Dan Martell - $100M CEO Explains： Money Habits Keeping You Broke

00:00:00.000 Every day, you choose if you'll be rich or broke in the future, and it all comes down to habits.

00:00:05.920 I'm going to share with you the nine money habits that are keeping you broke. Some of these I learned

00:00:09.980 going from broke at 24 to millionaire at 27, and some are what I've observed in people I know that

00:00:16.240 just can't seem to get ahead. Starting with habit number one, taking advice from broke people.

00:00:21.280 If they don't have what you want, don't do what they do. You should only get advice from people

00:00:26.900 who are where you wanna be.

00:00:28.280 You would never take workout tips

00:00:30.100 from an overweight fitness coach.

00:00:32.440 Why would you listen to a broke financial advisor?

00:00:34.860 Why would you listen to your parents

00:00:36.500 that have never done the thing you wanna do?

00:00:38.160 I'm not saying be rude about it.

00:00:39.800 I'm saying be careful who you ask for advice from.

00:00:42.500 So here are the three types of people

00:00:43.980 you should be getting advice from.

00:00:45.680 The first are mentors.

00:00:46.920 These are people who have succeeded

00:00:48.740 in the thing that you wanna go do.

00:00:50.440 There are folks that can act like a guide

00:00:52.400 to the big decisions.

00:00:53.700 See, I always say mentors are the people you turn to

00:00:55.620 instead of your parents.

00:00:56.540 Number two are coaches, specialists with deep, deep expertise in the area you want to be successful in.

00:01:02.780 If somebody was an Olympic athlete, you would say, well, who are you coaching with based on their ability to help other people just like them get to the Olympics?

00:01:10.040 You want to find the people that have the blueprint for success to help you get rich.

00:01:14.420 Three is peers, people on a similar journey.

00:01:17.240 These are ideally people that are like one to two years ahead of you because they'll bring you the certainty that you're making the right decision for what's working in the market today.

00:01:25.380 Everybody else, take their feedback with a grain of salt.

00:01:28.440 I'm not saying plug your ears,

00:01:29.980 but I'm just saying you can listen politely

00:01:31.580 and then ignore their advice.

00:01:33.120 But bad advice isn't the only thing holding you back.

00:01:35.600 Which brings us to habit number two,

00:01:37.480 ignoring your bank account.

00:01:39.080 In the early days, I was talking to one of my mentors

00:01:41.160 and he asked me a simple question.

00:01:42.820 He said, what are your numbers right now in the business?

00:01:44.900 And the crazy part was, is I didn't know.

00:01:46.820 And he got pissed.

00:01:47.600 If you wanna be a successful business person,

00:01:50.320 you need to focus on your numbers.

00:01:52.780 You need to know that what you look at

00:01:54.840 will grow. If you don't look at it, if you stick your head in the sand, you get a report once a

00:01:58.600 month, it's not going to work out. See, the more frequently you measure, the less likely you'll

00:02:02.740 get off track. So this is how I keep a good money pulse. Number one, review it daily. Every day,

00:02:07.800 I log into my bank account and I look at my cash. I look at how much money I have. My rule is called

00:02:12.040 the 24-hour rule. If I haven't looked in the last 24 hours, big no-no. Number two, you want to

00:02:16.740 automate your tracking. If you don't have a budget for your life, then every decision will feel like

00:02:21.400 a decision. The truth is, if you can't afford, you shouldn't do it. So there's apps out there.

00:02:24.840 They're free personal finance apps that will help you automate all this tracking so that you don't

00:02:29.300 overspend. Number three is look ahead. This is all about saving and planning for expenses and

00:02:34.800 making the right investments. And I know this might sound boring, but here's the deal. If you

00:02:38.040 don't become a saver, then it doesn't matter how much money you make if you're always spending more

00:02:42.380 than you're actually taking it. Number four, create sensors. This is a simple concept that

00:02:47.300 changes everything if you're actually monitoring. But think about like your credit card, you get

00:02:50.640 notified every time there's a transaction. So that cash in your bank account, let's say in your

00:02:54.360 savings drops too low, you'll get an email. You want to make sure you set up these sensors so

00:02:58.960 that nothing weird happens without your awareness. But just knowing what you have in the bank won't

00:03:03.340 be enough. Which brings us to habit number three, trying to get rich quick. Real wealth is built

00:03:08.400 over time, not overnight. There's this crazy moment in my life about a decade ago where I decided to

00:03:14.020 invest in real estate in Detroit. I'm Canadian. What am I doing investing in another country in

00:03:18.520 another city. Some guy at an event told me that the bank was selling homes for $10,000. What he

00:03:23.980 failed to tell me is the reason the bank was selling these for $10,000 is because these homes

00:03:27.860 were run down crack houses. Essentially, they were liabilities to the bank and they were just

00:03:31.700 trying to get it off their book. So I showed up with hundreds of thousands of dollars and bought

00:03:35.160 these homes with my brother thinking it was a good idea. After not hearing from a property manager

00:03:38.900 for a while and getting my brother to get on a plane to go look at these homes for him to call

00:03:42.360 me and say, dude, we got to get rid of these as soon as possible because we're now liable for

00:03:46.180 those things. I lost $100,000 on that deal because I was trying to get rich quick in an industry I

00:03:50.720 had no experience in, in another country, in a city I didn't even live in. I deserve to learn

00:03:55.100 that lesson. Here's what I've learned. FOMO, fear of missing out, is a terrible reason to make

00:03:59.800 financial decisions. Instead, here's how to build real wealth. Number one, build a skill that's

00:04:04.420 valuable to the market. Anything like sales, marketing, AI automation, real skills that

00:04:10.280 there's demand and need out there in the world that people pay you top dollar to do, build that

00:04:14.940 skill. That's how we start by creating wealth. The second is we have to solve real problems.

00:04:19.140 I remember when I started off, I just wanted to build apps for my friends. Problem was my friends

00:04:22.620 were teenagers that didn't have any money. Real problems are other businesses that have real money

00:04:26.980 that'll pay you with real dollars. You cannot pay with an IOU. Gas money ain't going to do it. So

00:04:32.720 solve real problems. Number three, learn to build a business. Everybody wants to overcomplicate

00:04:37.560 building business. I consider it this simple. Sell anything to a stranger. Go outside, pick up the

00:04:42.860 phone, go on the internet, sell what you do, your skill, solve a problem to a stranger, take money,

00:04:48.400 you have a business. Before you incorporate, before you open up a business account, it doesn't

00:04:51.880 matter. You can make up to $30,000 a year and just file your taxes like a normal person. So don't

00:04:56.280 overcomplicate that. Just get started. But building wealth won't happen if you're still doing it with

00:05:00.920 your time. Which brings us to habit number four that's keeping you broke, trading time for money.

00:05:05.440 When I was starting off as a 19, 20-year-old programmer, I got a job making $30 an hour,

00:05:10.300 which was huge money at the time.

00:05:12.320 My dad was so proud.

00:05:13.620 Everybody's like, oh my God,

00:05:14.680 you're working at the best company in the city.

00:05:16.400 What I knew is that if I only got paid when I showed up,

00:05:19.960 then my income was always gonna be tied to my time.

00:05:22.660 What I've learned is there's three levels of time trading

00:05:24.920 that if you master will help you actually get rich.

00:05:27.980 Level one trader, being an employee.

00:05:30.240 This is where you trade your time for money.

00:05:32.020 Like I just said, see what you get paid for

00:05:34.280 is based on what you did.

00:05:35.420 The problem is that it's linear.

00:05:37.200 Instead of getting paid for the outcome,

00:05:39.000 you're getting paid for the time.

00:05:40.620 Level two trader is an entrepreneur.

00:05:42.500 This is when you start trading money for time.

00:05:44.740 You have a business, you make money,

00:05:46.460 and then you take some of that money

00:05:47.800 and then you hire somebody through labor,

00:05:49.840 like an administrative assistant,

00:05:51.340 to be able to take things off of your plate

00:05:53.240 so you have more time to go create more money.

00:05:55.560 Level three trader is an empire builder.

00:05:57.760 And this is where you trade money for money.

00:05:59.840 And this is all about getting your money to work for you.

00:06:02.720 This is investing in other businesses,

00:06:04.820 investing in your own business.

00:06:06.020 But when you can start getting a return on your money

00:06:08.860 that doesn't involve you showing up and doing work,

00:06:11.660 that's when you start to build real wealth.

00:06:13.900 But making more money won't help

00:06:15.740 if you don't pay attention to how you spend it.

00:06:17.680 Which brings us to habit number five, paying for status.

00:06:20.540 Stop buying things you can't afford

00:06:22.380 to impress people you don't like.

00:06:23.760 And I know how silly I sound sitting here wearing this watch,

00:06:26.940 but you gotta understand,

00:06:28.000 I went like 20 years of building and investing,

00:06:30.760 building and investing before I ever spent money

00:06:32.640 on anything to make me look fancy.

00:06:34.700 Once you get to a place where your income is a surplus

00:06:37.220 and you're investing and you want to start rewarding yourself

00:06:39.660 through life, through experiences, through objects,

00:06:42.220 then it's really about what you do

00:06:44.120 to make yourself feel good.

00:06:45.240 See, I dare you to be simple.

00:06:47.680 I dare you not to be fancy.

00:06:49.300 I dare you to focus on outcomes and goals

00:06:51.560 before you ever focus on perception.

00:06:53.340 See, most people buy shit to impress other people

00:06:55.380 they don't even like.

00:06:56.540 The reason I know this is at 21,

00:06:58.900 I remember my first big paycheck,

00:07:00.840 I flew my little brother out to the West Coast

00:07:02.460 where I was living,

00:07:03.100 and we went on the most extravagant ski trip ever.

00:07:06.160 I spent like 20 grand in two weeks.

00:07:07.980 It was wild.

00:07:08.780 New snowboard gear, big parties, hotel rooms.

00:07:11.760 And after all was said and done, I asked myself,

00:07:14.400 what part of that that I really enjoyed

00:07:16.420 that was worth the money I spent?

00:07:18.020 The truth was, this was road tripping with my brother.

00:07:20.400 So the cost of gas would have been worth that experience,

00:07:23.940 not the 20 grand on all the other bulldozer.

00:07:25.960 It took me 20 years of building companies,

00:07:28.480 investing in other companies to get to a point

00:07:30.520 where I would allow myself to buy something

00:07:32.320 that other people would consider luxury.

00:07:34.040 So here's a few ideas that are gonna help you

00:07:35.780 to live a life where you're not paying for status.

00:07:37.920 Number one is have pride and honor the fact

00:07:40.820 that you live below your means.

00:07:42.280 I dare you to spend the least amount of money

00:07:44.540 to build your dreams.

00:07:45.700 The other one is learn how to have money and not spend it.

00:07:48.200 I remember one time a kid won some inheritance

00:07:49.920 and he said, what should I do with the money?

00:07:51.300 Where should I invest it?

00:07:52.100 I was like, here's what I recommend you do.

00:07:53.800 Spend it on nothing for 12 months, grab 10,000 in cash,

00:07:56.880 put it in your pocket and walk around and don't use it.

00:07:58.980 Carry the cash with you.

00:08:00.380 Because if you can learn to have money without spending it,

00:08:02.760 it sounds wild,

00:08:03.740 but it'll change your whole belief around money.

00:08:05.780 Some people cannot have money in their bank account

00:08:08.300 without spending it.

00:08:09.040 The other one, the only winning move is not to play the game.

00:08:11.540 You're allowed to decide, I don't wanna play this game.

00:08:13.880 I'm cool being me.

00:08:15.100 If you can learn to be you,

00:08:16.440 then your possessions don't possess you.

00:08:18.440 See, that's a problem with buying luxury stuff

00:08:20.200 that most people that don't do the work don't understand

00:08:22.360 is that these things are necessities.

00:08:24.420 They should never be that way.

00:08:25.720 But even if you're avoiding luxury,

00:08:27.500 you might still be making this spending mistake.

00:08:29.340 Which brings us to habit number six, impulse buying.

00:08:32.280 I am the worst at this, okay?

00:08:33.780 I'm gonna tell you why I can teach this to you

00:08:35.340 because I sit on TikTok every night

00:08:37.240 and then I grab these links

00:08:38.320 and I send it to my house manager.

00:08:39.540 I say, Betty, can you please buy this thing?

00:08:40.980 Something I probably don't need.

00:08:42.580 The good news is it's like, it's not that expensive.

00:08:45.820 I buy literally tchotchkes, $12, $15 gifts for friends.

00:08:49.220 Here's what I learned a long time ago

00:08:50.820 that changed everything that allowed me

00:08:52.480 to get to a place where I can do that

00:08:53.680 and not even worry about it.

00:08:54.620 The skill to develop is called delayed gratification.

00:08:57.480 Delayed gratification is more powerful

00:08:59.640 than compound interest.

00:09:00.840 If you can push off that purchase,

00:09:03.140 you will change your whole life.

00:09:04.220 Most young people get into the economy after school

00:09:07.420 or they start a business

00:09:08.300 and then they just saddle themselves

00:09:10.120 with just crazy stuff from new couches

00:09:13.140 to new BMW leases to new condo leases.

00:09:16.000 Like it just creates all this pressure.

00:09:18.500 The truth is, is that the world is against you.

00:09:20.800 All these people creating these financial products

00:09:22.540 to give you credit, to lend you stuff,

00:09:24.100 to lease you stuff, they're doing it to make money.

00:09:26.340 If you can just delay it, then you don't start off life

00:09:28.860 feeling like you're trying to walk

00:09:30.160 with a chain and ball around your financial ankle.

00:09:32.120 So here's the way I think about it.

00:09:33.200 A yes to your impulse is a no to your dreams.

00:09:36.200 If you know what you can invest that money in

00:09:38.520 towards your dreams, your education,

00:09:40.420 that skill, that business,

00:09:41.640 you have to defer the satisfaction of today

00:09:44.380 so that you know what you're building towards.

00:09:46.520 What I do instead is I tie my big purchases to a goal.

00:09:50.040 It's part of my achievement system.

00:09:51.400 So for example, when I did 75 hard the first time,

00:09:54.240 the goal of finishing that,

00:09:55.860 complying 100%, 75 days in a row,

00:09:58.040 was getting my first Orange McLaren.

00:09:59.960 Project Visible Labs, the reward for that

00:10:01.780 was bring my family on a big trip to Cabo.

00:10:04.040 If you can just delay for a little bit

00:10:05.700 and you tie the desire to a goal,

00:10:08.120 then you just teach yourself to keep striving for more.

00:10:10.660 And that's positive.

00:10:11.440 You're not saddling yourself in all this debt

00:10:13.180 or buying stuff you don't need today.

00:10:14.680 But controlling spending becomes pointless

00:10:16.700 if you're still making this mistake with your time.

00:10:18.860 Which brings us to habit number seven,

00:10:20.340 which keeps you broke, spending time to save money.

00:10:22.760 This one's gonna hurt your brain.

00:10:23.980 Broke people spend time to save money

00:10:25.880 and rich people spend money to save time.

00:10:28.060 You do not have any more time than anybody else that's rich

00:10:30.920 and you have to figure out ways to get more leverage.

00:10:33.320 I remember growing up watching my dad

00:10:34.840 mow the lawns of his rental properties.

00:10:37.220 And I was like, dad, you're spending your whole Sundays

00:10:39.700 mowing all these lawns.

00:10:40.780 Why don't you just pay somebody else to mow it for you?

00:10:42.860 I mean, you can afford to do it.

00:10:43.920 He said, well, I like to do it.

00:10:45.240 And I said, well, if you'd like to mow the lawn so much,

00:10:46.940 why don't you offer to do the neighbors?

00:10:48.040 He's like, well, I don't like to do it that much.

00:10:49.440 You're never gonna be able to grow

00:10:50.920 if you don't learn how to use money to buy back your time.

00:10:54.060 So the way I like to teach it is both personal and business.

00:10:56.740 Think on the personal side.

00:10:57.880 What are the things you do in your home?

00:10:59.060 from simple things like doing the laundry,

00:11:01.440 cleaning your home, maybe cooking, grocery shops,

00:11:04.460 running errands, to the business side,

00:11:06.160 answering your emails, scheduling meetings,

00:11:08.500 making purchases, doing research.

00:11:10.400 There's all these little micro activities

00:11:12.240 that don't feel like a big deal

00:11:13.780 that add up to five, 10, 15 hours a week,

00:11:16.660 both at home and in your business,

00:11:18.220 that you could spend money

00:11:19.540 so that you have the time to take care of yourself

00:11:21.480 or invest in a new skill to go be more valuable

00:11:24.060 to your employer, to your company.

00:11:25.860 But how do you know how much to spend?

00:11:27.400 For me, that's where I came up with this formula

00:11:29.200 called the buyback rate.

00:11:30.600 Essentially, you take your annual income,

00:11:32.380 if it's a business, you take whatever you pay yourself,

00:11:34.500 and you divide that by 2,000.

00:11:35.940 And the reason it's 2,000

00:11:36.800 is because most people work 2,000 hours in a year.

00:11:38.880 That'll essentially give you

00:11:39.740 how much money you make per hours.

00:11:41.000 So if you make 200,000 and you divide that by 2,000,

00:11:43.800 that's $100 an hour.

00:11:45.160 So your buyback rate is one quarter of that.

00:11:47.740 And the reason why is you wanna get a four times ROI

00:11:50.020 on buying back that hour.

00:11:51.860 So if I can spend $25 or less to buy back an hour of my time

00:11:55.860 because my buyback rate is $25,

00:11:57.840 then I am freeing up

00:11:59.260 and making a great investment in my life.

00:12:01.640 Then I can take that time

00:12:02.880 and go work on being more valuable,

00:12:04.820 go make more money,

00:12:05.720 or honestly just take care of myself

00:12:07.380 so the whole thing doesn't feel hurt.

00:12:09.540 But valuing your time

00:12:10.480 is gonna keep you from being broke,

00:12:12.080 which brings us to habit number eight,

00:12:13.900 which is playing defense.

00:12:15.280 This is my number one thought on creating real wealth

00:12:18.560 is you can't save yourself to wealth.

00:12:20.740 There's no amount of penny pinching

00:12:23.280 and latte saving and cooking at home

00:12:25.520 that's gonna make this work for you.

00:12:26.820 You have to increase your income.

00:12:28.520 When I see creators like a Mr. Beast

00:12:30.500 who plays full offense, no defense,

00:12:33.080 where he takes every dollar and he reinvests it

00:12:35.460 in making the next video to make it the best thing.

00:12:38.180 And we're talking millions of dollars every time.

00:12:40.580 Sometimes he's created videos he couldn't even finance.

00:12:42.580 He had to go sell a brand deal.

00:12:43.760 Or like I look at my life and I'm like taking every dollar

00:12:46.380 I had left and I invested in a business coach

00:12:48.360 because I was sick and tired at 23 of not being successful.

00:12:51.160 All I know is that when I had a scarcity mindset

00:12:53.560 around my money that it didn't grow.

00:12:56.220 So you have to learn, play to win, don't play not to lose.

00:12:59.480 So here are a few early investments

00:13:01.200 everyone should make to get on offense.

00:13:03.620 Number one is your skills.

00:13:05.080 You have to invest in yourself.

00:13:06.520 When I talk to my boys,

00:13:07.460 we talk about two unlimited budgets.

00:13:09.000 One's your health, the other one is your education.

00:13:10.660 So if they wanna buy books, yes.

00:13:12.160 If you wanna buy a course, 100%.

00:13:13.860 If you wanna get a tutor, a consultant,

00:13:16.060 somebody to come over and teach you something, let's go.

00:13:18.380 Because your skill is how you become

00:13:20.100 more valuable to the world.

00:13:21.300 Number two is your network.

00:13:22.400 If you want to grow, you have to change your environment.

00:13:25.740 If you want to get into better rooms, better environments,

00:13:28.660 you have to get access to those rooms.

00:13:30.400 And sometimes you have to spend money to get there.

00:13:32.820 It's just the way it works.

00:13:33.840 University has been doing this for years.

00:13:35.220 Business groups have been doing this for years.

00:13:36.580 Your network is your net worth.

00:13:38.420 Number three is your time.

00:13:39.720 You need to learn how to be a better time trader.

00:13:42.380 If you're not willing to invest money to buy back your time,

00:13:45.400 then you'll always be stuck just getting paid to do the thing.

00:13:48.000 But avoiding this next habit will change the way you get wealthy.

00:13:51.100 Which brings us to habit number nine, keeping you broke,

00:13:53.840 making money the goal.

00:13:55.340 Money is a tool.

00:13:56.400 Without purpose, it's just paper.

00:13:58.580 When I exited my first company and I suddenly made millions,

00:14:01.400 I honestly felt lost.

00:14:02.840 I worked my whole life up to this point,

00:14:04.660 a decade of hustle, of grind, of putting in the hours,

00:14:07.880 workaholic, because I thought that somehow, someway,

00:14:10.340 when I made all that money,

00:14:11.240 it was gonna mean that I became something.

00:14:13.360 Instead, I lost my purpose,

00:14:14.700 because once I sold my company,

00:14:15.940 nobody cared if I got out of bed.

00:14:17.360 What I learned in that moment,

00:14:18.700 real happiness, real fulfillment comes from purpose,

00:14:22.500 not the paper of money.

00:14:23.920 So here's how to make money with purpose.

00:14:26.020 Number one, it's not a number.

00:14:27.880 Instead of thinking about how much money you save,

00:14:29.820 figure out how many people could you help with that number?

00:14:32.560 What does it mean?

00:14:33.440 To me, it's not about having it,

00:14:34.960 it's what can you do with it?

00:14:36.380 Number two is find your purpose.

00:14:37.980 And this is the hardest one for people to figure out

00:14:39.960 because it sounds so elusive.

00:14:41.480 It's like, man, I don't know what my purpose is.

00:14:43.180 And I get it.

00:14:43.820 I believe your true purpose in life

00:14:45.500 sits right next to the hardest thing

00:14:47.240 that's ever happened to you.

00:14:48.080 the worst thing that's ever happened to you.

00:14:49.880 The thing that created the most pain that you overcame,

00:14:52.980 that you can help other people either avoid

00:14:55.040 or get through easier because of your example.

00:14:57.640 And number three, you gotta learn to give back.

00:15:00.000 You gotta tie your money to purpose to help other people.

00:15:03.160 If you don't do it that way, you'll always feel empty.

00:15:06.760 You'll always feel like you're chasing the next mountain,

00:15:08.960 the next big thing.

00:15:09.800 And the truth is, is today, in this moment,

00:15:12.060 if you do it right, you could feel absolutely fulfilled.

00:15:14.640 I think the best way to play offense and not defense

00:15:17.140 is to remind yourself of the potential you have.

00:15:19.440 Like the truth is, is if you're watching this,

00:15:21.100 you have access to phone, the internet,

00:15:22.860 you can breathe air,

00:15:23.880 but you have more than somebody

00:15:25.280 that was alive 300 years ago.

00:15:26.800 So you have more access to information,

00:15:28.500 more access to tools, more access to resources.

00:15:30.580 You have people around you,

00:15:31.520 the ability to communicate with them today.

00:15:33.580 Focus on the possibility, focus on the abundance,

00:15:36.620 figure out what you have, not what you don't have.

00:15:39.220 Because if you can start focusing on the offense,

00:15:41.460 not the defense,

00:15:42.380 then you're gonna create money that works for you.

00:15:44.700 and even if you try and then you fail and you're right back at zero the truth is is you've got

00:15:49.900 that lesson with you and you get to take that with you for the rest of your life oftentimes

00:15:53.820 my setbacks were there to teach me a lesson that i used in the future that helped me avoid making

00:15:59.900 a mistake that would have been a hundred times more expensive so now that you know what habits

00:16:03.500 to avoid if you want to learn the seven habits of millionaires that most people learn too late

00:16:07.740 Click here and I'll see you on the other side.

Dan Martell - May 02, 2025

$100M CEO Explains： Money Habits Keeping You Broke

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