Almost 1 in 4 Americans has no emergency savings
and without a cash cushion.
That's terrible because if something goes
wrong, you will have to take unnecessary loans
and pay high interest.
Interests on credit cards are insane.
They could go up 20 or even 30 percent.
You have to be a moron to pay that much interest.
But even those who actually save some money
reportedly said they don't have much in their
savings account.
When almost 60 percent of the population says
that they have less than a thousand dollars
in their savings account, you know that we
have a problem because a thousand dollars
is probably not enough to cover the rent.
To be honest, it is difficult to save money
today because we are surrounded by so many
things pushing us to spend.
Even before the video started, you probably
saw an ad that called you to visit their website
and spend some cash.
That's not entirely bad, because spending
drives the economy forward.
But we have to find some balance so that we
don't find ourselves paying a 30 percent interest.
People often complain that they can't save
because they need to cover their basic expenses.
To these people, I want to say that Starbucks
coffee is not a necessity.
You can make a coffee at home for a fraction
of that price, but a 4 dollar coffee cap isn't
the most insane thing people waste their money
on.
There are other things that people waste a
fortune that they could have saved otherwise,
and this video we are going to discover 5
of them.
Hi, Proactive thinkers!
Before we move on.
A few words from our sponsor.
Number - bad habits!
What?
How is that related to wasting or saving money?
You just have to take a look at how much people
spend on alcohol, for example.
A fortune!
Twenty bucks here or 30 dollars there don't
seem like much, but if you add it up over
the course of a month, it will amount to a
significant number.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Americans spend about 1 percent of their gross
annual income on alcohol.
For the average household, that's $565 a year,
$5,650 in 10 years, or a whopping $22,600
over 40 years.
That doesn't seem much to some of you.
But don't be fooled by this number.
It takes into account all Americans, including
those who don't drink and those who drink
once to twice a year.
So if you only take into account those who
drink regularly, that number would be much
higher.
A few hundred dollars a month is normal for
regular drinkers.
The same goes for smoking, gambling, and other
bad habits.
The average cost of a pack of cigarettes is
$6.28, which means a pack-a-day habit sets
you $188 per month or $2,292 per year.
These numbers might not frighten you, but
if you count the opportunity cost, you will
probably get rid of these habits immediately.
The opportunity cost basically means what
you could have done with that money if you
haven't spent on drinking or smoking.
If you throw that 2292 dollars every year
into an index fund with a 7 percent return,
with the power of compound interest, you can
expect to have $489,593 in 40 years.
Next time before you buy that pack of a cigarette,
imagine that number in your head.
Especially today, investing is super easy.
You can do it with a few clicks on your phone
and avoid commissions that investors had to
pay back in the days.
Investing doesn’t just mean the stock market.
You can learn a few skills here on internet
and work for Tesla and make more than than
you can imagine!
You thought you need a degree to work at Tesla!?
Well you are wrong, at least that’s what
the man who runs the company said (https://bit.ly/2DdLceL).
And if you get fired, Apple will probably
hire you (https://bit.ly/3jv073H).
But wait a minute what kind of skills do you
need to get hired by such companies?
Programming, coding, analysing and understanding
data.
No matter what industry you’re in, learning
how to analyze and understand your data is
critical.
That’s why DataCamp - the sponsor of this
video - provides you with the tools to learn
the data science and analytics skills you
need to succeed in the real world.
You want to learn a programming language such
as Python or SQL.
You can start with absolutely basics and move
up to professional levels.
You can brows by topics to find out what you
want to learn.
Lets try applied finance.
They have courses that will teach you different
financial analysis that can help you with
investing.
You can acquire new skills fast with more
than 300 courses that combine short expert
videos with immediate hands-on-keyboard exercises
from over 250 instructors!
All courses, exercise or projects can be completed
from the comfort of your browser, so you won’t
need to install any new software.
And the best part of it is that, if sign up
to DataCamp by clicking the link in your description,
you will be able to check the first chapters
of any course for free!
And you will be supporting us to create more
videos for you.
And now lets get back to the video.
Smoking is terrible, but you know what's worst
than smoking.
2.
Paying high-interest rates.
Credit cards are great.
It's probably the best way to build your credit
score and maintain it.
It is extremely important because it will
help you to get loans and lower interest.
But here is when things get terrible.
When you use a credit card to pay for things
you cannot afford, what ends up happening
is that, you will not be able to cover your
credit card debt at the end of the month and
the interest starts rolling.
Have you ever taken a look at how high credit
card interest rates are?
They could go as high as 20 or 30 percent.
The interest on your mortgage would seem like
peanuts in front of credit card rates.
That might not seem like a big deal, but 41
percent of credit card users reported that
they are failing to pay their bills on time.
And that's what these banks are counting on.
They want you to forget!
No wonder why total credit card debts have
risen to almost a trillion dollars nationally.
So don't ever get a credit if you can't control
your spending habits, especially if you have
some really bad habits.
How I keep my credit card interest-free is
that I know how much exactly I spend.
I can use a debit card to pay my bills, and
I have absolutely no problem with that, but
I use a credit card because I would rather
keep building my credit score.
And on the last day of each month, I cover
all my debt even though I might have another
few weeks.
If you still forget to pay your debt on time,
then whenever you pay your bills or cover
your rent, make sure you include paying for
your credit card simultaneously.
One of the trends that have been rising for
the last few decades is
3.
Fast Fashion!
And you know what?
I hate fast fashion!
Don't get me wrong.
They do make some good clothes, and there
is nothing wrong buying clothes and I personally
love to dress properly, I am a big fan of
fashion!
But here is the problem.
Since the market is flooded with cheap clothes,
we, on average, started buying more clothes
than need.
Take a look at your wardrobe.
Do you really wear most of your clothes as
often as you think?
I am sure that you have 2 or 3 pairs of jeans
and a few t-shirts that you were every day.
The rest of your clothes have been lying on
your wardrobe, probably for years.
And like everyone else, you have clothes that
you never wore but you though you need them
when you were shopping.
The trend has become so popular that some
people shop every week.
That's insane!
What I hate about it the most is that, just
because the clothes are cheap, you end up
buying more clothes than you need.
The question is, why buy a lot of low-quality
cheap clothes?
Instead, of having 10 or 20 pairs of jeans,
just get yourself 2 high-quality jeans that
you will feel comfortable wearing, and you
would look much better.
And you will end up spending a lot less.
That's not the worst way humanity is wasting
money.
No matter how many clothes you buy, they definitely
won't harm yourself as the next thing on our
list does.
4.
Eating Garbage
What?
Who eats garbage?
Unfortunately, most people literally eat nothing
but garbage because most of what's sold on
the shelves of grocery stores is made out
of harmful ingredients in many ways.
And if you consider the fact that fast food
has become the new norm for years already.
You can imagine how much garbage people are
eating.
People spend most of their money on food,
and there is nothing wrong with that.
But at least consume quality food that isn't
harmful to your body.
Almost all junk food that's sold are filled
with different types of sugar to boost your
dopamine when you consume it and create a
sense of addiction so that you come back for
it again and again.
And that's done purposefully.
So we ended up developing a habit of always
eating junk food, sneakers bar, chips, or
soft drinks.
Some studies even say that a lot of people
spend almost 90 percent of their income on
food, which is absolutely insane!
5.
And lastly Unnecessary monthly subscriptions
Businesses realized that it's much better
to sell you a subscription that's cost a few
dollars a month than a product with a few
hundred dollar price tags.
First, you aren't going to hesitate that much
since it's just 10 dollars a month, especially
if you enter your credit card information
now.
You will get the first month for free, but
later on, you will completely forget about
it, but the company will keep charging you
forever.
There is nothing with getting a subscription
you use or need, but when you sign up for
the gym but then end up visiting it once or
twice a year, I don't think you need to renew
your annual membership.
84% of Americans unaware of how much they
spend on subscription services.
Have you realized that everything has recently
turned into a subscription, music, video,
movies, apps, games, softwares?
Every few months, audit your spending and
get rid of these unnecessary subscriptions
because you will end up paying a fortune for
something you don't even use.
And that's your list of insane ways people
waste the money they worked to earn with blood
and sweat.
And now it's your turn!
What would you add to this list?
How do you waste money?
Let me know in the comments below.
Other than that, make sure to give this video
thumbs.
And hit that subscribes button if you are
new around here and if you want to be notified
whenever we upload, hit that bell button.
Thanks for watching and until next time.
