Humphrey Yang Reveals 3 Mistakes That Keep People Out of the Top 10%: 'You're Going To Make Your Life Way Easier'

The most successful people operate on a different level, and finance personality Humphrey Yang just dropped the curtain. He recently went into detail about what it takes to join the top 10% and the common mistakes that prevent people from building wealth.

If you avoid the three common mistakes that drain people's wealth, you can get ahead of 90% of people while setting up a nice nest egg for yourself.

"You're going to make your life way easier," Yang stated. 

However, these encouraging words are only true for people who know and avoid the big mistakes that keep people out of the top 10%.

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Lifestyle Inflation

A high income gives you more options, but you can still end up broke if you're making a big paycheck. Yang explained that more than one-third of people who earn $200,000 per year are still living paycheck to paycheck.

"As we make more money, we think that buying more things will bring us more joy and happiness," Yang said.

However, he went on to explain that the dopamine boost is temporary. Buying more things doesn't equate to more happiness in the long run. Having experiences and spending time with the people who mean the most to you play bigger roles in your happiness. 

It's natural for people to want to level up their lives, especially as their earnings grow. However, it's better to invest the extra money and live below your means instead of succumbing to lifestyle inflation.

Expensive Car Payments

The second mistake Yang mentioned was getting tangled with expensive car payments. He brought up some stats from Edmunds that demonstrate how much money you can end up spending on a car.

The numbers change often, but the average person currently has a monthly loan payment of $741 for a new car.The average rate is 7.1% APR, with an average term of 69.5 months.

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Yang recommends keeping the monthly payment under 10% of your gross monthly income, and he includes car insurance in that calculation. You also have to contend with maintenance, gas, and depreciation costs, so it's important to avoid overextending yourself with auto loan payments.

Skipping luxury cars and looking for used vehicles that you can buy with cash can help you save a lot of money in the long run.

Sitting on the Sidelines

The final mistake Yang mentioned was sitting on the sidelines when it came to investments. He explained that some people hesitate to buy stocks at all-time highs because they believe that a correction is due. Waiting on the sidelines can result in missed opportunities and delay your financial growth.

While storing money in the bank keeps it safe, those funds actually lose purchasing power each year since they can't keep up with inflation. Putting your money into a high-yield savings account can minimize the impact of inflation eroding purchasing power, but it's not perfect. Interest is taxed as ordinary income, which reduces your real return from a savings account.

Allocating some of your paychecks into assets can be a beneficial move in the long run. Markets will get choppy and produce volatility, but the best investors think in years instead of weeks and months.

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