I've spent the last 13 years learning what separates people who are thriving financially from those who are just surviving.
I've spent three years studying finance and accounting, nine years working in banking and now I teach millions of people worldwide how to get better with money.
And here's what I've noticed.
Getting financially ahead is not about making massive changes or completely turning around your finances.
It's instead about forming small habits, tiny habits, that you follow consistently.
And these small habits compound over time and not only have a big impact on your finances, but also on your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
So in this video, I'm going to share with you nine ways that you can get ahead financially in the next 12 months.
These are the same things that I did to completely transform my relationship with money.
Let's dive in.
Number one, stop playing the status game.
There are two games you can play when it comes to your money.
And one of the main reasons most people feel behind financially is because they're playing the wrong one.
They're playing the status game where we're all trying to one-up each other.
And I really like the way Naval Ravikant defined the status game.
He says that the problem is that to win a status game, you have to put somebody else down.
That's why you should avoid status games in your life, because they make you an angry, combative person.
The status game is an external ranking to everyone else.
It's the size of your home.
It's the brand on your clothes.
It's the make of your car.
Everything you can see and compare yourself to on social media.
The issue with the status game is that someone else has to lose for you to win.
So, for instance, if I saw buying cars as a way to improve my status, then say I had a Range Rover.
That would only improve my status if you didn't have one.
If everyone else had one, it doesn't help me climb this ladder of status rankings.
The issue is that when you start playing this game and buying things purely for status and then comparing yourself with everyone else's projections, you're constantly going to feel on edge.
That leads me to the second game you can play, which is the wealth game.
This isn't about what everyone else can see.
Instead, it's about what's going on behind the scenes.
It's the investments that you can't photograph.
It's the emergency fund sitting in the savings account.
It's the maxed out pension that doesn't make for a good Instagram story.
It's all the things that have a positive ROI that can buy you freedom and the power to live life on your own terms.
The key here is to make sure your evaluation of financial success isn't based on the status game.
Once you understand that the status game is like an Instagram reel, only showing the best bits and then leaving the rest out, you free yourself to focus on what actually builds wealth.
And that shift alone already puts you ahead of most people.
Number two, celebrate your financial wins, even the small ones.
And this sounds weird.
You're trying to get ahead financially, but you're celebrating your small wins.
And honestly, this is something I wish that I understood earlier.
You're allowed to be proud of your financial progress, even if it seems small.
We live in a world where everyone's celebrating earning six figures, or six figure launches early retirement.
And somewhere along the way, we stopped celebrating the wins that actually matter day to day.
Paid off a credit card, that's huge.
Built up one month of emergency savings, that's massive.
Went a whole month without an overdraft, that deserves recognition.
But most of us brush past these moments.
We think oh, it's not that big of a deal, or I should have done that ages ago, or other people are way further ahead.
And I used to do this all the time.
I'd hit a savings goal and I'd immediately move the goalpost.
And I'd say to myself, okay, but now I need to double that.
Now I need to save more than that.
And I never let myself actually enjoy the win.
And then I read some research from Harvard Business School about something called the progress principle.
They found that one of the biggest motivators for people isn't hitting massive goals.
It's making consistent progress and actually acknowledging it.
And my friend Shardé also talks about this in her new book, Big Trust, linked below.
She talks about how reflecting on your achievements actually strengthens your agency and gives you that inner belief that you can figure things out.
So then I started creating what I call a wins tracker.
Every month I write down three wins, and one of them has to be financial, when it doesn't matter how small that financial win is, whether it's investing a certain amount, whether it's an impulse buy that I didn't actually go for, whether it's just upping my investments.
Once I started doing that, I started feeling genuinely good about my financial journey instead of constantly feeling behind, because this puts you in a mind frame of progress and not perfection.
So here's what I want you to do if you're watching this.
Think about one financial win from this month.
Just one.
Maybe you stuck to your budget.
Maybe you started that emergency fund.
Maybe you just thought more intentionally about a purchase.
That is progress.
And progress, no matter how small, means you are ahead of where you were last month.
Number three, think in decades, not in days.
Here's one shift that most people never actually do.
Stop thinking about money in terms of days or weeks and start thinking about it in decades.
Most people are focused on short-term results, but often short-term results aren't sustainable.
Did I save enough this month?
Why don't I have more in my account right now?
That short-term thinking can make you feel stuck because you don't know what actions you need to take to get closer to your long-term goals.
What gets you ahead is understanding that financial success.
It isn't built in a day or a week.
It's built over years.
And once you truly accept that, that really changes everything.
And I remember feeling frustrated at the start of my financial journey because I wasn't where I should be financially.
I'd compare myself to people further ahead and think I'm so far behind.
What's the point of starting?
But there is a quote that is if everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you're competing against a lot of people.
But if you're willing to invest on a seven-year time horizon, you're now competing against a fraction of those people.
And this quote, it wasn't about investing.
It was about life and business generally.
But you can apply it to your finances, because most people give up on their financial goals within a year or two.
They don't see massive results immediately, so they think it's not working.
But the people who actually get ahead over the long run.
They understand that wealth is built slowly, it's built consistently and it's built over time.
So instead of asking what can I achieve financially this year, start asking where do I want to be in 10 years and what small steps can I take in increments to now get there?
Now, suddenly, you're not racing against anyone.
You're playing a long game that most people don't play.
It's about making consistent decisions today that compound into something incredible over the next decade.
Number four know your relationship with money.
This means knowing your financial health, your income, your expenses, and then finding ways to live below your means.
In other words, increase your income, reduce your outgoings, so that you have enough money left over to save and invest in some form or another.
One very, very easy way to do this is through a tracker that can show you where you stand financially and if you're spending less than you earn.
I have a completely free one.
It's an intentional spending tracker.
It's linked in the description below.
It helps you dive deep into different categories of your life so that you can be fully aware of your relationship with money.
And there's a whole video that talks you through how to fill that in step by step.
Number five, build an emergency buffer.
There is a specific amount of savings that you want to have access to in case of an emergency.
And having this one thing alone, again, puts you way ahead of the majority of people.
In fact, 40 of people in the UK don't have one month of living expenses to support them if they lost their income.
And only 39% of Americans could cover a $1,000 unexpected expense.
So if you have a healthy emergency fund tucked away, even just one month of living expenses to start with, you're doing better than most people.
And this isn't just about having money for emergencies.
It's about having peace of mind.
It's about not living paycheck to paycheck.
It's about having options when life throws you a curveball.
Start with one month of living expenses, then build it to three, then six.
Each milestone puts you further and further ahead.
Number six, automate your savings and investments.
Warren Buffett famously said don't save and invest what is left after spending.
Spend what is left after saving and investing.
What you want to do is set up a system where, every month, a fixed portion of your income is automatically directed into a savings and investment account before you spend a single penny.
Prioritize saving and investing over spending benefits you in two ways.
First, you consistently grow your finances without having to rack your brain trying to remember when to make manual transfers, especially when things get busy.
Secondly, automating transfers means you're less likely to make impulse purchases, deals that turn out not to be such a great deal in the cold light of day.
Number seven, diversify your income streams.
Why?
Because A most millionaires you meet will have multiple income streams and it really is a cornerstone in building wealth.
And B.
If one of your income sources takes a hit, others can make up the shortfall, which keeps your income and your cash flow healthy and allows for continued financial growth.
If you're wondering how you could even go about creating a second income stream, one of the easiest and most accessible ways to do that is through investing.
I have a bunch of investing videos on this channel.
Here's one to start with, and I'll take you step by step on where to invest, how to invest and what to invest to ensure that not only you are working for your money, but your money that you're working hard for is also going out and making money for you.
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Number eight, stop caring about opinions.
Hands up if you've ever been guilty of caring too much about what people think.
It feels weird doing that in a camera on my own, to be honest with you.
I have.
I have.
That's for sure.
It was one of the most difficult habits to break free from.
And I often find myself going back into the same cycle and then having to try and break free from that habit again.
And the way I do that is, I have to keep reminding myself that every time in the past, when I stopped caring about what other people thought, I started venturing out more.
I started taking bigger risks.
I started living life in a way that was more aligned to me.
And thankfully, every time I've done that, it's been for the better.
And now a continuous question I always ask myself is, in the grand scheme of achieving what I want to do, living the way I want to live?
How important is this person's opinion?
If the answer is not very important or something similar, I become laser focused on what I want to achieve and how I want to achieve it, based on my own values, not the opinions of anyone else's.
And this applies to your money too.
People will have opinions about how you spend, how you save, how you invest, but it's your money, it's your life, it is your choices.
Number nine, invest in yourself.
I always say that the best investment you can ever make isn't actually in stocks commodities, real estate.
It is in yourself.
And this is because the returns on self-investment compounds, their benefits add up over time.
So, whether you're pursuing your education, you're improving your fitness, you're practicing self-care, putting yourself first is always a sound investment.
If you think about it, the value of your portfolio can go up and down.
Real estate values can go up and down.
But the skills you develop, the knowledge you gain, the health you build...
Those compound forever.
Your earning potential is simply directly tied to your skills and your knowledge.
And the more you invest in yourself, the more financially ahead you are.
So there you have it.
Nine ways to get financially ahead.
They aren't about making drastic changes or following some extreme routine.
It's just about making small, consistent changes that compound over time.
You don't need to do all nine of these things at once.
Pick one, pick two, pick three that resonate with you.
Start there, build momentum and then add more.
The people who are financially successful and ahead aren't superhumans.
They just have better habits.
If you found this video helpful, feel free to share it with someone who might be feeling financially behind.
And if you want more content like this, don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you next week.
