Feeling Poor? STOP Doing These Things

Sharon Tseung 0:02
This is the digital nomad quest podcast with Sharon Tseung. teaching people how to build passive income, become financially free and design their best lives. Alright, let’s be real being poor sucks when people say money isn’t everything, it doesn’t really apply if you’re having trouble paying your bills and drowning in debt because you’re not fully able to enjoy life. When money’s an issue, a lot of it is passed down from generation to generation. It’s why the wealthy are able to preserve their wealth or setting up their kids and teaching them how to keep and grow their money. This is in comparison to a lottery winner. According to the National Endowment for Financial Education. 70% of lottery winners go bankrupt. Within a few years, when you’re not taught to do different things with our money, we’ll continue to do the same things we’re doing only to get the same results that we don’t want, you get a bunch of money, but if you don’t know how to handle it, you’re not going to be able to keep it. I also think a lot of feeling poor stems from mindset and things we’re subconsciously doing without even thinking about it, which is why I’m going over things we all have to do to stop feeling poor. First off, I want you to stop being unprepared. Now this might be controversial. But when your car breaks down, or you get laid off from your job, it’s easy to say that the world is against me and I have no control. It’s easy to say that life happens to me and I get it because I go through this all the time I’ll initially get upset thinking why is the universe giving me this roof repair? But then I’ll take a step back because in reality, can we honestly say that only things happen to us, nobody else goes through unexpected emergencies. We know this isn’t true. That’s why we know it’s good to have emergency funds of six months of expenses. emergency funds are like life jackets, you hope you’ll never need to use them. But when you do, you’ll be glad they’re there. And that’s why you see people saving instead of spending everything they have and also if people are aware of the possibility of layoff we should be building multiple income streams. I myself didn’t even realize the possibilities outside of the nine to five. And once I discovered those opportunities, I became obsessed and worked extremely hard for years on different passive income side hustle ideas, I ended up getting laid off last year. But because I was prepared, I didn’t get screwed. I had side hustles that I spent many, many years building that even surpassed my full time income. That’s why in order to stop feeling poor, I encourage you to stop being unprepared build an emergency fund and income streams to stay safe in case anything happens. Number two, I want you to stop dreaming of the illusion of what Rich means a lot of us have this ideal of what money looks like it’s cars, it’s loads a nice house, the ability to buy the fanciest stuff and all sounds cool and exciting. And it looks like what it means to be successful. A lot of this comes from societal norms and messages we constantly hear. And sometimes we just buy stuff to keep pace with other people keeping up with the Joneses. But then you look at the reality of it, around 80% of Americans are in debt and nearly 1/3 of Americans have a net worth of $0 or less. When you look at these numbers, sadly, chances are high that those people who are flexing and making you envious aren’t where you think they are at in life. These things that you think are the symbol of money and being rich is a lot of times really what’s holding many people back from building true wealth to build wealth that your ultimate goal is to have your passive income exceeds your expenses. And to have a sizable net worth. If you’re constantly spending on nice things. Chances are you’re not building your net worth and your expenses are high, those people stopped working or they got laid off, they would probably be in a more worrisome position, they have to actively work for money. Whereas if you are financially free, you would have the ability to do whatever you want whenever you want, because your passive income exceeds your expenses. So shift that mentality towards real financial freedom where you can live freely without feeling stuck. Number three, stop thinking failure is the opposite of success. So many people I know give up a lot sooner than they should think that failure means they should give up and do something else. When it’s hard of the entire journey, you’re gonna fail a lot and things are gonna be a lot harder than you imagined. Because if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Everyone would have seven figure net worths and passive income if it came so easily, but you have to be that 1% That gets over the hump in order to get to where you want to go, because most people are trying to get to that point as well. But it really doesn’t come easily. But their financial journey. Yeah, in the beginning, you might be living paycheck to paycheck and you might have debt, everything snowballs too. So once you first get out of debt, you’re gonna be able to increase your net worth a lot faster. And then what I found was once you get to that $100,000 mark, everything really compounds compound interest is your best friend, it’s going to allow you to earn interest on your interest. Same thing with the entrepreneurial journey. If you’re trying to start a business, there have been many times I could have easily given up because I didn’t see growth or things were going downward. But that’s how the path looks. It’s not a straight line, there’s gonna be ups and downs. But if you’re intentional with your choices towards a goal, you’re gonna get there closer and closer. This brings me to point number four, which is to stop doing the 80% that gives 20% of result. Instead, I want you guys to do the 20% that delivered 80% of results. And what I mean by that is a lot of people focus on the wrong things. They’ll look at their coffee expenses or TV subscription thinking those are the things to get rid of when Most likely you could do something about your living situation or your transportation costs, which are usually going to be larger expenses. So look into your current situation and see if you can downsize and rent with roommates. Or if you’re in a better situation in which you do have an emergency fund and have some savings, maybe you could house hack and do an FHA loan for 3.5% down and rent out your rooms or units to other tenants, and actually make up for your living expenses. And then with your car, see if you can get something used with cash and downsize rather than pay down an expensive car loan. And then I would want you guys to see how you can bring in more income. I’ve had friends tell me Yeah, I just need to boost my income. Well, if you know what you need to do, I encourage you to just go and do those things. And if you don’t know what to do, hopefully are watching my videos and absorbing the information to get you to that next level. Number five, I want you to stop hanging out with the wrong people. Have you ever been in a situation in which your friends peer pressure you to go out drop them bottle service, or they invite you to nice restaurants in which you’re scared to say no, or maybe you’re around people who are all in situations that you don’t want to be in that aren’t ahead financially and they’re telling you how to live your life, even with their partner or spouse. Let’s say you’re with someone who doesn’t get your financial aspirations, they’re stopping you from forming good saving habits. That’s a massive red flag. Unhealthy partnerships and relationships include a wide range of scenarios, from financially toxic friendships, to destructive business partners, or a spouse who has bad financial habits who’s really stopping you from forming good ones. It’s the rule of the average of five saying that you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with, with people who like to go out and party and spend all their money doing so or people who love to shop, you’re gonna be pressured into that environment. Generally speaking, if you’re surrounded by people who don’t like to work on their financial situation, who prefer to stay at home and watch TV and not get things done, you’re probably gonna be more like them as well. And then if you’re in a relationship that’s holding you back, make sure you are aware of it and see if you can talk to your partner or spouse about this or see if it’s time to reevaluate the relationship. Recognizing the harm caused by these connections is the first step towards change. Surround yourself with people who you aspire to be more like who have similar goals and interests and ambitions as you doesn’t always have to be financially you can respect someone who’s extremely kind to the people around them and you wish to be more like them. Being around people who respect your financial boundaries and share your financial value can lead to better decision making and a more stable financial future. You have to be in an environment that really supports you and lets you become the best version of yourself that you can be. Number six, stop being disorganized with your finances. So whether you’re jotting down your income versus expenses, or setting up a dedicated savings account, the crux of it is to have a reliable money management system in place. Getting on top of your finances means getting organized. If you don’t know where your money is going, it’s most likely going to mean many financial problems like Miss bill payments and late fees. It might sound tedious to start tracking everything but you can use free apps like Empower, which I’ll link below to integrate with your account. So you can get your net worth cashflow, income, and expenses all automatically calculated, I find that when I know how much is coming in out of my accounts, it’s a lot easier to create that clear path for where I’m headed. A lot of people don’t realize they’re spending more than they make that first step of seeing clearly where you’re at, lets you know your starting point. So you know what actions to take to get to your goals. So you calculate everything and you find you’re spending 70% towards your needs, like your housing costs, bills and food, you’re not saving anything. Now you’ll know you need to downsize and maybe apply the 5030 20 rule and figure out how to drop that down to 50% towards your needs. 30% towards your wants and 20% to your savings and investments. Getting organized also lets you pay yourself first, if you know how much you’re spending, you can figure out how much you’re able to automatically put into a high yield savings account or investment account and you do this right after you get your paycheck every month so that you know you’re hitting your savings goals and then you make the rest of your expenses stretch for the rest of the month. My next tip is number seven, stop trying to get rich quick instead of build wealth. When

I mentioned investments, I feel like a lot of people roll their eyes they don’t want to put in that consistent work and they don’t want to wait 1020 or 30 years to build wealth. But that’s really what it takes tempting to get rich too quickly often involves high risk investments, gambling or schemes promising overnight Well, these approaches can be tempting, but they often come with substantial risks and the potential for significant financial losses. As an example, I know a lot of home flippers who’ve gotten impatient buy a ton of houses borrow a lot of money to do it only for the housing market to turn and screw them over. And I know people who’ve even gone bankrupt because of this. It’s so easy to see other people doing well and think oh, I have to keep up I have to do those high risk plays. But the key to lasting financial success is impatience and a well thought out financial plan. So rather than chasing quick riches, focus on setting realistic financial goals and develop a long term strategy. This might involve creating a diversified investment portfolio and saving and investing consistently which leads me to my next point number eight stop letting your money just sit inflation is eating your money, your money is getting less and less valuable over time because prices of products are increasing over time. That’s why you need your money to work for you and outpace inflation if you’re ever going to want to retire earlier. So instead of just letting my money sit in a regular checking account or savings account, I personally put most of my cash into my high yield savings account that has a higher percentage return than a regular savings account and is still liquid and then the rest I invest in real estate index funds, ETFs and stocks, majority of my portfolio is in real estate. And if you’re interested in doing the same, you can check out my free masterclass on how to buy your first rental property, which I’ll link in the description below. I like diversifying because it lets me have more peace of mind, that’s my biggest thing. I’m more of a risk averse person kind of anxious. So I prefer diversification where I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket. So I encourage you to figure out what investments make sense for you so that you can start putting your money to work. And then my last tip number nine, I want you to stop settling for a lower income because there’s a cap on how much you can save and invest. You have to increase your income to help with everything if you’ve essentially reduce your expenses as much as you can. And I mean, you’ve reviewed every single thing and really can’t cut back you’re still living paycheck to paycheck, well, you’re going to have to spend extra time you have into your side hustle or building new skills or applying a new job or me i job hop to help increase my salary. So I’d interview while I was at my job and find a new one maybe every year or two and then I would work on side hustles and new skills on weekends and nights I’m sure you’re guilty of spending some time watching TV or relaxing after work well I took that time and then put that into my side businesses so that I could get them off the ground and running I knew that if I didn’t put in this extra work I’d be unhappy at my job for the rest of my life. That’s the mentality you have to adopt you are helping your future self and your future self is definitely going to thank you you’re trying to figure out ways to boost your income you can go ahead and check out all my side hustle ideas that I’ve talked about on this channel. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode I talked about a lot of different things you guys need to stop in order to stop feeling poor, feeling stuck and feeling poor is definitely really difficult and I really get it I also believe that you can take those intentional choices and actions to shape your future. It might not be quick and might take 1020 years but you are going to be able to get there towards financial freedom especially if you’re watching videos like this. I know you guys are taking those steps in order to change your future. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Please make sure to rate review and subscribe. It really helps our podcast grow. And thanks again. I’ll see you guys in the next one.