3 Mistakes I see Constantly:

Do you know where your money goes each month?

Because if you don’t, you’re going to have a pretty hard time building meaningful wealth without knowing where your money goes first.

Sounds obvious, I know! But most people track their spending completely wrong, which is why their budgets never stick.

Here are the 3 mistakes I see constantly:

Mistake 1: Tracking every tiny purchase.

Coffee. Lunch. That $3 parking fee. They’re drowning in receipts and spreadsheet rows.

By week two, they quit because it’s exhausting.

What works is tracking your money in three buckets: Fundamentals (65%), Future (20%), and Fun (15%).

That’s it. You don’t need to know exactly what you spent on coffee. You need to know if your essentials, savings, and enjoyment are in balance.

Mistake 2: Budgeting for perfection.

They create these rigid plans where every dollar has a job. Then life happens. Emergency vet bill. Friend’s birthday dinner.

The budget falls apart, and they feel like failures.

The 65/20/15 framework gives you room to breathe. As long as 65% covers your fundamentals (rent, bills, food), 20% goes to your future (savings, investing, debt), and 15% is for fun, you’re winning.

Perfect precision isn’t the goal. Sustainable progress is.

Mistake 3: Forgetting to pay themselves first.

They budget what’s left after spending. There’s never anything left.

Flip it. Move 10% to savings and investments the moment you get paid.

 Then live on the rest.

Your future gets funded before anything else can eat it.

Here’s what to do this week:

Pull up last month’s bank statements. Sort your spending into three categories:

1. Fundamentals (rent, bills, groceries, transport)
2. Future (anything that went to savings or investments)
3. Fun (everything else)

Calculate the percentages.

If you’re nowhere near 65/20/15, don’t panic. Now you know what needs to shift. That awareness is the first step to actually building wealth.

Most people never do this exercise. They guess. They assume. They wonder why money disappears.

You’re about to have clarity they don’t.