10 Unsexy, Simple Habits That Keep Me Rich

The people who look rich and the people who are rich are usually not the same. Building wealth comes down to everyday money habits, not just the big decisions, but the small everyday ones that you make without even thinking. Welcome back to the channel. My name is Miki and you're watching Finance February, where we're doing a whole month of finance-themed videos. Today I'm breaking down 10 unsexy but simple ways that I keep myself rich and I genuinely believe that they will also help you build your wealth. And I also want to be abundantly clear that being rich monetarily is not the only way to be rich in life. You can be rich in experiences, relationships, health, but being financially rich does come with real privileges, like freedom over your time, the ability to travel, and make choices that really make you feel like you. People don't like talking about money because it doesn't feel chic or classy, but the truth is that we all have to talk about it, we all think about it. It's just our reality. To me, being rich isn't about luxury cars or bags, although it can be if that's what you enjoy. For me, it's about safety, control, and having the option to choose what you want in life. Habit number one, I don't buy drinks when I'm out. I know we're starting off a little bit with a controversial one with your daily coffee, but I'm actually going to take it a step further. I don't order any drinks at all, especially not alcoholic ones. Many of you probably already know this about me, but I don't drink alcohol, mostly because I don't enjoy the taste, but also because the price tag is absolutely ridiculous. The price of a single alcoholic drink can be the same as your entree, not to mention if you get multiple drinks. Ordering drinks can easily double your bill when you're out, and you're probably thinking, wait, Mickey, don't you drink matcha every day? Yes, I wake up, and I have a cup of tea, and I have a matcha, but I make both of them at home by myself, and I promise you they taste a million times better than if somebody else were to make them for me. I did invest in a good matcha powder, a good whisk, and now I really enjoy that morning routine, especially because if I were to buy an $8 drink five days a week, 52 weeks of the year, that adds up to about $2,000, and that's just one habit. Habit number two, what my husband calls the Mickey Rye rounding system. You know in your head when you're doing mental math of like, okay, I spent XYZ, and then I earned this much, and you kind of have a mental tally of what's going in and out? I do my eyes and nose with patience and also with my own money, and Kevin said to me, babe, your rounding system is insane. Let me explain it to you. So all expenses round up and income rounds down, except it's not a regular rounding system because I'm really aggressive with it. If I spend $7 and I round that up to $10, if I make $1,400, that rounds down to $1,000. Even if I spent $56, that would round up to $100. If I make $270, that rounds back down to $200. This basically creates a constant mental buffer, and because I'm underestimating my income and overestimating my expenses, it always makes sure that I am net positive when I look at my bank account. You should try it because it really works for me. Habit number three, I am ruthless with subscriptions. Recurring charges are very dangerous because they never end. Think about it, if you spend $10 every month for the rest of your life, that is a lot of money. Whether it's streaming platforms, Amazon Prime, editing software, do not say to yourself, oh, this is only $10 a month, $20 a month, because all those small things are what ends up adding to a shocking credit card bill. At the start of every year, I always do an audit of everything that I'm subscribed to, and when in doubt, cancel it. The cherry on top is when you try to cancel, they usually also give you a discount. And if you sign up for a free trial or temporary subscription, make sure you put a notification in your Google Calendar so you remember to cancel it. I will say in the couple of times that I've forgotten and ended up contacting customer support, they're usually really good about giving you a refund. Number four, my savings are completely out of sight. So I have my checking account, and then I have my savings account, which is part of a completely different bank, so I don't even see them on the same page. My checking account is the one where all my daily expenses are coming from. This is where I'm paying all my credit card bills. And then my savings account is part of a high-yield savings account that I do not see on a regular basis. My money and my savings, I don't consider my money or spendable money at all. If I want to buy something and I don't have enough in my checking account, I can't afford to buy it. Fancy meals, shopping, discretionary shopping, everything needs to come from the checking, and I need to have enough to be able to do that. Which side note, if you don't have your money in a high-yield savings account, you have to have one because traditional bank accounts do not give you any interest. High yields are the ones that do. There's so many companies out there. Kevin uses SoFi. I use Marcus by Goldman Sachs. Find one that works well for you and sign up. Habit number five. If I can't afford to buy two of them, I can't afford to buy it. If I want to buy a purse, I should be able to buy two of them. If I want a new foundation, I should be able to buy two of it. Now, obviously, there are exceptions to this, like housing, car, true necessities. Maybe it's like a washer or dryer. But if you use this rule, even with crazy big things, you will find yourself living in abundance. Habit number six. I eat the same things on repeat. I am a creature of habit and it pays off. Every single morning, I wake up and I have the same thing. And not only does this reduce decision fatigue, but it also eliminates food waste and makes grocery shopping extremely efficient. For example, I have two eggs every morning, so I know I need exactly 14 to cover every week. Nothing more and nothing less. And obviously, I'm not eating the same thing year-round for every single meal. In the summer, I'll switch it up to a smoothie or smoothie bowl. But having a set meal is something that maybe you could consider. Habit seven. I always cross-check prices. The amount of times I've gone to Target to buy something and for funsies opened up Amazon to see what the price difference was, that it was cheaper to buy on Amazon with shipping than it is to buy it in person genuinely shocked me. I used to always think that buying stuff in person was cheaper because you're not having to pay for shipping costs. But recently, it hasn't really been the case. Now, you don't need to be checking the price of every single item, but I love having one item that I know the price of in every single store that acts like an anchor. You guys are gonna laugh at what my anchor is, but it is Ferrero Rocher chocolates. So the big 48 count at Costco, for years and years, it has been $13.99. So recently, the price went from $13.99 to $18.99, which is low-key kind of crazy. But whenever I'm in a store, I always check how much the chocolates are because generally, it gives me a rough estimate of how expensive the store is. If you have an item that you track the way that I do, please leave it in the comments. I would love to know what it is. Habit number eight. Treat money like a game. A lot of these money habits can feel very annoying if you have the wrong mindset. It can feel limiting. It feels like you're not making the choices that you would. I like to treat money like a video game where I'm trying to get the highest score. Save more, earn more, optimize better. Basically, every decision that I make advances my character and thus my life. For example, if you skipped your morning coffee, imagine your little character, and there would be a little pop-up that says, plus seven points, new achievement unlocked. How fun is that? Habit number nine. I play the credit card game wisely. I made a spreadsheet to organize all of my credit card benefits so that I can make sure I'm using the right one for the right cause. For example, food and grocery. I'm always going to use Amex Gold because that gives me 4x back. Travel. Amex Plat. That gives me 5x back. Last year, I also signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Because we had our wedding last year, I knew that if I even just paid one vendor, I would be able to get the 100k signup bonus, which I did. We have used points to book flights all around the world, like Hawaii, Taiwan, Japan, Korea. We booked our honeymoon hotel using points. This is all money that we otherwise would have had to spend out of pocket. If you already know for a fact that you have more expenses in a certain category, then it's in your best interest to optimize them. I'll go more in depth on credit cards in a different video, but I'll also leave all the ones that I use down below in the description in case you're interested in signing up. And finally, habit number 10. I replaced doom scrolling with habit building. Instead of doom scrolling on your phone, I really like to use that time to build habits and skills that save me money. One thing I started doing this year is painting my own nails. I was spending about $120 a month, which adds up to $1,200 a year just on nails. And for me, I genuinely enjoy the challenge of getting better at something. The first time I did my nails wasn't the best. Then it slowly got better and better and better. Not sponsored, but I personally use the green flash system from ManuCurist. And as somebody who's super impatient and waiting for everything to dry, it cures under an LED lamp and I'm done doing my nails within 20 minutes. And they also have a special dissolvent where everything soaks off in two minutes. As usual, I'll leave it down below in case you're a girly pop like me. But other examples of this include learning to do an oil change, learning to cook the meal that you always buy from takeout, hemming your own pants. That's something that I really want to learn. I'm 5'3", so by default, all of the pants that I buy are usually too long. This isn't about deprivation. It's really about character building, skill building, and honestly, these skills make you a more interesting person and allow you to have better conversations with other people. I know these 10 habits I shared with you aren't particularly sexy or exciting, but they work quietly in the background to make sure that you can really enjoy your life without stressing about money. I would love to know which one is your favorite and if there's anything you're going to steal. And please do me a favor and leave a comment down below for what videos you'd like to see for Finance February. I will literally be whipping out a notebook, reading all the comments, and taking notes. Don't forget you're a 10 out of 10. Don't let anyone ever make you feel otherwise. And I will see you guys in the next one. Bye!