What's up guys, Humphrey here, so I made today's video to give you guys some major tips on the best financial strategies as well as milestones to hit depending on how much money you're bringing in.
We'll have three different buckets of income that we're going to be talking about today, so whether you make 40k per year, 75k per year, or 100k and above, we have something for you.
And the main reason I made this video is that the strategies that you might employ at the $40,000 salary level are going to be different than, say, if you make $150,000 or more.
So let's get right into it, and let's talk about some strategies if you make around $40,000 per year.
那麼，我們就直接開始，來談談年收入約 4 萬美元的相關策略。
00:30
When I first graduated college, my starting salary was $38,000 working a customer service job at a video game company, and I remember this time being quite difficult, but still somewhat possible.
I think when you're at the salary level, I think it's important to acknowledge that you can make life work, and while it is difficult, it's nothing to be ashamed of.
我認為，在這樣的薪資水平，重要的是要認知到您可以讓生活順利運轉，雖然艱難，但沒什麼好羞恥的。
00:46
In fact, I respect anybody that can make a $40,000 salary as well as make life work, because out of all the income levels that we're going to be talking about today, this is the level where the finances matter the most.
That's because every single dollar is way more important at this income level.
這是因為在這個收入水平，每一塊錢都更加重要。
01:01
When you're at this level, if you're able to save 10% of your gross income towards your other goals, I think this is going to be really key.
在這個級距，如果您能將總收入的 10% 存起來，用於其他目標，我認為這將會非常關鍵。
01:07
And I think there are three major goals that we really want to accomplish at this income level, and the first is not having any consumer debt, or any BNPL, or by now, pay later debt.
Now, having any sort of consumer debt at any income level is going to really suck, but at the $40,000 salary range, every dollar matters a lot more.
任何收入水平下的消費性債務都會非常糟糕，但在年收入 4 萬美元這個級距，每一塊錢都更加重要。
01:25
So having consumer debt, let's say with an interest rate of 10% is really going to compound your problems.
所以，假設有消費性債務，利率為 10%，這將會讓您的問題雪上加霜。
01:29
The average take-home pay of someone making $40,000 gross per year is about $2,700 and take-home per month.
年收入 4 萬美元的平均稅後收入約為每月 2,700 美元。
01:36
And that $2,700 needs to cover your rent, your groceries, your transportation, and ideally some savings and investments.
這 2,700 美元需要支付您的房租、食物、交通，以及理想情況下的儲蓄和投資。
01:43
So even an extra $100 per month in credit card interest could be the difference between you making rent or not, or you being able to save for retirement or not.
The average savings rate in America right now is a dismal 3.8%, and the average credit card balance in America varies by age, but generally the average is about $5,700.
So I think one of the first strategies of this $40,000 income level is to try to clear off this debt, and if you're able to save, let's say, 7.5% or even 10% of your gross income and put it towards your debt, this is going to be really helpful.
Once you've done that, the second goal is to kind of set up your financial foundation, so have your emergency funds set up, start investing in your Roth IRA, and start looking at other types of investments.
I'm sure if you've watched my channel before, you know the importance of having at least a 3-month emergency fund, as well as starting to contribute to a Roth IRA, where your earnings are going to grow tax-free.
如果您之前看過我的頻道，您一定知道擁有至少 3 個月的緊急預備金，以及開始供款羅斯 IRA 的重要性，您的收益將免稅增長。
02:32
The strategy here is that if you don't have any emergency fund at all, you want to save that 7 to 10% from step 1 or goal number 1 of this income bracket and put it towards that.
So ideally, you have 3 months of an emergency fund set up before you start investing in a Roth IRA, and so that means if your take-home pay is about $2,700 a month, and let's say you spend $2,000 a month on your expenses, you want to have at least a $6,000 emergency fund saved up.
After that, you can start putting some of your paycheck into a Roth IRA and the contribution limits for that right now under the age of 50 or $7,000 a year, and over the age of 50, it's about $8,000 per year.
Now, some of you might find that saving 10% of your gross income is actually quite difficult, and if it is, just wait till the next section where I talk about budgeting and tracking your expenses.
So, quick message from today's sponsor, one of the issues that I faced when I was making about $40,000 per year before I started tracking my expenses was actually keeping track of subscriptions.
I genuinely would forget that I signed up for subscriptions through different mobile apps, and when I began my expense tracking journey, I was shocked to find out how much money was going towards apps I didn't even use anymore.
That's where the sponsor of today's video, Rocket Money, can really help, and by signing up for Rocket Money, you can actually cancel a membership right through their app.
They ask for a bit of personal information so that they can cancel it on your behalf, and they usually take a few days, but they can cancel unwanted subscriptions with just a tap.
Now, I'm pretty good with my finances, admittedly, but I personally use it these days to keep tabs on all of my subscriptions to make sure I never run into a situation where I'm paying for something I'm not using.
Now, you don't have to go out and get an entirely new career or even switch jobs, but if you're able to make some extra money on the side doing what you already know, or perhaps investing in yourself to learn a new skill, that could be well worth it.
A good way to think about this is that if you make $40,000 per year, that is the equivalent of about $20 per hour, given the fact that there are about 2,000 hours in a work year.
So, if you're able to find a side hustle that pays at least $20 per hour, or sometimes even $30 or $35 per hour, then your time is going to be very efficient, and actually you're making more money for your time.
If you're having trouble thinking about the different ways that you can earn more money, my favorite way to think about this is, like, think about all the knowledge that you know that you can trade to others.
So, let's pretend you're good at the guitar, perhaps you've been playing since you were a kid or maybe been in some bands.
所以，假設你很擅長彈吉他，也許你從小就在玩，或者曾經加入過一些樂團。
05:24
You can start to trade this knowledge that you have to others for hopefully a higher hourly rate than what you were getting paid in your day job.
你可以開始將你擁有的知識傳授給他人，希望獲得比你正職工作更高的時薪。
05:31
If you don't want to pick up a new skill or a side hustle, I completely understand, but if you have an occupation already, what you can do is actually pursue a certification or credential that can instantly boost your salary.
So, Monster.com launched a report that outlined the top 10 certifications in all industries, and for example, right here, if you worked in the logistics and transportation industry, you could become a certified automotive fleet manager.
And the median pay of someone not holding this certification is $55,000 a year, versus if you had the certification, you could start making upwards of $70,000 per year.
That comes out to $4,652 per month, which actually gives us a little bit more room to work with.
這相當於每月 4,652 美元，實際上讓我們有更多可支配的空間。
06:34
The biggest things that you can do at this income bracket are the following. First, if you haven't already done so, make sure your highest interest rate debts are paid off like we mentioned earlier in the $40,000 bracket.
Then after that is taken care of, it's time to start thinking more longer term to start targeting financial freedom.
處理完這些之後，就該開始更長遠地思考，以實現財務自由為目標。
06:51
In order to do that, I actually have three strategies for you guys for this income level, but they're not actually exclusive just to this income level, but I do think that they fit in this income level appropriately.
The first is going to be budgeting and tracking our expenses, and basically what we want to do here is build out a really good habit for tracking how much money is coming in versus how much is going out and what of the money that is going out, what we're actually spending it on.
This is going to be especially important if we have a family because now we have more people in our household that we need to keep track of, and therefore the expenses are going to be quite variable.
如果我們有家庭，這一點尤其重要，因為我們家裡有更多需要追蹤的人，因此支出會相當不穩定。
07:21
Once you figure out how much you're spending on every single category, we want to cut relentlessly all the things that we are spending money on that are actually not fulfilling us or driving us forward.
So for example, let's pretend that you go through the exercise of tracking all of your spending and you realize, hey, maybe I spend a little bit too much money on shopping.
所以，舉例來說，假設你透過追蹤所有支出後發現，嘿，也許我在購物上花太多錢了。
07:38
The total comes to $8,432.37.
總計為 8,432.37 美元。
07:42
Don't worry about that. You got it.
別擔心。你做到了。
07:44
Perhaps you're an impulse shopper that every time you go to the mall, you'd like to buy something new.
也許你是一個衝動購物者，每次去商場都想買點新東西。
07:48
Well, instead, what you can do to curb this behavior is like the next time you go to the mall, try to put that item that you really want to buy on hold for 24 hours.
Then if you still want it after 24 hours, you can go back to the shop and actually get it.
那麼，如果你在 24 小時後仍然想要，你可以回到商店實際購買。
08:00
But what I actually find is that when we think deeper about our own decisions and our own purchases, what we actually might find is that we don't actually need a lot of the things that we buy.
Another way to cut back on a certain category is to set yourself a firm budget.
削減某個類別支出的另一種方法是設定一個固定的預算。
08:13
So let's say it's $200 per month on shopping and then put that actually in cash in an envelope.
假設你每月花費 200 美元在購物上，然後將這筆錢實際以現金形式放入信封。
08:18
Now you know that the maximum that you can spend in that category is the $200 in the envelope.
現在你知道你在該類別中最多只能花費信封裡的 200 美元。
08:23
Every time you go and actually spend, you physically see the money leaving your envelope and that actually hurts psychologically a lot more.
每次你實際消費時，你會親眼看到錢從信封裡拿走，這在心理上會造成更大的痛苦。
08:29
The number two strategy at this income level is to actually start tracking your net worth, your savings, and your investing rates.
在這個收入水平下的第二個策略是實際開始追蹤你的淨資產、儲蓄和投資率。
08:36
Just like dieting or going to the gym, if you start tracking what you eat and how much weight you're actually lifting, you have more awareness about how healthy you are in the gym and the same goes with finances.
So here's a table of the median net worth in America by age, by empower the retirement company and how much you should have saved based on a fidelity study.
So this table is really interesting because if we look at the median net worth by age for everybody here, they kind of seem a little bit on the low end.
這張表格非常有趣，因為如果我們看看這裡所有人的按年齡劃分的中位淨資產，他們似乎都處於偏低的水平。
09:02
If you watch my channel regularly, you're likely taking steps to improve your overall financial health.
如果你經常觀看我的頻道，你很可能正在採取措施來改善你的整體財務健康狀況。
09:07
So I think a good objective or a good goal for us viewers to have on this channel is to at least aim for double the median net worth in America.
所以我認為我們頻道的觀眾可以有一個不錯的目標，就是至少達到美國中位淨資產的兩倍。
09:14
If we look at fidelity's guidelines and how much money you should have saved for retirement, their suggestions are way above the median net worth.
如果我們看看 Fidelity 的指南以及你應該為退休儲蓄多少錢，他們的建議遠高於中位淨資產。
09:21
And so that's kind of why I said that we should probably also aim for double as well.
這就是為什麼我說我們也應該以兩倍為目標。
09:24
Now to illustrate this point further, the median net worth of someone in their 30s here is $34,691.
現在為了進一步說明這一點，30 多歲的人的中位淨資產為 34,691 美元。
09:31
But according to fidelity, by the time you were 30, you should have at least one X year salary saved for retirement.
但根據 Fidelity 的說法，到 30 歲時，你應該至少儲蓄相當於一年薪水的一倍用於退休。
09:36
So if you make 75k a year, that means by the time you were 30, you should have $75,000 saved in your retirement as well as your taxable brokerage accounts combined together.
You can see that by the time you're the age of 40, you should have at least three X year salary saved, so at a $75,000 income range, that's going to be $225,000.
I think what this fidelity study just really emphasizes to me is that if you want to retire comfortably, we need to actually be really shooting for a higher net worth than what the median is in America.
Alright, my third strategy for this income bracket kind of ties into the previous one, which is that we need to really target a savings rate that will get us to a comfortable retirement.
Now depending on your age, this savings rate is going to differ quite a lot, and depending on how much you have saved already, it also differs a lot as well.
現在，根據您的年齡，這個儲蓄率會有很大的差異，而且根據您目前已儲蓄的金額，也會有很大的差異。
10:19
If you've been saving 10% of your gross income every single year since the age of 21, you're likely in a very good financial position.
如果您從 21 歲開始，每年都將總收入的 10% 存起來，您很可能處於非常好的財務狀況。
10:25
However, if you're the age of 40 and you have nothing saved for retirement, then your target savings rate needs to be a lot higher than the 21-year-old counterpart that we just talked about.
If you're the age of 30 with $0 saved, you need to start saving and investing at least 4.6% of your income every single year in order to have a balance of $750,000 by the time you're 67.
And if you wait 10 years longer after that, if you're the age of 50 and you have nothing saved at all, then you actually need to save 27.4% of your gross income at $75,000 per year in order to retire with $750,000. You can see that with more time, you can actually get away with a lower savings rate, but the older and older that you get, you actually have to play a lot of catch-up.
That's why starting from a young age is so important and being consistent with it every single year, and if you're able to save 10%, 15%, maybe even upwards of 20%, then you're going to be in a really good financial position.
One of the ways to hit these Fidelity's suggested savings numbers on autopilot basically is to contribute to your Roth IRA and try to max it out every single year.
實現 Fidelity 所建議的儲蓄數字的一種自動化方法是，為您的 Roth IRA 供款，並盡量每年填滿它。
11:45
I talked about this a little bit earlier in the video, but if you're able to compound $7,000 per year in a Roth IRA, which means all the gains are tax-free, then you're going to be pretty much on autopilot to become a millionaire by the time you're 67.
我在影片前面稍微談過這個，但如果您能夠在 Roth IRA 中每年複利 7,000 美元，這意味著所有收益都是免稅的，那麼您基本上就能自動化地在 67 歲時成為百萬富翁。
11:57
I have so many videos about the Roth IRA that I would link down below in the description as well.
我有很多關於 Roth IRA 的影片，我會將它們連結放在下面的說明中。
12:02
Alright, we've made it to the $100,000 income level and above, and if you are at this level, you're likely comfortable in most costs of living cities.
Your bills are taken care of, and you probably aren't living paycheck to paycheck, and even in the highest cost of living cities, you can still make $100,000 per year salary work.
At this stage, I think the first thing that we need to really pay attention to is lifestyle, creep, or lifestyle inflation.
在這個階段，我認為我們首先需要真正關注的是生活方式的膨脹，或稱生活方式的通貨膨脹。
12:23
Every time you get a pay raise above $100,000, you're likely going to have way more disposable income, and what do people like to do with more disposable income?
They like to buy things to improve their quality of life.
他們喜歡購買東西來提高生活品質。
12:34
I'm all for doing that to an extent, but just because now you can afford a nicer car, nicer house, or even nicer clothes, it doesn't mean that you should do so even if you could afford it.
Living under your means is not only a really great way to accumulate wealth, but it's also a great way to keep your peace of mind and freedom when it comes to money.
量入為出不僅是積累財富的好方法，也是保持金錢上的平和與自由的好方法。
12:50
The idea here is that if you start increasing your costs on an everyday basis or every month basis, it's going to start adding a lot more stress into your life, and that stress is pretty much unnecessary.
So if you are making more money, for example, and you actually want to buy, like, let's say, a new car, I think that's actually reasonably fine as long as it's still within your budget.
A popular car buying rule is the 2410 rule. That's where you can put 20% down in a car, find it's the car for no more than four years, and your monthly payments in the car should not be more than 10% of your gross monthly income.
The lifestyle inflation I'm referring to is those that spend way too much on a certain category to the point where they start living paycheck to paycheck again.
我所說的「生活方式膨脹」是指那些在某個類別上花費過多，以至於他們又開始過著月月光的生活。
13:44
Alright, the number two strategy that we really want to figure out at the $100,000 salary level is to start targeting our financial independence number.
好的，在年收入十萬美元的水平上，我們真正想弄清楚的第二個策略是開始鎖定我們的財務獨立數字。
13:51
There's a possibility that you will be able to retire early if you start making a really good income as long as you have a really good savings rate, and so we want to figure out what steps we need to take in order to get there.
Now, if your savings rate was 30%, you could possibly do it in 15.9 years.
現在，如果你的儲蓄率是 30%，你可能可以在 15.9 年內完成。
14:22
This is the primary strategy of the fire community, and that's a community of people that are trying to retire as early as possible.
這是 FIRE 社群的主要策略，而 FIRE 社群是一群試圖盡可能提早退休的人。
14:29
Their main plan is usually to aim to save at least 30, 50, or even 70% of their income.
他們的主要計畫通常是爭取儲蓄至少 30%、50% 甚至 70% 的收入。
14:34
By being extremely frugal and essentially sacrificing their short-term pleasure, they're trying to get to their financial independence number as quickly as possible.
透過極度節儉並犧牲眼前的享樂，他們試圖盡快達到財務獨立的目標。
14:41
Now, do you have to do this? I would argue probably not, but it might be a lifestyle you may want to go after, especially if you start to make more income.
The third strategy at the $100,000 income level is to really start thinking about how can we get more gains from our investments across the board.
在年收入十萬美元的水平上的第三個策略是真正開始思考如何從我們的整體投資中獲得更多收益。
14:57
This is going to be a little bit of a hot take and not the usual buy index fund strategy that we usually talk about on this channel.
這將是一個比較激進的觀點，而不是我們在這個頻道上通常討論的購買指數基金的策略。
15:03
But when you start making more of an income, let's say you make 150k, 200k, maybe 300k, and even more, that's when you can start to take some shots at higher conviction plays to try to grow your investment count as quickly as possible.
Now, a huge disclaimer, this will come with a lot more risk, but also a lot more potential upside, and for 95% of people out there, this strategy is not for them, but this is what I would do if you already make a lot of money.
I'd first decide how much percentage of my total portfolio that I'm willing to risk into higher riskier plays.
我會先決定我願意將總投資組合的多少百分比投入到更高風險的部位。
15:33
Maybe you decide that's 5%, 7% or maybe 10% of your portfolio that you go ahead and risk and put it into some sort of higher conviction play, because the more concentrated you go into one position that actually does really well, then the more you're going to make.
There are real estate investment syndicates out there, you can also put that money into a certain company or a stock that you have higher conviction in, or you can just put it all on black.
有房地產投資聯盟，你也可以將這筆錢投入你更有信心的某家公司或股票，或者你可以直接押注在紅色。
15:55
Just kidding about the black on roulette, do not do that, but you get the idea.
開玩笑的，別真的去玩俄羅斯輪盤，但你們懂我的意思。
15:59
Some of my biggest gains in my portfolio are from owning such stocks or funds that I've had higher conviction in.
我投資組合中一些最大的漲幅，來自於我持有我更有信心的股票或基金。
16:04
For example, Nvidia, as of late, Metastock, and even Bitcoin has been doing really well this year.
例如，輝達（Nvidia）、Metastock，甚至比特幣今年表現都非常好。
16:09
For some of my friends, that is their real estate investments that have done really well for them in the past 5 years.
對我的一些朋友來說，過去五年來表現非常好的就是他們的房地產投資。
16:14
This strategy definitely depends on your own risk tolerance, how much you can afford to lose when it doesn't work out, and the research that you ultimately do.
When it comes to higher conviction plays, you need to have some sort of competitive edge when it comes to the knowledge that you might have about the certain industry that you're trying to invest in, or the certain product that you're looking at.
Ideally, when it comes to investing like this, you have that specific knowledge about whatever you're investing into, so that means if you're in semiconductors, probably don't invest in the retail sector.
