Watching YouTube Help Me Achieve the Highest Savings I’ve Ever Had
Learn personal finance through YouTube videos
Yes, you read the title correctly. Binging on YouTube videos really help my savings account grow, up to a point where it is now in its highest number ever.
I wasn’t an avid YouTube audience, at least not until last year. That’s when I started to really watch YouTube mainly for its music channels, it’s cool because I get to see the newest music videos from my favorite artists.
But approximately six months later — around September 2019 — was when I really got hooked on YouTube. Thanks to the ever-mysterious YouTube algorithm, somehow personal finance videos were recommended to me. I don’t even remember what that first video was, but it sure did have me intrigued. So I watch another video, and then another, and then another…
The channels that work for me
The first channel that left a good impression for me was Graham Stephan. He mainly talks about investing (primarily in real estate), but sometimes he also makes videos about budgeting and a breakdown of his entire net worth.
Here’s a link to one of his channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/GrahamStephan/videos
I find Graham as honest, funny at times, and he goes straight to the point. I learn a lot from him although at first, I wasn’t entirely sold on this whole personal finance thing. Why? Because this dude is a millionaire and I’m just nowhere near that level.
Then I found The Dave Ramsey Show. Well, Dave is also a millionaire, but he has these baby steps that kind of made it easier for me to apply. Watching Dave yell at people for their financial missteps makes me want to do better with my own personal finance. And watching people do their debt-free screams gives me that energy boost to keep going.
This is one of the most touching debt-free scream I’ve watched in the channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gsGMoAV90s
Sometimes I also watch Investing with Rose, where Rose (duh!) explains about investing in stocks, mutual fund, index fund, and everything in between. Links for Investing with Rose: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIbslwukNCyVp-XMz_2-gmw
The Financial Diet is also a good resource if you want to learn about personal finance, especially for millennials and Gen Z-ers: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPYNpQ2fHv9HJ-q6MIMaPw
And last but not least is Our Rich Journey where I can follow the family’s journey to financial independence: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChObmEJP3bgGUXJGc2ePP3Q
At first, I thought I was watching these videos just for the sake of entertainment because I enjoyed it. But when I look back, even when I thought I couldn’t relate due to Graham’s level of wealth, I was already beginning to really make an effort to pay off my credit card debts. So by the time I got to Dave Ramsey’s videos, some of my debts were already slashed.
My best guess is that these videos give me positive influence subconsciously. The way I handle money change little by little as my watching time increased.
Learning together
Now, this is the exciting part. After watching (too) much personal finance videos on YouTube, analyzing each one with my non-millionaire mind (yet, hopefully), the least I can do is to offer some tips to anyone who also want to take the journey:
Find channel(s) that speaks to you.
There are a lot of personal finance YouTuber out there that can help you sort your finances (note the italic you, because at the end of the day it’s you who will have to take action). You just need to find those that really speak to you. That make sense to you. Shop around YouTube. Chances are, you won’t follow any advice if you don’t like who’s delivering it.
Mix n match to suit your need and situation.
In my opinion, there’s no need to be fanatic toward a certain “way” when it comes to personal finance. Learn as much as you can from each channel. Now I know a thing or two about 401(k), Roth IRA, and the stimulus check… and I’m not even American.
Find pieces of advice that work for you. After all, this is called personal finance. This is for you personally.
Set a goal or a dream you want to achieve.
Yes, the goal. This is when the actual deliberate actions are made. So, set your goal, or dreams you want to achieve. I’d say learn little by little, understand better one at a time, then set that goal. And yes, once again your goal should be personalized. It doesn’t have to be grand like “to become a millionaire in 5 years”. Your goal can evolve as you move forward.
Work at it and be patient
The next step is to really work at it. Sometimes it can get really hard to refrain from spending to your heart’s content. It’s my own money, you might think that. Yes, it is your money, that’s why you need to manage it well. Patience is something that is really needed in personal finance, especially when we’re so new to this. We won’t get results overnight, but I promise you, it’s worth it.
I’d like to finish off with some kind of encouragement to you all who’s ready to binge on personal finance videos. Today my savings is about 3,5x of my monthly salary, and all is done within approximately 9 months.
For me, what’s more amazing is the fact that due to the pandemic my monthly salary is cut by 15% for the last six months. And all the while I was also paying off consumer debts (but I received a small bonus in February, so take that into account as well). Now all I can think is: Where did all my money go to all these years?
