Video summary

How to Change Your Finances in 90 Days

Main summary

Key takeaways

Finance

Finance-focused subtitle summary (90-day “financial freedom” plan)

Core idea / “north star”

  • You can’t plan savings, budgeting, or restructuring without knowing your destination.
  • Create a personalized “freedom number” (a target living-cost figure) using a calculator (the author says they provide it for free).
  • The plan emphasizes that monthly expenses are the only number that matters for reaching freedom faster.

Step 1 (Goal setting): calculate your “freedom number”

  1. Build a spending baseline by listing barebones essentials needed to live (not a lavish lifestyle).
  2. Add “lifestyle add-ons” optionally to create higher tiers.
  3. Output: three-tier freedom numbers:
    • Baseline
    • Middle
    • Higher lifestyle tiers

Example numbers given

  • Baseline: $4,600 to live / $55k per year (as stated)

Recommendation

  • Choose the lowest tier if the goal is freedom fast.

Potential speed accelerator (macro/life lever; not investing)

  • Move to a cheaper location (possibly internationally) to cut costs and potentially reach freedom in about half the time (time estimate described qualitatively).

Step 2 (Days 1–7): hard “spending reset” + daily awareness

  • Implement a 1-week cut to baseline essentials.
    • This is described as a “no-spend week,” not a no-spend year/month.
  • Track behavior:
    • For the next week, write down every expense to build conscious awareness of where money is leaving.

Behavioral goal

  • The “real work” is changing habits so decisions become automatic (analogies: brushing teeth / coffee).

Automation tool (accountability; not investing)

  • Uses Zapier to email/text prompts at 8:00 p.m.:
    • “Did you spend any money outside of your baseline?”
  • Responses flow into a Google Sheet for weekly review and mutual accountability (with a spouse).

Example metric

  • At one point, they report being at $133 total spent.

Step 3 (Days 7–30): cut recurring big-ticket expenses first

After tracking, focus on the largest recurring categories:

  1. Housing (~30%–40% of income)
  2. Car
  3. Food
  4. Subscriptions (remove waste; keep value)

Strategy framework

  • Start at the top of expenses and ask how to reduce $1,000/month by acting over:
    • 90 days
    • 6 months
    • 1 year

Potential savings target (presented as possibility, not guarantee)

  • “You might be able to lower your expenses by like 30% over the course of the next 90 days or next 6 months.”

Concrete example (anecdote)

  • House hacking via rental property + living in one unit.
    • Example mentioned: running 4 Airbnb units in one apartment (described as “sketchy,” not recommended).

Key caution

  • Implementation may take time, but the plan emphasizes drastic action as the differentiator.

Step 4: build a “freedom fund” (emergency buffer)

  • If you don’t have an emergency fund, it’s treated as urgent (“an emergency”).

Freedom fund setup

  • Save 3–6 months of living expenses.
    • Can start with 1 month, then progress to 3, then 6.

Cash vehicle

  • Uses SoFi high-yield savings account.
  • Reported yield: “like 3 something% right now.”

Rationale

  • Security helps you:
    • Leave/negotiates work sooner
    • Reduce reliance on employment
    • Provide leverage

Timeline positioning

  • Treated as a foundation before income actions like asking for raises.

Step 5: pay off high-interest consumer debt (risk reduction)

  • After the freedom fund is set up, tackle high-interest consumer debt:
    • Write down each debt’s interest percentage.

Method

  • Pay the highest interest first (snowball by lowest balance is mentioned as an alternative).
  • Explicit link: paying down debt lowers the overall monthly requirement for freedom.

Step 6: add “income leverage” (scalable side business)

Two levers

  • Lower expenses (fastest is “basics,” but “extreme” is also possible)
  • Increase scalable income (“extra lever”)—ideally not tied to time

Framework for the income lever

  • If your freedom number is $3,000–$10,000/month, build a scalable income stream over ~5 years that can cover it.
  • During the next 90 days, they recommend avoiding reliance on immediate side-hustle earnings (early side-hustles often pay low hourly rates).

Examples mentioned (mostly illustrative)

  • “Uber or DoorDash” described as roughly $20/hour, unlikely to reach $200/hour.

Personal performance anecdotes (income metrics)

  • YouTube/affiliate example:
    • Channel passed 1,200 subscribers
    • Made over $35,000 in affiliate income over 2 years
  • They claim multiple channels and aim for “not under $1,000/hour” (their leverage metric)

Business model positioning

  • Digital/high-leverage work (content + affiliates + search volume + email marketing).
  • Uses Zapier for business automation (triggering customer actions; community onboarding).

Negotiation / quitting rationale

  • With emergency/freedom funding, you’re more likely to negotiate a raise because you have the capability to say:
    • “Nah, I can go somewhere else / take time off”
  • Goal state:
    • Not “million dollars” or never working again, but enough to work a few hours/week and enjoy:
      • Time freedom
      • Location freedom

Step-by-step methodology (as presented)

  1. Calculate a “freedom number”
    • List barebones essentials
    • Optionally add lifestyle add-ons for 3 tiers
    • Choose the lowest tier for faster freedom
  2. Days 1–7: spending reset
    • Spend only baseline essentials for 1 week
    • Track every expense
    • Use accountability prompts (e.g., 8:00 p.m.: “outside-baseline spend?”) into a Google Sheet
  3. Days 7–30: cut biggest recurring expenses
    • Audit housing → car → food → subscriptions
    • Target large reductions (example claim: ~30% over 90 days to 6 months)
  4. Build a “freedom fund”
    • Start at 1 month, then move to 3–6 months of living expenses
    • Park in a high-yield savings account (example: SoFi ~3%+)
  5. Pay off high-interest consumer debt
    • List debts and interest rates
    • Pay down highest interest first
  6. Add an income leverage stream
    • Build a scalable income source over 3–5 years
    • Don’t expect immediate high earnings in the first 90 days
  7. Use leverage for work transitions
    • Negotiate raises / reduce hours with financial buffer support

Key numbers & instruments mentioned

  • Freedom number example: $4,600 (baseline) / $55k/year (as stated)
  • Core metric: monthly expenses
  • Week tracking total example: $133
  • Housing share: 30%–40% of income (estimate given)
  • Savings target claim: up to about 30% reduction over 90 days–6 months
  • Freedom fund size: 3–6 months (can start at 1 month, then 3)
  • High-yield savings yield example: ~3%+ (“3 something%”)
  • Debt payoff method: highest interest rate first
  • SoFi (cash vehicle)
  • Zapier (automation/accountability tool)
  • Google Sheets (tracking tool)
  • Other workflow/accountability integrations mentioned: Slack, Notion, Gmail
  • No public-market investments mentioned in the subtitles (no tickers/ETFs/stocks/bonds/crypto).

Disclosures / disclaimers

  • No explicit “not financial advice” language appears in the provided subtitles.

Presenters / sources

  • Presenter/author: The primary speaker (name not provided in subtitles).
  • Sponsored tool: Zapier (mentioned as sponsor).

Original video