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Don't grow your network. Stick with the same broke friends who

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complain about money. Stick to those around you who don't inspire you. Avoid

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mentors, avoid other people who invest, and avoid wealth-minded

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people. If your network is your net worth, then your network is

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your net. Getting into credit card debt can be a very slippery slope, especially

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when the credit card companies keep sending you offers to take more credit. When

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they do that, just say no. It's like drugs. Just say no. Invest in yourself. That

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means investing in your own skill set. I remember when I was sitting in my office

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one day and I thought, I really want to become a millionaire. And I thought, what do I need to

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do? I'm Lloyd James Ross, seven-figure investor and entrepreneur, and

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I've helped thousands of business owners and professionals turn financial stress

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into success. If you're stuck in old money habits, overwhelmed by

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investing, or unsure where to start, this is for you. I'll

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give you the mindset and strategies to take control, grow

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your wealth, and achieve financial freedom. It's time to make your

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money work for you. If you want to guarantee your work until

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the day you die, just follow these simple steps. Never

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invest, never grow, never track a damn thing.

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Sound harsh? Good! Because that's exactly what most people

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are doing, and they don't even realize it. So in this episode, I'm

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breaking down the five habits keeping you broke, stressed, and

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stuck on the financial treadmill forever. So let's

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fix it right now. Okay, if you wanna work until you die, one,

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never invest your money. Just leave it in a savings account, earning

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nothing. Better yet, leave it in a regular account, not even a savings account. Inflation

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will quietly steal away your future. Bonus

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points if you say investing is too risky. Because

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if you don't invest inadvertently, you are actually already investing in

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a poorer future, right? So here's the truth. Not

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investing is the riskiest move of all. Number

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two, never learn new skills. Rely on

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what you have learned 10 years ago because the world doesn't change. Of

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course it does. But if you don't upskill, don't grow, you

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don't evolve. All right? So when you wonder why you're

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stuck at the same place and the same income, it's because

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you're not investing in new skills. Because the world will

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change around you and money flows to

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those who grow. All right. Number three, don't track

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your spending. Nope. Just wing it. Swipe and hope

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for the best. Never look at your bank account. Never go

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and do an audit. Just let it flow freely into the neighborhood. If

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you have no plan, you have no progress. Alright? So if you want to

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work until you die, don't look at your money. But of course,

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you can't grow what you don't track. If you can't measure

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it, you can't manage it. So if you want to get better at it, start measuring

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it, start managing it. Number four, if you want to

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work until you die, load up on consumer debt. Get

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all the credit cards you can with the highest interest you can and

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max out all your credit cards on consumer goods. Finance your

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cars, finance your phone, finance your

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TV and your couch. Finance everything. Just

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buy everything on credit, right? And of course, pay

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20% interest. Of course that's absolute sabotage,

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but that's what people are doing. So of course it's going to take him to

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financial ruin, alright? So if you're doing that, you are

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definitely on track until you work, until you die. Number

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five, don't meet people. Don't meet anyone new. Don't

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grow your network. Stick with the same broke friends who

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complain about money. Stick to those around you who don't inspire you.

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Avoid mentors, avoid other people who invest, and

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avoid wealth-minded people. If your network

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is your net worth, then your network is your net worthless.

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And that's what happens if you don't meet new people. So

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if you want to not get wealthy, if you want to work until you die, just ignore everyone,

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hate people, never meet them again, never say hello, and just stay

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in your house. Because your environment will shape your financial

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future. So if you're not developing your environment who you hang out with, you are not

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shaping your financial future. So of course, how to get around that is start

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meeting new people. Don't be so afraid of them. They're more scared of you than you

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are of them. Your net worth determines your net worth. So how

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do you fix this? Of course, you invest your money. So

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what you want to do is start out with a small little micro-investing account or an app.

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Start out with a very small brokerage account, put in a little bit of money, and

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compound it over time. Start investing today, not just in money,

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but in skills as well. Because if you start now, the earlier you

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begin, the bigger your wealth snowball becomes. So

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definitely invest, because it's the best thing you can do for

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your future self. Just quickly, if you're ready to take control of

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your finances but feel stuck on where to start, I have a

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solution. My book, Money Buys Happiness, simplifies investing

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and wealth building with practical steps to help you achieve financial peace.

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Get your copy via the link in the show notes and let's get your money working for

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you. Now back to the episode. So to avoid this, what

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you want to do is invest in yourself. That means investing in your own

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skill set. The world will change around you quite quickly, especially

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now with AI. So if you're not in front of those skills of how to prompt

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AI properly, or how to invest, or how to even do

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a new job effectively, then you're gonna get left

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behind because the world without a doubt is gonna change around you very quickly and

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you have to keep up with it. So how do you improve your skills? You invest in courses,

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coaches, mentors, and different things that are

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challenging now and frustrating to do, but I guarantee you

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if you invest in yourself and your skills, your future self will thank you

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for it. So when I started investing, I started with $2,000 and I

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bought Westpac bank shares. And that's when I got paid my first

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dividend. And it was just this great feeling that I knew if I kept buying

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shares of great companies, that over time my wealth would grow. And

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so I didn't start out with a lot. We've got a multi-million dollar portfolio now, but

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it never starts out that way. Every thousand mile journey starts with a single step.

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Just like any multi-million dollar portfolio starts with

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a very small first investment. How I started investing in

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my skills, the very first time I did it was when I was working. And

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I noticed a lot of people at work, they were doing a lot

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of financial modeling using Excel. It was important for the developments. And

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I noticed that people good at that had a pretty solid

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job. So I actually asked my boss, I said, hey, can I do a three-day financial

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modeling course? and I had to get his approval. And he said, of course, yeah, sign it

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off. And he gave me that advantage and I went and did it. And

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it just really enhanced my skills in the

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company, but it also made me more valuable. And

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so when everyone got retrenched and made redundant, I didn't because I actually had

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that skillset and it took me three days to learn it. And that's a great example

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of how I first started to learn to invest in myself and my skills. And

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I just never stopped doing it ever since. So that's an example of what it

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takes to do that. So I remember when I was sitting in my office one day and I thought, I really wanna

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become a millionaire. And I thought, what do I need to do? What

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do I need to save each year? What do I need to invest each year to do that? Because

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I actually wasn't tracking it. And if you don't track your goal, like

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you're never gonna get there. So I sat down with my Excel spreadsheet and I've just put

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down how much I was saving per year and how long that was gonna take me. It

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was gonna take me like 14 years. And so that allowed me to then track,

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well, maybe I need to make more money. So once I tracked it and really

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measured what will it take to become a millionaire, I had a very clear picture of

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what I needed to do. And it just enhanced and improved my financial management

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behavior because I actually tracked it. Now I track our

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spending and our money every month, and I know what's coming in and going

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out, and it allows me to make better financial decisions. And you can do

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that starting from right now, looking at your bank statement for the last month. Of course,

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getting into credit card debt can be a very slippery slope, especially when

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the credit card companies keep sending you offers to take more credit. When

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they do that, just say no. It's like drugs, just say no. It's easier

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to just avoid it than get into this position of like some and

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some not. So I like to pay off our credit card in full every

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month, which I do. And I don't like to buy things

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that are consumer based. I like to spend our credit money on our businesses

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and things that are growing money. And I like to just not spend

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on using credit on consumer things. And we have one credit card for

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one reason, pay it off every month. And that's the best way to

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stay out of debt. And it's best just to be debt free. So

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there's a guy by the name of Tremendous Jones and he would

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often say, you're the same person each day except for the books you

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read and the people you meet. And one person can

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change your life. I remember I met one guy and it

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completely transformed our financial future. It helped us start three

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businesses from that one interaction. If I had stayed in a house and

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not met new people, we wouldn't have been given the opportunity. So if you've got lots

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of skills and lots of knowledge and a lot of ambition, but you haven't yet received an

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opportunity, it's because you're not meeting enough people to give you one. So

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get around good people, meet new people. They may not be in there your life

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forever, they'll be in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime, but some people

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can totally transform the future of your life and it's worthwhile meeting

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them because people are good people. They are, they're good and

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there's no reason to be afraid of them. Just keep meeting them, keep adding them to your network and

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one day they may lead you to one of the most incredible opportunities of your life. If

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any of those habits hit a little too close to home, good. That's

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your wake-up call. The good news, you can change all

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of it. Start investing. Track your money. Upgrade your

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skills. Surround yourself with people who actually want to build something, all

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right? And you weren't born just to work, pay bills, and die. So

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do the opposite of those things, and you'll get what you're

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after, all right? Because I don't want you to work until you die. I want you to live a

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fruitful life. So we'll see you on the next episode.

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Thanks for listening to Money Grows on Trees. If you enjoyed the episode, leave

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a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and

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subscribe to us on YouTube so you never miss an episode. And

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if you're serious about building wealth, make sure to check out the links in the show

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notes and follow me on all social media platforms, at