Are You Richer Than Your Friends? (New 2026 Data)

Are You Richer Than Your Friends? (0:00)

Brian: Hey, I have a question for you. Are you richer than your friends?

Bo: Brian, I am so excited because today we’re going to show you whether you’re ahead of the curve like our wealth management clients, behind the curve like the typical American, or right where you’re supposed to be, just like a Financial Mutant should be. We have the comparison for all three on today’s show.

Brian: And these results, they’re going to surprise you. I’m Brian. He’s Bo. And this is the Money Guy Show, where two financial advisers help you figure out how to save and invest for your future. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get right to it.

Bo: All right, Brian. So, let’s start hot.

Average Americans vs. Financial Mutants vs. Millionaires (0:39)

Bo: Let’s start right with what are your numbers? And the way we’re going to lay this out is we’re going to talk about the average American. We’re going to talk about the Financial Mutant. And then we’re going to talk about our Abound Wealth Management clients, the cream of the crop. And so when we think about the average American and we look at where they are just from a level setting standpoint, if you look at the median income of the average American right now, it’s about $87,500 of household income. The median net worth is right at about $216,000.

Brian: Yeah, that’s one thing. And look, those numbers as a whole don’t look that bad. They’re not awful. But when you weigh them next to our Financial Mutants, guys, you’ve got to start looking at this separation. Look at this. The income, instead of $87,000, our typical Financial Mutant is around $172,000. If you want to then talk about net worth, $216,000 for the average American. Meanwhile, the Financial Mutants, $725,000.

Bo: Now, keep in mind, these aren’t individuals. This is household. But it’s a pretty stark difference. And then when you compare that to our Abound Wealth Management fee-only financial planning clients here, the median income of our financial planning clients is $262,000 a year. And the median net worth is right at $2.5 million. So these three different types of folks do not look exactly the same.

Brian: Full stop. I don’t want anybody to cut this off and see these numbers and be like, “Whoa, that’s so far from me.” You really do, just like we mentioned in the intro, have to know are you ahead of the curve, behind the curve, or right where you’re supposed to be. And we also need additional context because I don’t want you to look at these Financial Mutants as well as our Abound clients and think they haven’t had time. They might have had decades to start building this. If you’re at the beginning of your journey, let’s break this down so people can actually see what it looks like by each decade, the 20s, the 30s, the 40s. We’re going to give it all so you can find motivation and not just comparison that makes you not feel good about your situation.

Bo: And our hope is that this will be motivating. This will let you know, am I moving in the right direction, doing the things that I’m supposed to be doing? Let’s start, Brian, right at the very beginning with folks in their 20s.

How Much Money Should You Have in Your 20s? (2:50)

Bo: These are folks kind of at the very beginning of their journey. And if we think about just strictly income, the average American in their 20s, age 20 to 29, the median is $77,875 of household income, but the median Financial Mutant is about $114,000 of household income.

Brian: Now, I want to go ahead and say, I think this is an important thing. This is going to be the only stat today where I think the average American and our Financial Mutants, the gap’s not vast. It’s not huge. And I want this to be motivating because if you’re watching this content in your 20s, you have a moment in time of opportunity because you’re going to use this show as motivation to see that if you start taking behaviors, just anything, I don’t care if it’s 3%, 5%, 10% of your income, it is going to create dramatic differences. So do something and use this as motivation because you’re going to quickly see the average American, they sleep on the opportunity. The only reason they even end up with money in their 60s is because their employer had a 401(k) and they forgot about it or lost it and left it behind. Because as soon as most Americans get access to their 401(k) because they changed jobs, they go buy cars, put swimming pools in the backyard. This is not Financial Mutant behavior. So pay attention, do something, your future self will thank you for it.

Bo: And it’s also worth noting, while we do have some clients at Abound Wealth in their 20s, it’s not a huge number. So there’s not enough data there for us to include the clients here. So we’re only going to talk about, in the 20s, average Americans and Financial Mutants. And it’s also important to talk about, when we look at the numbers, what are we actually looking at when we talk about net worth? Because according to the Federal Reserve, they’re listing all financial assets for the average Americans. That is all the investment accounts but also checking accounts, savings accounts, money markets, CDs. When we ask our Financial Mutants as well as our Abound Wealth clients about their investable net worth, we really are only talking about accounts that they are using to build for future financial independence. So this does not include emergency reserves, checking, savings, any of that. So the numbers are not comparing completely apples to apples, but we want you to know why they look a little bit different. You would think because the Federal Reserve uses more categories, their numbers would be bigger, but that is not the case.

Brian: I’m okay giving that. It’s kind of like when you know you’re a professional athlete versus an amateur, you spot them. You spot them a few points. You’ll quickly see that Financial Mutants as well as our Abound Wealth clients are cut from a different cloth than the average American.

Bo: So when we look at the average income for folks in their 20s, across average Americans it’s $77,875, and Financial Mutants are $114,000. But then when we look at net worth, how do they actually turn that income into wealth? The average American’s net worth in their 20s, according to all their financial assets, is about $12,300. When you compare that to our Financial Mutants, $118,000. Do you see this is where the separation is?

Brian: We won’t turn back from this moment. That’s why if you’re in your 20s and you see this and you look more like the $12,000 versus the $118,000, use this as your moment in time to notate that today is the day that you change your future life.

Bo: But also keep in mind, if you are someone in your 20s, it’s not about the numbers. Don’t get lost in this because what we really care about in the 20s is the behaviors. Are you making the decisions that will allow you to be in the Financial Mutant category? So maybe your household income is not at $114,000 or maybe your net worth is not at $118,000. That’s okay. Are you making the behaviors that will move you in that direction? Because if you are, when you get to this next decade, when you get to your 30s, you are going to be set up for success. And more to come on those behaviors in a moment.

Income and Net Worth in Your 30s (6:46)

Bo: All right, so let’s talk about what our Financial Mutants, what the Abound clients, what the average American looks like from an income standpoint in their 30s. The average American household is about $114,000 of income in the 30s. The Financial Mutants are about $185,000 on the median, but our Abound Wealth clients in their 30s, the median household income is $360,000.

Brian: Yeah. And like I said, the separation is real even when it comes to investable net worth. If you look at the average American, this is what’s so sad to me and we’re going to draw more attention to this. You saw that average income is $114,000, but when you turn this into investable assets, it’s only $33,000. For the Financial Mutant, they’re actually ending up with around $425,000. And then of course, the Abound clients are breaking the rules because typically most people don’t cross into seven-figure status until they’re in their late 40s, around 27 years into the workforce. Not our Abound Wealth clients because you can see they’re crossing into $1.2 million even in their 30s.

Bo: And now look, I do want to say that folks in their 30s having this level of success is not super common. And across our client base, folks in their 30s only represent about 20% of our Abound Wealth clients, but they are a unique and rare breed that look very different than their peers. And when you think about, okay, well, how do Financial Mutants and how do Abound Wealth clients stack up from a net worth percentile across the country? What you see is that Financial Mutants in their 30s fall in the top 26% of all Americans and Abound Wealth clients, that’s the top 14% as measured by net worth household percentile.

Brian: And that’s why, look, if you don’t match these numbers, it’s a-okay. Whether you’re in your 20s, whether you’re in your 30s, the big thing is in a minute we’re going to flip the script and get from the data points to actually the behaviors. I just want to make sure that you’re actually doing some of these strategies and some of these habits that actually start building wealth. That’s the big thing. Don’t use this to say, “Hey, I don’t make that much or I don’t have that much in net worth.” Use it as motivation on the behavioral side of things. But one thing you hear us talk about all the time is, are you ahead of the curve, behind the curve, or right on the curve? It’s great to talk about these absolute numbers, but now let’s talk about where the rubber actually meets the road.

Are You Ahead or Behind in Your 30s? (9:03)

Brian: And if you’ve been listening to us for any amount of time, you know that we have these Money Guy markers that when it comes to saving and investing, by the time we get to 30, we want you to have one times your annual income in liquid investments, dollars that are working for the future. By the time you get to the end of your 30s, at age 40, we want you to have three times your annual income. So the goal is start the decade at one times and end the decade at three times. So let’s see when we look at the average American, Financial Mutant, and Abound client how they stack up.

Bo: Again, to remind you of the numbers if you’re out there listening to the podcast: the average American, $114,000 income, $33,000 net worth. Financial Mutant, $185,000 income, $425,000 net worth. And the Abound Wealth client, $360,000 income, $1.2 million average net worth.

Brian: Well, and I think, so you don’t have to do public math, if we do one more click, you can quickly see that the average American, instead of it being a multiplier, it’s actually a fraction of what their income is. That is a huge behavioral gap. Is that meaning that the average American is actually just not saving any money or putting any of their army of dollar bills aside for the future? Meanwhile, the Financial Mutants, you guys are a multiplier. You can see that you go from $185,000 of income to a net worth of $425,000. That’s a 2.2 times multiplier. The Abound Wealth client is $360,000 of income. It goes all the way up to $1.2 million. That’s a 3.3 times multiplier. Right in line with what we’d hope to see.

Bo: Yeah. Again, if you’re thinking about this, you want one times your annual salary at the beginning of the decade, three times at the middle. So on average, right there by the midpoint of your 30s, you want to shoot for somewhere around two times your annual income on average. Well, Financial Mutants, you are right there on the number at 2.2. Abound clients are obviously ahead of the curve at 3.3, but the average American is nowhere close. In the 30s, in the messy middle, in this decade, you’re beginning to see a dispersion between folks that are doing what they should be doing with their money and the folks that aren’t.

How Much Wealth Should You Have in Your 40s? (11:05)

Brian: Yeah. So, let’s now transition over to the 40s before we get to the behaviors. If you look at this, the average income for the average American in their 40s, these are peak earning years, by the way. The 40s is when you’re supposed to be making some hay for sure, $120,000. Financial Mutants, $218,000, and the Abound Wealth clients, $341,000.

Bo: Now, you may be seeing this and thinking, oh well, Financial Mutants and Abound Wealth clients, they just make a lot more than the average American. But I don’t think that’s the most telling part because what’s really interesting is how they actually turn that shovel into wealth. Because when you look at the net worth, the liquid net worth across these three groups, the average American has a liquid net worth of about $78,000 in their 40s. The Financial Mutant is crossing into millionaire status in the two comma club, and the Abound Wealth clients in their 40s have an average investable net worth of about $1.7 million.

Brian: Yeah. And we’re continuing the trend. If you compare where these individuals rank amongst the percentile of Americans, especially on net worth, Financial Mutants are the top 16% and Abound Wealth clients are the top 11%. So these are definitely top tier. So like I said, I don’t want you to feel like you have to compare to these people, but I do want you to make sure that you’re at least paying attention to our Money Guy markers. So you take your own income and look at our multipliers to figure out how you are falling into this because this is more realistic than just looking at what the number is for income and net worth for our mutants as well as our Abound Wealth clients.

Bo: And so if you’re not familiar with our Money Guy markers, we already said by the time you get to age 40, we want you to have three times your annual income in liquid investments. And by the time you leave your 40s and get to age 50, we want you to be at 6.4 times your annual income. So again, if we’re going to compare these three different strata of folks, average Americans in their 40s have an income of $120,000. Their net worth is about $78,000. Financial Mutants have an average household income of about $218,000. And yet their net worth is a million. And the Abound Wealth clients have an average household income of $341,000, but their total net worth is $1.7 million on average in their 40s.

Brian: You know, this is one of those things because if we click it one more time and you see what we’ve done with this, once again, the average Americans, they’re not even a multiplier. They’re still a fraction. They’ve turned $120,000 of income into $77,000. That means there’s lots of consumption of the paycheck, not saving for the future. And guys, here’s the thing that I think everybody needs to realize: when you are in your 40s, you’re hoping you’re reaching some type of critical mass where your money is doing some of the heavy lift through the wealth multiplier, through compounding growth. And that’s why you see a Financial Mutant with $218,000 of income has a kind of a multiplier of 4.5 times, right at $1 million. The Abound Wealth client is 4.9 times, $341,000 to $1.7 million. Guys, it gets easier the more you own and the more you build. That’s why you can’t sleep on the fact of living on less than you make early. And saving a little bit for the future is going to do the heavy lift as you get closer and closer to retirement.

Bo: Yeah. Remember, the bigger the numbers get, the bigger the numbers get. So, if we want to be at three times our annual income at 40 and 6.4 times our annual income at 50, that means somewhere around the middle of that decade, we want to be around four and a half times. Well, you can see that Financial Mutants on average in their 40s again are right on the mark, exactly where they want to be. Abound Wealth clients are just ahead of the curve at 4.9 times and the average American, as you alluded to, Brian, is only 0.7 times their annual income. The chasm between these is getting wider and wider and wider.

Abound Wealth Management (14:56)

Bo: Brian, one of my favorite moments on Making a Millionaire is when a guest realizes something they never would have spotted on their own.

Brian: Yeah, I absolutely love that, too. And these are smart people, but everybody has blind spots because you just don’t know what you don’t know. And here’s the thing. On the show, we get about an hour with our guests. But our Abound Wealth clients, we get to walk alongside them week after week, month after month, year after year through career changes, kids, college, retirement, and everything in between. If you’ve been watching this thinking, I’d love that kind of feedback on my situation, we’d love to have that conversation. We’re fee-only fiduciary advisers, legally required to work in your best interest. Just head over to aboundwealth.com or click the link below. We would love to connect and be a part of your financial journey.

Bo: One conversation’s great, but having someone in your corner for the long haul, that’s even better.

The Wealth Gap in Your 50s (15:54)

Bo: Let’s transition into the 50s because then I know we’re closing out with the 50s, so then we can get into the behavior. So hopefully you guys can spot check what you’re doing. This is something, if you look in the 50s, these are still peak earning years because the peak earning years go from 48 all the way to 52. So it captures a portion of this. And you can see for the average American, $120,000. Financial Mutants at $205,000 of income. Then the Abound Wealth clients, $232,000.

Brian: So yes, these are big shovels. But where the big difference comes in is with that investable net worth. Because, Bo, look at this. Once again, the average American, $93,000 on a six-figure income. It’s wild. So it’s crazy to think this is somebody that’s been in the workforce for going on three decades and they don’t even have one times their income. Financial Mutants, $1.7 million. Abound Wealth clients, $3 million. This is the power of small incremental decisions creating huge results for your future self.

Bo: Now, you may have noticed, okay, well, the Abound Wealth clients’ income dropped pretty drastically from the 40s to the 50s. And I think one of the things that we see is folks who are out ahead of the curve that are making these financial decisions likely are going to be early retirees. They’re going to be folks who enter into financial independence sooner. And we see that in the numbers because when you actually look at how Financial Mutants and Abound Wealth clients stack up across the entire American population at these net worth levels, for you Financial Mutants in your 50s, it puts you in the top 11% of the entire US population when it comes to net worth. And for Abound Wealth clients, you were in the top 7% if you have a $3 million net worth in your 50s.

Brian: But bring it back once again. What are your multipliers? Don’t worry because, as we said, a lot of times our Financial Mutants as well as our Abound Wealth clients have big shovels. I want you to bring it back to what’s measurable and what’s actionable that you can use for yourself, and you can see we want you to come into the 50s with 6.4 times your income. Go into the 60s at 13.7. You can apply this to your income to really spot check how well you’re doing.

Bo: So again, if we look at these three different types of people, average Americans have a household income in their 50s of $120,000 and yet only a net worth of about $93,000. That is a 0.8 multiplier. They still have not got one times their income in investable assets saved up. Financial Mutants are very, very different. $205,000 household income, yet their net worth is 8.2 times that amount at $1.7 million. And the Abound Wealth clients on average in their 50s have a $232,000 income. And yet their total liquid net worth is around $3 million on average. That’s nearly a 13 times multiplier by their 50s.

Brian: And that allows you now, we can go and spot check this to the 50s. And you can see if you wanted to be in your mid-50s, where should you be? The average American, it’s almost like an inflation indicator. I mean, you’re not seeing any growth whatsoever. But look at our Financial Mutants. They’re at 8.2 times. So, just slightly under what we would expect. And then the Abound Wealth clients are way ahead of the curve. So it’s definitely something. And I think a lot of that can be driven by the fact that, at this point, their army of dollar bills is working harder than they can with their brain, their backs, and their hands. And that’s why you see this separation.

The Money Habits That Separate Wealthy Americans (19:40)

Bo: All right. And so it’s easy to look at the numbers and it’s easy to look at the end of the story and say, “Okay, wow, look at how these people have done. Look at where they’ve ended up.” But looking at the final numbers only tells you part of the story. What really matters is how did these people get there? And so we want to shift, moving away from strictly the data and the numbers to now talking about the behaviors. What is unique and different about the way that Financial Mutants approach making financial decisions and Abound Wealth clients approach making financial decisions? And then how does the average American approach making financial decisions?

Brian: Yeah. So, let’s talk about the one that’s chainsaw dangerous. That is debt. Look, we know debt for a lot of us is a necessary tool when we’re buying our first cars so we can make it to that job reliably, but we also probably use debt for buying our first house and so forth. But how about credit card debt? You know, because we are one of those people. One of our key rules that we say is credit card use, that’s a-okay, but credit card debt, no way. So, how does the average American look at that rule compared to our mutants as well as our clients?

Credit Card Debt: The Surprising Difference (20:26)

Bo: Yeah. When we ask them the question, 82% of average Americans use credit cards. So, there are a number of Americans out there that don’t use credit cards or choose not to use credit cards. For Financial Mutants, 97% of you guys say, “Yep, I use them. They’re part of the way that I consume. They’re part of the way I process transactions.” And that’s the same for Abound Wealth clients. However, when it comes to the next part, that’s where you see some difference because of those 82% of Americans that use credit cards, 45% of them, almost half, carry a credit card balance month over month. They are not paying it off in full. When you look at Financial Mutants, it’s only 5% who carry a balance. And for Abound Wealth clients, less than 1% of our clients actually carry a credit card balance month over month.

Brian: This is a boom shaka moment because, guys, if you’re carrying any type of credit card balance, you’re not a credit card person. Look at this slide. And if you were in that 45% slice, put away the credit card. Freeze it. Do whatever you’ve got to do to keep you away from it until you can come back and act like a Financial Mutant or an Abound Wealth client and pay that credit card off every month. But maybe you’re someone saying, “Hey, I don’t use credit cards. I’m smarter than that. I am a buy now pay later person. I don’t rack up any interest. I don’t accrue any of that. I do it smarter.”

Bo: Well, about 27%, or one out of four average Americans, use buy now pay later frequently. But when you look at Financial Mutants, again, only 5% of Financial Mutants, five out of a hundred, actually use buy now pay later. And the same is true for Abound Wealth clients. Again, the folks that are out ahead of the curve make a different decision when it comes to how they pay for the things that they consume.

Brian: Look, I look at buy now pay later as almost somewhat similar to 0% credit cards and so forth. Sometimes you have to be careful that, as a Financial Mutant, you think, hey, there are hacks that will allow me to spread my money out and get more use out of it. This right here shows that a lot of these behaviors are just not worth the squeeze of the fruit. There’s too much risk involved with these. If you go read the fine print on buy now pay later or even 0% credit cards, a lot of things can go wrong. And we want you to be more like our Abound Wealth clients and Financial Mutants than we want you to be like the average American.

Why Wealthy People Keep Their Cars Longer (22:44)

Bo: And look, if you’ve watched our content for any amount of time, you know we talk all the time about big decisions people make when they buy cars, buy houses, and we’ve talked ad nauseam about auto loans, auto loans, auto loans. We thought we’d shift away from auto loans and talk more about, okay, what’s the behavior? So when you look at the average American, how long they own and drive an automobile, only 35% of folks out there drive a car for more than seven years, actually able to capitalize on the depreciation that takes place in the earliest part of car ownership. When you look at a Financial Mutant, 81% of you drive cars for over seven years. And for Abound Wealth clients, 83% of them drive cars for more than seven years. So again, if you’re going to emulate the folks who have ended up in the place that you want to be, perhaps you should make some of the same choices and do some of the things that they have done that’s allowed them to get there.

Brian: I mean, seriously, soak this in, too. I want your skin to prune up with the information that you’re getting from this, guys. If you want to be successful, because cars are napalm for your financial life. You’re literally setting money on fire. Practice and do what the Financial Mutants and the Abound Wealth clients do. Drive these cars as long as possible. You know, the best driving car is a paid-for car. So, act accordingly so that you’re not doing what the typical American does, where you’re financing cars for seven years, rolling in negative equity, and trying to look cool for people who literally could care less. And look, it’s not just the big purchases like cars and homes.

Bo: Another big thing that a lot of people have to spend money on at the beginning of their career, the beginning of their journey, is student loan debt. Right now, we know that the average graduating student loan balance is $40,000. That’s the average. That means half of folks have more than that and half of folks have less than that. Well, we know based on our survey that 95% of our Financial Mutants that graduated with student loan debt were below that average. They are the ones that are actually holding the average down. So when it comes time to go to college, when it comes time to send your kids to college, make sure you are beginning with the end in mind so you can make that decision wisely.

Brian: Yeah, education is very noble. I think it really is the ladder of opportunity to help people climb up and become the better version of themselves. But right now, you have to look at it as an educated consumer because there are a lot of traps out there. The Financial Mutants and our clients have shown, look, they understand community college might be a tool that they use. It’s also understanding that the income that you’re going to make when you graduate is important to ensure that when you choose a major, you’re going to have a return on investment. So that’s why, if we could just put the whipped cream and the cherry on all of this, let’s get you some tips for success. The first thing, realize that debt is chainsaw dangerous. So don’t carry any credit card debt. It’s just not for you if you can’t pay it off every month. And when it comes to the big purchases you make, make sure you own them for a long time. There are a lot of transaction costs. If you’re just buying and replacing and buying and replacing, specifically automobiles, you’re likely doing it wrong. And then when it comes to taking on student loan debt or sending your kids off to college, make sure that you do not accrue any more student loan debt than what you anticipate the first year starting salary to be. If you can do that, you will likely look very different than the average American.

Emergency Funds and Financial Security (26:12)

Brian: Also, I want to help people. I want to transition because cash is so powerful in the Financial Order of Operations that it’s actually got two steps. It’s step number one, having your highest insurance deductible covered, plus step four, which gets you three to six months. It’s because we don’t want you making desperate decisions because you just don’t have any money. And if you take that mindset, understanding how powerful cash is for avoiding those desperate decisions, and then look at the power of having a full emergency fund. Look at this. The average American, and fortunately 55%, greater than half, do understand, hey, I need to have three to six months saved up, or three months at least saved up. But compare and contrast that to Financial Mutants. That number is 85% who have at least three months. Of our Abound Wealth clients, 93% have an emergency fund that’s greater than three months. Guys, this is why it’s important. I know a lot of times people who are doing FOO-ish instead of doing full FOO think that cash is trash. No, you need cash to keep you protected from the desperate or bad things of life.

Bo: So, how do you make sure you’re on the right side of this? Brian just said it. Number one, always make sure you can cover your highest insurance deductible so you don’t have to go into debt if the unknown unknown happens. And then you should be working towards having three to six months of your living expenses in liquid cash. If you can do that, you’ll prevent yourself from having to get into debt when that unknown circumstance arises.

Brian: And then, you know, we’ve been saying this throughout the show, so it might be seeming like a broken record, but I think repetition is actually your friend. When we talk about savings behavior, saving and investing is what you have to do.

How Much Do Wealthy Americans Save? (27:54)

Bo: That’s what the typical American, as I’m going to show you here, they just don’t do. They don’t live on less than they make. And if you’re going to do the three ingredients of wealth, you have to be disciplined. Live on less than you make so that you can create margin in your life that actually builds money. You invest that, and that money with enough time can compound and grow upon itself. So when we look at savings rates of our Financial Mutants, it’s not surprising to see, look at that, saving 20% or more is close to 60%. Six out of 10 Financial Mutants save more than 20%. And then if you look at our Abound Wealth clients, that number actually jumps up to 71%.

Brian: So then you compare and contrast because this is the biggest problem. Remember, I took you all the way back to the 20s and I said, guys, this is the closest the numbers will be, because you’re going to see the behavior has a huge separation factor because mutants and Abound Wealth clients understand the power of saving and investing for the future. It’s one of the biggest things. I’m so proud of my young 20-something-year-old self. I got it early on and started saving and investing. Meanwhile, look at the average American, 5.3%. And how much do you want to bet that 5.3%, probably the heavy lift of that, is the free money that’s coming from their employer’s 401(k) or 403(b). We are horrible at thinking about the future and being disciplined and saving just a little bit. You choose your hard. Do you want to make it hard now by just making a small decision to save 5, 10, 15% for the future? Or do you want to make your hard later when you’re 50 and 60 years old and you realize, “Holy cow, I’m never going to be able to retire because I have to work forever because my 20-year-old and 30-year-old self never started saving and investing.”

Bo: So, what’s the takeaway? How do you do this successfully? Well, number one, start as soon as possible. The absolute best time to start saving and investing was yesterday. That makes today by default the second best time to start doing it. And when you start doing that, try to get to a 25% savings rate. If you can save 25% of your gross income, you are going to give yourself maximum flexibility later in life. And when it comes to investing and putting that money to work, don’t try to time the market. Don’t try to outsmart it. Don’t try to buy and sell and get in and out. Just be the market. Always be buying. Put your money to work. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. You don’t have to outsmart it.

Brian: Yeah, guys, look, there is a better way to do money. This is why we literally designed the Financial Order of Operations. It’s going to tell you what you need to do with your next dollar. And we wanted to kind of close out with one of the things you have to protect yourself from because, look, comparison is not always a positive thing, but there’s also just trying to keep up with the Joneses. There’s trying to keep up with the Joneses in this consumption society we live in.

The Mindset Behind Building Wealth (30:40)

Brian: You have to protect your mindset. So I want you to ask yourself, are you an optimistic person who thinks the best is still to come for us and that you’re making decisions with that positivity? Or are you a person that just thinks the system is stacked against you and you’ll never get ahead? This stuff matters, guys. We want you to understand your mindset and your behaviors work together to create your success.

Bo: Yeah, it’s really interesting. When we look at the average American, only 59% of Americans would consider themselves to be optimists. Now, you compare that to Financial Mutants, not folks that are financially independent, not folks that have already made it to the end of the journey, but 76%, three out of four Financial Mutants think that the future looks better rather than worse. They think that the glass is half full, not half empty. They have an optimistic outlook. And then of our Abound Wealth clients, 82% of them classify themselves as optimists. One of the most powerful muscles that you have is the one that exists between your ears. And what you tell yourself to be true will likely come true. So if you believe that you can do money better, that you can better your circumstance, that you can improve your lot in life, then there’s a high likelihood that you will actually do those things.

Brian: Now look, this is the culmination show. We’ve gone over a lot of things and a lot of you are like, I want more of this because I want to make sure I understand who I am comparing myself to. How does this data come in? I’d encourage you to go check out our other two shows because, like I said, this is the culmination show, but we did have one just for Financial Mutants. That was the 20,000 Americans that we asked how they manage their money. If you want to know about our millionaire clients, we asked a thousand millionaires how they got rich. And man oh man, did they share what was going on behind the curtain. Go check out those two episodes. And then of course if you find that you resemble both the Financial Mutant and even the Abound Wealth clients, and you realize that your simple life, because you’ve gone to moneyguy.com/resources and downloaded all of our free stuff, has made you the best version of yourself. But now that simple life that created so much success, it sure has gotten complicated. You realize, holy cow, I didn’t realize as I approached seven figures all the different things that were going to come my way. How complicated my taxes are, how I have to think about how I’m going to do my cash flow, how I’m going to do my account structure, how I’m going to rebalance, how I’m also going to think about retirement, education planning, estate planning. All these things come into play. We will leave the porch light on. We work with clients in all 50 states, if you can believe it. It’s amazing. We work with clients all across the country. We’d love to work with you, too. I’m your host Brian joined by Mr. Bo. Money Guy Team, out!