My honest advice to someone who wants financial freedom

this is my honest advice for anyone who wants Financial Freedom and it comes from years of personal experience you see back in school my teacher saw me as a lost course which pushed me to drop out at 16 and start an apprenticeship as a carpenter which involved making wooden trash cans for only $2 an hour this was just enough to cover my expenses every day felt the same and blended into one I was stuck on a hamster wheel never getting ahead I knew if I did find a way to escape then I'd end up just

like my soulless co-workers I wanted to be free to do the things I loved without being a slave to my boss so I came up with a plan and managed to achieve millionaire status and Financial Freedom within my 20s a lot of people ask me is it still possible to become financially free today and the answer is yes absolutely if you've got the right plan so by the end of this video my goal is for you to have a clear road map to get financially free as as quickly as possible let's get into it step

one is to find your freedom figure your freedom figure is the amount you need to live your life without having to worry about money ever again once it's invested correctly it will generate enough passive income to fully support your lifestyle without ever running out I'll talk more about investing later on but first we need to nail down what that figure is for you as this isn't a one siiz fits all kind of thing because Financial Freedom means different things to different people so the first first thing you need to do is set your Financial Freedom

Baseline maybe you want a life where you go on vacation more often drive a sports car live in a mansion or buy a private jet just bear in mind the fancier the lifestyle you're aiming for the tougher it'll be to get there personally I've always valued the freedom that comes from not having to chase money over living a lavish lifestyle so I made a rule early on to only increase the quality of my lifestyle slightly each and every year let's go through the different areas of your life and estimate what each one might cost to

live comfortably I'll be basing this on studies that show what people in their 20s typically aspire to now grab a piece of paper and feel free to adjust the numbers to match your own goals so first up your house for most people in their 20s City Life or a place on the outskirts is ideal if you get a spot in Miami you could be paying around about $30,000 per year for a one-bedroom flat and if you're in the UK then London's rent prices are pretty similar next up is your car now the Porsche 911 always

seems to appear on dream car list so let's use that as an example luxury cars like this come with higher costs after considering fuel maintenance and insurance on top of the car payment you'd be looking at a total of around $4,125 now for vacations according to the New York Post genz are far more interested in traveling than my generation ever was back in my day one vacation felt extravagant but now The Sweet Spot seems to be around three trips per year for three mid-range trips you're looking at about $5,000 and of course if you're bringing

someone along you can expect to double that next we have to consider the boring bills if we stick with the one-bedroom apartment in the city then with electricity heating water and internet I'd estimate this would cost about $3,000 per year next is food now I'd assume you'd want a mix of home cooking and eating out I reckon you could do this for about $5,000 per year now for health insurance this isn't really needed in the UK but if you're in the USA then you can expect to pay 2,500 per year for a mid-level plan finally

there's Leisure this covers your gym membership night out and any other spur of the moment spending a reasonable yearly budget for this would be around $4,000 once You' written down your cost for each category add them up to see how much you'll need to live your dream life each year in our example that adds up to 30, 245 right that's 75,200 yearly number and multiply it by 25 we use 25 because of a rule called wait for it the rul of 25 who' have guessed that this rule is a way to figure out how much

you'll need invested so that you can take money out each year without ever running out in our example 75,200 125 doar think of it like having a Golden Goose that lays just enough eggs each year for you to live on as long as you only take the eggs and don't eat the goose it keeps producing more eggs every year that way you can keep living off the eggs without ever using up your main money stash this is assuming you're able to get more than a 4% return on your money and while past results aren't a

guarantee of future Returns the average annual return of the S&P 500 over the last 10 years has been around 12 to 14% although this is slightly higher than the longer term average no one has ever lost any money if they have bought and held an S&P 500 Index Fund for more than 20 years based on historical averages so how do you invest in the S&P 500 well just download and investing app like trading 212 once you're in search for an S&P 500 ETF which lets you invest in the top 500 us companies all at once

trading 212 lets you invest in something called fractional shares this is great as it means the stock market isn't just for the rich investors anymore and the average person can get involved if you're just starting out it's a good idea to use a strategy called dollar cost averaging this basically means you're investing the same amount on a consistent basis whether the market is up or down the idea is that over time this will help you average out your costs so that you don't buy all in when the market is is most expensive rather than doing

this manually you can actually set up the app to invest automatic Al for you on a regular basis using the pies feature since I was planning to talk about trading 22 anyway I reached out to them to see if they'd be interested in sponsoring this portion of the video they agreed and are offering a free fractional share worth up to £100 to anyone that uses the code Tilbury when they create an account plus you can get more free shares by inviting your friends both of you will get a free share as long as they fund

their account I'll leave a link in the description if you're interested step two is to act your life I get that reach in your freedom figure in an investment account might seem like an impossible task it definitely felt that way for me when I first started but there are a few strategies that can help you get there faster I highly suggest taking a closer look at all the areas where money might be slipping through your fingers chances are you're spending far more than you realize on things that don't really matter to you don't worry I'm

not going to lecture you about skipping Starbucks or making pack lunches every day I'm sure you've heard enough of that advice from my shorts instead I want to show you clever ways to keep living the life you love while saving money through some smart hacks let's kick things off with car hacking because I think a lot of people need to hear this social media might have you thinking that everyone is driving around in brain Rovers and Lambos but let me tell you that's usually not the case most of these people have their cars on finance

or loans paying hundreds of dollars every month just to keep up appearances according to Lending Tree the average monthly car payment for a new vehicle in 2024 hit a who in $734 that's almost $99,000 a year down the drain the worst part most people can't even afford these payments which is why there are around a 100 million Americans with outstanding car loans right now so let me give you some advice don't get sucked into this trap just because your mates are taking out car loans doesn't mean you have to instead think think about car hacking

this means buying a quality used car that's already hit the bottom of its depreciation curve you can drive it for a few years and then sell it for close to what you paid no massive monthly payments and no debt hanging over your head next up let's talk about something I like to call Brand hacking this is all about picking generic or store brand products over the big name brands to save a bit of cash without losing out on quality a study from moneysaving expert .c actually found that people can save up to 87% by going

with generic versions instead of the Branded items but let's get practical so you can see what I mean here's a box of cocoa pops absolutely classic everyone loves them and I always keep a box under my desk but they cost around $4.25 for a box and here's a box of choco rice the unbranded version which costs around $166 a box by using the unbranded cereal you're saving $256 each time and honestly H bet most people couldn't even taste the difference plus you get 500 G over the 290 G in the Branded box so it's going

to last nearly twice as long I know what you're thinking $256 isn't going to make me a millionaire anytime soon well actually if you save $256 every day that's $934 40 a year do that for 5 years and You' saved $4,673.14 live with your parents or go for a smaller apartment and while those are good options they don't suit everyone so here's a smarter strategy you can use instead of getting a typical apartment think about getting a duplex or a property with an extra room or two sure this might mean a slightly higher deposit up

front but it's worth it you live in one unit and rent the other one out using this rental income to cover most if not all of your mortgage that way you're effectively living for free while building equity in your home you can also do this if you're renting recently I went to a nice Airbnb near London Bridge it was a fantastic spot and I got talking with the Airbnb host and found out that he actually rented the place for 4K a month when he rented it out on Airbnb he would just go and stay at

his girlfriends I did some quick maps and worked out that he only had to rent out the apartment for 10 days to cover all of his rent pretty smart if you ask me but of course he did have to get a nice enough apartment with a good view for it to rent out well on Airbnb but if you're prepared to take on a slightly more expensive place then it will be easier to get bookings on Airbnb just make sure to clear it with the landlord before doing this as it could cause a lot of issues

if you're not upfront about it now for tax hacking I know this one might sound a bit dodgy but trust me there are lots of ways you can legally keep more of your money one great tax hack is to take advantage of deductions if you have a small business or side Hustle you can reduce your taxes by claiming expenses like a home office internet or travel as long as they're used for business another is using tax-free savings accounts in the UK you can save up to £20,000 per year in an Isa where all your interest

and gains are tax-free in the USA you have a similar option like the rough IRA tax hacking is all about understanding the rules wherever you are and using them to keep more of what you earn the aim is to pay what you owe but not a anymore now let's talk about deal hacking this is all about negotiation let's say you're looking to buy a car never accept the sticker price that's what the dealership wants remember the first price is rarely the best do your research first so you know the car's market value get quotes from

a few dealers so you can say the dealer down the road has offered me a much better deal and actually be able to back this up as it puts you in a much stronger position the easiest way to find out the true value of a car is to pretend you're selling the one you're looking at to a car buying service like CarMax or cavana check out what they'd offer you for it online you want to pay as close to this price as possible to ensure you're not overpaying for the car also buying at the right

time matters too if you go at the end of the month when sales people are trying to hit sales targets you'll often find a better deal these strategies have saved me thousands of cars over the years and they work for lots of other things too so don't be afraid to ask for a Better Price everything's negotiable if you know how to play the game step three is to get a credit card the biggest lie young people are told is that credit cards are evil and that you shouldn't have one a lot of people think credit

cards are just a quick way to get into debt but the truth is they're actually one of the best tools you can have for building a solid credit score if you use them wisely your credit score is like your financial reputation showing lenders how reliable you are with money and with a high score you'll have much better options when it comes to borrowing which can save you a ton of money in the long run I mean let's say you're 28 and you're ready to buy your first home if you've been using a credit card responsibly

and building that score up you could qualify for a mortgage with a lower interest rate that means that more of your hard- earned money stays in your pocket instead of going to the bank but if you've ignored your credit score you could end up with Sky High interest rates or even be turned down altogether so don't fear credit cards use them to build your credit but keep your balance low and pay it off every month step four is to create an additional income stream if you're serious about Financial Freedom building an extra income stream is

key think of your income like a stool with one leg if you're relying on just your job that's a single leg holding you up your entire life if that leg breaks let's say you lose your job then you're left with nothing to keep you steady this happens way more now than it ever used to the truth is secure jobs aren't as common as they once were most people will have around 12 different jobs over their lifetime but if you add a few more legs like a side hustle or Investments that store becomes Rock Solid now

if one leg fails you're still supported by the others building multiple income streams is like adding extra legs to your financial stability a great way to start is by choosing a side hustle that builds on skills you already have that way you don't have to learn something brand new from scratch there are plenty of options affiliate Market in freelancing e-commerce or even classic gigs like window and car cleaning the main thing is the value you bring the more valuable your work the more you earn now I know the usual excuses I'm too busy I don't

have enough money to start I don't know how but let's be honest these are a load of rubbish let me be real with you there are 168 hours in a week a 95 job takes up 40 hours and if you sleep 8 hours a night that's 56 hours plus about 10 and 1 half hours for meals and 10 hours commuting that still leaves you with over 50 hours of free time every week so if you tell me you're too busy then you just don't want Financial Freedom enough step five is to use money for its

true function there's one thing that rich people do completely differently to middle class and poor people poor people think that money exists to pay bills and fund their lifestyle middle class people think money is for building credit so they can get bigger loans to buy bigger houses and nicer cars rich people know the true function of money is expansion which means using your money to make more money so once you've got some side hustles or extra income streams going it's time to think bigger and I don't mean a bigger lifestyle that's the Trap that catches

a lot of people out as soon as they start making more money they start spending more instead think about how you can use money as a toll this is when you start looking into passive income streams where your money can grow while you sleep this is why the rich get richer they're not just working for their money they're making it work for them now no income stream is truly passive but by investing wisely you can reach a point where your money does the heavy lifting back in the day I was working long hours flipping cars

in the evenings working in the shop on Saturdays and tutoring on Sundays I hit the point where I physically couldn't fit in any more hours that's when I realized I needed to put my money into things that could grow on their own the stock market is one of the easiest places to start and as we mentioned with trading 212 you can get going with as little as one pound and even try out strategies in practice mode without risking real money personally I invest most of my money in an S&P 500 Index Fund which has delivered

some great returns over time now let's talk about crypto this one's a bit different it's got a low barrier to entry and big growth potential but it is risk riskier than stocks I keep about 5% of my money in well-known coins like Bitcoin and ethereum I think it's worth having just in case things pump like they did after the US election however I am prepared to lose it all as it's a high-risk investment of course real estate is the ultimate wealth Builder but it does need a bit more cash up front if you can save

a deposit you can take advantage of the house hacking method I mentioned or you could build out a portfolio of rental properties if you want to know exactly how to to set up an investment account step by step then I'm going to leave that video right up there but don't click on it just yet make sure to subscribe if you want to grow your wealth okay I'll see you over there