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The Rules I Followed to Never Stress About Money Again — Transcript

by Gabe Bult · 4,381 words · 602 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Me and this other kid that I knew grew
0:01up in the same city. We had very similar
0:03skills. In fact, I had [music] less. I
0:05dropped out of high school. We started
0:06working around the same time, earning a
0:07similar amount of money. And yet [music]
0:09now, 12 years later, I was able to leave
0:11my day job at 24, become a millionaire
0:13in my 20s, reach a lot of freedom
0:15[music] in my life, and he is still in a
0:17very similar place to where he started,
0:21living paycheck to paycheck, really kind
0:22of struggling, even though we both had
0:24[music] a very similar starting point.
0:26And that really got me thinking, and
0:28today I really wanted to share some of
0:29the small minimalist habits [music] and
0:32rules that I followed that kind of
0:33separated me financially from almost
0:36everybody that I know, and the things
0:37that really keep other [music] people
0:39stuck. I feel like once you understand
0:40these, you can finally get out of that
0:42cycle of living paycheck to paycheck
0:43[music] and gain some stability in your
0:45financial life. Now, some of these rules
0:47might feel a little bit extreme, but if
0:48you want to be different than everybody
0:49else, you kind of need to be different
0:50than everybody else. But to start off
0:52with, you need to understand this.
0:55You pay [music] for everything twice.
0:58Understanding this really changed a lot
1:00for me. When you think about buying
1:01something, you think about the price of
1:02that. Maybe you think about how much
1:03time it would take you to earn that or
1:04whatever, but you think about the dollar
1:06amount to buy the thing. But there's
1:07another price that almost nobody thinks
1:10about, nobody talks about, and that is
1:11the price of keeping the thing. Like
1:14let's say you have like a $1,200 e-bike.
1:16I literally used to own [music] one of
1:17these. And you look at your apartment or
1:19your house, and you pay between three
1:21and five dollars per square foot to live
1:24there. Well, now you're effectively
1:25paying for your bike to sit in that
1:27space. A lot of people have so much
1:28stuff that they have storage units. Like
1:30one out of 10 people have a storage
1:31unit. The average [music] cost of that
1:33is like $180 a month. You're spending
1:35thousands of dollars a year to own your
1:38stuff. But that's not even like what I'm
1:39talking about. That money that is
1:41sitting in possession. So, we take our
1:43energy, we take our life force, we trade
1:46it to somebody, we get money in return
1:48for trading our energy to them, and then
1:50we take that, we invest it into a cup.
1:53Well, this cup is not earning me any
1:56money. This is a liability that does
1:58nothing for me, right? The money that is
2:00sitting in this cup could have been
2:02working for me. We've all heard like,
2:03you know, the rich don't work for money,
2:05they make money work for them. This is
2:06what we're talking about. Simple as a
2:08cup. This cup is not working for me.
2:10This cup serves me, but it does not make
2:11me money. Keeps [music] my coffee warm
2:13and looks cool. Anyways, we'll move on.
2:15Let's say that you have 1,200 bucks in
2:17random stuff, extra couches, some gear,
2:20that hobby that you quit, just kind of
2:22laying around and you're not doing
2:23anything with this. You don't feel any
2:25urgency about it. Well, if you took that
2:26money and you invested it, you earned
2:28about 8%. In about 20 years, that 1,200
2:31bucks could be about $5,400.
2:33So, every time we choose to buy things,
2:36possessions that don't really matter, we
2:38are choosing not to have double, triple,
2:41four times the amount of money later
2:43down the road. It doesn't mean we never
2:45buy anything. Like, obviously there's
2:46some balance here, but there's a cost to
2:48not selling this, taking this money, and
2:50having this money work for me
2:51indefinitely. If you have a $100 earning
2:54average of 10% which is the average of
2:56the stock market over like the last 100
2:57years or something. I think it's
2:58actually like 11%, but whatever. That
3:00$100 could be paying you $10 a year
3:03indefinitely and actually growing $10,
3:05then $11, then $12, then $16. Like,
3:07it'll keep earning you more and more
3:09money. That is actually how you make
3:10your money work for you. And yet, most
3:12of us take our money, take our energy,
3:13and we put it into things that cannot
3:15work for us. We kill our money and put
3:17it into stuff. So, once I understood
3:19that I'm not just paying for stuff once,
3:20I'm actually paying for it multiple
3:22times. It costs money to have it. It
3:23costs money to not have that money
3:25invested, I shifted entirely how I spent
3:28my money and I just made my money work
3:30for me and that got me a lot of freedom.
3:32[music] You can do that on small scale,
3:33you can do that on big scale, but that's
3:35like the first important thing to to
3:37think about here. So, this is where we
3:38move on to the price per use. This is
3:41how I analyze a lot of things now. Most
3:44people look at the sticker price.
3:45Somebody was kind of nice to send me
3:46these, but I don't actually know how
3:47much they were. But, let's say this was
3:48$20. I have used these cups every
3:51morning for about 3 years. So, the cost
3:53per use on this is pennies. [music]
3:55Might eventually become like fractions
3:57of pennies the longer I use them before
3:58I break them. And so, therefore, $20 or
4:01even $50 or $100 wouldn't actually be
4:04crazy if I use this every day for years,
4:07then the cost per use is
4:09>> [music]
4:09>> minimal. But, let's say that I have
4:11this. It's my favorite. I use it all the
4:12time. But, then I'm going walking
4:14through the store. I see another one.
4:15And this one's only like five bucks.
4:17[music] Not bad. It's not my favorite. I
4:18don't actually love it, but cute. You
4:20know, it's kind of funny. Let me grab
4:22that. Now, I have a $5 one and I have a
4:23[music] $20 one. Well,
4:26I don't actually love the $5 one. I use
4:27this one all the time, so I'm not
4:28actually going to use this one a ton,
4:29but I'll use it occasionally. Whatever.
4:31I use it, you know, five times
4:32throughout the year because whenever
4:33possible I use my favorite thing, right?
4:35You have this with your clothes, you
4:36have this with your mugs, you have this
4:37with whatever. Well, now this $5 one,
4:39even if I use it 20 times throughout the
4:41year, is like a billion times more
4:42expensive than the one that is my
4:44favorite that I use all the time. So,
4:45whenever I'm looking at the price tag of
4:47anything, I'm not asking how much does
4:49this cost. I'm asking how much is it per
4:50use. One of the reasons I sold my hot
4:52tub was because I realized that the
4:54energy cost of keeping that was ending
4:56up to be about 25 to 35 dollars per use
4:59of the hot tub. And I was like, I would
5:00never just [music] go and spend $30 to
5:03get in a hot tub, and therefore I sold
5:05my hot tub. The hot tub came with the
5:06house. It was literally free. It cost me
5:08nothing. I got nothing for it when I
5:10sold it cuz I couldn't sell it. But,
5:11whatever. The cost per use of just
5:13keeping it was not worth it for me. So,
5:16this is where I invest in things that
5:17are quality instead of quantity, right?
5:19Like a $20 nonstick pan that you have to
5:21replace every year versus a cast iron
5:23pan that's $100, 10 times more expensive
5:25or five times more expensive, but you
5:26can use it for the next literally 20
5:28years. Like, it it's way, way cheaper in
5:31the long run, even though it's five
5:32times more [music] expensive. So, like
5:33price isn't the end-all-be-all. Once you
5:34understand that, you have less things,
5:36but every single one of them is your
5:38favorite and is actually cheaper per use
5:40despite what the initial cost is. Now,
5:42before we get to a rule that actually
5:44changed my finances, I don't want this
5:46to come across like everything is bad to
5:48spend money on. There are some things
5:50that are actually good.
5:54For instance, coffee, things that
5:55actually improve and bring value to your
5:57life, make you happier, make you
5:59healthier. [music] Some things can even
6:00make you wealthier. And one thing that
6:02is just totally worth it is making sure
6:03that you are well mentally. Cuz if you
6:06don't have that, it's going to be really
6:07hard to stay on budget. It's going to be
6:09hard to stay on diet. It's going to Your
6:10mentality and just like making sure
6:11you're good is so, so important. And
6:13that's why I want to tell you about the
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6:27can't completely change my life all at
6:29once, then I won't really do anything.
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6:32talk through stuff with, figuring out
6:34why do you have this spending addiction,
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7:28for 10% off your first month. And now,
7:30of course, next up is the one week rule.
7:33This is something that I put into
7:34practice over 10 years ago now and has
7:37saved me an insane amount of money and
7:39has also like changed my mindset a
7:40little bit. You see, most people are in
7:42like $6,000 worth of credit card debt or
7:44something crazy like that, but a lot of
7:46the reasons for that is because it's
7:48instant gratification. We live in this
7:49world where like everything is instant.
7:51You can click a button where literally
7:52like pharaohs now. Like we can click a
7:54button and have food show up at our
7:55house by some random person we never
7:57have to talk to. We just have to give
7:59them a little bit of money. Like
8:00literally live like kings right now. And
8:02people are upset if it takes 20 minutes
8:04longer for like food across town to show
8:06up at your door. Literally insane. But
8:07we got into this position where if we
8:09want something, we buy it. If we don't
8:10have the money for it, we borrow it. We
8:12literally become slaves to other people
8:14so that we can have stuff immediately.
8:16Bible says that the borrower is a slave
8:18to the lender and it literally is
8:19because you cannot stop [music] working.
8:21You have you're forced to go to work now
8:22to pay that person back or they will
8:24take your stuff from you, right? And so
8:26one of the many rules that I've
8:27implemented is the one week rule where
8:29I'm just never going to impulse buy
8:31stuff. If I want something, like this
8:32rug for instance, I really wanted a nice
8:34rug as a background. I sit on the floor
8:36about 80% of the day. I don't know why.
8:38I'm just weird person, but I was like,
8:40"Oh, it'd be cool to have a sheepskin
8:41rug." I thought about it. I literally
8:43looked at it for I think it was months
8:44before I decided on what the right one
8:46would be cuz I didn't want this idea of
8:47like, "Oh, I want something. Let me just
8:49get it immediately." I was like, "Okay,
8:50I want this. Let me analyze. Let me
8:51think. Let me sit for a week. Do I
8:53actually want this or was this just like
8:54something that looked cool cuz I saw it
8:56on the internet or something?" Even
8:57though I didn't, but like whatever. Is
8:58this actually something that will make
9:00my life better? Yes, I sit on it all the
9:01time. It's quite cozy and comfortable. I
9:03spend a lot of time in this room. I like
9:04it. And so I finally got to that point
9:06and then I was able to get it as a tax
9:08write-off and that was kind of the final
9:09step. So anyways, whatever. If you can
9:10become a person who doesn't impulse buy,
9:13you will literally be ahead of most
9:15people that you know. It's also just a
9:17good habit in general. Like if you can
9:18control yourself with that, you can
9:20generally control yourself with eating
9:21better. You can work harder. You can be
9:23healthier. You can go to the gym more,
9:24whatever. All that comes from just
9:26delayed gratification. Doing something
9:28slightly less comfortable now so that
9:29you can have more stuff later. Investing
9:31now so you can have more money later.
9:32All that type of stuff. The someday
9:34rule. A lot of times when we buy stuff
9:36or especially when we're thinking about
9:38getting rid of it, the reason that we
9:39don't is because of [music] someday.
9:43Someday I might need this. Someday we
9:45might have people come over. Someday is
9:47not a day on your calendar. This is the
9:50whole trap of just in case. [music] Just
9:52in case is why your house is cluttered.
9:54It's why you buy more stuff than you
9:56need. It is a trap. Next up, we come to
10:00the replacement test. [music] If you
10:03walk through your house, you look at
10:05every item that you have, and you ask,
10:06"What would happen if I lost [music]
10:08this item?" I also call this the house
10:10on fire rule. If you're at your home,
10:11just look around you. Like, look at your
10:12rug. Look at your couch. Like, if this
10:14burned down right now, how would you
10:15feel? For some people, and I know I was
10:17here because like my house was always
10:18cluttered. I had so much stuff
10:19everywhere. I didn't even know what half
10:21of the stuff was. My closets were always
10:22a mess. My house was always a mess. When
10:23people came over, I would be embarrassed
10:25cuz there was so much stuff everywhere.
10:26I didn't even know where it all came
10:28from. There was just always stuff coming
10:29into my house. And I was like so
10:30stressed out. And I was like, "You know
10:31what? I would love if my house burned
10:32down cuz then I could just start over."
10:34Like, I'm sure you feel that way
10:35sometimes where it's like, "I just wish
10:36I could have a clean start. I don't even
10:38know what this stuff is anymore. It's
10:39stressing me out. I just want it to go
10:40away." But on a smaller scale, look at
10:41the stuff you have. If a lot of this
10:43went away,
10:43>> [music]
10:43>> would you be sadder on a daily basis?
10:46Would your life be that much harder?
10:47Would it really impact anything? I'm
10:49going to guess if you're anything like
10:50me, most of it doesn't really matter,
10:52right? I don't need the chair. I don't
10:53need the rug. I don't
10:55>> [music]
10:55>> need two cups. I could survive with one
10:57and just wash it each time. It's nice to
10:58have two. I don't need them both. I
10:59would not be sadder on a daily basis if
11:02I owned less of these things, right?
11:04Even that calendar back there. Like, I
11:05like it. It's kind of cool background. I
11:07think it's fun. Doesn't make me happy.
11:09Doesn't fulfill me. It doesn't help
11:11anybody. Someone gave it to me, so I
11:12have it. Not saying I have to throw it
11:13out. Like, it was a gift. But
11:14ultimately, it's just a thing, right?
11:16And when I understood that, when I
11:17started to look at all my stuff as just
11:19[music] stuff, I stopped wanting more
11:21stuff. I started selling the things that
11:22I did have. When I first got into
11:23minimalism, I sold multiple thousands of
11:26dollars worth of stuff within the first
11:29couple weeks. And And that money, and I
11:31used it to invest and just better my
11:33life. I didn't spend it on other things.
11:35I used it and started to have it work
11:36for me and that was the beginning of the
11:37snowball for [music] me. I started
11:39focusing on other things besides stuff
11:41when I started to realize that the stuff
11:43is [music] stuff, right? It's not what
11:44life's about. And so many people don't
11:46realize that because we're stuck in this
11:47consumerism [music] trap. We're
11:48consuming I don't know where our phone
11:50is, but like we're consuming content
11:52constantly that's telling us if you have
11:53nicer stuff, you are a better person. If
11:55you have this, you'll be happy. If you
11:56have this car, your friends will think
11:58you're cool. If you buy this for your
11:59wife who buys a car for their wife, but
12:01if you do that, your wife will like you,
12:02you know? It's always this consumerism
12:04trap of that you just need the newer,
12:06the nicer, the better, the cleaner, the
12:07fresher, the trendy stuff and then
12:09you'll be happy. Never works. [music]
12:11But there is one thing that always works
12:12and that is when you hit the subscribe
12:14button.
12:15No, for real. I am going to do a huge
12:18giveaway when we hit a million [music]
12:19subscribers. I'm partnering with a bunch
12:21of different people to kind of give away
12:22some things that have really improved my
12:24life like journals and coffee and shirts
12:25and a bunch of other stuff. So and even
12:27some bigger things. So if you're
12:28interested in that, none of it's
12:30clutter, all of it's useful and we're
12:32going to be picking random subscribers
12:33once we hit a million subscribers. So
12:35thank you for everybody who's already
12:36been supporting [music] me and stuff.
12:37It's been super cool. I love and
12:39appreciate each and every one of you.
12:40Like thank you. So this next one sounds
12:42simple, but it's not and that is to not
12:45replace stuff that actually works. The
12:46average American replace their phone
12:48every about two years and yet the
12:50average phone's going to work for four,
12:51five, six, eight years. Depends on what
12:53you do with it. But the same thing
12:55applies to cars. People replace them
12:56just cuz they get bored. It applies to
12:58clothes. You don't like to wear the same
12:59thing too many times. You just get new
13:01stuff. Literally crazy. The only reason
13:03is so that you can look different in
13:04pictures. [music]
13:05Insane. But doing this over the course
13:06of 10 years is tens or hundreds of
13:09thousands of dollars. [music] Like I
13:11cannot stress how big this is. Actually,
13:13you can survive off the clothes that you
13:15have in your closet for the next
13:16probably five plus years. You might have
13:18to buy like underwear and socks, but I
13:20would guess most of us if we had to if
13:22they if like clothes disappeared, we
13:23could survive off what we have for the
13:25next five or 10 years. The average
13:26person spends an insane amount of money
13:28on clothes every year. They throw out
13:30pounds and pounds I think it's like 81
13:31pounds of clothes they throw out per
13:32year. You could literally change your
13:34financial life if you decided to not buy
13:37new stuff until the stuff that you have
13:40breaks. Don't buy a new phone until this
13:42one stops working. Don't buy a new car
13:44until the old one dies. Don't buy a new
13:45couch until this one like literally
13:47falls apart. Like everything, just don't
13:49buy new stuff before you need it can
13:51save you insane life-changing amounts of
13:54money when you calculate that out over
13:5610 or 20 years. Like one big example
13:58that literally that person that I talked
13:59about before, this was the thing that
14:01really destroyed their finances like
14:03whether they know it or not. Like it's
14:04just what it was cuz they didn't have
14:05this extra money to [music] invest.
14:06Anyways, they bought a new car. I only
14:08buy cars that I pay for in cash. I will
14:10never finance a car. When I didn't have
14:12any money, I had a terrible car. I had
14:15like a really old Honda Civic that was
14:17like $3,000. And then as I got more
14:19money and I was able to pay for other
14:20things in cash that I could like
14:22actually sit up straight in and stuff, I
14:23got other cars and now we have multiple
14:25cars that are all paid for in cash cuz
14:26we can afford to do that. But he as soon
14:28as he started making money got a new
14:30car. Had a car payment. The average car
14:32payment right now is over $700.
14:34Plus a lot of times things are more
14:36expensive with that like registering it
14:37or insurance or whatever. Anyways, that
14:39just not buying a new car and driving
14:42the older car for an extra 3 years, an
14:44extra 2 years can again add up to tens
14:46of thousands of dollars different just
14:48by having [music] a slightly older car.
14:50And generally, car gets you to and from
14:51work, to and from a couple other
14:53locations. It drives me so insane that
14:55people will literally work extra so that
14:57they can drive to work in a slightly
15:00newer
15:01box. Like I'm [music] so lazy. I would
15:03never work even one extra day a month
15:05and just to pay for the thing that gets
15:07me to work. Like maybe I'm weird. I just
15:08value my life slightly more than that.
15:10But that's just become normalized in
15:11today's culture. And when you buy a new
15:13car, you're stuck with this $700 a
15:17buying new cars. Well, now one person
15:19invests $700 a month. One person spends
15:22$700 a month, or maybe the difference
15:23is, you know, 500 even. That's the
15:25difference between one person becoming a
15:27millionaire in 30 years and one person
15:28not. That's the difference between one
15:29person being able to have margin to
15:32start a business, to start [music]
15:33investing, to buy a rental, whatever.
15:35They're like, that's how I got my rental
15:36was driving an old car. It's pretty much
15:37it's like huge expense. That can be the
15:39difference, just not upgrading when you
15:41don't need to. Next up, we have defining
15:43enough. When you know what enough is,
15:45when you kind of get to this point of
15:48realizing what makes you happy, what
15:49actually adds to your life, and what
15:51doesn't, you can stop chasing more. And
15:53when you can stop chasing more, you are
15:55able to build margin, you're able to
15:56build freedom, but it's pretty much
15:58impossible to do that when you're always
16:00chasing [music]
16:00the next thing, right? You could earn
16:02$200,000 a year, but if you have three
16:04finance cars and a really expensive
16:05house, that can go extremely quickly.
16:08There's literally just stats about
16:09people who make six figures plus still
16:11have really bad finances. And that's
16:12because you just upgrade all the things
16:14in your life. So, when you get reach
16:15this point of enough, you can build
16:17margin and still enjoy your life, right?
16:19have to sacrifice anything. You're just
16:21sacrificing stuff which you know don't
16:23doesn't make you happy anymore, right?
16:24And so, all you need to sacrifice is
16:26just chasing little dopamine hits so
16:28that you can have more freedom in your
16:30life, so that you can travel as much as
16:32you want to, so that you can have your
16:33wife leave her job if she wants to, so
16:35that you can spend [music] time with
16:36your kids if you want to, so that you
16:38can do what you love every day, make
16:40YouTube videos about stuff you're
16:41nerding out about and thinking about and
16:43find great people to connect with. All
16:45of that I was able to do because I found
16:47my enough, because I built margin in my
16:48life. And then the rest kind of
16:50followed. But, if you don't have margin,
16:51if you're not spending significantly
16:53less than what you earn, you'll never
16:54have freedom. You'll never be able to
16:56leave the 9-5, you'll always be chasing
16:58stuff, you'll probably never feel
16:59fulfilled. Maybe that's just me. I know
17:01a lot of people want that financial
17:02reset, so I did make a 7-day free email
17:05financial reset if you're interested
17:06[music]
17:06in that. It's kind of just how to like
17:08get a hold of your finances and get some
17:10things under control. On average, you
17:11should save multiple thousands of
17:13dollars per year by going through this
17:15reset if you actually do the stuff. So,
17:16do the stuff, and if you enjoyed this,
17:18don't forget to subscribe, drop a like.
17:20It actually really helps out the video.
17:22I'll see you next week.

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