Shadowing Practice: 8 TINY Habits to Become Financially Literate In 2026 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Seven years ago, I thought I was pretty good with money.
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Seven years ago, I thought I was pretty good with money.
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I had a finance degree,
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I had worked in banking for a few years by then,
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I could calculate compound interest in my sleep.
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But here's the thing, being financially educated and being financially literate are two completely different things.
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And the truth is, most of these habits that made the biggest difference in my financial life weren't complicated at all.
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They were simple, they were small changes that compounded over time.
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So in this video, I wanted to share with you easy habits that will make you outrageously financially literate in 2026.
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These aren't things that require a finance degree or hours of your time.
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They're just practical, actionable habits that anyone can start today.
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Let's dive in.
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Number one, match your money with your priorities.
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This is probably the most important habit on the list.
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And it's something that I wish I did earlier
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because for years I was spending money on things that didn't really actually matter to me.
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I buy clothes I never really wore because I thought that was the right thing to do.
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I'd go out for expensive dinners because everyone else was doing it.
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I'd spend money on things that I barely used because I thought I should be enjoying it.
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But here's the thing, your money should reflect what you actually care about.
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You work hard for your money,
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so you should be using it on what you care about,
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not what you think you should care about or not what you think others care about.
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I did this exercise where I wrote down my top five priorities in life,
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which included spending quality time with closest people,
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staying healthy, learning new skills and having financial freedom.
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And then I looked at where my money was actually going and there was a massive disconnect.
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I was spending so much money on things
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that didn't align with my priorities and wasn't investing any money in the things that mattered most to me.
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So I flipped the script.
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I started directing my money towards my priorities.
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More money went into books,
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learning, education, better quality food for my health,
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more money being spent towards fitness,
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investments for my financial freedom.
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And weirdly, I felt richer even though I was spending the same amount of money.
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So here's what you can do.
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Write down your top five priorities,
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then look at your bank statement from the last 30 days and see where your money is actually going.
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I promise you there is very likely going to be a gap and closing that gap is really,
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in my opinion, where financial literacy starts.
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Number two, do a monthly money date.
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This, when I implemented, was a game changer and it's probably the easiest habit to implement on this entire list.
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Once a month, block out 30 minutes in your calendar for a money date.
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Just you, your laptop, your bank statements,
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no distractions, no phone, just a focused look at your finances.
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During this time, I do three things.
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First, I review my spending from the last 30 days.
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Where did my money go?
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What patterns am I noticing?
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Are there any surprises?
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Second, I check in on my progress towards my financial goals.
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Third, and this is the most important part,
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set one focus for the next month.
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Don't set 10 goals.
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Don't create some massive financial overhaul plan.
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Just pick one thing, one simple achievable focus that you can do for the next 30 days.
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It could be save an extra 200 this month.
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It could be increase my investing by 1%.
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It could be reduce my spend on takeaway by 20%.
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Just one thing because when you try to change everything at once,
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you get overwhelmed, you change nothing.
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But if you just have one clear focus,
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you're way more likely to actually do it.
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So 30 days, your brain isn't overwhelmed trying to juggle multiple financial goals,
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just have one target to hit.
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Next one on this list is automate the basics.
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Automate, automate, automate everything that you know is recurring.
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Because let's be honest, remembering to transfer money into your savings account,
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making sure your bills get paid manually on time,
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staying on top of or your subscriptions, that is boring.
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And when something's boring, we forget to do it.
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So here's what you want to automate.
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Your outgoings and fixed expenses,
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they leave automatically after payday.
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Money automatically leaves from your main account into a separate savings account every single month.
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Your ongoing subscriptions for basic stuff like tissue rolls,
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skincare, things that you recurrently pay for,
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put that on as automations.
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Before I automated everything, I had these great intentions and then life would happen and by the end of the month,
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there'll be nothing left.
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automating removes willpower from the equation you're making the decision once right now to set up
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that automation to set up that system
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and then you could forget about it forever and the beautiful part is
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that it completely frees up your mental space you're not constantly
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thinking oh did i transfer my money did i pay
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that bill when's that bill due you just start small automate one thing this week
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and see how much of a relief it can give you next one start investing with small amounts early on.
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Starting early with what you can is one of the biggest drivers of long-term wealth there is.
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The earlier you can do it, the better.
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Start with low-cost index funds that track entire markets.
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It is almost impossible to go wrong this way.
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In fact, I won't go into much detail here
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because I have a completely free workshop which explains this in so much more detail.
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It's coming up on 11th of January.
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You can sign up completely for free, nisha.me forward slash invest.
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I'm going to walk you through what to invest in and how to choose,
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how to accelerate your investment returns over time,
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the single biggest mistake new investors make and how to avoid it,
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how to calculate what you need to eventually live off your investments,
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and so much more.
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Again, it's 100% free.
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You can sign up at nichia.me forward slash invest before doors close.
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If your goal is to invest this year,
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you will leave feeling a lot more confident about how to get started.
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Next one on this list,
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take one learning and implement it that day.
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Whenever you watch a YouTube video like this,
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whenever you read in an article,
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whenever you listen to a podcast about money,
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pick one thing, just one thing,
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and implement it that day.
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Maybe you learn about a new savings account with better interest rate.
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So before that day ends, open that account.
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Maybe you hear about a budgeting technique that sounds pretty useful and aligned to your way of budgeting.
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That evening, set it up.
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Maybe someone mentions a particular investment strategy.
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Spend 20 minutes on that day researching it and deciding if it's right for you.
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Because the thing is, most people consume a ton of financial content for months,
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if not years, but never actually do anything with that information.
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They feel good because they watch videos,
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they nod along, they think that's a great idea, I'm learning a lot.
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And then they move on with their day and nothing actually changes.
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But when you force yourself to implement one thing immediately,
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that's what's going to put you ahead that's where real progress really happens.
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You're not actually just passively absorbing information,
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you're actively building towards your financial life one step and one action at a time.
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It doesn't have to be some massive change.
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It could be as simple as just checking your credit score
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that day as updating your CV because that's an investment in your future earnings.
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It could be as simple as increasing your contributions to your workplace pension by one percent.
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Small actions done consistently are what creates outrageously good financial literacy and good financial habits.
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Then don't hide away from speaking about money.
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I used to be so uncomfortable talking about money,
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whether it was friends, whether it was family,
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whether it was with my partner,
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the topic just felt really awkward and taboo.
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Like there was this unspoken rule that we shouldn't discuss it because it's really,
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really private and personal.
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But here's the reality.
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62% of Americans don't talk about money with family or friends.
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And that is wild to me because the same research shows
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that 66% of people believe
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that having candid conversations about money is actually key to achieving financial freedom and to building generational wealth.
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So there's this massive disconnect.
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We know talking about money is important.
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We know that it's going to have an impact on our long-term wealth,
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but we're all too uncomfortable to actually do it.
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And I had to push past this,
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but it made such a difference.
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I started having real conversations about money with people I trust,
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not in a showy off way or in a competitive way,
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but in a genuine learning focused collaborative way.
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I'd ask friends, what are they investing in?
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I'll talk to my partner about our financial goals and how much we're earning very,
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very openly about how we're working towards them.
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I'd ask people I trusted at work about how our salaries compared.
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And what you'd find is
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that a lot of people are actually really open to talk about money if you can give the same back.
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And also if you approach it in the right way,
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because everyone has questions.
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Everyone has made mistakes.
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Everyone wants to learn.
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So start small.
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And next time you're with a friend,
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just try a casual opener.
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Like I've been thinking about my budget lately.
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How do you go about managing yours or what app do you use?
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You don't have to share the exact numbers if that feels uncomfortable,
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but just start the conversation.
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The more you talk about money,
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the less scary and alone it feels.
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And the more you learn from other people's experiences,
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other people's strategies, other people's mistakes,
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the faster you can progress in your own financial journey.
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Number seven, reframe your mind for long-term gratification.
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This one's a bit different because it's more of a mindset shift than a specific action,
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but it's absolutely essential.
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It's a foundation for financial literacy.
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We live in a world of instant gratification.
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Want something?
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You could order it now.
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If you're hungry, you can get your food delivered in 20 minutes.
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If you're bored, there's endless entertainment at your fingertips.
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Building wealth, on the other hand, is the exact opposite.
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Financial success is about playing the long game.
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It's about making choices today that your future self in maybe 5,
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10, 20 years will thank you for.
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When I first started investing,
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it was so hard to see money leave my account every month,
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knowing that I shouldn't be touching that for years, if not decades.
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It's not really doing much in the short term,
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but I'm missing out on spending it today.
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My brain was just screaming,
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but you could use that money now for something a lot more fun.
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So I had to actively reframe how I thought about delayed gratification.
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Instead of seeing it as a sacrifice,
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I started seeing it as a gift to my future self.
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every pound, every dollar that I invest now,
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that's buying me more freedom, more options, more security.
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Every time I skip an impulse purchase and save that money instead,
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I'm literally paying my future self.
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And here's a trick that helped me when I first started.
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I would visualize my future self,
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not in some like vague or abstract way,
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but just really thinking about who I wanted to be
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and the life that I wanted to live in five years from
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that day and 10 years from that day and what does
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that version of me need what does she thank me for doing today
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and when you think about it like
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that suddenly saying no to things in the short term
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and putting it towards your future self instead doesn't really feel
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like deprivation it almost feels like an act of self-love
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and putting yourself first long-term gratification isn't about suffering now to enjoy later it's about recognizing
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that your future self is just as important as your present self and you want to make choices that honor both.
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Next one, spend money on a skill.
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This is one of those habits that feels like spending,
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but it's actually investing.
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For years, I was actually very,
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very hesitant to spend on my learning and education more than I needed to.
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I was hesitant to spend money on courses,
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on anything that felt like learning because I always thought to myself,
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why would I pay for a course
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if I could just spend my time consuming the free content on YouTube and do it myself,
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which is a fair point.
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But what I realized is that the best investment you can ever make actually isn't in stocks.
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It isn't in property.
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It is in yourself.
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It's in your skills.
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It's in your knowledge.
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It's in your capabilities.
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In fact, a big problem I used to face in my business was sending and receiving invoices on time.
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Not only collecting them, but checking the dates, extracting amounts, adding descriptions.
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It felt like this endless admin loop that I could never get on top of.
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Eventually, I came to the conclusion that there had to be an AI solution to help with this.
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But I had no idea how to build it.
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So instead of spending more time trying to figure this out,
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I went to our sponsor,
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Fiverr Pro, posted exactly what I needed and hired an AI specialist.
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By the end of that week,
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I had an AI agent built.
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Now it collects my invoices,
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it scans them, it pulls out the dates,
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amounts, descriptions and adds everything into an Excel sheet with a payment completed checkbox.
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The whole headache was fixed within one week and now the process is streamlined.
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If you need something complex done,
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Fiverr Pro's vetted experts can help.
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Fiverr Pro has become my go-to support when I need reliable, high-quality work fast.
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If you want to see how much time you can save,
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head to pro.fiverr.com and get started.
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Every skill that you develop has the potential to increase your earning power forever.
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If you spend one-off $500 on a course that teaches you a skill that helps you earn an extra $1,000 a year,
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that isn't an expense.
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That's 200% return in year one.
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And then it keeps compounding after that.
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I mean, I've spent money on video editing courses,
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on writing courses, on how to start a business course.
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Some of these directly increased my income.
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Others just made me better at what I do,
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but all of them were worth it.
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And it doesn't have to be expensive.
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Sometimes just a book that completely changes how you think about something.
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Sometimes it's just a $39 online course that can completely change your mindset.
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Sometimes it's hiring someone specific for an hour to teach you a specific skill.
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The key is about being intentional about it.
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Don't just randomly buy stuff and then never really complete those courses
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or read those books and let it collect dust on your shelf.
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Pick skills that actually matter for where you want to go.
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Skills that genuinely move the needle for your career,
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for your business, for your growth.
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So my rule is simple.
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I'm willing to spend money on learning as long as I can clearly articulate how that skill will benefit me.
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If I can't explain it, I don't buy it.
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At the end of the day,
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the skills you develop is the only thing that can't be taken away from you.
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Because economies can crash, your investments can drop for a bit, companies can fail.
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But that knowledge and those skills that you've built,
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that is literally yours to keep.
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So those are some really easy habits that you can start today to improve your financial literacy.
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Once you put your mind to it,
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it really isn't as hard as you might think.
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It's just about getting started and learning as you're going.
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so as we wrap up for the year i'd like to say thank you
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so much for supporting me over the past year however long
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you've been watching my content thank you for liking my stuff
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for subscribing for commenting the whole lot um 2025 has literally been one of my favorite years ever
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and a lot of that has come down to the community
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that we have built on youtube the comments i'm reading the interactions i have
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when i see some of you and if you are someone who's watching this
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and thinking I know that there's more out there for me.
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I know that there's a bigger version of life than the one
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that I'm currently living and it requires me to make some new decisions with money.
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Please, please, please listen to that voice and take action on it.
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Align your money with your life goals.
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Make some short-term sacrifices.
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Work hard now because making a few hard decisions today can actually mean you play for the rest of your life.
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Getting your money in check and using it towards your priorities and your values can really change the quality of your life.
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So on that note, it's been an absolute pleasure to have done this year with this community.
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Thank you and I hope you have the time to recharge over the break and I'll see you in the new year.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, we delve into effective financial habits that can significantly enhance your financial literacy by 2026. You will practice speaking and listening skills as we explore the importance of aligning your spending with your priorities, conducting a monthly money review, and adopting simple, practical habits. This engaging content will provide you with a foundation to improve your English pronunciation and comprehension through focused practice using the shadowing technique. By listening to a native speaker discuss relatable topics, you'll be able to learn English with YouTube, making your learning experience both informative and practical.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Financially literate - Having the knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively.
- Priorities - The most important things you need to focus on.
- Disconnect - A lack of alignment between two or more elements, such as spending and priorities.
- Investing - Allocating resources, usually money, to generate an income or profit.
- Monthly money date - A designated time to review your finances each month.
- Patterns - Recurring trends or behaviors observed in financial spending.
- Game changer - Something that significantly alters a situation or process for the better.
Practice Tips
To make the most of your study session and enhance your English pronunciation, consider using the shadowspeak method while practicing with this video. The natural speed and tone of the speaker are ideal for effective shadowing. Aim to repeat phrases immediately after hearing them to capture the intonation and rhythm of the language.
Start by listening to the transcript at a slower speed, allowing you to focus on individual pronunciation nuances. Once you feel comfortable, gradually increase the playback speed to match the speaker's original pace. Pay attention to how expressions, like “monthly money date” and “financially literate,” are pronounced. This will help reinforce your understanding of key phrases while improving your fluency.
Utilize this engaging content to not only learn financial literacy but also to improve your English. As you explore the lessons presented, remember that consistency in using the shadowing technique is crucial to mastering the language over time.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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