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- [00:00]
Graham Stephan
I always say normal is broke. And nowhere is that more obvious than social media. So today I'm reacting to even more clips of people on their baddest brokest behavior. Or as I like to call it, job security. So with a wave to our channel sponsor, deleteme. Away we go.
- [00:14]
Young Adult Spender
Being an adult and living on your own is pretty great. The only problem is that I now have access to adult money, which means I can buy whatever I want, which means I end up buying like this and having zero regrets.
- [00:30]
Graham Stephan
Okay, so it's like a life size Pikachu, which who knows what Pikachu size is in real life. Piko. We don't know. I mean, I guess you could guesstimate if you watch an episode, but it's charging your phone as the Pikachu has it up to its head. Okay, it's just a really expensive fancy decorative charger. You gotta wonder if this guy is married. You just gotta wonder. Cause my wife would not allow that in this house. But he is right. When you have adult money, you live on your own. You can make your own decisions and nobody can tell you no except for you and maybe a spouse if they have a good head on their shoulders. So sure, go buy what you want. But here's my rules. Do it in cash. Do it with the right motive. Do it because it's gonna add value to your life or some utility or increase your quality of life. Do do your research to make sure it's the best option retailer in price. And then decide if the timing is right. Cause that Pikachu, if it costs 100 bucks, well that's 100 bucks you can't spend on investing, paying the bills, giving, spending it on something else, a meal out. And so you've gotta decide where your values are. And clearly this man has his for better and worse. Mostly worse. He could have bought a lot of Pokemon cards with that.
- [01:40]
Financial Skeptic
Pokemon go to the polls.
- [01:44]
Graham Stephan
That could have made him even more money, which is just gambling for adults. Okay, moving on. Why I don't regret buying my dream car at 18.
- [01:53]
Financial Skeptic
Okay, you're gonna regret buying your dream car at 18. Invest the money. Regret. Regret. Hot take. But when you have to drive somewhere. I'm not a good driver. I don't really enjoy driving. And you're in a nice car every, it makes everything better. You're driving like every single day. A good 10% of your day you're driving. You have to drive like whatever you do throughout your day, you have to drive there. So why not drive in a nice car and I know everyone's financial situation is different, but if I'm trying to get from point A to B and I don't, I don't even want to go to baby point B. Like let's say I had to pick up my little brother, do I want to go? And I love my little brother, but you know, the drive is not something you're trying to spend your time doing. Boy, when you're in a nice car, driving there makes everything better.
- [02:56]
Graham Stephan
Oh boy. Okay, a lot of justifying here. I think a good way to look at this is to apply it to other areas of life. Well, you got to live in a house. Might as well be a super nice house. Well, you got to wear clothes. Might as well wear the nicest clothes. Sure, sounds great on paper. But if you can't afford it, those payments will add so much risk and stress to your life and it's just not worth it. I mean, think about this. The average new car payment is $767. Sure, you could invest that and be a multi, multimillionaire, or you could give it off to, you know, Ford Motor Company's lending arm and make them rich. A brand new 2026 Mustang GT is going for $48,555. That is insane. And there's no way any 18 year old has that money, should buy that car and can't afford that payment. So I wish you the best in driving nice cars the rest of your life. But here's the problem. You're not going to get rid of that car and go drive a 2016 Civic that you could buy in cash. You're going to be stuck on buying brand new cars every single time, trading one payment for another, or spending a whole lot of money on a depreciating asset. It will never end. So I, I rebuke this girl math and I suggest buying a used car in cash. Upgrade over time and eventually you will drive a nice car. Especially if you're a bad driver. I believe at 18 you should be driving the worst car you will ever drive. Not the nicest car because mommy and daddy bought it for you. So I don't know who to blame here. If this was your decision, if you had the money, I don't know your life. Maybe it's a trust fund. Maybe you saved up $48,000 somehow from the age of 13 to 18. None of my business. But I do know that advice like this is gonna hurt a lot of people and cause them to be broke for a long time. And that's the nicest thing I can say about her to Cole Jackzko.
- [04:46]
YOLO Advocate
The best advice I ever got from my mentor was to literally not care about my 401k. Hear me out. His point was that if you believe in yourself, you should spend aggressively when you're young. Because in the future your paydays are going to vastly outweigh what you could say. Think about it. If you're young and like putting away a lot of money.
- [05:09]
Graham Stephan
Hold on, hold on. DM me mindset on IG and I'll share my best learnings about who's dming this guy being like more what this guy has to say. Believe in yourself. Spend everything you make, bro. Payday is going to out earn it. Big brain thinking, all right, let him
- [05:25]
YOLO Advocate
continue in your 401k or to invest or to save. Like by the way, that's what I used to like really, really do. And by the way, there's a fine line here. But he really changed my opinion on that. His whole point is when you are young, you are uniquely in a time where you have the health, time and freedom to really enjoy your life. And if you're taking that $20,000 that you're instead investing in your 401k, you, you can actually massively upgrade your lifestyle and have a lot more fun. You can have a lot better trips, you can meet a lot more interesting people. Like, here's a news flash for you. If you want to meet interesting people, go to where they are. Like, spend the extra money to stay at the really nice hotel in town. Anytime I've done that and footed an extra bill, I've met someone like literally in the jacuzzi or at the swim up bar that made that vacation entirely worth it. So his point is to spend aggressively when you're young because. Because in the future you will have massive paydays that will basically make your savings irrelevant. And when that time comes, you'll be like, wow, okay, I have enough money in the bank. Like my 401k is not really gonna do anything for me. I wish I had more fun with it.
- [06:31]
Graham Stephan
I saw. I can't get the image out of my head of him stepping into the Jacuzzi to meet me.
- [06:37]
YOLO Advocate
If you wanna meet interesting people, go to where they are.
- [06:41]
Graham Stephan
I think whoever's in the jacuzzi is about to get out after hearing this Spielberg bro. You just need to like believe in yourself and like spend it all. And then like your paydays are going to like outpace what you can spend and you can enjoy your twenties finally, this mentality. A lot of people actually have this. Whether they admit it or not, they are in their 20s and it's sort of this YOLO phase of bro, I got to go travel when I'm young. You are the brokest when you're young. And it's okay to say that out loud and decide, I don't want to be broke forever. And it's a really insane theory to just always try to out earn your stupidity. And instead of making the money you have work for you. So go on the trip you can afford now, not on credit cards with the money you have. And if you don't have the money, save up for it, work harder, work extra, work the side job, whatever it is, move up in your career and eventually as you put money away in your 401k, one day you'll have money. And I don't buy that his assets are going to just produce enough income for him to live because I think he's going to fall flat on his face and probably filed bankruptcy seven times.
- [07:40]
Credit Card Enthusiast
That's pretty dark. Yeah, that's dark. Yeah, it's pretty dark.
- [07:43]
Graham Stephan
If you believe in yourself, you'll make it back. Fine line, but it changed my thinking. Okay, let me just as an example, use our investment calculator to show you the value of a dollar at 20, which he's saying, don't invest anything in your 20s, just spend it all versus the value of that same dollar as you get older. So let's say your current age is 22 years old and you're gonna go to 62. Let's use a 40 year gap to simple. You got zero in investments and let's say you contribute 200 bucks a month that you could have used on anything else. We're gonna go with a 10 rate of return, which is what we've seen in the S P 500 over several decades. Hit calculate $1.2 million. Now, this person probably isn't gonna just magically start investing when they're 30. They're probably gonna keep this habit up of spending more than they make or trying to make more than they spend without investing a dime. And so that's gonna leave you $1.2 million poorer. And let's use his $20,000 example. Why put 20,000 in a 401k when you can use that money to go stay at a really nice hotel and get in a jacuzzi with this guy? Well, let's say $20,000, we never touch the money again. All right, we contribute $0 after that 20 grand to 22. We just leave it in there. What would happen to that? Money at 62 turns into a million dollars. Million dollars. Not even gonna be that much when you're 60. Shut it. Would you rather have a million more or a million less? You do the math, bucko. That's like $200,000. Now here's the thing. When you don't think about your financial future, you set yourself up for future pain. And same goes for your personal data. While you're out there yoloing, your info is just sitting on these data broker sites, AKA a spammers and scammers dream. And before you know it, your phone is blowing up with spam calls for a lakefront timeshare in Branson, a place where no one should ever share time. And that's why you need today's sponsor, Deleteme. They hunt down and delete your info from hundreds of data broker sites and then monitor them to make sure it stays off. And that means way less spam calls and texts and emails and way more peace of mind. And it's super affordable. With my special link, you can get 20% off their annual plans@joindeleteme.com George and before we get back to more bad broke money advice, let me give you some sane, good money advice. Ditch your expensive phone plan. Now, I get it. You've had that same phone plan since your first breakup, and meanwhile, you've been getting nickeled and dimed to death with higher fees year after year. Now, with Boost Mobile, another one of today's sponsors, their unlimited plan is just 25 bucks a month. No contracts, no catches, no bait and switch. And with Boost Mobile, you can bring your unlocked phone and get unlimited wireless for $25 forever. So make your next breakup be with your overpriced carrier. Start saving by going to boostmobile.com Ramsey $25 forever requires customers to remain active on Boost Mobile unlimited plan. All right, back to the abyss.
- [10:38]
Husband
I was thinking today I'm going to be broke forever because of one decision I made.
- [10:43]
Wife
What'd you buy?
- [10:44]
Husband
I'm talking about marrying you.
- [10:46]
Graham Stephan
Oh, shots fired.
- [10:49]
Husband
The question ain't what I bought, it's what you buy.
- [10:51]
Wife
I'd rather be broke and getting to see places like this than sitting on bunch of wealth that's going to be gone whenever I die.
- [10:58]
Husband
That's true. That's a good point.
- [11:00]
Wife
Money don't matter when you get in heaven, so just let me spend it. That was a good one, though. You come up with that on your own?
- [11:07]
Husband
No, I Saw it somewhere.
- [11:08]
Wife
Facebook. I knew it.
- [11:10]
Graham Stephan
I like their vibe. I like their vibe.
- [11:12]
Financial Skeptic
Look at that.
- [11:13]
Graham Stephan
In Christ alone. Brown heart. That's a wild. That's a wild color to pick for a heart. I ain't never seen a brown heart. What a sweet, fun couple they are. But let's talk about the concept here. He said he's broke because of the decision he made to marry her because she's expensive is the joke. She has fine taste. She likes to do a lot of things that cost a lot of money or have nice things that cost a lot of money. And she's saying, listen, I want to enjoy it now because I can't take it with me to heaven. I'm like, yeah, you look like you're 23. What about the next 60, 70 years on Earth? You kind of need money in the meantime. So let's build some wealth and use it wisely instead of being broke to see mountains, which I will agree, it's a beautiful view. I want to go there. But I think this mentality that it's either or that you either live broke your whole life because you can't take it with you, or I hoard every penny and don't enjoy life. That's just not how life works. There is balance. There's some moderation here where we can go, all right, I'm going to invest in the 401k for the future and enjoy money now by being on a budget, saving up for the trip. So that's where I go, why can't you save up? Why don't you have these habits to have some delayed gratification and save up for the things you want, whether it's an item or an experience? And that's what my family does. We invest for the future, and we live right now. And if you can't afford one of those things, you got to look at your expenses, look at your income, and face the music, face the reality, and solve those things.
- [12:47]
Money Mindset Coach
Okay, y' all really need to understand this, but you never lose money. You only gain things of value. The only time money leaves my bank account is when I have the belief that what I'm exchanging it for is more valuable than money itself. Because do not forget, money itself has no value. It literally, by itself, is worthless. It represents value. So when you go to the grocery store and you buy hot dog buns and sausages and mustard and whatever the heck you buy, you don't lose 50 bucks. You gained things of value represented by 50 bucks. So can you not see from this perspective that Even spending money is actually super abundant because every time you do it, you are gaining something of value. Likewise, every time you offer something of value that is exchanged for money, you earn money that's so abundant. So the money circulatory wheel, the circulatory nature of money is so abundant in and of itself. Whether you are exchanging something of value or whether you are offering money in exchange for something of value, it's all abundance. So if you only remember this for the rest of your life, it will completely transform your relationship to money and your scarcity programming. But every time you spend money, you don't lose anything, you only gain something that you perceive to be valuable.
- [13:57]
Graham Stephan
I mean, I get what she's saying. I've heard worse takes on the Internet, that money is a tool to buy things that add value to your life. And when you add value to someone else's life, it can come with a, you know, piece of paper with presidents faces on it that you can then use to buy things that add more value to your life. I can't argue with that part. But I don't know about this like abundance sort of vibe she was putting out there. You can lose money. People do it Every day on FanDuel and BetMGM and casinos gambling apps, you name it, bad investments, crypto. You can very much lose money and they exchange it for something they thought would have value that didn't pan out. So I think this mentality has a limit. But I do think it's wise to realize what place money has in your life, what it can and what it can't do. And once you realize that, you'll make better decisions with it. I think at least if you listen to her, you will be a little more thoughtful going, okay, what value will this really add to my life? Whether it's utility, maybe an experience, a quality of life. So in that regard, I will give her a tip of the hat if you will. If I was a hat wearing kind of guy, but you don't hide this under a bushel, do ya? Alright.
- [15:07]
Extension Buyer
Unfortunately, I just discovered unfun girl math. I just discovered I could choose between extensions or almost half a million dollars. Let me, let me explain. I've really wanted to try extensions. I have thin hair. I just, I've always been curious. So I googled what is the average annual cost of nice extensions and I found, you know, $2,800. I live in California, things are more expensive here. So when you take that, you divide it by 12, that's about $230 a month. So I thought, okay, what would happen if between the ages of 25 and 65, retirement age, instead of getting extensions, I put $230 a month into a very normal investment account. Unfortunately, it would be $464,000, assuming a 6% return. Screw you, Dave Ramsey, for being in my head sometimes. So I'm gonna have thin hair, but maybe an extra half a million dollars when I'm 65. You win some, you lose some, I guess.
- [16:11]
Graham Stephan
Love that. Now, that's good content. Finally, someone doing the unfun girl math. Which is my favorite kind, by the way. If it upsets you, I like it. But I do wanna check the math here. She said she'd have $464,000 at retirement at a 6% return. Let's check the math. And I also. I think that's very conservative. So we said, was it 25 to 65? Is that what she said? All right. $0 in investments. We're going to go 230amonth. 6%. 458,000. Very close. Okay, now she went 6%, which I think is very, very conservative. So let's bump it up and see what it more likely would be. Based on the historical return of the U.S. stock market, it's returned 11.8%, which is pretty impressive even after inflation. You're talking 9%. So let's. Let's type in 9% and see what it would be here. $1 million. That's pretty wild that it's over double, just with three extra percentage points there. And at 10% return, $1.4 million. So that's what it's costing you. And think about this. Whether it's extensions or anything else in your life, any habit in your life that's costing you 230 bucks that's causing you to not invest, well, it could be costing you over a million bucks if you're in your 20s and even similar if you're in your 30s. So I would have some caution. You can still enjoy life. And what I do is I budget for all of it. So I'm gonna budget the money to invest. I'm gonna budget the money to have the fun stuff. I'm gonna budget the money for the bills. And that way there's no guilt. There's no unfun girl math here. I've already set aside the money for all the different things that I want in life. And that will free you, hopefully. That's my fun boy math. This guy. What's up with white guys and mustaches? Who told them It's a thing maturing
- [18:00]
Credit Card Enthusiast
is realizing you should never use a debit card to pay for anything except for the casino, and you should be using a credit card 100% of the time. I have grown adult friends who will use a debit card to pay for something. So I ask them, why don't you use a credit card and build some credit and get some points? And they look at me with a straight face and. And say, because I have to pay it off at the end of every month. News flash. If you use a credit card the exact same way that you use a debit card and don't go on a shopping spree and hit your credit limit, you just pay it off at the end of the month instead of the money coming out of your account right away with a debit card. Do people not realize the benefits that credit cards get you with points and miles and cash back? And the fact that you need a good credit score to lease a car or buy a house? This isn't even an ad for a credit card company. I just don't understand how people that are fully grown in adulthood are. Are using debit cards. And some don't even have a credit card to begin with.
- [18:52]
Graham Stephan
Let's talk about this. Okay? First of all, he's dogging. And grown adults using their own money to pay for things that they saved up for. So maybe let's not dog them for that. Number two, this idea that it's smarter to use a credit card. Just use it just like you would a debit card. It doesn't exist. Okay? There's MIT studies showing with FMRI technology that in your brain, you treat that money differently and it pushes on the accelerator and lets your foot off of the brake to therefore cause you to spend more. So there is no I use it just like a debit card. No bet. Go use your debit card for a month and compare your spending. It will be lower, scientifically speaking. And in 2022, $33 billion worth of credit card rewards never got used. Not to mention the current average credit card interest rate is over 25%, which means you're risking paying 25% interest on the freaking Chipotle bowl just to get 3% cash back if you're lucky. That is bad math. And he's right. We are in record credit card debt. 1.3 trillion. Just about. And so that means this is not a wealth hack. This is a scamming to keep you broke and keep the credit card companies rich. And he even knows he sounds like an ad for the credit card companies. Like, bro, why are you. Why are you such a fan of Capital One? Like, are they paying you to make this video? What's in your wallet? If so, do better. Don't pay guys like this with weird mustaches. Now, as usual, since I was a good boy and did my chores, producer Alex has one more little treat of a clip for me to react to. Let's check it out together, shall we? This is incredible. Oh, she's matching him. This is my Dancing with the Stars. Oh, even grandma's getting in on this. She's got the sneaks on, too. She came ready to play. This guy really can dance. Sam Sanchez. I dance sometimes, okay? That's his whole brand. Can I tell you guys, if I wasn't in the personal finance YouTuber space, I would want my personal brand to be dance. If I could do it, I would go full Robert Irwin, okay? You would see me in some gorgeous outfits gallivanting across that floor. So jealous of this. Also, I don't have the height. Like, no offense to short people, but it just doesn't hit the same. You want to see some, like, flailing of some Gumby limbs? You know what I mean? Me, it's just there's this much. There's this much to start moving. But bless him, I would watch a whole show of just people crashing parties to dance. I feel like that's the best version of trolling you could do. Listen, dance. It brings the people together. I don't know what to tell you. If you can move, if you can't move, get off the dance floor. That was fantastic. All right. As rough as some of those videos were, and as wonderful as that last one was, I have seen a whole lot worse. And you can see the carnage for yourself in this next video, where I react to even more bad financial decisions. Just click right over here to watch it next or use the link in the description. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.