The 4 Accounts That Will Make You Rich (Are You Using Them?)
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If you've seen financial advice on TikTok and Instagram, you would think that to get rich, you got to have 19 different accounts and use 14 different financial products to do it. But that's about as confusing as a Christopher Nolan movie. What's going on here, Chris? We're moving backwards through time, but also forward. What's going on in Tenet that also is spelled backward? Oh, my gosh. The move, the title in reverse is the same as it is forward.

The man's a genius.

It's where your income lands, your bills get paid, and your budget is managed. Now, before you start galloping away on your high horse, I know this is obvious, but I also know some of y'all are out here stashing your entire net worth in your checking account like a creepy dude in a back alley with a trench coat full of gold watches. This is risky and a little off-putting for two main reasons.

First, your checking account is for spending, not wealth building. So don't just let a large sum of cash sit there for too long. It should be in a place where it can build compound interest, aka free money. More on that later. Not only are you missing out on compound growth, but you're also increasing potential for some collateral damage if any fraudulent activity were to take place. And before you start whining in the comments going, This is why you should use a credit card, George. They have better fraud protection.

This brings me to risk number two. The second reason it's risky to keep all your money in checking is because you only need enough money to cover expenses and bills for that month, plus a small buffer. Any extra beyond that puts you at risk for overspending. Now, depending on your lifestyle, married or single, kids or no kids, heir to the throne of Genovia, whatever, I recommend only having an additional hundred to a few hundred bucks on top of whatever you're already planning to spend for the month. And how does one plan to spend, you ask? Well, it involves a simple and beautiful word, budget.

This is where you list out your income, then list out all of your expenses. You subtract it until you get to zero. That's a zero-based budget, meaning you've assigned every single dollar a job to do so that they don't float away. And my favorite app for doing this is called EveryDollar. I'll drop a link in the description if you want to check it out.

Now that you know where to keep your spending money, let's talk about where to keep your savings. The second account everyone needs if they're trying to build wealth is a high-yield savings account. Or if you're one of the cool kids, HYSA. A high-yield savings account is a place to store saved cash that, one, can grow safely with compound interest over time, again, free money, and number two, can be easily withdrawn when you need it. Let's run some numbers here. In a regular savings account, your money earns less than a half percent on average according to 2025 data from the FDIC.

But with a high yield savings account, your money could earn closer to 3% or 4% or more in interest every single month. So if you have a $10,000 emergency fund sitting there, you could be earning an extra $300 to $400 every year in your sleep. Now, some of you might be wondering, wouldn't your money grow more if you invested it? Sure. But investment accounts are for long-term wealth building, not for short-term goals in your emergency fund. So let's say you're saving for a down payment on a house in the next two years.

If you keep that money in a traditional savings account, it's not going to earn any interest. And if it's invested, you can't access it easily. Plus, you could lose money in that short time frame. But with a high yield savings account, you can easily take the money out when you're ready to buy, and there's no risk for losing money. To spare you hours of research and headaches, and because your boy doesn't gatekeep, let me tell you about my

favorite high-yield savings account that you should check out. It comes from online bank Laurel Road, and they check off all my boxes. Your account balance earns top-tier APY. There's no minimum balance required to open an account. Your deposits are FDIC-insured, meaning your money is safe and secure, and there's no monthly maintenance fees. With a high-yield savings account from Laurel Road, your money will always be making you more money, whether you're saving up for a new-to-you car, a down payment on a house, or even your emergency fund.

So learn more by going to laurelroad.com slash george or click the link in the description below. That's laurelroad.com slash george. The third account everyone needs to build wealth is one of the most underrated out there. It's different from account number two by one letter and basically everything else.

I'm talking about an HSA, a health savings account. This is the type of savings account that can help you pay for medical expenses tax-free, and it's one of the best things to happen to corporate America since the invention of the reply-all pop-up warning before you send a company-wide email. Don't do it, Tom. Please. Heed warning. I'm doing it anyway. It's like a separate emergency fund specifically for medical costs, and here's the best part. It's triple tax-advantaged. The first tax benefit? Your contributions are tax-free.

So any money that comes out of your paycheck and goes into the HSA doesn't get taxed like the rest of your income. And some employers even offer a match for what you contribute up to a certain amount. Say it with me, free money here with this match. And the cool part is beyond the threshold, likely around a thousand bucks, you can invest the money inside of that account to take advantage of compound growth. And speaking of growth, tax benefit number two in the HSA is...

any growth is tax-free. And finally, tax benefit number three, your withdrawals are tax-free for qualified medical expenses. So you can use your HSA funds to pay for your annual physical, prescription medicine, a trendy pair of tortoiseshell glasses to make you look mysterious and intelligent at work. The possibilities are endless. And on top of the triple tax advantage, when you turn 65, you can withdraw from your HSA for any expense, medical or not, with zero penalty. But

you will have to pay taxes if the money is not used for a qualified medical expense. So that makes it much like a traditional IRA, and it makes it a great bonus retirement account. And now for the moment you've been waiting for, the fourth account you need if you want to build wealth and achieve financial peace, a tax-advantaged retirement account.

This type of account is for long-term savings that you want to grow significantly over time and that you don't need regular access to until retirement. And don't just take my word for it. Eight out of 10 millionaires achieve their net worth thanks to their 401k, these tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Now, you may be going, well, George, I don't know if I have that. Well, here's all of the options you could have for these tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Option one is a 401k.

This is just a workplace retirement savings plan that gives employees the opportunity to invest a portion of every paycheck into retirement before taxes. It's convenient, it's consistent, and sometimes your employer even partners with you and matches a percentage of your contributions. You know the drill, people. Free money. And while we're at it, free Willy. I think it's time someone said it. That idea's been said already. Option two is a Roth IRA, Individual Retirement Arrangement.

Now, this is an account anyone with earned income can open regardless of your employer. It allows you to invest a certain amount of after-tax dollars so you can make tax-free withdrawals after the age of 59 and a half. Why the half? I don't know. Whoever invented this probably also celebrates their half birthday and their mom still calls them out by how many months old they are. He's 714 months. No, he's 59 and a half.

Beatrice, get a grip. He'll always be my little boy. Yeah, he lives with you. That's why. I'm a little baby. Sorry about that. Next option is a Roth 401k, which is a hybrid of the last two. So if this is offered by your employer, withdrawals are tax-free after retirement, much like the Roth IRA. But here's the good news. These have much higher contribution limits than the Roth IRA, which is extra clutch for you high earners out there. So how much should you be investing in these retirement accounts?

15% of your gross household income, but only after you're debt-free with an emergency fund in place and not a second sooner. And what you'll find is that 80% to 90% of your account balance in retirement will likely be the magic of compound growth if you get started early. That means only 10% to 20% was money you actually put in. Let me show you exactly what I mean. Let's say you're 26 years old and you begin investing $500 a month into one of these retirement accounts.

Well, by age 62, you're going to have over $2 million in there, assuming a 10% average rate of return. So get this out of that $2.1 million. How much was money you actually put in? You'd be shocked to see that it was only $216,000. That's 10%. That means 90% of all of that account was just compound growth doing the heavy lifting for you.

And if you want to check out this calculator for yourself, I will drop a link below in the description so you can play around with your own numbers and see just how wealthy you'll be. Now, if you don't have a 401k specifically, it's okay. Don't freak out. If you're federal or military, you likely have something called a thrift savings plan, a TSP. Very similar. If you're a teacher or a nonprofit employee, you likely have something called a 403b. Again, very similar. And the Roth options for any of those accounts are the best way to go.

So if you're young and time is on your side, you're going to love the compound growth opportunity that happens inside of these accounts. And if you're not starting until later in life, you might need to invest more and do some catch-up contributions to make up the difference. And to find out if you're on track for retirement and what your numbers should look like, keep watching my next video on how much to have in your 401k by age. It's coming up next, or I'll drop a link in the description below for you to check it out. Be sure to like, subscribe, and send this video to a friend. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.