[Music] well hey you guys so I recently saw an article that laid out monthly spending trends for the average American and the data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and it's really interesting to kind of get a peak behind everyone's budget and since you guys find it so helpful to realistically compare your financial progress I figure today let's unpack that data together and just see where we all stand and at the end I'll share three ways to create a positive impact in your monthly budget because I think that's also really important and make sure to subscribe and share this episode with the friends all right let's get started okay first I want to clarify that when it comes to your money you have to know where you are in order to know where you're going and also remember that comparison is the thief of joy and so as we're going through these numbers I want you to have context of where you are in your financial Journey because it's going to help you be able to be like okay you know is this kind of feel on average and then also these are not this isn't you right this is the average American so remember that but don't compare how someone else is doing to you from a deeper sense right because your financial journey is so personal and I always talk about you know put the blinders on run your own race and I think that's really important so again always remember this balance of you know seeing other people's numbers and thinking okay that's kind of where we line up I think that's good but don't get so buged down and feel like oh my gosh you know we're doing terrible or whatever whatever it may be right so there's a balance here but it's always good to feel like you're never alone because you're not we're all on this journey together all right let's look at the average American's spending habits and then I will kind of react and give you my thoughts as we go along so as a baseline for context remember the average annual salary Nationwide is about $59,000 so $60,000 on average all right let's break down these numbers the average spent on housing was 2, $120 and that feels about right especially uh if you have a mortgage in there rent has gone up so in my head yeah usually around that like 1,800 to 2000ish mark on average feels about right it's kind of what I hear from the ramsy show when we have callers so yeah that feels about right average spent on food $832 so this one's interesting because this food category doesn't break out groceries and restaurants so it's like all together and I'm going to say as a family 5 that it was a little low I was like okay okay the cruises would probably tighten up that line item a little bit on our end all right the average amount spent on Transportation $1,098 so Transportation usually includes gas um for some people that's also Insurance kind of upkeep for your car but per month $11,000 which I always think gas that feels like that feels High but then if you add in all those other you know repairs and insurance then it's probably right on and auto insurance is one of those expenses that was on the rise the last two years has gotten very expensive all right next the average amount spent on healthc care $513 and this is an interesting one um because when it comes to medical expenses this is one syncing fund that I always recommend for people because yes hopefully you have insurance but even with insurance you're going to pay some out of pocket and you may not have all your insurances like we don't have dental or vision for our family so we do pay out of pocket for those which can get really expensive so when you average it out uh that yeah that feels about right all right the average amount spent on personal insurance and pensions so I'm assuming this is like uh your health insurance maybe life insurance I don't know how much of how many insurances were included here but then also your pension if you have one um that's taken out of your paycheck so that's going to be $79 $6 per month I don't know why yeah it feels High I feel like some of these usually get taken out of your paycheck before it hits your account um so when you go back and look at your pay stub that and sometimes taxes you're like oh wow that's how much we spent it's usually more than what it feels like because you don't always see it uh the average spent on entertainment $33 feels right the average spent on reading oh my gosh hello fellow Book Lovers this was an actual line item thank you Bureau of Labor Statistics uh was $10 the average amount spent okay and I will just say from my vantage point if you're getting just a paperback book you can get one for like9 to 1314 so someone's reading once a month on average that feels right the average spent on miscellaneous $110 on average now miscellaneous is a category I do tell you to have in the budget as well because there's going to be catchalls of things that you don't plan for that do come up that you need to put somewhere in your budget to stay on track with that zero based idea with your income minus all of your expenses equals zero and if something comes up and you don't have a category for it you're like what do we do that's where the miscellaneous category comes in and that does feel a little low $100 I feel like stuff comes up a lot for us but I guess it's how detailed your budget is all right the average amount spent on apparel and services $170 yeah that feels that feels right too it's good okay so I have some more thoughts and three tips I want to give you but first I do want to tell you about one of our sponsors delete me so I saw a headline recently that really caught my attention that onethird of the US population's background info is now public so for 115 million of us data breaches mean that our info is out there for anyone to find so this is stuff like our names addresses phone numbers and so much more and this is why I love and use delete me because they find and remove your information from hundreds of data broker websites that will buy sell and trade your personal data so take control of your online privacy with delete me individual delete me plans start as low as $9 a month so sign up today at join delet me.com Rael for 20% off or click the link in the description okay so there's all the numbers that's where the average American Falls when it comes to all these categories but no matter where you fall in these averages what matters to me is that you have control over your money so that you can achieve your money goals so remember these three things number one if you're not liking what you're seeing use that motivation to make a change next year we are coming up in the new year and this is a great time to make a change so if you're seeing your numbers and then you're comparing them maybe and you're thinking oh gosh or maybe you pulled your numbers for the first time you know when I told you to do that at the beginning of this video and you think oh wow this is like this is a lot of money that I'm eating out or whatever it may be if you don't like where you're at you can change you can you can decide to make a change cuz if you don't you're going to keep getting the same results all right number two remember you're the exception let's just say that average people quote unquote out there are not being intentional with their money when I you know when we see surveys and read data a lot of people don't know always where their money goes they don't know how much debt they have they don't know how much is in retirement I mean a lot of people they just don't have a lot of intentionality around their money so if you are listening to this podcast or watching this video you're doing something you're you're reaching out at some level to want to be smart with money so that is a great thing you are learning and growing which is always where you want to be and number three when systems you know boundaries and guard rails are in place you and your money will Thrive when you have elements in your life whether it's tools or apps or a way of thinking or a process or a plan you're more likely to achieve your money goals you're more likely to get control of your money if you just say I just I want to be in control of my money I don't want to be stressed but you don't do anything with that then it's not going to happen so what I'm talking about is everything from the baby steps even this you know our seven step plan actually having some checkpoints to say hey wh what progress can I be making with my money um even having conversations if you're married with a spouse or if you're single with a friend uh making that part of your routine even a monthly budget is something that's really going to help you I mean this we put this into place when we first got married and it has been so helpful to know and have a plan every single month with where our paycheck is going and we use every dollar it is the best budgeting app and I have it on my phone Winston has it on his and we have the same account so every single month we plan for the next month and we're like okay what's happening here here and here you add categories it's connected to our bank account so the transactions come in and we can drag and drop them it's just it is a system to keep us on track with our money goals and it's so helpful so uh I'll put a link down in the description so you can check out every dollar and build your first budget for free but there's also other things that you can be doing even you know listening to podcasts or watching you know YouTube channels like this one like whatever it is put some things into place to to continue to learn and to grow and to implement in your life and if you're looking for more ways to cut down when it comes to your spending specifically I break it down in my episode 22 expenses to cut that you won't even miss so you can click right here or click the link below to check that out all right you guys remember to take control of your money and create a life you love
