You Think You Need a Pay Raise Stop Bull Yourself.

Are you always waiting for your next pay raise, convinced that increasing your income will finally enable you to start building your wealth and shiny financial future

Well, then, somebody needs to tell you this, and it's gonna be me

You're bullshitting yourself. What? Today, I want to talk about the myth that high income is the only way you can build your wealth

Data shows that 47% of Americans who earn more than $100,000 a year live paycheck by paycheck, not building wealth

So obviously, high income does not help build wealth automatically. Of course, it helps if you are able to earn a lot of money, but this is obviously not the only way

And since the next pay raise is not completely up to you, I also want to discuss how you can save money effectively even with moderate income

Finally, I want to briefly explain a couple of investment strategies that you can consider to build your wealth

And by the way, I'm Tanja, and I've spent 15 years as a banking executive

So I've seen people from all income levels make financial mistakes or take the right steps

So I'm sharing these insights with you today so you can do the best things and avoid the bad

But I'm not going to do it alone. So meet Mark, Lisa, and Alex

They are going to help me explain my points today. Let me first introduce you to Mark

Mark is an example of people with substantial income who still live paycheck to paycheck

He is a software engineer earning quite a lot of money, but his weaknesses are luxury cars and designer watches

His spending habits could make even the richest person blush. In fact, quite often, as income increases, people increase their spending to match their lifestyles to the increased income

So they may start spending on dining out more, buying new bigger homes, or buying fancy cars

The thing is that these expenses erode the impact of increased income

The key is responsible spending. No matter how much you earn, if you don't spend responsibly, well, you're not building your financial wealth

And that shiny financial future that you expected from the increased income will just drive away in that new fancy sports car that you bought

So don't let your lifestyle inflation derail your financial goals. Now, let's talk about how you can save money effectively, even if you're not a high roller

And for that, let's get to know Lisa a bit better. Lisa is a graphic designer and she's earning a modest income

She's far from pulling in six figures income every year, but she's a master at budgeting

And by saving diligently every month and investing it smartly, she was able to grow her emergency fund substantially

and also invest wisely in low cost index funds. Lisa's secret sauce? Smart saving

Instead of splurging on every fancy gadget, she stashes away her cash every month like clockwork

And this helps her build her financial future despite the moderate income

Now, finally, let's briefly investigate some investment strategies you can use to grow your wealth

Let's talk about Alex. Alex is a schoolteacher and he's got some moderate income coming in every month

But instead of relying on his paycheck only, he decided to get savvy on investments

He understood the importance of diversification, meaning spreading your money across different asset classes to minimize your risk

He opted for low cost index funds, which passively track market index such as S&P 500

This approach provides broad exposure to the market while keeping the fees minimal

making it a great option for long term wealth building, even with smaller starting investments

Alex's golden target? Wise investing. Even if your income isn't breaking any records, you can still start investing small

and see the way you can accumulate your wealth through the longer periods of time

Here, I'm going to mention an app that I'm using for trading. And to give you full disclosure, this video is not sponsored by Trading212

But still, this is the app that I use, not only because it's very user friendly

but it's also very beginner friendly. It enables me to invest in small fractions of shares

So basically, I can invest a dollar a day and I don't need big amounts to start investing

So whatever amount that you have available, you can invest it easily via this app

And there's another thing that I love about it. It enables you to play around with a simulation of your trading on a separate account

So on a separate profile where you play around like you would be investing

but you are not actually spending any money. So that you learn and understand how investing works and what would be the

financial decisions that could work for you before you even start investing actual money into the market

So yeah, this is Trading212. I love it. I'm posting a link in the video description below in case you want to check it out

So there you have it, folks. A high income can be a powerful tool in the wealth building toolkit, but it's not the only one

Whether you're a graphic designer, a software engineer, or a school teacher

responsible spending, smart saving, and wise investing can pave the way to financial success

Unfortunately, however, everything that I've explained today will only work for you

if you make your money work for you. So jump to this video right here somewhere, which explains how you can do exactly that

I'll see you there. I'm cheering for you. Bye-bye