Don't grow your network. Stick with the same broke friends who
complain about money. Stick to those around you who don't inspire you. Avoid
mentors, avoid other people who invest, and avoid wealth-minded
people. If your network is your net worth, then your network is
your net. Getting into credit card debt can be a very slippery slope, especially
when the credit card companies keep sending you offers to take more credit. When
they do that, just say no. It's like drugs. Just say no. Invest in yourself. That
means investing in your own skill set. I remember when I was sitting in my office
one day and I thought, I really want to become a millionaire. And I thought, what do I need to
do? I'm Lloyd James Ross, seven-figure investor and entrepreneur, and
I've helped thousands of business owners and professionals turn financial stress
into success. If you're stuck in old money habits, overwhelmed by
investing, or unsure where to start, this is for you. I'll
give you the mindset and strategies to take control, grow
your wealth, and achieve financial freedom. It's time to make your
money work for you. If you want to guarantee your work until
the day you die, just follow these simple steps. Never
invest, never grow, never track a damn thing.
Sound harsh? Good! Because that's exactly what most people
are doing, and they don't even realize it. So in this episode, I'm
breaking down the five habits keeping you broke, stressed, and
stuck on the financial treadmill forever. So let's
fix it right now. Okay, if you wanna work until you die, one,
never invest your money. Just leave it in a savings account, earning
nothing. Better yet, leave it in a regular account, not even a savings account. Inflation
will quietly steal away your future. Bonus
points if you say investing is too risky. Because
if you don't invest inadvertently, you are actually already investing in
a poorer future, right? So here's the truth. Not
investing is the riskiest move of all. Number
two, never learn new skills. Rely on
what you have learned 10 years ago because the world doesn't change. Of
course it does. But if you don't upskill, don't grow, you
don't evolve. All right? So when you wonder why you're
stuck at the same place and the same income, it's because
you're not investing in new skills. Because the world will
change around you and money flows to
those who grow. All right. Number three, don't track
your spending. Nope. Just wing it. Swipe and hope
for the best. Never look at your bank account. Never go
and do an audit. Just let it flow freely into the neighborhood. If
you have no plan, you have no progress. Alright? So if you want to
work until you die, don't look at your money. But of course,
you can't grow what you don't track. If you can't measure
it, you can't manage it. So if you want to get better at it, start measuring
it, start managing it. Number four, if you want to
work until you die, load up on consumer debt. Get
all the credit cards you can with the highest interest you can and
max out all your credit cards on consumer goods. Finance your
cars, finance your phone, finance your
TV and your couch. Finance everything. Just
buy everything on credit, right? And of course, pay
20% interest. Of course that's absolute sabotage,
but that's what people are doing. So of course it's going to take him to
financial ruin, alright? So if you're doing that, you are
definitely on track until you work, until you die. Number
five, don't meet people. Don't meet anyone new. Don't
grow your network. Stick with the same broke friends who
complain about money. Stick to those around you who don't inspire you.
Avoid mentors, avoid other people who invest, and
avoid wealth-minded people. If your network
is your net worth, then your network is your net worthless.
And that's what happens if you don't meet new people. So
if you want to not get wealthy, if you want to work until you die, just ignore everyone,
hate people, never meet them again, never say hello, and just stay
in your house. Because your environment will shape your financial
future. So if you're not developing your environment who you hang out with, you are not
shaping your financial future. So of course, how to get around that is start
meeting new people. Don't be so afraid of them. They're more scared of you than you
are of them. Your net worth determines your net worth. So how
do you fix this? Of course, you invest your money. So
what you want to do is start out with a small little micro-investing account or an app.
Start out with a very small brokerage account, put in a little bit of money, and
compound it over time. Start investing today, not just in money,
but in skills as well. Because if you start now, the earlier you
begin, the bigger your wealth snowball becomes. So
definitely invest, because it's the best thing you can do for
your future self. Just quickly, if you're ready to take control of
your finances but feel stuck on where to start, I have a
solution. My book, Money Buys Happiness, simplifies investing
and wealth building with practical steps to help you achieve financial peace.
Get your copy via the link in the show notes and let's get your money working for
you. Now back to the episode. So to avoid this, what
you want to do is invest in yourself. That means investing in your own
skill set. The world will change around you quite quickly, especially
now with AI. So if you're not in front of those skills of how to prompt
AI properly, or how to invest, or how to even do
a new job effectively, then you're gonna get left
behind because the world without a doubt is gonna change around you very quickly and
you have to keep up with it. So how do you improve your skills? You invest in courses,
coaches, mentors, and different things that are
challenging now and frustrating to do, but I guarantee you
if you invest in yourself and your skills, your future self will thank you
for it. So when I started investing, I started with $2,000 and I
bought Westpac bank shares. And that's when I got paid my first
dividend. And it was just this great feeling that I knew if I kept buying
shares of great companies, that over time my wealth would grow. And
so I didn't start out with a lot. We've got a multi-million dollar portfolio now, but
it never starts out that way. Every thousand mile journey starts with a single step.
Just like any multi-million dollar portfolio starts with
a very small first investment. How I started investing in
my skills, the very first time I did it was when I was working. And
I noticed a lot of people at work, they were doing a lot
of financial modeling using Excel. It was important for the developments. And
I noticed that people good at that had a pretty solid
job. So I actually asked my boss, I said, hey, can I do a three-day financial
modeling course? and I had to get his approval. And he said, of course, yeah, sign it
off. And he gave me that advantage and I went and did it. And
it just really enhanced my skills in the
company, but it also made me more valuable. And
so when everyone got retrenched and made redundant, I didn't because I actually had
that skillset and it took me three days to learn it. And that's a great example
of how I first started to learn to invest in myself and my skills. And
I just never stopped doing it ever since. So that's an example of what it
takes to do that. So I remember when I was sitting in my office one day and I thought, I really wanna
become a millionaire. And I thought, what do I need to do? What
do I need to save each year? What do I need to invest each year to do that? Because
I actually wasn't tracking it. And if you don't track your goal, like
you're never gonna get there. So I sat down with my Excel spreadsheet and I've just put
down how much I was saving per year and how long that was gonna take me. It
was gonna take me like 14 years. And so that allowed me to then track,
well, maybe I need to make more money. So once I tracked it and really
measured what will it take to become a millionaire, I had a very clear picture of
what I needed to do. And it just enhanced and improved my financial management
behavior because I actually tracked it. Now I track our
spending and our money every month, and I know what's coming in and going
out, and it allows me to make better financial decisions. And you can do
that starting from right now, looking at your bank statement for the last month. Of course,
getting into credit card debt can be a very slippery slope, especially when
the credit card companies keep sending you offers to take more credit. When
they do that, just say no. It's like drugs, just say no. It's easier
to just avoid it than get into this position of like some and
some not. So I like to pay off our credit card in full every
month, which I do. And I don't like to buy things
that are consumer based. I like to spend our credit money on our businesses
and things that are growing money. And I like to just not spend
on using credit on consumer things. And we have one credit card for
one reason, pay it off every month. And that's the best way to
stay out of debt. And it's best just to be debt free. So
there's a guy by the name of Tremendous Jones and he would
often say, you're the same person each day except for the books you
read and the people you meet. And one person can
change your life. I remember I met one guy and it
completely transformed our financial future. It helped us start three
businesses from that one interaction. If I had stayed in a house and
not met new people, we wouldn't have been given the opportunity. So if you've got lots
of skills and lots of knowledge and a lot of ambition, but you haven't yet received an
opportunity, it's because you're not meeting enough people to give you one. So
get around good people, meet new people. They may not be in there your life
forever, they'll be in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime, but some people
can totally transform the future of your life and it's worthwhile meeting
them because people are good people. They are, they're good and
there's no reason to be afraid of them. Just keep meeting them, keep adding them to your network and
one day they may lead you to one of the most incredible opportunities of your life. If
any of those habits hit a little too close to home, good. That's
your wake-up call. The good news, you can change all
of it. Start investing. Track your money. Upgrade your
skills. Surround yourself with people who actually want to build something, all
right? And you weren't born just to work, pay bills, and die. So
do the opposite of those things, and you'll get what you're
after, all right? Because I don't want you to work until you die. I want you to live a
fruitful life. So we'll see you on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to Money Grows on Trees. If you enjoyed the episode, leave
a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and
subscribe to us on YouTube so you never miss an episode. And
if you're serious about building wealth, make sure to check out the links in the show
notes and follow me on all social media platforms, at