Number one, accelerating knowledge.

We love glamorizing effortless success, but success is never effortless.

People don't accidentally fall into being successful.

It takes work to be good and a lot of work to be great.

And the people who tell you otherwise aren't telling you the full truth.

Success, whether it's your finances, your business, your relationship, it takes investing time and it takes investing money.

People think that I'm just good with money because I worked in banking for nearly a decade.

And so it just comes naturally to me, but that isn't the case.

It required a lot of work and I still spend so much time and effort and money to keep learning from other people and to keep getting better.

I truly believe very few people are naturally good at something.

They've dedicated a lot of time to getting good at that thing.

And by spending money to tap into the expertise of someone who knows more than you do is just accelerating your growth.

If you want to learn Spanish, get some books from the library, download an app.

If that doesn't work, pay for a tutor.

If you want to learn how to cook, spend some money on cooking classes.

Two years from now, you won't remember the money, but you'll love having the skill of being able to make amazing food anywhere, anytime.

Some people laugh at this idea of paying for self-improvement because you can learn things for free on the internet.

But when you realize that it's the same people who haven't done the things that they said they would, it starts to make sense.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to pay to improve yourself.

The second thing I've stopped scrimping out on is milestone memories.

This is one that I've learned the importance of with time.

I never really thought much of it in my 20s.

I celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago, and it was the first time I've celebrated in a very long time, nearly 10 years.

And I did it because I realized I don't really have many milestone memories.

I'm not really someone who takes the time out to celebrate things.

So I did something small this year, and I'm so glad I just made the effort and spent a bit of money to do it properly because now I will remember it.

It's another milestone memory in my life.

And there's this blog post I came across from More To That, and it explains this in a bit more detail in relation to weddings and why having a wedding makes sense.

People often think of weddings as a huge waste of money.

But Lawrence, who wrote the article, talks about how it's probably the only time in your life where you have everyone you care about in one place.

Your wedding is like a huge IPO, and the return on investment is a huge amount of time and love from everyone you care about all in one day.

It's a unique, irreplaceable moment, and it symbolizes so much more than just spending money on a day.

And I realize it's these key moments that I'm happy to spend the extra money on because it's these memories that I'll cherish for the rest of my life.

And it's not just for birthdays or weddings.

It could be a graduation, a family reunion, or any event that marks a significant moment in your life.

It's not about being irresponsible with money and needing to spend a huge amount.

It's about understanding the value of creating lasting memories and to fully embrace them, even if it means spending a bit extra.

Ultimately, the memories you create will be worth far more than the money you spent.

Number three, the golden triangle of health.

Sleep, nutrition, movement.

These three are probably the most impactful solutions for all areas of your life.

It helps your emotional health, your physical health, your personal self-esteem, confidence, your work and finances, relationships.

It improves every area of your life.

But for so many of us, spending money on these three things is underrated.

And we often neglect it because there is a lag between spending money on it and seeing any return.

So it's hard to incentivize yourself to spend.

But when you do realize that it can make a world of a difference to your well-being, to your focus and your productivity, you realize that it is not worth scrimping and saving on.

Even if you don't have the most amount of money right now, prioritizing these aspects of your health can lead to better performance, which leads to better output.

Tools that have a diminishing return.

It's funny how things change when you're starting out on doing something new.

I remember when I kicked off my YouTube channel, it was a bare-bones setup.

Me, my iPhone and a $20 mic.

That was it.

I was all in, learning the ropes, figuring out what's what and honestly just enjoying the process of creating something from scratch with a mic and my iPhone.

But there comes to a point where your growth with the tools that you first bought will start diminishing and the same tools that got you from point A to point B aren't always the ones that will carry you from point B to point C.

As my channel began to grow, I realized that my iPhone and my budget mic wasn't going to cut it anymore and I needed to step up my game.

I invested in better audio, in better camera.

I literally bought a new light last week.

At the start, it's easy to be a bit scruffy as you're learning the ropes.

But after a while, expectations change.

And as you grow, whether that's with a business, a hobby or even just personally, your needs change and that toolkit needs to evolve with you.

Sometimes that means spending a bit more money to get the right tools for the job.

Don't be afraid to invest in yourself.

It might seem like a little bit more than you want at first, but the returns you'll see in the quality of your work, in your growth and in your confidence will be worth every penny.

Next, we have safety and security.

When I find myself contemplating whether to spend on aspects related to safety and security,

I visualize myself in a situation where something goes wrong and I pause and let myself truly feel the potential consequences of that scenario.

And that exercise alone helps me assess whether that extra amount of money is worth spending.

So for instance, imagine you're getting married in a few months.

You might consider skipping wedding insurance to save money.

But what if unforeseen circumstances led to your wedding getting cancelled or postponed?

Without insurance, you'll be left tens of thousands down.

And in such a situation, an extra 200 invested today would seem like a wise decision.

Similarly, if you have sentimental jewelry that you value but you never wear, spending a bit of money to get it tucked away in a safe deposit box that costs a few hundreds a year might seem like an unnecessary expense.

But if you think about the potential loss of those items or if they get stolen, that cost of that deposit box suddenly feels very justifiable.

My advice, based on personal experience and reflection, is always allocate a bit more for safety and security.

If nothing else, it offers peace of mind, which in itself is priceless.

Hiring professionals. Hiring professionals in their respective fields, whether it's a trainer, a lawyer, a dermatologist, is something I found to be incredibly valuable and not worth scrimping on.

When I started this online business, I thought I could handle a lot of the legal paperwork myself, having no expertise in law.

And I soon realized that without proper knowledge and experience,

I was missing out on opportunities to optimize the business.

When I got a proper lawyer involved, based on his experience and seeing so many of the same transactions, he would point out small things that I should have been charging on, that I was just giving away for free.

And this more than made up on the cost that I was paying for.

The same thing happened with a one-hour call with a tax advisor.

I paid the equivalent of about $300 for an hour's worth of device that saved me almost $40,000 in taxes.

Professionals have the knowledge and experience that you can't replicate with a few online tutorials or books.

And ultimately, it saves you so much time and money in the long run.

And finally, retirement savings.

When it comes to retirement savings, it's one area where scrimping and saving can work against you.

Planning for retirement is about investing in your future self.

You're essentially setting aside resources now to ensure the comfort later on in life.

And it might seem like a long way off, especially when you're young and retirement feels like a distant reality.

But the earlier you start, the more time your money has to grow.

You might be thinking, I've got plenty of time to start saving for retirement.

And if so, you might be tempted to instead spend that extra money on immediate pleasures instead.

But every pound or dollar saved and invested is worth so much more in the future, thanks to the power of compounding.

And I've made a whole video right here if you don't understand the power of what compounding can do for you.

See this as a way of paying yourself first.

That's the biggest mindset shift you can make when it comes to saving up for your retirement.

So those are seven things that I have stopped scrimping out on.

If there are other things that you have scrimped and saved on and you regret it, let me know in the comments.

I'd love to hear from you.

And if you like this video, you would also like this video right here on nine things I stopped buying to make more money.

See you there.