6 Middle Class Money Traps You Need To AVOID

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My Setup:

0:00 - I learned this after 4 years studying economics
0:28 - Most people forget about this
1:46 - How this makes you likely to fall for money traps
4:49 - Why this impacts everything you do in life
7:38 - The most frequent trap you’re guilty of
9:55 - You’ve been exploited this way since birth
12:04 - I really hope you’re not doing this
14:59 - The biggest money trap & predictor of future wealth
16:35 - Final words of advice
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All opinions expressed by Vincent Chan are solely Vincent Chan’s opinions. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Vincent Chan as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Vincent Chan’s opinions are based upon information he considers reliable, but does not warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. Vincent Chan is not under any obligation to update or correct any information provided. Vincent Chan’s statements and opinions are subject to change without notice.

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[JoJoboiWav]

So basically :
- Don't overthink about money
- Avoid useless expensive purchases, always think about what more profitable things you could do with all this money.
- Never look back too much. Anything done is done, so stop overthinking about it and just move on.
- When considering buying something, ask yourself "Do I really need that ? Will I use it ?
- Money still money, no matter where it comes from. If you can invest it cleverly, do so.

[AndreiDante]

I love watching this after years of learning how to take control of my personal finance. At first, I've tought that these ideas are stupid, but after some time, I came to the conclution that if you can make a difference between 'I want' a new pair of shoes and 'I need' a new pair of shoes, you are unstoppable. You no longer buy things because they are on sale. Another thing that blew my mind was the fact that having enough money to buy something gives you more joy than actually buying that thing.

[nmplab]

Econ prof told my class “if you think you are saving 30%, you are not saving 30%. You are spending 70% of the price. You still are spending.” I finally came to realize that I should only buy something if I truly need or want it and if there’s a promotion or discount, then that’s a bonus. The need or want comes before the desire of a discount.

[babybbbb]

Summary: #1 limited bandwidth to make choices, can lead to making bad decisions, scarcity mindset. #2 opportunity cost - you could spend money on other items, includes time value of money, #3 sunk cost - have trouble cutting your losses, try to recoup your value, #4 buying things you don’t need just because they are on sale, #5 budgeting your money mentally (I don’t think this one is so bad), #6 delayed gratification - if you can wait for the reward, you will be more successful in life since you have more discipline. Hope this was helpful. Happy holidays.

[DrJessicaLouie]

If you wouldn't buy something at full price, you shouldn't buy it on sale. Great storytelling and examples in your videos as always Vincent!

[Heiconia]

The marshmallow experiment turned out to have an incorrect conclusion. At the time, the researchers hadn’t taken into account the socioeconomic status of the children, and when they did, the updated findings showed that the REAL reason some kids could delay gratification was because they were wealthier. See, kids who grow up with abundance, and get their needs met consistently, have an easier time believing in future rewards. Whereas kids who grew up in homes with inconsistent or insufficient resources, had a scarcity mindset (“no guarantee of future rewards; gotta get what I can while it’s available”).

[DemetriPanici]

“It’s on sale I gotta buy it” is my favorite money trap to point out to people

[TheTreWalker]

I think the psychology behind financial decisions is the part many people do not address. When I was a financial advisor I had to double as a psychologist lol

[ggukiescave]

I grew up with parents who were not financially literate so for the majority of my upbringing we lived paycheck to paycheck. Thank you for your channel, Mr. Chan. As a 17 year old, you are almost like a mentor to me in terms of finance and I'm learning a lot from content creators like you. Although my parents were not the ones to teach me how to manage my money in a way that will set me up to be financially sound, you and many others have and I will be forever thankful for that. Again, thank you!

[CamirrasKitchen]

this reminds me of one time my uncle told me "a sale isnt a sale if you don't need it." he said that years ago and it stuck with me. even if they giving it away for cheap doeant matter if you dont need it

[sazcxieo]

10:15 my mom is guilty of this.
This is the example of 2 dollar 1 liter of milk vs buying 20 dollar 20 liters of milk. Its a great discount but unless you're the milkman or selling milkshakes, we cant consume all of it!

[allyssajonsson]

Another interpretation of the marshmallow study is children who had lived experiences where they could trust promises of adults were more likely to wait and delay gratification because they trusted that there really was an opportunity for more marshmallows. While children growing up in an environment where promises were constantly broken would have no expectation that more marshmallow were coming and would make the logical choice to enjoy the marshmallows they had.

[nevvo]

Thank you for making these videos. I grew up with very financially insecure parents which led to me being a very financially insecure 18 year old who knows nothing about money cause we never had it. They always told me that things like investing were simply money pits and I'd never be able to afford to do it. Having watched a bunch of your videos now, I feel a lot more prepared to take control of my own finances

[icypeanutpolo]

There is a second price attached to everything you do in life. Time. Your time has a direct monetary value, and if you engage in wasteful uses of your time, even if it’s financially advantageous, you might still be on the losing end of thing. If you live a life where you’re too busy slaving away at a corporate job for 40 years and then retire, yes you’ll probably have a nice nest egg, but you will have wasted your youth doing things that didn’t necessarily fulfill you. If you make $100k yearly, you don’t need to spend time nitpicking over getting the correct change for your cheeseburger, you just hand them the dollar and say keep the change. The time it will take the cashier to open a new roll of pennie’s and count out the 4¢ will be ten seconds of your life that you won’t get back.

And that sounds really stupid until you add those seconds up.

Those ten seconds you save there give you an extra moment to sit in your car before you head back into the office, they let you relax. Stress is the leading cause of shortened lifespans in the United States. People who live high stress lives die, on average, 2.8 years earlier than their contemporaries.

I’m not saying go out and become a yoga guru, but it’s important to indulge yourself every once in a while. Vacations, time with family/friends, even a stupid expensive cheeseburger made with the worlds most wasted gold foil. As my friend likes to remind me, self care is sexy. Being happy is sexy. Take care of yourselves people, and if it means you don’t make a perfectly rational financial decision sometimes, then accept that and move on. We only get one life, don’t waste it chasing money unless you absolutely need to.

[longduong]

Your video really remind me of my dad. He taught me all these lessons in the past but I was too young to understand. Now, you helped me recall. Thank you ☺️☺️☺️

[ilene_music]

I have a process that I use to buy clothing that helps with the whole concept of buying something just because I think it's a "good deal." This is for all my big shoppers out there, or those who have clothing they feel "guilty" for having bought.
Step 1 - see item I like
Step 2 - check material tag (NOT price tag DO NOT look at the price tag) to make sure that it fits my washing needs. For example, I will not buy dry-clean only
Step 3 - try it on to see if I like it
Step 4 (this is the good one) - While it have it on in the fitting room, *give* it a price. Determine how many dollars I would part with to add this item to my closet. Bonus: If it is an item that I didn't actually need more of (I always have too many sweaters) then I also have to pick a comparable piece I will get rid of in order to have space for the new one.
Step 5 - Check the price tag, and if it is the same or less than I said I would pay, then I can buy it.
This has helped me keep my closet to a manageable size and not feel guilty about the items I have bought.
Oh also if you do all this and you still are not sure then you can always leave the store and take a day or two to think about the decision. Most likely it'll still be there when you get back.

[amac]

You’re so good at finding clips to correlate with your story. No idea how you find and piece that all together. Great work!

[michellelach]

I binge watched all your videos over the weekend. Greatly appreciate all your valuable insight. Thank you!

[Syn]

This YouTube channel is a gold mine of information. I'm currently taking econ courses and I just want to thank you for helping make my classes fun and enjoyable! :)

[Saniijo]

I’m so glad I came across your channel ! My New Year’s goal is to be more financially discipline with money and build a stronger credit score. I spoke with a financial advisor at my university who pretty much said the same things as you did in the video especially about building a emergency fund since a little can go a long way 👌🏾 thank you for sharing the knowledge! It helps a lot !