The median U.S. income is $63,000 a year. Assuming a 3% raise every year, the median worker will earn about $4.7 million over a working career.
Most people won't retire with $5 million, or $1 million, or even $100,000. They'll retire with closer to $13,000 in the bank.
The rest isn't all going to taxes. It's being spent away, little by little, paycheck after paycheck.
That's why many people don't have an income problem. They have a keeping problem.
An extra $1,000 a month would make life easier, but only if you already know what to do with your money. Here are the five moves Jaspreet Singh, CEO of Briefs Finance, says to make every time you get paid.
AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can make the first move much easier, and they can do far more once you start investing. Jaspreet is hosting a free livestream on November 17 to show how he and his analysts use AI to research stocks and find investment opportunities.
Move 1: Audit Your Money Before You Budget
You can't improve your money if you can't see where it's going. Jaspreet learned that the hard way.
He does a monthly audit of his personal finances and used to do the same for his business. As the company grew and got busy, he stopped.
Then he hired an operations person, whose first move was auditing the company's finances. He found thousands of dollars a month in subscriptions nobody was using, and they were turned off immediately.
You can audit with an app, a piece of paper, or a simple Google Sheet or Excel file. Treat your finances like a business profit and loss statement, which shows revenue minus expenses.
- Revenue: List every source of income - your job, a business, side hustles, investments - and total it for the month.
- Expenses: Pull your credit card, debit card, and bank statements, then write down every penny and sort it into categories. ChatGPT or Claude can help organize it.
- What's left: Track where the leftover money went, whether to charity, savings, or investments. Every dollar needs a job.
You'll almost certainly find expenses you didn't know you had, and canceling them is like getting free money back. You'll also spot habits, like how much you're spending at Benihana every Friday.
Price Things in Hours, Not Dollars
Say you earn $30 an hour and spot a $3,000 Gucci scarf. That scarf really costs you 100 hours of your time.
Once you factor in income taxes and sales tax, it's closer to 115 or 120 hours. If it's worth that to you, fine - just make sure it is.
Believe You Can Become Wealthy
Jaspreet used to teach in Detroit public schools. He'd ask hardworking students about their dream car, and they'd say a Dodge Challenger or a Ford Focus.
When he asked why not a Rolls-Royce or a Bugatti, they said someone in their situation could never be that successful. Put that imaginary box over yourself, and you'll never break through it.
Money is a tool. Put that $3,000 scarf on your Amex or Visa without the cash to pay it off, and you're making Gucci rich and making the card company rich on the interest.
Wealthy people own enough assets - investments that pay them every month - that working is optional. The only way to buy those assets is to have money left over, and that starts with controlling expenses.
Move 2: Build Your Foundation With an Emergency Fund
Next, lay your financial foundation, in this order:
- Save $2,000 for emergencies as fast as you can.
- Pay off your credit card debt.
The average American doesn't have $1,000 saved for an emergency. When the car breaks down, the AC stops working, or the fridge dies, most people put it on a credit card.
Those surprise bills keep you taking one step forward and two steps back. You'll always be playing catch-up.
Jaspreet calls life without $2,000 saved, or with credit card debt, the financial danger zone. Any small expense or missed paycheck could break you.
Getting out takes sacrifice. That means no eating out, no vacations, no brand-name clothes, and no Netflix.
The $15 a month isn't the point. The average American watches more than two hours of TV a day, time that could go toward driving for Uber, working more hours, or learning a skill that pays more.
Invest $8,000 once at 22% a year, never add another dollar, and in 40 years it grows to more than $22 million.
You probably won't earn 22%, but credit card companies do. The median household with credit card debt owes about $8,000 at an average APR - the yearly interest rate - of around 22%.
That's how Amex, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover afford huge buildings and private jets. Get out of the danger zone, and you stop making them rich.
Four Ways Out of the Financial Danger Zone
- Cut expenses: Sell your car for a cheaper one, move to a smaller apartment, or cook at home instead of eating out.
- Cancel subscriptions: Your audit will probably turn up a few you don't use.
- Negotiate your bills: Phone, internet, and utility companies raise prices every year, often quietly.
- Earn more: Drive for Uber, work more hours, start a side hustle, or take a second job.
Negotiating works best when you're nice, since customer support reps get yelled at all day. Try something like this:
- "I've been a customer for three years and I like your service, but my bill keeps going up. Can you explain why?"
- "I've been looking at a competitor that charges less. I don't want to leave, but I can't keep affording this."
- "I appreciate you bringing it down $25 a month, but I really need $40. Could I talk to a manager?"
Managers often have the power to cut the price a little more. Repeat it with every bill, and you'll find extra money without giving anything up.
Move 3: Pay Yourself First With the 75/15/10 Rule
Once you're out of the danger zone, you finally have breathing room. Now you can build a system, because wealthy people give every dollar a job before it hits their bank account.
Jaspreet's simplest system is 75/15/10. For every dollar you earn:
| Share | Job | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| 75 cents, at most | Spending | Your main checking account |
| 15 cents, at least | Investing | A separate investing account |
| 10 cents, at least | Saving | A separate savings account |
It works whether you make $10,000, $100,000, or $1 million a year. You're always saving and investing before you spend.
The wrong way is to keep everything in one account and tell yourself you'll only spend $750 of every $1,000. It's too easy to forget, or to spend your investing money on a TV during an Amazon sale.
The right way is three bank accounts. Your paycheck lands in one, and automatic transfers send 15% to investing and 10% to savings.
That builds walls around your money. You can see your spending limit at a glance, and the system protects you from your own impulses.
Jaspreet learned this one personally. Walking through New York with his wife, he spotted a life-size Dragon Ball Z action figure of Vegeta for about $8,000.
He was ready to buy it until his wife asked where he planned to put it. She was his check that day, and the balance in your spending account can be yours.
Your Savings Are a Shield
Savings aren't there to make you wealthy. They're there to protect you if you lose your job, get sick, or face a disaster - and they lose value to inflation along the way.
Keep three to 12 months of expenses saved. A 25-year-old with no spouse or kids might need three months, while a 45-year-old supporting kids, a spouse, and aging parents might want 12.
Keep that money liquid, like in a high-yield savings account, not in stocks. Disasters in the economy and in your life tend to hit together.
If the stock market falls 35% the same month you lose your job, a $100,000 cushion in stocks shrinks to $65,000. Once you hit your savings goal, stop adding to it and switch to 75/25, sending that extra 10% to investing.
Your Investments Build Real Wealth
Your investing bucket can go toward the stock market, real estate, courses, or your career. The goal is to make more money.
Put most of it into what's proven. Outside of building your own business, stocks and real estate have built more wealth than anything else over the last 100 years, and both can be passive.
If you want something more speculative, like crypto or collectibles, keep it a small slice. There are many investing strategies to choose from.
Finding the right investments takes research, and AI can make it faster if you know how to use it. Jaspreet will show exactly how he and his analysts do it at his free November 17 livestream, and investors who attend live get his team's top 10 AI prompts.
Move 4: Earn More Money Without Lifestyle Creep
Earning more comes fourth on purpose. Many people in a tough spot try to fix it by making more money first.
Without a system, the extra money disappears.
Earn more, and banks see you as more creditworthy, so they offer to upgrade your Toyota Camry to a BMW 4 Series. Suddenly nicer apartments and Cancun resorts look affordable too.
That's lifestyle creep - spending that rises as your income rises. Jaspreet has seen it again and again, leaving people in a deeper financial hole than before.
With 75/15/10 in place, a raise works for you. Go from $50,000 to $75,000, or from $75,000 to $750,000, and you'll spend more, but you'll also invest and save more.
You can earn more with a certificate, a degree, a new job, a side hustle, or a business. A job isn't a bad thing, no matter what social media says.
Starting a business is hard, and building one that pays you well is another layer of hard. You give up sleep and weekends, often earn less for years, and get no paid leave when you have a kid or a parent gets sick.
A job offers less stress, a steady paycheck, paid time off, and often health insurance. You don't need a business to become wealthy - you just need to become an asset owner.
Move 5: Protect Your Assets, From Taxes to Whole Life vs. Term Life Insurance
Jaspreet is a licensed attorney, though not your attorney. As your wealth grows, people will try to take some of it, so you need the right shields.
- A good accountant: A good one costs more up front but can save you more in taxes, legally. Pay what you owe, but don't overpay.
- Attorneys: If you own a business, start with a general business attorney who can guide you on legal protection.
- Insurance: That includes health and car insurance, and maybe life insurance while you build wealth.
- An estate planning attorney: A will or trust keeps the government from deciding where your money goes after you pass away.
On whole life vs. term life insurance, Jaspreet prefers term. With a 20-year term policy, your family gets a big payout if you die within those 20 years, and nothing if you die in year 21.
Whole life works more like an investment account, and the insurance company keeps a piece of the profits to pay its brokers. Term life costs far less, so if you know how to invest, you can invest the difference and keep the returns.
The goal is for work to become optional, with assets that pay for vacations, travel, and the life you want. Jaspreet calls the path there a decade of sacrifice: spend less, earn more, and invest like crazy.
It isn't glamorous. But the fastest way to get rich is to skip the shortcuts and take the long, hard path, because it's the one that actually gets you there.
