What if I told you that in just 30 days, you could fix 90% of your money problems?

And no, it's not about cutting out coffee or following some boring budget. The truth is that most personal finance

content out there is way too generic. So in this video, I'm going to help you solve your specific money problems, not

with generic advice that you've probably heard a thousand times before, but with a personalized blueprint that I call the

Money Compass. The Money Compass has four simple steps; together they'll guide you from financial chaos to clarity, no

matter where you're starting from. Each direction in the compass represents a key step in the blueprint, and so let's

break it down, starting with step one: N, which stands for navigate your numbers. Before you can fix your money problems,

you need to understand exactly where your money is going, because you can't fix what you can't see. Most people have

no idea where their money is going; they just know that they get paid and they spend a little bit here, they spend

a little bit there, and before they know it, they're left with close to zero in their bank account before the next

paycheck is even here. And so this first step is all about creating awareness. We're not actually going to fix anything

yet; we just need to know exactly where your money is going so that we know what to fix. And here's how you'll do that:

Take one to two weeks and track every dollar that you spend. Now, don't worry, I'm not telling you to start a budget; I

don't budget and I never have, and I've still managed to get very far ahead financially. What I did though, when I

first made the choice to start fixing my money problems, is I bought a really small notebook, about this size, right?

Here, and I carried it with me everywhere. Every single time I spent money, I wrote it down in this notebook. And don't

forget to check your bank and credit card statements for any automatic charges, like subscriptions that you may have forgotten about, because you'll want

to add those to your notebook as well. Now you might be thinking, "Well, why not just use an app to do the tracking for

me, Joshua?" Well, the problem with using an app is that you can just set it and forget it. You link your bank account to

the app, and the app automatically tracks all of your expenses for you in the background. But that's the problem; it's

happening in the background. You're not actually engaged. When you have to physically write something down, it

forces you to pause, think about what you're spending, and really take it in. This habit is about more than just

keeping track of your expenses; it's about creating awareness. Because every time you open up this little notebook and you write down one of your expenses,

you're creating a moment of awareness about your money, and that kind of awareness is what helps you to spot

patterns and leaks that we'll address later in the system. But here's the thing: building awareness isn't just important

for your finances; it's also crucial for staying informed about the world around you. The world around us—from the economy

to global events—impacts everything: the cost of living, interest rates, job markets, you name it. And that's why

staying informed is just as important as managing your money. And when it comes to staying informed without all of the

noise and bias, I've been turning to Straight Arrow News, who's also the sponsor of today's video. Let's be honest: today's

news is often filled with bias, sensationalism, or just plain noise. It can feel impossible at times to figure

out what's actually true, and that's where Straight Arrow News comes in. Straight Arrow News delivers fact-based

unbiased reporting. They help you navigate through the overwhelming amount of biased reporting out there so that you can get a clearer, more objective

view of what's happening around the world. And I love their media landscape indicator on every article. This indicator gives you stats on who's

reporting and which side of the political spectrum they're on. You can also sort through opinion articles based on

political orientation, and their Media Bias section highlights news stories that other media might have overlooked. Straight Arrow News is also verified by

AllSides and Ad Fontes Media, both of which have rated it as reliable and centered. So if you want more control over the

information that you're getting, go to san.com.  You can also check it out through the link in my

description or the pinned comment. It's completely free, and when you visit that link, you're not only supporting me, but

you're also supporting a group of journalists that are raising the bar on news and focusing on serving you the

truth. So in the first step, you navigated your numbers and tracked your spending, and now it's time for step number two, E,

which stands for 'establish your goals.' This step is about giving yourself a destination. If you don't know where

you're going, how will you ever get there? And here's how you would do that: start by asking yourself a simple question:

What's one thing that would make the biggest difference in my life financially right now? Maybe it's saving

your first $11,000, or maybe it's paying off a credit card, or maybe it's just

getting out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. Whatever it is, pick just one clear, achievable goal that you can work on for

the next 30 days and keep it simple. Big changes start with small wins. For example, when I first decided to fix my

money problems, my goal was to save $330,000 for a down payment on a house, but that felt impossible, especially

because at the time I wasn't really making a lot of money. So I set a smaller, more manageable goal: save $1,000.

Achieving that goal gave me the confidence and momentum to then go on and achieve the much bigger goal of

saving $30,000, which I eventually did. And if you're not really sure where to start, start by looking at your spending

tracker. Are there habits or patterns that really stand out to you? For example, perhaps you spend a lot of money on

unused subscriptions or dining out. Start with the problems that are causing you the most stress or wasting the most

money. By the end of this step, though, you should have your goals written down somewhere visible, whether it's in your

notebook, on a sticky note, or even taped to your fridge. Seeing your goals every day will help to keep you motivated. So,

after you've established your goals, now it's time to move on to step three, 'S', which stands for 'spot the leaks'. This is

where you analyze your spending within your money tracker to identify the leaks that are silently draining your bank account. And trust me, we all have them.

Leaks are those little expenses that don't seem like much at first, but they add up over time. Think about those

subscription services you forgot about, those impulse buys at the store, or dining out more than you realize. Even

for myself personally, I recently started tracking my spending again in this little notebook, and I realized that there were five subscription services

that I was paying for that I didn't even know about. And we're talking about hundreds of dollars per month in wasted

money that's elite. The main goal of this step, though, is to identify where you can free up money for the things that

actually matter to you. And this isn't about cutting out everything fun or enjoyable about your life; it's about

being intentional with your money. If something doesn't add value or align with your goals, it's a leak, and the

great news is that once you've spotted a leak, you can fix it. For example, if you're paying for a gym membership that

you never use, cancel it. And you should have recorded that gym membership expense in your notebook, which is how

you identified it in the first place. And so, either highlight or cross out "gym membership" in your notebook so that you

know to go back and cancel it. Another example would be if you're dining out five times a week—you would know that

because, once again, you recorded it in your notebook—and so, cut it down to two times a week. These small changes can

free up hundreds of dollars each month, and that's money that you can redirect toward your goals. By the end of this

step, though, you'll know exactly where your money is slipping through the cracks and how to stop it. And this is

what sets the foundation for the next step: the final and most important step, W, which stands for "work the plan." This

final step is where everything comes together, and you take action on fixing your money problems. And here's how to do

it: start by writing a simple action plan. And you can do this either on a piece of paper or wherever you want, but basically,

the first step is to take the goals you set earlier in step two and the leaks that you spotted in step three and

create specific steps to address them. For example, let's say that your goal is to save $500 this month, and because

You were keeping track of your spending in your little notebook here. You realize that you were spending $150 a month on

unused subscriptions and another $200 per month on dining out. So, in this situation, your plan might look like this:

Cancel all of those unused subscriptions and cut back on dining out to maybe once per week, and then put all of that saved

money into a high-yield savings account. Let's say that your goal is something really big, like paying off a $3,000

credit card debt. At first glance, this might seem very overwhelming, if not impossible, especially if money is already tight. But when you break it down

into smaller steps, it all becomes much more manageable. And here's how you can work the plan to make it happen. Start by

dividing the $3,000 debt into monthly payments that feel manageable. For example, if you wanted to pay off that

debt over a 12-month period, that's $250 per month that you would pay toward the

credit card. And so now your goal is to free up an extra $250 each month to put toward your credit card debt. And so now

that you've established your goal, the next step is to spot the leaks and then figure out how you can cut back. For

example, you could cancel unused subscriptions to save an extra $50 per month. Maybe you reduce dining out from

weekly to every other week; that's another $100 saved each month. Then you could try getting creative by doing

things like switching to a more affordable phone plan to save $30 per month, and then cut back on impulse

shopping to save another $70 per month. Altogether, though, that's $250 that you freed up without having to

make big sacrifices, all of which you can put toward paying off your credit card debt within a year, or maybe even faster.

If you're focused now, obviously your plan might look different from this, but the main point is that it is possible if

you just break it down into smaller steps. Once your action plan is in place, though, commit to it for the next 30 days

and check in with yourself every week. Are you still hitting your goals? If not, try adjusting the action plan a little

bit to make it work for you. Maybe you underestimated how much money you spend on groceries, or maybe cutting back on

dining out felt too restrictive. That's okay; just adjust it and be realistic and understand that if you don't cut back on

dining out, you might have to cut back in a different area of your spending in order to achieve your goals. At the end

of the day, this is your plan; it's flexible. By working your plan and staying consistent, though, you'll start

to see real progress with your money, maybe for the first time ever. And here's the best part: once you've gone through

this process, once you have this blueprint, you can repeat it anytime, whether you want to tackle a new goal or maybe your

financial situation has changed. The money compass will always be here to point you in the right direction. So now

Fix 90% of Your Money Problems in 30 Days

Fix 90% of Your Money Problems in 30 Days

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