The Number 1 Thing Holding People Back Financially
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What's the number one thing holding you back financially? Is it inflation? Interest rates? Your addiction to Blue Bell's cookie two-step ice cream? Well, I recently asked you guys this question and I got a butt ton of responses. Some of your answers were surprising, some were as predictable as a Hallmark movie, and some were pure comedy gold. And in today's video, I'll tell you what you told me and I'll give you my hot take on why you're all wrong.

Now, before we jump in, hit those like and subscribe buttons and share this with all of your Texas friends who have a bluebell tattoo on one of their love handles. Odd place for a tat, but a great reminder of where those handles of love came from. I mean, I like ice cream, okay? Sue me. So back to the question, what's the number one thing holding you back financially? After more than 18,000 responses on my YouTube survey, the data is in. The number one answer is...

Why'd you bleep? Really, we can't just tell them what the end? Okay, watch to the end. Play a little hard to get.

In the meantime, let's share some of the best comments below the poll, which truthfully were far more entertaining. All right, first comment, taxes. Okay, really? You think taxes are holding you back? Because everyone pays taxes. And if it's a really huge problem, move out of California or New York or wherever you're paying too much taxes. Everyone's doing it. It's the cool thing. Next comment, the double-double from In-N-Out. Okay. Okay.

This one has some merit because people spend on average 300 bucks a month eating out. So whether it's In-N-Out or somewhere else, this really could be slowing down your wealth building. Oh, and if you want to know my order from In-N-Out, I'll never tell. None of your business. Get a clue.

I didn't even ask. Next comment, paying off the mortgage. Okay, not sure what this one means. Are you paying the normal mortgage payment and you're considered house poor because it's way too much of your take home pay? If so, that is a real problem. But if you're talking about paying extra on the mortgage to pay it off early, I wouldn't say that's holding you back. That's actually a great move to build some real wealth. Next up, my husband.

Funny, but also real. Could be a deeper issue here. Could require some counseling. And to pair with that, another comment said, "My wife lol." Okay, you two, you need to talk. 'Cause you're both watching YouTube on separate phones in bed, typing in the comment of what's holding you back, and the answer

is right next to you. It's right under your nose. - It's been right there all along. - Next comment, housing in Barcelona. I don't know why you're concerned about house prices in Barcelona when you live in America. And if you do live in Barcelona, you should be saying it correctly. It's Barthelona, Barthelona. Next comment, my pet. Listen, you know how I feel about pets of all kinds, horses, dogs. Sell it if it doesn't know your name. There's other horses out there. It doesn't even know your name.

Okay, I can get it. Pets can be expensive, but you don't have to make it that expensive. The dogs don't need the organic. You get the blender out. You're making chicken. Just give them kibble. They'll live. They'll be all right. Also, if you want a cheap pet,

Frogs. Frogs are in right now. About five bucks, I can sell you a frog. Got a lot of frogs I got to get rid of. I don't think I even want to know. Another comment, cost of living in Hawaii. Again, why are you concerned if you don't live in Hawaii? Maybe consider Barcelona.

What else? Financially supporting my parents. This one's real. It just got real. If you can do this, that's great. But make sure you are taking care of your own house first. You got to put your own mask on before you help others. Because you don't want to end up in the same spot relying on your kids to take care of you. That is a bad generational cycle. What's holding you back financially? One person said nothing. Way to brag, bro. We're struggling out here, okay?

I don't pay. Another comment, inflation and one income household as a full-time homeschooling stay-at-home mom. A lot going on there. And it's okay if it feels slow because you're doing the right thing for your family. That's okay. It's just a season. So be encouraged and stuff.

Such a good tip. So helpful. Another comment said, paying for private education. Okay, this one I have empathy for, but not much because this is a choice. And I get it. Depending on your area, there might not be great public school options, but private education is not always better. And if this is about sheltering your kids from the pot smokers, good luck with that. Have you seen the Olympics? Snoop Dogg is hosting the Olympics.

Another comment said, Okay, this is a real one. You lost a job. You got to get back on the horse if you haven't sold it yet. And here's what's important. If you get laid off, you want to have savings in the bank. Three to six months expenses can really give you a nice cushion if something were to happen to your job, your health, or otherwise. Another comment said, Target.

Target is what's holding you back financially. Okay, here's what you got to do. Pretend the dollar section is the sun and don't look directly at it. Keep walking to the gross banana section because why do they always have bad bananas? I don't trust their produce. Next comment.

Cash flowing college for our kids. Again, this one, that's a season that you're in. You're not going to be doing this for 10 years. So if that's holding you back financially, I'm okay with that. It's great to allow your kids to go to college debt free and get them involved in the process. Scholarships, grants, working part time. Don't take all the brunt. Make them have some skin in the game. And connected to this one, someone said college tuition.

And that's why I recommend saving up for your kid's college with an education savings account or a 529 plan. You're going to make those contributions. It's going to grow tax-free and you can withdraw it tax-free for education purposes. So if you're able to do that, if you're in a position to do so, college savings plans are a great way to get some momentum behind that tuition. Next up, medical insurance not covering much of anything.

I am wholeheartedly with you on this one. The health care system is broken, largely a scam. And one option to at least help with this is a health savings account. If you have a high deductible health care plan, you have an HSA attached to it that can allow you to have triple tax advantages with this account. So you can put the money in tax free. It grows tax free. You can use it tax free for medical expenses. And every little bit helps. Another comment said incorrect Powerball numbers. Yeah.

Yeah, that will hold you back financially. Maybe just gambling in general. Not a great move. Another commenter said a starter home house payment being $4,400 a month. Okay, I don't understand this. I get what you're saying if you have nothing down, but I would never tell you to buy a house with nothing down. So maybe the starter home needs to be more like a starter townhome or a starter condo with a bigger down payment in an area a little further out to where you can actually afford it.

And tied to that, of course, someone said mortgage rates. This is a tough one. Mortgage rates are higher than they've been over the past few years. Yes, they're dipping down, but it still makes that monthly payment pretty large when you pop it into a calculator. So what can you do about this? Well, if you're ready to buy a home, you have a good down payment, just go ahead and buy the home and you can refinance later when and if the rates go down. And if not, you can also save up bigger debt.

down payment. You can adjust and compromise on some of your housing parameters so that you can get a foot in the door when it comes to home ownership. Okay, we've got more of your responses to cover, but first let me tell you about Delete Me, one of the sponsors of today's video. You know all those weird shady sites that sell your personal info for a profit? Well, those sites are a great way for spammers, scammers, and stalkers to get access to your data.

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And before we get back to what's holding you back financially, let's talk about something that can help you get ahead. I'm talking about a high yield savings account like the one offered by Laurel Road, another sponsor of today's video. If you're stacking up cash for a vacation or a down payment on a house, why not save it somewhere where you can earn some sweet interest? And right now your account balance earns 5% APY. Plus there's no minimum balance required to open an account. You

Your deposits are FDIC insured, and there's no hidden monthly fees. And if you wanna talk to a human, Laurel Road has a premium care team that will take care of you. So learn more by going to laurelroad.com/george or click the link in the description. Okay, let's get back to what's holding you back. Another commenter said, "My irrational love for motorcycles and motorcycle accessories." Hmm, Jay Leno watches my show, or maybe Hank Hill?

He was into that. By the way, it's okay to spend money on a motorcycle as long as it's in your budget. Just don't go into debt for it and make sure that all the things with wheels and motors that are a part of your life don't add up to more than half of your annual income. Another comment said, discipline, such a struggle to stick to a budget, but I did close my credit cards. So that's a start. Listen, that's amazing. And it's going to help you create more discipline because it's hard to spend money you don't have when you don't have the ability to spend other people's money.

So kudos to you. Next up, this comment. A lot of people will say the president, but really it's who they're looking at in the mirror. Oh, sick burn. I love this one. And it really points to a lot of the problems people are facing that are really in their control. But it's easier to be like, someone fix this. Government, save me. Not as much fun to go. No, I guess I got to deal with that. Yeah.

And along with that, here's some other self-aware people. One person said, me, crying laughing emoji. Thank you for your honesty. Another said lack of discipline. Another said self-control. Are you seeing a theme here? These are things that we can control, like ourself, our discipline, our behavior, our spending, our choices. So all of these are basically saying the same thing. And I think if we're all honest with ourselves, these are the most accurate answers so far. Yes, it's difficult out there. Don't get me wrong. I live in the real world. I go grocery shopping. I know what things cost.

And yes, there are certain privileges some people have that others don't. There are circumstances some people face that others don't. That is very real. But there's always something you can do about your financial situation to improve it. Okay, so let's look at my YouTube poll and see the actual results from the options that I gave you.

In fifth and last place was kids. And here's what you guys said. Freaking daycare, very high childcare costs, diapers, kidding, not kidding, paying 4,500 a month for daycare. Kids do be expensive. And a lot of people's responses were about kids and childcare.

And honestly, this is one of the toughest budget line items to get a handle on because you don't control a lot of the factors here. But don't lose hope. Remember, it's just a season. You won't be paying for childcare forever. And before you know it, you'll look up and they'll be teenagers and you'll miss the days when they were in diapers and would poop without breaking eye contact with you. That, it feels personal. All right, in fourth place, the thing you said was holding you back financially, lifestyle. Now here's what you said in the comments. If we're being honest,

Costco runs and take out sushi. This is low-key relatable and a great example of why budgeting is so important. Because if you're not giving every dollar a job, some of your dollars are going to end up paying for some spicy tuna rolls at Wasabi Lobby.

Great restaurant idea. Moving on. The number three answer was debt. Now, this one's interesting because we know debt can really hold you back financially. But for some reason, people keep taking on huge amounts of debt and the record levels keep increasing month after month. The number two answer, inflation slash the economy. Here's what you guys had to say about this in the comments.

Inflation, 100%. Make more money than ever. Budget, no debt, still feel behind. Look, yes, inflation sucks. Things are more expensive than they used to be, but it's not as bad as everyone is making it out to be, okay? 15% compounded over the last four years. So something that was 100 bucks is now 115 bucks. Let's not make inflation the big bad wolf that it doesn't need to be. You can overcome this one by increasing your income slightly, decreasing some expenses, and getting a little bit creative.

And if you're like the person who left this comment, zero debt, making more money than ever, and budgeting, it shouldn't even be that big of a pain point for you. So I would ask, what are the crazy expenses that are really eating up your income? Because I don't think it's inflation. And don't forget, you might not be able to control inflation, but you can control how you spend. You can switch to generic brands, change where you shop, eat out less, have friends over instead of going out, cut some subscriptions that you never use, and quit buying every item from the most recent BuzzFeed article called 20 Things You Can't Live Without.

Just a suggestion. All right, we did it. Here's the big payoff. The number one thing you said was holding you back financially, income. Now, let's be honest with ourselves here. Maybe it is your income. Maybe you're making an hourly wage and you need to make more in order to attack some financial goals and pay off debt and get to investing. Maybe you need to find a better paying job altogether or work some side hustles to get your income up temporarily. And one of you commented and said that the biggest thing holding you back financially was the fact that you had money.

Only one income. But here's the deal. You can build wealth on one income. Don't let comparison get you down. You got to run your own race and it's okay if you're not building wealth as fast as the guy next door or your buddy on Instagram. You've got to do this for yourself, for your family, for your own reasons. And what's interesting here is that when you look at the answers to the poll, there's only one thing in here that you can't control. Inflation and the economy. Everything else, every other answer, you can do something about. Your lifestyle.

Your debt, you can get out of that. You can increase your income. You can sort of control kids, guys. Google it. There's ways. So TLDR, control the controllables. And the best way to start is by creating an intentional spending plan. Because when you know exactly where your money's going, you'll be able to see the areas where you need to cut back. And when you give every dollar a job, it will help you stay on track. Didn't mean for those lines to rhyme. Maybe I should be a rapper full time. JK. You have a great gift for rhyming.

And if you're wondering, the app that I use to plan my income and track my expenses is called EveryDollar, and it's a free download and super easy to use. It does the math for you. So if you want to check it out, be sure to click the link in the description below and get started. And check out this video next if you want to see a beginner's guide to creating an EveryDollar budget from scratch. I'll also drop that link in the description below. As always, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this video with someone you know who's been a victim of incorrect Powerball numbers. They could use a better wealth-building strategy.

Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time.