Money Habits That Keep You Broke (AND STUCK AT YOUR JOB)

The Hidden Reason You’re Not Moving Up

Most people think they’re just “bad with money.” But the truth is, they’ve trained themselves to stay broke.

They don’t realize how their habits are holding them hostage. They make money. Then lose it. And never figure out why they can’t escape the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.

I know exactly what that feels like, because I was that guy.

Until I started applying real systems that actually work. Systems that forced me to save, invest, and grow, even when I was broke.

Let’s break down the most common money habits that are keeping you stuck…and how to escape them starting today.

You Don’t Track Where Your Money Goes

If you want to get ripped, you track your macros. If you want to get rich, you track your money.

But most of y’all don’t even know what you spent last month. And that’s a huge problem.

Tracking your money is like getting bloodwork for your finances. You can’t fix what you don’t measure.

Don’t do it manually like it’s the 90s. Use free tools like Mint or Empower (formerly Personal Capital).

These apps connect to all your accounts and automatically track your spending in real time. You’ll see where every dollar is going, categorized, broken down, and organized.

I check mine daily. I have custom subcategories for everything. I know exactly how much I spend on food, business, gifts, ads, rent, even random sh*t like supplements.

Once you start tracking, your brain rewires. You stop spending blindly. You stop wasting. You make better moves.

It’s like MyFitnessPal for your bank account. You wouldn’t bulk without knowing your calories. Don’t spend without knowing your cash flow.

Track everything. And your money will finally start working for you instead of disappearing on dumb sh*t.

You’re Budgeting Like A Broke Person

Most broke people try to budget. They set a “limit” on how much they can spend in each category.

But budgets don’t work long-term. Nobody sticks to them. Even rich people struggle with that.

That’s why I use a system I call NBA Accounting, Never Broke Again.

It’s based on the book Profit First but modified for ballers and job-callers. Here’s how it works:

You open 5 separate accounts:

• Income account – All income flows here. No auto-payments. No debit cards.

• War Chest – 50% of your income. Only for investments. This is where wealth gets built.

• Operations – 30% of income. This is what you live on. Rent, groceries, bills.

• Tax – 15%. For Uncle Sam. Set it aside before he comes knocking.

• Baller Account – 5%. For fun. Vacations. Watches. Date nights. Enjoying life.

Every time money comes in, it gets split between these accounts automatically.

It’s impossible to go broke with this system. Because you’ve already allocated for everything in advance.

It forces you to live off less… and invest more. When I started using NBA Accounting, I was broke. But I still lived off 30% and forced myself to hustle harder. Now I make way more, but the system never changed.

Still 50% to War Chest. Still building wealth like a savage.

That’s how you grow rich on autopilot. Most people are too lazy to set this up. But lazy doesn’t build freedom.

This system does.

You Don’t Spend Enough Time Making Money

You say you want to make more money. But how many hours are you actually spending making it?

Most people waste 20, 30, even 40 hours a week and don’t even realize it. So here’s the fix: run a time audit.

There are 168 hours in a week. Now subtract the basics, how much do you sleep? Work your job? Work out? See your family?

What’s left over? That’s your window. And if you’re broke, every hour in that window should be used to acquire capital.

When I was broke, I worked four jobs. Trained people at 4 AM. Did security during the day. Worked on film sets at night. Managed a restaurant on weekends. No breaks. No parties. No wasted hours.

After two years of that, I had a War Chest big enough to launch my business. While the economy was collapsing in 2008, I was stacking money and building leverage.

You’re not broke because of your job. You’re broke because of your calendar.

You’re Not Buying Assets

Broke people buy liabilities. Rich people buy assets.

If you’re spending your paycheck on clothes, cars, or club nights, you’re burning your future.

Wealthy people use earned income to buy income-producing assets. Real estate. Stocks. Online businesses. Royalties. Anything that pays you monthly.

Here’s what I do: I buy stocks. Then I sell call options against those stocks to generate extra income. Then I use that income to buy watches, vacations, whatever I want.

The goal is simple, let your assets fund your luxuries.

When I bought my AP Royal Oak, I didn’t use active income. I used income from stocks I already owned. The stock paid me… and that paid for the watch.

That’s the difference.

If you never buy assets, you’ll always have to keep working. If you buy the right assets early, you can live free for the rest of your life.

Every dollar in your War Chest should be aimed at building income that doesn’t need you.

The BMM Takeaway

Money isn’t the problem. Your habits are.

Most people follow routines that guarantee they’ll stay broke. They track nothing. Save nothing. Invest nothing. And then wonder why they’re stuck.

You don’t need more motivation. You need rules.

Automated, proven systems that grow your wealth even if you’re not perfect.

Once your structure is right, the results become automatic.