So a lot of you guys
don't know this about me, but I actually have an older brother, and he always said the same thing. Tommy, I hate advice. If advice is so good, then
go ahead and sell it, all right? And that was his way of rebelling. Whenever you give him
advice, he did not want to listen. He wanted to do things his own way. And he's not wrong, okay? There is a lot of cheap advice out there. And just because advice is paid, you have to pay for
it by a course or whatever, it doesn't mean
it's actually good advice. So in this video, I'm
giving you guys 10 financial advice that you actually want to stay away from because they're not that good, and they can basically dig you up or get you in a hole that you really can't
dig yourself out of, okay? That's what I really mean, all right? So as you watch this video, I want you guys to stay
open-minded, and here's why. I'm going to say a lot of things that most people disagree with, but everything I say, I
want you to put it to the test. And when you put it to the test and you actually live it out, you're going to see I'm
not as crazy as I actually sound. And I look right now
because I don't have a haircut, all right, but that's
coming pretty soon, all right? But let's get right
into the video and do me a favor and actually smash the like button. Now, the very first thing, guys, is a house is not an investment. You probably never heard that before because most people tend to agree that, you know, buy a
house, it's a great investment. You know, in a few years, it's going to be
basically double the money. You always hear
those stories about my grandma bought a house in 1952 for a dollar, and now it's worth a billion. Well, the truth is this, houses are not investments
when you actually live in them, but that doesn't mean
they're not actually worth buying. If I buy a house today for $100,000, and it goes up by 5%, roughly, in about 14.5 or 15
years when I'm done paying it off, it's probably going to be
double what it was worth before if it's been growing at 5%. But here's the truth. You're probably saying, "Hey, all right, "I bought it for
100K, now it's worth 200K. "Double my money." That's an investment, Tommy. The truth is there
are a lot of phantom costs when it comes to owning a home. The maintenance, the
taxes, the repairs, the remodeling, the you actually living in it, the opportunity costs of
the money you could have made if you put that money somewhere else, the truth is homes are not investments. When you actually do the math, you're probably
going to be breaking even. Now, does that mean
you should never buy a home? The answer is, of course not. I think you have
greater priority to buying a home to actually invest in money. Here's why. Homes can give you
stability once they're paid off. Once you have a paid off home and you actually build up to that, what do you have to worry about? If shelter costs is just paying taxes as a maintenance cost,
and you basically have a job, then the biggest expense
you're probably going to have on your budget list,
that's going to be eroded no more. So it gives you a lot of stability. So not every single thing
that's worth putting money into is going to be necessarily an investment. Investment is making you more money, while an asset can be something that although it
doesn't make you more money per se, it still holds some value in a way and adds value to your life also. That's the first piece of advice. So don't buy a
home, think as an investment, but think about it for stability. So you don't have to
worry that much about money, and you also don't have to
worry about rising rent prices. Now, number two guys
is going to be this, okay? I got my whole list right here. I want to go over all of them. Now, the second one is
going to be, you need a credit score. It's the biggest
lie I ever heard in my life. The truth is, what is a credit score? A credit score is a score that shows you how good you actually are at paying debt, how good you
actually are at managing debt. A credit score is not a profile that tells you how
good you are financially. And I have proof, okay? So last, almost two years ago, because time passes so quickly, okay? Almost two years ago,
my credit score is about 811, if I'm not mistaken, all right? Made a whole video about
it, you can look it up on YouTube, I'm not lying, it's a true thing. And I owed about $70,000 in debt. And my life really wasn't
that good financially as a whole. But today, my credit score, by the way, I paid off over $70,000 in debt. And basically, I
don't have any debt whatsoever. Now, if my credit score, when I had debt and I had problems, was 811, well, shouldn't my credit score reflect I'm actually doing better now? The truth is no. It reflects that,
according to my credit score, I have a 676. It actually went down by a lot. And I'm expecting it to
eventually turn to invisible because there's nothing to report. The only way to sustain a
credit score is to be in debt. I'm no longer in debt,
and I'm a lot better financially. Now, question, Tommy,
if you don't have any debt, then how the heck do you
plan on actually buying a house when you actually need to buy a house? Because not
everyone has cash to buy a house. The truth is, if I go to the bank today, without a credit score,
I bring a few things with me. My tax reports, and I show them my income for the past two years or whatever, and I show them,
for example, my pay stubs, I show them, for
example, my records and so on, and they do manual underwriting. And based on that,
they're going to give me a loan. I don't need to have a credit score to actually qualify for a mortgage. But what about
when you want to buy a car? Well, I save up and I pay cash. Not everyone has cash to buy a car. The truth is, yes. Most people have
money to buy a car in cash. Here's why. I bought a car for $9,000 in cash. It was used at Toyota Prius. Do I recommend it? No. My uncle bought a
car, Toyota Camry, 2002. He paid $1,000 for it. I recommend that. The answer is yes. The point is, there are always cars that are available to
you that can be fairly reliable, and the truth is,
you don't need to go in debt. And it's not like,
hey, if you don't have a car, you have no way to actually get to work. You have bikes, you
have public transportation, you have car rides, sharing, whatever you want to
call it, there are many ways. You don't have to go into debt. Now, number three guys is going to be, credit cards are for emergencies. They're also for building a credit score. And on top of that,
they're great for getting points. Now, credit cards are amazing. Let me tell you through. For banks, they're amazing. Because they get people in debt, they lock them up, enslave them in a way, and then those
same people that are in debt and are going
through things with credit cards, well, they defend credit cards. They say, hey, I'm not crazy. What I do is, I spend the
money I was gonna spend anyways, I pay it off every single month, and in reality, I get points for it. The truth is, science shows that science, like science that's
basically proven, right, not theory, shows that
people spend about 12 to 18% more whenever they use
plastic than using cash, for example. Now, that basically
means you spend more money with credit, all right? On top of that,
people tend to go into debt. And by the way, when
people say, I am responsible, and you ask them,
what did you buy last month? They don't know, because
they just basically spend the money and no one really
knows about anything, okay? So that's the point. Credit cards, they're not good. They're not your friends,
and they're not for emergencies. Imagine having an
emergency, having to use a credit card, and now you're stuck
paying, for example, like 35%. That's crazy. The math doesn't add up, okay? What would be the
reason to use your credit card? There is none. There is no convenience factor. People told me all the time, tell me, you need a credit card to rent a car if you're gonna go somewhere. I went to, what's this place? To Cancun, that's a Mexico place, okay? And I went to a car renting place, and I had my debit card with the cash, the posits and everything like that, and they said, no, we
don't take debit cards, all right? We'd rather have a credit card. I'm like, why? I don't get it. And they were like,
no, that's how we do business. I went over to
Hertz, and they said, yeah, we take debit cards, no problem. The point is, there are
always going to be people that don't, people that do. There are no inconveniences when it comes to using debit cards, okay? That's my opinion,
that's what I'm telling you, and they're a lot better off, all right? So I don't use credit cards. I don't have a single one, and just before
people tell me, for example, it's because you're irresponsible, you have
money-controlling problems and all this stuff, I had about 14 credit cards, and I got basically
like, I think over two, three, $4,000 in credit card bonuses. I had over 13,
$15,000 in credit card debt. I never paid interest. I always paid on time. I got a lot of points. The point is, I did not stop using it because I was irresponsible. I stopped using it because I realized this is not a good tool. Not for me, but it's
great for the bank though, and people defend it, but
you can defend it if you want to. But I'm telling you, credit cards is not
what's gonna make you rich, okay? That's my point. Number four is passive income is passive. It's terrible advice. Passive income does not exist. By definition, you
can have passive income via the IRS or whatever, but overall, there is absolutely
nothing that is passive. I love this guy's definition of this, which is basically by Meek Kevin. He says, "Passive
income is you just getting paid for a job you did upfront." Okay? And in reality, there's
always a level of work to it. I have real estate. I have great tenants. Guess what? No matter how good these tenants are, there's always
going to be a level of work, me dealing with tenants, okay? So it's not fully passive. I have stocks. I have index funds, okay? By the way, I was an example. I don't have real
estate, but I do have stocks. I have real estate. I mean, stocks. Forgot, forgot what I have, okay? I have something, all right? But I have index funds, okay? Index funds are pretty passive, but I still have to check them, invest more money into
them, or pull money out of them. It's not always going to be like, there's nothing out there
that's fully, fully, fully passive. So you gotta know that. Don't be afraid of doing some work. People are always looking for shortcuts and easy things and things
that you never have to look at. That's what
basically a lot of athletes do, where they have people
basically manage everything for them, and then they find out
they've been getting stolen from for like years and years because they never put
their eyes where their money was. So you want things
to have some activities. You can actually keep an eye on them too. Now, number five is you have good debt and you have bad debt. Here's the truth. I have zero debt, and here's why. I choose to live debt free because I want to be
in bondage to no one, okay? Just God. But here's the idea. There is no good debt. There is no bad debt. That is just a tool. Now, if you use this tool, right, people always say like, well, there are different ways to use this tool for good reasons
and for bad reasons, right? It all depends who owns this tool and what they want to do with it. The truth is debt is just an instrument a lot of people use to
basically facilitate their impatient. That sounds fancy,
but I basically mean is when people are
impatient, they like to go into debt. So if you don't have the cash, you rather go into debt to buy a car, to buy a crazy house, or to do whatever you want to do, okay? Even invest or whatever. But the truth is if
you're a lot more patient, you can do things without debt. Here's how. You want to buy a house. You can save up for 15 years. Are you probably going to do that? The answer is no. So most of the times
it makes sense to go ahead and get into debt
to buy an affordable home. You can ask your
for to pay off, all right? But when people go into
debt to buy a crazy big home that all they can
do is afford the payments, it's a terrible idea, okay? That's the problem. Or they want to use
debt to buy a car that's safer and all this stuff. It's a terrible idea. Or they want to use, for example, debt to leverage out their
investments to make them more because I make 3% here. The debt is only 1%. There is basically a 2% increase on that. It's ridiculous, all right? So I don't use debt. And the only time I
would use debt for an investment is with a reverse down payment. What that means is if
I find a great opportunity and I only have 80% of the money, I would say, okay, I'm
gonna get a mortgage on this, okay? I'm gonna buy this real estate property. I'm gonna get a mortgage for the 20% and I'm gonna basically put an 80%. That way, what I have left is so minimal that it doesn't really hurt that much. And as a principle, I
can just try to pay it off first and then move on to the next one. But I'm not going to be
trying to go into a lot of debt to maximize things. And now I just have, I
remember talking to someone with over a million dollars in debt, making like $2,000 a month. And I'm like, is this worth it? Like, I don't get it, you know? And it's true. A lot of folks live that way. And they build the house of cards. And when it comes falling
down, they don't know what to do. It's not worth it. Better to go slow and steady. Now, number six is
going to be used means terrible. And what I mean
used, I mean used things, okay? So here's my advice here. Anything that's
good buying or worth buying is also worth buying used. Here's what I mean, okay? Here I have, for example, you guys never get to actually see this, but let me see if I can
actually turn this over here. Here I have a laptop over here. This is my MacBook. It's my computer that I actually use to edit my videos with. And over here, I have,
for example, an iPhone 13 Pro. I have also an iPhone SE. I have, for example,
an Apple Touch Bar thing. Think this costs like $150. This costs brand new, about $700. This costs brand new, about $1,200, okay? I bought this used for half the price. I bought this used for like, not even, like I'm telling you, like $80. I bought the Mac,
which is like a $3,000 computer for like a fraction of the price. I have a car. Down there is my wife's car. My car now, just inherited her car. You just buy a guy
and Mary, that's pretty good. But here's the idea. It's a Toyota. I think retail on that is
like $22,000, $25,000 brand new. And we bought it
for a fraction of the price because we bought it used. If a product is worth buying, then it's not
going to be not worth buying just because it's used. Because that would
mean that it's a bad product. See what I mean? Because if you buy it new
and it's not even worth having after like two years
or three years or five years, then it's a trash product. That's what I mean, okay? So usually it's better to buy used if you're buying good stuff because you can always
get a steep discount on it. That's my advice, okay? Now, number seven guys
is going to be go to college regardless of what your aspirations are because college is an investment and it's just a
natural next step to success. College is trash. Here's what I mean, okay? College has become
these days a status symbol. Somewhere people go
to just to say, I graduated, I have a piece of
paper and here is the location. Here's what I mean. Where I'm gonna find myself as a person, where I'm gonna make friends for life and where I'm basically
gonna have fun and enjoy myself. It's like people
forgot the point of college. College is not free, okay? Time is not free, the
money is spent is not free, whether you're paying for it or taxpayers are paying for it, okay? So here's what I mean, okay? If you don't know what
you wanna do with your life, don't go to college to figure that out because that's not
where you wanna figure that out. It's like being charged money to think. I mean, you know how crazy things get when you're being charged money to think? Like no, you're not
gonna think properly, all right? So here's my point. If you don't know
that you wanna go to college, just don't go. So basically, college is the place you go to get a skill to get a job. It's that simple. Receive training to get a job. And a lot of
colleges are terrible at this. They teach you a bunch of
garbage in the first two years and then when you finally get over to the actual learning of the skill, you don't actually
know how to do the actual job because it's all
theory and textbooks and this. So you really want to get an, what do you call those things? Interpreter,
interpreter, yeah, an internship. You can actually
practice a job or whatever. But the point is,
there are a lot of other options. You have, for example, trade school. You have different
certificates to assume that, gotta go to college. So what to do? No, it's trash, okay? I had a friend who
went to college with me. He graduated with about $8,000 in debt. I graduated with $20,000 in debt. And it was not, I never
used a degree, honestly, okay? I used it for my
business, some things here and there. But the most thing is,
it's not really where you want to go if you don't know what you want to do. And try to go through
college as fast as possible. That's my advice. And by the way, go to the college. I'm begging you on this. Go to the college. If you know
someone that's going to college or you want to go to college, I beg you, that
gives you the most money, okay? Don't go to some crazy expensive college because you want a room and board, get away from your parents. That's so stupid, all right? So dumb, so dumb. Go where you got the most money. Now, here you have my next one. You can beat the stock market. The truth is, the
stock market is very beatable. It's very possible,
but it's also, it's not hard. It just takes a lot of work. And I love Jim Rohn or
whatever this guy's name was. Jim Rohn, I think it was, okay? Great guy, great guy. A lot of motivation stuff. But he would always, Jim
Rohn, Jim Rohn, he was, yeah. He would always say, "Nothing is hard if it's possible to do it, right? You can do it, it's not hard, all right? So it's easy." Now, here's the
easy way to beat the market. I studied the people
that actually beat the market. Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, two of my favorite guys on this topic. Warren spent about
six to eight hours a day reading financial
statements to beat the market. Guess what his result was? He would basically average at around 20% or more, something like that, a year. He beat the market. He made a lot of money. It took him a lot of work. Peter Lynch says,
"Anyone can beat the market really." But everything that
Peter Lynch talks about, speaks about, thinks
about, is the stock market. You have to think
about the market all the time, always analyze and
always be on top of things. So you can beat the stock market. But if you're just
the average retail investor, and you're, be
honest, and you're only interested in making money from the stock market and getting your share
and bills and passive income, then don't try to beat it, all right? Just go along with it. Because it's doing great without you trying
to mess it up, all right? So I get around eight
to 10% from this top market. Right now we're up
about 20%, I almost think, or 19.7%. And it's passive, okay? Just keep investing money into it. I put my money into the SP500, and that's
basically it, and I'm doing great. I don't wanna spend
eight hours a day reading, and I don't wanna
always be thinking about stocks, and the next one, and the next one. I have to change things,
put things, and remove things. It's not what I wanna
spend my life doing, all right? So be honest, and you'll be great. Now, number nine is this. You don't need a budget. You know, my friend said this so once. He says, "Time
out, I don't need a budget." One of my best friends, honestly, we're still friends today. He said, "I don't need a budget. "I barely spend money." I'm like, "How much
money are you spending?" I don't know, you know? And it's like that, you know? You need a budget, man. So here's my advice. Warren Buffett always says, or said once, he said, "Don't save
the money left after spending." But spend the money left after saving. So first you save, then you spend. Don't spend, and then
try to find something to save because usually there
won't be any money left over. That's my advice. So a budget is a tool. It helps you get to your goals, and a budget kinda lays out everything. So there are four
main things in a budget. Write these things
down just to get started. I have more videos on budgets. I can't go over everything in this video, but four main parts of a budget. Shelter, utilities,
groceries, transportation. How much do you
spend on those four things? All right, write those things down. Your income, subtract them. How much money are
you supposed to have left every single month? How much money do you
have in your bank account? And how long have you been working for? So I had this job for five years. Matt says, "I should
have about $1,000 left over." That's about $60,000 saved up. I got $0 in my bank account. Something's wrong. You've been spending way too much money on things that are not necessary. Important to know that. Now, lastly, number 10 here is, spend money on experiences. You only take memories
with you when you die, obviously. I have some proof of this, okay? I can guarantee you
that when you pass away, you're not gonna be
thinking about your memories on the beach in Cancun, or that you
went to wherever you went to, okay? But I will tell you this. A lot of people, when they're basically on their death beds, for example, they are thinking about their family, their life as a whole, and
what they should have been doing. So you have to understand something. Money is not just for enjoyment. Money is a trade. And the trade you
make to get money is time. So the faster you stop
trading your time for money, the better off you're going to be. So my advice is, get the job that can make you the most money, use the money to
have fulfillment in a way, but the bulk of the money
to have that money work for you so you don't need
to work for money anymore. That's very important. And that way you don't have to start, you can stop trading your time for money. That's my advice. Thanks for watching. Like, subscribe, and
comment down below if you agree or disagree. I told you guys, a lot of things here that sound like good
advice, but it's not good advice. Peace.
