse is that immediate I need
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this now. It's urgent. It's emotional
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and your brain creates all these reasons
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why you absolutely must have it right at
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the second. The thing with impulse is it
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fades as quickly as it appears. An
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intentional spending choice on the other
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hand is a deliberate decision that
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you've made over time. It's something
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you've planned for. It's something that
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aligns with your wider life goals and
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your vision. And knowing how to treat
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the two could be a complete game changer
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for your finances. So here's the rule
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that I follow before buying anything you
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don't absolutely need. Wait 24 hours.
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What happens during these 24 hours is it
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separates your impulse decisions between
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your intentional spending. If it's an
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impulse, that feeling disappears. You
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won't even think about it after 24
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hours. If it's a real intentional,
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something that genuinely matters, that
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feeling sticks. This one habit of just
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waiting 24 hours before I buy something
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that costs over a certain amount, that
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one habit has saved me thousands over
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the years. But more importantly, it's
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trained my brain to be more intentional
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with money and moving closer towards my
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bigger financial goals. Number four,
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double your money. I want to show you
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how the decisions that you make today
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when it comes to where you put your
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money, how drastically it can impact
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your financial situation. So, let's say
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you have 10,000 and today it's sitting
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in a regular bank account paying 0%.
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After 10 years, you still have that
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10,000. What if after this video, after
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you watch this video, you choose to put
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that in a account that's paying a high
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interest, say around 3%. Assuming that
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3% maintains, you got 13,439
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after 10 years. What about if you choose
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to put it in an index fund that on
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average grew 7% per year for the next 10
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years? Then you have just under 20,000.
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That's nearly double your money, not
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from working more or taking big risks,
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but just by choosing where you put your
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money. And that's if you never added any
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money on top of that 10,000 that you put
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in. Imagine what happens if you keep
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investing consistently. I've got a whole
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video on how this works right here,
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which essentially explains how this
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compounds. If you're just starting out,
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begin with your employer sponsored
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account, especially if there's a match.
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It's essentially free money you don't
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want to be leaving on the table. Then
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open up an individual investment
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account. Both of these come with tax
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advantages that make your money work
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even harder for you. If you want to go
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deeper, I've got another video right
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here that walks you through exactly how
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much to invest based on your life plans,
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your long-term goals, and how much you
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have available. That's a good place to
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start if you have no idea what steps you
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want to take next. And then the fifth
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one is focus on raising the ceiling. You
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can spend hours switching bank accounts
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or save a few hundred a month for the
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cheapest insurance. And at the start,
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this will make a big difference,
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especially when you're trying to set
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good habits. Then you get to a point
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where you reach a cap on how much you
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can save and invest because you can only
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save and invest as much as you can earn.
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But you can always earn more and that
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part has no ceiling. Whether it's asking
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for a payriseise, switching jobs,
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starting a side business, earning more
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is the most powerful financial lever you
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have. So make sure you pull it often.
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Those are five strategies that work over
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and over again. It's transformed my
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financial life and so many others.
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Thanks for watching. If this was
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helpful, feel free to share it with
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someone else who might also be feeling
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stuck with their finances.
