34-year-old millionaire explains: 13 habits keeping you poor — Silicon Valley Girl Podcast

Marina Mogilko: If you ever get a feeling of like, "Oh my God, bills are piling up, I have no savings, I don't know how to achieve financial freedom, but I want kids, I want to travel, I ideally want this lifestyle where I have something invested and it just generates passive income for me" — I had the same feelings five years ago. And I started doing some things that I'm going to share in this video. But basically, this year my investment income generated almost the same amount as my businesses. It is kind of sad for me as an entrepreneur, but it's kind of cool for me as an investor.

In this video, I will share 13 habits that are silently draining your bank account, and breaking them could change your life. I'm Marina. I'm an entrepreneur and investor who made my first million in revenue in 2014 with my company that helps students study abroad. I founded it to help other people learn English and explore the world. In 2015, I moved to the US and I've been studying how the financial system works every single day because I know that the US is where everyone can become a millionaire. I've learned so many things that average people just don't know, and in this video I'm going to share them. Hopefully, after learning about these things, you can fix mistakes that you're making and start your journey towards building your wealth and becoming a millionaire in 2025 or in the next couple years.

Habit number one that prevents you from becoming a millionaire is living without a budget. Think about a budget as your financial roadmap. I have a budget for almost everything that I do. Sometimes it's hard to plan for the whole year ahead, but at least I understand my expenses in the next quarter. I know that if we're going to be traveling, it's going to cost that much. We have to pay rent, insurance, kids, nannies, all the business expenses. I have a budget. I understand what my expenses are and I understand what my income is. I track every single dollar, and I urge you to start tracking every dollar that comes and goes. There are plenty of apps for that, but you're going to be surprised once you start doing that. You're going to be like, "Am I still paying for that subscription?" Some months I notice fraud charges and I file a dispute with my bank. Some months I'll be like, "Oh, I have cash sitting in the account. Why don't I just invest it?" We'll talk about that later. But when you do your first budgeting, use the 50-30-20 rule. If you can, all of our situations are different, but basically the 50-30-20 rule says 50% for essentials, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings or debt repayment. If you can invest or save more, do that. If you can cut some of your lifestyle expenses, do that.

Once you started doing that, please make it a habit. I dedicate at least a couple of hours every month to just sit down and look at all the spreadsheets. I have spreadsheets for all of my businesses, I have a personal spreadsheet, I have a net worth spreadsheet where I track how my startups are doing, how my investments are doing. While getting your budget in order is a crucial first step, protecting what you worked hard to build is equally important.

Another thing that I've learned when I came to the US is that Americans and American businesses are all about insurance. When I started making investments, when I started making progress with my business, the first thing that my accountant asked was, "Marina, did you get life insurance?" When I started a company, the first thing that my lawyer asked was, "Marina, did you get insurance?" It's easy to think that bad things only happen to other people or that your business isn't big enough to need coverage. But the reality is even small side hustles come with risks, and not having insurance can end up costing you big time.

Habit number two, which is a huge mistake, is relying on one income stream. Again, I understand that some people are not as worrisome as I am. I have 19 different income streams. I calculated them for one of my videos and I'm like, "Okay, Marina, you really worry about things happening to you." But you know, I come from a specific background. My family has gone through challenges. I've seen my parents save up money to buy a car, and then a default happened. Basically, Russia's currency lost almost all of its value, and all they could buy was like a ceiling lamp for our apartment with that money. My friend had a similar story. When her mom was saving up for a car and when that happened, she just went and bought cough syrup for her. That was all the money that was gone.

For me, it's really important to have this understanding that if something happens to this income, I'm going to do this. If something happens to this income, it's going to that. Most millionaires have multiple income streams. If you rely solely on your paycheck, you're one job loss or economic downturn away from financial trouble. There are so many options for what you can do. For example, I'm the founder of Lingua Trip, a company that helps people learn English. I also manage three channels. I have two Instagrams that we monetize through ads and sponsorships. I have courses, I have a LinkedIn, we have an email list, I have a marketing school, I have an Airbnb in Hawaii. And again, it didn't start big. I started with one channel. I was like, "Okay, how can I monetize it?" I started one business and I'm like, "How can we grow the product line? How can we make sure that if something happens..." When COVID happened, most of our Lingua Trip business went south. But because we started online courses, we were able to stay afloat and not fire the whole team.

Again, look for opportunities to monetize a skill, hobby, or expertise in different ways. Even a small second income like freelancing or creating digital products can provide this safety net, this feeling that you can do several things at a time. And again, most successful people do that. Diversifying is not just about building income. It's about building resilience and long-term stability.

Habit number three is falling for lifestyle inflation, and we see it a lot with creators. And yes, I do that sometimes too, but not that often. Basically, lifestyle inflation happens when your expenses rise with your income. You got a raise? Suddenly you're dining out more, upgrading your car, or moving to a more expensive apartment. Instead, ideally keep your living expenses steady and invest the extra money. This doesn't mean you can't enjoy success, and I'm all about enjoying success.

For example, when I started making money, I did all I could to fly business class, and that meant learning how to use credit card points so I don't have to pay the full price. Or when we had kids, I realized, "You know, I need to have a nanny." And it's not lifestyle inflation. It's just, I want to continue working. I'm going to go crazy if all of my time will just go to cleaning and cooking. It's understanding what you can do with your time and delegating, and also creating a lifestyle that supports your creativity, but not going too far.

For example, I don't spend a lot of money on clothes. I don't spend a lot of money on makeup. Honestly, I try to save money all the time. Like, if I'm going somewhere, we find a hotel that we can work with. Or if we're planning a holiday and there's a conference there, I would be a speaker at the conference so they could pay for my flights. I'm trying to utilize all the ways that I can enjoy a lifestyle that I want without spending more. But always make sure that your additional expenses are intentional and fit in your long-term financial plan.

Another very bad thing that you can do is avoid investing. Not investing is one of the biggest missed opportunities for building wealth. Many people think they need thousands of dollars to get started, but that's not true. You can start with $10 a week. Fractional stocks, right? You can buy a small fraction of Apple stock. Robinhood is a great app to do that. What you're learning with $10 is you're learning the habit of investing.

When you hear "$10 a week," it might sound like something really small. But the thing is compound interest. If you invest $10 every week for five years, that means you will invest $2,600, which might sound like a lot. And it's funny psychologically — we always have $10 a week, but thinking about investing $2,600, that sounds like a lot, right? So trick your mind. Invest smaller amounts more often.

But anyway, if you invest $10 a week for the next five years into the S&P 500, your total contributions will be $2,600, and they're going to grow to $3,328, assuming an annual return of 10%. That means you'll make $728 in investment returns with just $10 a week. Do not underestimate compound interest.

When I have calls with my financial adviser, I'm like, "Oh, but I feel so secure when I have cash in my account." He's like, "Marina, compound interest, compound interest. Invest as much as you can. Do dollar cost averaging. But keep investing."

Habit number four: keeping bad debt. Credit cards, payday loans, or any debt with high interest can be a killer. You need to focus on paying high interest debt first because it's like 25%. You can't have that type of loan. But it's a different scenario when you have something like a mortgage or an Airbnb.

Again, I was talking to my financial adviser. I'm like, "We have this huge mortgage on our Airbnb. Should I just pay it off as fast as I can and make additional payments?" He's like, "No, just make a quick spreadsheet and run the calculations. If you invest this money in the S&P 500 today or put it towards your loan, it's actually going to grow faster. Money is growing at 10%, and your loan is... my rate is 7%. It's no."

The advice that he gave me: think of yourself as a balance sheet, not a checkbook. You are the assets that you own, not the expenses that you have. This is not the basics, but this is the mindset that I'm working on right now.

Habit number five: ignoring financial education. We spend years in school learning algebra but barely touch on how to manage money. Financial literacy is key to building wealth. There are so many books out there — books like "The Richest Man in Babylon" or "I Will Teach You to Be Rich." There are several podcasts and YouTube channels. I'm going to have Humphrey Yang as a guest in one of my next episodes, and we're going to talk about building wealth in 2025. Please don't miss that one. You will make smarter decisions when you change your mindset.

Habit number six: neglecting an emergency fund. Life is super unpredictable. Medical bills, car repairs, a new baby, job loss — without an emergency fund, you're forced to rely on credit cards or loans, thinking further into debts. Aim to save at least three to six months' worth of essential expenses in a separate, easily accessible account. Easily accessible means you do not invest that in stocks, meaning you do not invest it in a CD that has a term. It's either cash or just a simple savings account which allows you to withdraw money at any time.

Habit number seven: FOMO spending. If you saw Bitcoin hitting $100,000 and your instant thought was, "I'm gonna buy Bitcoin," your instant thought should instead be, "Oh, maybe Bitcoin should be 5% of my portfolio, and I intend to put that much amount of money into Bitcoin this year, and I will just spread it into the next 12 months." Then you will be able to catch the waves. But investing everything just out of fear of missing out — it's powered by social media these days, and you just get caught up in buying things you don't really need.

Remember, appearances are often deceiving. Many of those luxury lifestyle creators actually get clothes for free, they get makeup for free, and they make money off you buying that stuff. So make decisions rationally. I never go shopping in shopping malls. Well, I do for my videos, but if I want to do shopping, I shop online just because online I don't have this thing of, like, "Oh my God, I saw this, I really want it." I just eliminated that from my life.

I like to do my grocery shopping online or at Costco because at Costco they mostly focus on essentials versus, like, "Oh my God, let me try all the new snacks that are on the market."

Habit number eight: overlooking small leaks. This can be fixed with monitoring your expenses regularly. Actually, when I moved to the place where we are right now, I started ordering coffee delivery because I didn't like our coffee machine back then. And I realized that a daily $5 coffee adds up to $1,825 a year, and we paid more because we got it delivered. We didn't do it for the whole year. We did it for like several weeks, and I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no. We're going to invest in a great coffee machine." Like, for $1,800, we got a really good coffee machine, and now we spend a fraction of that on coffee. We only drink coffee at home because we have such a great coffee machine, and this elevated our lifestyle but actually saved us money.

Cut unnecessary costs and free up money for saving and investing.

Habit number nine: not setting financial goals. Without clear goals, it's hard to stay motivated. Write down a specific, measurable goal. I've set a really wild goal for myself several years ago, but it's actually much more achievable than I thought. I wanted to have $2.5 million invested in the stock market because that means the passive income that it generates, $250,000, can just cover my lifestyle.

Come up with that number. What is the ideal number on your bank account that generates, say, 10% every year, and you can live off it? Like, what would it be? Or at least if it covers your mortgage, if it covers your rent. And break that number into smaller, actionable steps and track your progress monthly. Achieving even small milestones will keep you motivated and on track.

Habit number ten: delaying your retirement savings. My financial advisor was like, "Marina, please put something into a 401k this year. You just don't understand compound interest. Tax-free money. It's going to be a miracle." But I'm like, "I don't want to have my money trapped there." He's like, "Your money is not trapped. You can borrow against it. You can later invest it in real estate like you've always wanted. Your strategy can be tailored for your needs."

But for me, thinking about retirement has always been like, "Oh, my money is going to be trapped." It's not going to be trapped. The American financial system is so interesting. It allows you to do so many things. If you have your own business, talk about starting a 401k account. Or if you don't have a business, start an IRA and begin contributing consistently. Again, small amounts can make a huge difference.

Habit number eleven: not automating your finances. Automating your finances is always one of the simplest ways to stay consistent with your savings and investments. Platforms like Vanguard or Robinhood can invest for you. You can ask them to make recurrent investments so you don't forget to buy that stock every single... You know, every first Monday of the month, I go to the stock market and buy that stock. You don't have to do it with your hands. Automate it. And this is how you will do your dollar cost averaging and stay consistent with investing.

Setting up automatic investments ensures you never miss an investing opportunity, even during busy times. Automating my investments is the best thing I did because I'm a person who worries all the time, and if I did it myself, there would have definitely been months where I would be like, "Hmm, I'm not going to invest. The market is too high or everything is falling. I'm just going to sell everything."

And here comes habit number twelve: avoiding professional advice. Talk to people. Ask for advice. Ask for intros. The American system, or if you're in any other country in the world, there are so many things you don't know. I guarantee you, and I've been studying this for 10 years, and then my CPA is like, "Oh, there's another tax thing we can do." And my financial advisor is like, "Oh, there's another account, another savings account or tax referral account you can open." Or I talked to this mortgage broker and he's like, "No, no, no, no, Marina. No. Where you're making extra payments on your mortgage, you need to invest this money."

Consulting financial experts can help you make better decisions and uncover strategies that you do not know. My financial adviser also told me, for example, to get rid of the mindset that credit is inherently bad. Credit isn't bad on its own. It's bad when someone is just barely making ends meet and takes out a loan for something like an iPhone and pays 25% on it. But for the wealthy, credit is called leverage. It's a tool to generate assets that bring income by using somebody else's money.

Of course, this approach requires you to carefully monitor the market and understand the risks involved. But I constantly talk to a financial adviser. I constantly ask questions. I constantly meet other YouTubers who talk about finance and business. As a creator, I learned a lot about creator taxes by talking to CPAs and other creators.

Okay, breaking these habits won't make you a millionaire overnight, but it will set you in the right direction. And when we talk about becoming a millionaire or investing money, it's not just about the sum of money — it's about the time. Wealth is built through small, consistent actions over time.