9 Ways You’re Losing Money Without Realizing It
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We all know we're losing money when we do something dumb. Like leaving the house with the lights on or putting any amount of money in a claw machine. Listen, I don't need a generic brand Daffy Duck. What am I doing trying to impress my friends playing this game? I'm a grown man, and yet I do it every day.

You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity. But too often, I see people losing money without even realizing it. And that is a slippery slope you don't want to go down. So today, find out which nine ways you might be losing money and what you can do instead to keep more of it where it belongs.

Let's hop in. Up first, we've got subscription overload. Remember like 10 years ago when everyone got really fed up with cable for making us pay for stuff we didn't watch like the fishing channel and the sewing network? Well, the madness is happening again, just not with cable this time because millions of Americans cut the cord by ditching expensive cable services in favor of streaming services.

But with so many streaming platforms fighting for our attention, cord cutters have wound up right back where they started, paying for stuff they don't watch. Here's the deal. If you can't name every subscription you're paying for off the top of your head, you are losing money. And by the way, that includes gym memberships, which we all know you're using for the community sauna. You're not fooling anyone, Michael. And it's weird to go in there with just a towel. Put some shorts on like a grown man. It's like a sauna in here. LAUGHTER

Bottom line, the 20 or 30 bucks for throwing out the window every month on unused subscriptions adds up. And it's money you could be using to pay off debt, invest for retirement, or save for a vacation to Blackfoot, Idaho to visit the Potato Museum. It is worth it for the Pringles display alone, and I stand by that.

The one subscription you shouldn't ditch, this channel. It's completely free, as is liking the video. Recommend doing both. The second way you might be losing money is lifestyle creep. This is when your income goes up and your spending creeps right up to meet it, and you don't even notice the shift. It just happens. It's also sometimes called lifestyle inflation or lifeflation.

which I'm trying to make a thing. - It's not going to happen. - Now, lifestyle creep isn't the end of the world, but it's still really bad for your money because you could be using those raises and bonuses to help you reach your financial goals quicker. So moral of the story, anytime your income goes up, you've gotta be intentional with that money and keep living on less. Otherwise, fancy coffees, eating out, your Funko Pop collection will creep in and take over. The next way you're losing money is food waste and dining out. And listen, I love going out to eat as much as the next guy, but it do be expensive.

Look at it this way, restaurants need to mark up ingredients 300% on average to cover costs and make a profit. So you wind up spending 15 bucks for a meal at a restaurant that would have cost you five bucks to make at home. And I'm talking about per serving before you jump in the comment section going, "Where can you go grocery shopping for five?" You can't. You ever heard of a serving? Get a dictionary and get a clue while you're at it. - You're angry right now. Do you want to sing a song? - This is why you need to look at restaurants as luxury and entertainment, not a necessity.

So if you're going out to eat five times a week, all the triple dippers in the world won't drown out the sound of your bank account crying in the corner. Moving on to number four, bank fees. We're talking overdraft fees, ATM fees, late payment fees, annual credit card fees. These things are fee-rocious. And that's today's Dad Joke.

I am insufferable and I hate myself more than you hate myself. All these fees add up fast. And in 2023, banks made $5.83 billion just from overdraft fees. So while you're stuck getting nickeled and dimed to death, the banks are out here getting rich. And luckily, you don't have to lose money to stupid fees. You can avoid overdraft fees completely by getting on a budget and keeping a few hundred bucks of buffer in your checking account.

You can avoid ATM fees by using your bank's ATMs or by choosing a bank that refunds ATM fees. And you don't have to deal with late payment fees if you simply pay all of your bills on time. And you can avoid annual credit card fees by, I don't know, not having a credit card. Try that on for size. And speaking of credit cards, number five on our list of ways you might be losing money without even realizing it

using credit cards like free money. If you're carrying a credit card balance from month to month, like 48% of cardholders, then you could find yourself paying 25% APR. Hope the 1.5% cash back was worth it. And even if you pay off your balance every month, you're not safe because credit cards can still cause you to lose money. Research from MIT found that when people use credit cards, they're willing to spend more and they make more impulsive purchases. Number six on our list, letting your savings collect dust instead of interest. In most cases,

the interest rates for traditional savings accounts are as sad as watching Marley and Me on Christmas Day. So if that's where you're keeping your savings in these traditional accounts, then it's probably growing at about the same rate as me in middle school. And by that, I mean, not very much, much.

To put some numbers to it, the average interest rate for traditional savings accounts is currently at 0.41%, which means if you put $1,000 into a typical account, over the course of an entire year, you would earn $4.10, which is barely enough to take someone on a date to the Costco food court. But it's enough, and thank you, Costco.

your true American patriot. So when you keep your money in a traditional savings account, you're losing out on the interest you could be earning in a high yield savings account with an online bank. Because they don't have to pay nearly as many overhead costs as a brick and mortar bank, online banks can offer a much higher interest rate, even 10 times more. So that's where you should keep your emergency fund, short-term savings, and any other sinking fund type goals.

And if you're wondering which online bank you should go with, I recommend and personally use Laurel Road, a sponsor of today's episode. With Laurel Road, your account balance earns top-tier APY, which means you can make enough interest to upgrade from the Costco hot dog to the chicken bank. Maybe even a double-chunk chocolate cookie. That gets five big booms for me. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Rizzler, help me out with the last one. Boom!

My guy. Plus, with Laurel Road, there's no minimum balance required to open an account, your deposits are FDIC insured, and there's no hidden fees. Learn more by going to laurelroad.com slash george or click the link in the description.

And before we finish out our list, did you know your personal info may be out there on shady sites that collect and sell it without your permission? Don't be too scared because you can take care of it with Delete.me, another sponsor of today's video. Delete.me will scrub your personal info from all of these data broker sites and they keep doing it all year long while you kick back and watch Marley and Me for the third time because sometimes a good cry feels good.

So help protect yourself from the risks of online scams with Delete.me. Right now, you can get 20% off by going to joindeleteme.com slash george or click the link in the description below. All right, back to the ways you're losing money. Number seven, keeping debt around. There's one word that sums up why keeping debt around causes you to lose money without even realizing it.

Absquatulation, just kidding. I have no idea what that means, but drop a comment if you have any guesses. The real reason you lose money by keeping debt around is because of interest, a much simpler word. You see, the more debt you have and the longer you stay in debt, the more interest you'll pay. For starters, the crazy high interest rates on credit cards can cost you a ton if you're carrying a balance, but that's only part of the picture. Let's talk about car loans. You buy a car for $40,000 on payments. By the time you're done paying it off, you paid 50 grand with interest, and now the car's only worth 16 grand.

And mortgages, that can be even worse. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a 30-year loan. So debt is not a thing you want to keep around. Get rid of it ASAP. And number eight, overpaying on insurance. Listen, insurance is always pricey and it's been going up and up and up.

but you may be paying way more than you actually need to. So here's how to fix that. First, cancel any junk policies or coverage you don't actually need, like cancer insurance, burial insurance, double indemnity accidental death insurance. Just saying that makes me want to double indemnity accidentally die. I might know a guy who can help. And if you have whole life insurance, get rid of that crap. Get term life in place and then cancel your whole life policy.

Whole life is an expensive ripoff and term life is a fraction of the cost and does the one thing that life insurance should do, replace your income if you die. Bonus tip for your insurance, raise your deductibles to save on monthly premiums. You're taking on a little bit more risk and the insurance companies will reward you for that with a lower premium.

And finally, have an independent insurance broker shop around for better deals on your home, auto, and life insurance policies. Personally, I use Zander Insurance to do all of this. So if you want to check them out, I'll leave a link in the description below. And last up on our list, buying a new car.

Keyword new. New cars lose about 60% of their value over the first five years on average and continue to depreciate 8% to 12% each year after that. So like I mentioned, the typical new car, $40,000, well, it's going to be worth 16 grand five years later, and you paid 50 grand after interest. So when you start shopping for your next car, save yourself that financial hit and do what millionaires do.

So that does it for our list. And if you're currently falling for any of these traps, don't forget to subscribe to our channel.

Don't feel bad. We've all done dumb stuff with money, but we do need to talk about how to clean everything up. The best way to stop losing money is to keep track of where it's going, and that starts with a budget. Sitting down before the month begins to create a plan for every single dollar you make, that's the only way to get control of your money and make sure it doesn't control you. Plus, when you actually start to limit the chaos and get organized with your money, it's going to feel like you've got a race. And I keep track of my budget with an app called EveryDollar. It's super easy to use, and it's free to download. I'll drop a link below if you want to check it out.

And if you're new to the budgeting game, I made a video walking you through exactly how to make your first budget. So keep watching for that. I'll also leave a link in the description below. That's it for today. Thank you guys for watching. If you enjoyed the video, be sure to hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, and we'll see you next time.