Getting Rich Is Hard Until You Build Systems Like This

[00:01] through five evidence-based methods that you can do to achieve any financial goal that you want in 2026. So, whether your goal is getting better with your budget, regularly, or hitting a new net worth milestone, with the right systems in

[00:15] place, I have no doubt you will be able to reach them. Each of these methods if you're able to do so, I think you will see massive results. Starting with point number one, it's the WOOP method. So, this acronym stands for wish,

[00:28] framework that was created by a Oettingen after more than 20 years of studying human motivation to bridge the gap between our intentions and actually accomplishing our goals. You see,

[00:41] intentions predict only 28% of our actual behavior, and that's probably why resolutions and their goals for any new year that they set, basically anytime they set them. For example, you might want to exercise 20 minutes a day, but

[00:54] feeling too tired after work, so you just don't exercise altogether and you give up on your goal slowly. In our financial example, you might want to overwhelmed with all your financial statements, and then you just put it off

[01:08] method works is that it uses a psychological technique called mental to visualize your desired outcome, but obstacles. Research has shown that people using the WOOP goals method spend

[01:23] compared to regular goal setting, and that people handle stress better, get more involved at work, solve problems better, and manage their time well. So, let's break down this method starting with step number one, defining your wish

[01:36] figure out what your wish is that feels challenging yet feels achievable, and then you want to be as specific as you can. So, an example of a wish is I want to budget better, but a clearer example of your wish might be I want to track

[01:49] and control my spending every day. The second one is way clearer. Once you have that clear wish or your W, it will give you some direction and you can visualize it better, which will be step number two, to visualize the best outcome,

[02:01] which is our O. In step number two, you want to picture yourself experiencing the desired outcome, so it's not about what happens, it's more about how it makes you feel. The clearer your outcome is, the more motivation you're going to

[02:13] previous example of wanting to budget will feel more in control of our finances, reduce our money anxiety, and we'll hopefully be well on our way to our financial freedom goal. You also

[02:26] want to think about what that feeling might mean to you. So, does being in control mean that you can go on vacation once or twice a year and not even worry about your finances, or is it something completely different? So, personally, I

[02:38] for example, being able to go to the airport and not having to worry about because you know it's going to be like eight bucks or something, and if I think I probably would have made it. Another example might be visualizing

[02:52] and not even having to worry about the experience you want to achieve, you need to visualize it in step number two, and then step number three is all about the next O. It's the obstacle. This is

[03:05] entire framework and where it differs from traditional goal setting. You want to think about any potential obstacle you might face in pursuit of this goal this step really matters because, quote, number one, it will give you energy to

[03:19] two, it helps you find creative solutions. And number three, it gets automatically. In our example, where you're trying to budget better, perhaps an obstacle is that you get overwhelmed by tracking every transaction. Or

[03:33] financial statements and you're like, "Oh my god, there's so much data here. identified the obstacle, it's time to move to step four, which is to create a plan using an if-then statement. This is

[03:45] the P. Your statement should follow this pattern, if obstacle occurs, then I will says that your mind will trigger the plan response without thinking when the obstacle shows up if you plan this well. So, our P might be, if I feel

[03:59] overwhelmed by tracking expenses, then I will immediately log just my three biggest purchases of the day and review my top three spending categories weekly instead of daily. That way, when you hit that obstacle, you have an immediate

[04:11] track. You can create a separate WOOP plan for every single wish that you want success with it, you want to stay consistent and be specific with your the comments below, but essentially, it's like if you have a plan for a

[04:26] problem or an obstacle you might run into, you're more likely to achieve the number two today on how to actually achieve your financial goals, it's to actually automate the habit, and this is going to be a behavior hack, and it

[04:38] consumerfinance.gov. In this study, researchers analyzed over savings goals to figure out which saving strategies actually work, and what they actually found was surprising. They compared a saving method similar to what

[04:53] the Acorns app does, if you're familiar with that, which is that every time money, a round-up feature was triggered and rounded up their purchase to the nearest dollar and then saved that difference. So, for example, if you

[05:05] spend $8.60 the app would round up the transaction to $10, charge you $10, and then save $1.40 for you on the back end. The other called guaranteed saving and occurred whenever the participant received a

[05:19] paycheck, usually on payday or every Friday. Among the participants, the most popular method was the round-up method, which triggered 58 times per month on average and saved them an average of $1.40 per transaction. Compared that to

[05:31] the guaranteed saving people, they saved only five times per month, but each time only five times per month, but each time they saved a larger amount, $32.57. hit their savings milestones, like saving $500, $1,000, or $2,000 in a

[05:45] year, the guaranteed rules won by a landslide. Each guaranteed rule was associated with $333 more in savings versus just $126 for contingent spending here's the takeaway, set up one guaranteed automated transfer, whether

[06:01] that's weekly, bi-weekly, or on payday, and make it substantial enough to actually move the needle. You will save more money this way and the habit becomes automatic. This is exactly why the 401k account works so well for

[06:13] The money gets deducted from your paycheck before it even hits your can't touch it, so it actually gets saved. And here's the thing about humans, we're incredibly good at adapting to whatever resources we have

[06:26] number three, writing it down. So, writing it down actually helps you really basic and too good to be true, let me point you to this study by Dr. the question, does writing your goals down actually make a difference in

[06:41] participants into five different groups and each had different instructions. The first group would have no goals and they wouldn't write anything down. The second group wrote down goals and action commitments. The fourth group wrote

[06:55] goals, action commitments, and gave them to a friend as well. And the fifth did all of the above and also provided a weekly update. The results showed two that wrote down their goals compared to those that didn't write them down at all

[07:08] were 42% more likely to achieve their goals. So, that's already really fascinating, the fact that you write something down makes it 42% more likely that, I think you should do that. But, let's actually look at how the rest of

[07:20] achieved the best results were actually group four and group five. In other words, if you had an accountability partner, that helped a lot. I think this only setting your intentions, but if you have a friend you can tell your goals to

[07:34] and you keep them updated, that'll help you a lot on your progress as well. In I think you can write them physically down in a journal or a post-it note and like to do is just write them down in a Google Sheet or Word document or my

[07:49] Notes app on my phone and simply keep track of my goals that way. I also like to break my goals down into digestible chunks. So, for example, if my goal in 2026 were to run the marathon, I might say to myself, "Okay, well, I'm going to

[08:01] per week, and I'm just going to try to hit those number of runs on a weekly goals, you can do the same thing. Let's say you want to save 75k for a down payment on a home within the next three years. You can break that up into

[08:15] $25,000 per year. You can even break that goal down further, so 25k per year is around $2,000 per month. So, how can you save or even make an extra $2,000 goal like that, it makes it a lot more palatable and easier to achieve. The

[08:29] simple, it's to write down your goals and you're more likely to achieve them. So, if your goal in 2026 was to invest every single month, you might say, every single month on the first in 2026." It honestly sounds so basic that

[08:44] it does, so that's one place to start. goals visible and then track your progress. So, when we're talking about interested in our finances, then we would want to see our financial

[08:57] information on a regular basis. To show you how powerful this is, there was a Harvard study where participants were given access to a mobile app that showed results were really dramatic. The

[09:10] spending by 15.7%. This is further supported by government surveys showing that 50% of people who check their bank balances on their phones before a large purchase are more likely to reconsider buying that said

[09:24] item. So, this is definitely some exposure therapy. Like, imagine if you above your head was your weight in pounds, and every time you ate number go up. That would definitely discourage me from eating whatever is in

[09:38] healthiest behavioral practice, I do think that the point of this study is interesting. It's that when we are more aware of our financial situation in real time, we make better decisions about our discretionary spending. The same applies

[09:50] see our goals on a weekly or monthly basis, we are more likely to achieve Sheet where I track all my financial goals, including how much I want to save, invest, or save towards a big purchase each month, and I check it all

[10:05] track. Just having that sort of visibility keeps me accountable, and another great thing is that seeing your progress on a month-to-month basis or year-to-year basis serves as a lot of motivation for me, too. So, the takeaway

[10:17] of point number four is pretty simple. Put your goals somewhere visible, and a lot more often and track your progress. It sounds really basic, but finally, we're at point number five today, which is about building wealth

[10:30] financial goal of freedom and retirement, and that is to invest your money. Investing allows our money to so that we can have our money work for us and hit our end game goals like

[10:43] Historically, the stock market has provided the highest average returns compared to other major asset classes, such as bonds, gold, and even real estate. US stocks have averaged 8 to 10% average annual returns, bonds average 4

[10:57] to 5%, gold is 5.12%, and real estate is a lot different. It's very variable, but it's around 4.2 to 4.5%. When you invest consistently over time, it can amount to a lot of money. So, if you invested in an S&P 500 Index Fund or ETF, which

[11:12] gives you exposure to the top 500 companies in one investment, not only is cost, and you can literally set it and forget it. If you invest just $500 per month and earn an average 8% return in 10 years, you would have about 93,000.

[11:26] In 20 years, you'd have about $296,000, and in 30 years, you'd have over $734,000. That's the power of compound growth over with $100 a month, that's totally fine. What matters most is that you're

[11:39] building the habit to achieve your future financial goals. Now, the main actually happening is to automate your investments just like you're automating your savings. Set up automatic transfers from your checking account to your

[11:51] paid before you have a chance to even spend it. open a brokerage account with companies like Robinhood, Fidelity, or Schwab, and set up automatic investments into something like VFIAX or VOO. Both are S&P 500 Index Funds or ETFs with

[12:06] super low fees. If you want more content on this exact topic, I did make an investing guide video a couple of weeks ago that is a step-by-step tutorial to research is really clear on this. Automation removes the need for

[12:18] willpower and keeps you consistent. And when it comes to investing, consistency beats everything else. need to time the market or pick individual stocks. You just need to keep showing up month after month and then let the compound returns

[12:30] five evidence-based methods to actually achieve your financial goals in 2026. Now, if you do all of these things perfectly, that's amazing, but I do want you to be careful of the trap where if you start saving too much money, it

[12:43] made this video linked right here on how much money you should be keeping in your framework on what is the right amount to keep in your accounts at all times. So, right, I hope that this video helped you guys out. I will see you in the future,

[12:57] guys out. I will see you in the future, and uh happy 2026. All right, peace.