And since most americans live in debts, that means most americans aren't just living paycheck to paycheck, but their paychecks aren't enough to cover their basic necessities.

由於大多數美國人生活在債務中，這意味著大多數美國人不僅僅是靠工資生活，而且他們的工資還不足以支付他們的基本生活需要。

That's a scary number because once you miss a single credit card payments, for example, the banks aren't your friends, you will be charged with interest, which means that you're more likely to miss another payment since the next payment will be bigger than the first.

這是一個可怕的數字，因為一旦你錯過了一次信用卡付款，例如，銀行不是你的朋友，你將被收取利息，這意味著你更有可能錯過另一次付款，因為下一次付款將比第一次更大。

This cycle keeps moving until it drags you to the point where you have no way out of that desperate financial position.

這個循環一直在移動，直到它把你拖到沒有辦法擺脫這種絕望的財務狀況的地步。

Average household pays $1,000 in credit card interest and fees annually, which might not sound a lot.

普通家庭每年支付1000美元的信用卡利息和費用，這聽起來可能不是很多。

But it is since that illustrates that most people aren't just using credit cards to build their credit scores, but also because they really need them.

但正是因為這樣，說明大多數人不只是用信用卡來建立他們的信用分數，而且還因為他們真的需要。

Since they are really struggling financially.

因為他們在經濟上真的很掙扎。

According to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau between 2018 and 2020 americans paid 100 and $20 billion in credit card interest and fees each year.

根據消費者金融保護局在2018年和2020年之間的數據，美國人每年支付1000和200億美元的信用卡利息和費用。

Just think about that number for a moment.

請想一想這個數字。

That's 100 and $20 billion of cash just because they struggle to make their credit card payments on time.

那是1000和200億美元的現金，只是因為他們努力按時支付信用卡付款。

And that's just one type of interest americans on average pay.

而這只是美國人平均支付的一種利息。

Don't forget that we also have car loans, mortgages, student debts and the list goes on not being able to pay for one payment leads to difficulties to make the second payment, which eventually can lead you to barely staying above the waters.

不要忘了我們還有汽車貸款、抵押貸款、學生債務，而且不勝枚舉，無法支付一筆款項導致難以支付第二筆款項，這最終會導致你勉強維持在水面之上。

The Fed's survey of 2018 where they asked over 12,000 households about their financial well being.

美聯儲2018年的調查，他們詢問了12000多個家庭的財務狀況。

Show that almost 40% of Americans would struggle to come up with a $400 emergency bill.

顯示，幾乎40%的美國人將難以拿出400美元的緊急賬單。

$400 would barely last year week leave alone stand as an emergency fund.

400美元勉強可以維持一週，更不用說作為應急基金了。

If you don't have $400 aside, you are definitely below the poverty level.

如果你沒有預留400美元，你肯定是在貧困線以下。

Even if you look at the bigger picture, the middle class in the us is shrinking.

即使你從大的方面來看，美國的中產階級也在萎縮。

America's middle class now holds a smaller share of the US wealth than the top 1%.

美國的中產階級現在擁有的美國財富份額比最高1%的人還要少。

The entire middle class controls a smaller share of the economy than just 1% of the population.

整個中產階級控制的經濟份額比僅僅1%的人口要小。

That's insanely disappointing.

這真是太令人失望了。

There are many reasons behind this wealth inequality and one of them is definitely the 2020 global pandemic advice.

這種財富不平等的背後有很多原因，其中之一肯定是2020年全球大流行的建議。

It seems like the government distributed stimulus checks to help everyone.

似乎政府分發了刺激性支票來幫助每個人。

But at the end of the day, trillions of dollars went into the pockets of companies that were already making unbelievable amounts of money.

但在一天結束時，數萬億美元進入了那些已經賺得令人難以置信的錢的公司的口袋。

The world's top 10 richest men more than doubled their fortunes.

世界十大富豪的財富增加了一倍多。

From $700 billion $1.5 trillion $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion 99% of humanity fall on over 100 and 60 million more people forced into poverty.

從7000億美元1.5萬億美元每秒15000美元或13億美元99%的人類落在100多個和6000多萬人被迫陷入貧困。

Every crisis presents an opportunity but to take advantage of this opportunity, you need to be ready for it.

每一次危機都是一個機會，但要利用這個機會，你需要做好準備。

If you're busy surviving, you will most likely miss it.

如果你忙於生存，你很可能會錯過它。

Just to give you a sense of how rich these people are.

只是為了讓你感覺到這些人有多富有。

If these 10 men were to lose 99.99% of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99% of all people on this planet.

如果這10個人明天失去99.99%的財富，他們仍然會比這個星球上99%的人更富有。

They have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.

他們的財富是最貧窮的31億人的六倍。

And this is not the first time every crisis leads to more wealth inequality.

而這並不是第一次，每次危機都會導致更多的財富不平等。

It happens all the time.

這種情況一直在發生。

Remember back in 2008 when millions lost their jobs and ended up with houses that were worth a fraction of what they paid for at the same time, we had the government bailing out major financial institutions that deliberately took unnecessary risks just to fill their pockets.

記得在2008年，當數以百萬計的人失去了工作，最後房子的價值只有他們支付的一小部分時，我們有政府拯救了主要的金融機構，這些機構故意採取不必要的風險，只是為了填補他們的口袋。

The same happened back when the dot com bubble burst or how about the first Bitcoin bubble?

同樣的情況也發生在互聯網保麗龍破裂時，或者是第一次比特幣保麗龍的情況如何？

At the end of 2017, we can complain about this wealth inequality forever, but that's not going to change anything.

在2017年底，我們可以永遠抱怨這種財富不平等，但這不會改變什麼。

Of course people should speak about these problems and elect people who would tackle these problems However, individually, each and every one of us can do something to do financially better.

當然，人們應該談論這些問題，並選出能夠解決這些問題的人。然而，就個人而言，我們每一個人都可以做一些事情，在財務上做得更好。

I get it.

我明白了。

When you're down in the bottom, it seems like there is no way you can get out.

當你跌入谷底時，似乎你沒有辦法出去。

Trust me, I've been there.

相信我，我去過那裡。

I have been in a situation where I did not even have $400 in case of an emergency, but thank God I'm no longer there and most people have the ability to improve their financial condition if they just push themselves a bit harder.

我曾經遇到過連400美元都沒有的情況，以備不時之需，但感謝上帝，我已經不在了，大多數人都有能力改善自己的經濟狀況，只要他們再努力一點。

I'm a huge believer in credit cards.

我是信用卡的忠實信徒。

But honestly the way I see people use credit cards is insane.

但說實話，我看到人們使用信用卡的方式是瘋狂的。

People have very little control over themselves.

人們對自己的控制力非常有限。

Once they get hooked, they will max their credit cards instantly and then end up paying thousands of dollars in interest.

一旦他們上了癮，他們會立即刷爆他們的信用卡，然後最終支付數千美元的利息。

Here's how I would do it.

我是這樣做的。

If I couldn't control my spending, I would get a credit card just for my subscriptions like netflix and iCloud, which are quite small and no matter what happens, I will be able to pay them.

如果我不能控制我的消費，我會辦一張信用卡，只為我的訂閱，如Netflix和iCloud，這些都是相當小的，無論發生什麼，我都能支付它們。

I wouldn't use it for anything else.

我不會用它來做其他事情。

That's why I'm building my credit score to a certain degree, but at the same time lead a lifestyle as if I don't have a credit card at all.

這就是為什麼我在一定程度上建立我的信用分數，但同時又過著好像根本沒有信用卡的生活。

That is the number one reason that usually drags people into poverty, especially since the culture of student debt has started, kids who are just graduating from school are given an option to take on dozens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to go to college.

這是通常將人們拖入貧困的頭號原因，特別是自從學生債務文化開始以來，剛從學校畢業的孩子們可以選擇揹負幾萬，甚至幾十萬的債務去上大學。

Of course, people who go to college often do better financially, but at the same time, there are plenty of examples of people who end up struggling to pay their student debts for decades after graduating.

當然，上大學的人往往在經濟上做得更好，但與此同時，也有很多例子表明，人們在畢業後幾十年都在為償還學生債務而掙扎。

And that debt burden often stops people from taking a bit riskier decisions suggest starting a business or joining a startup since they need to find a stable job as soon as possible to finally start paying their debts before it generates even more interest, especially when the average interest rate on student debt is around 6% that is higher than mortgage rates, Secondly, get rid of this consumerism culture Americans just love wasting money on stuff.

而這種債務負擔往往會阻止人們做出更冒險的決定，建議創業或加入創業公司，因為他們需要儘快找到一份穩定的工作，在產生更多利息之前最終開始償還債務，特別是當學生債務的平均利率約為6%，高於抵押貸款利率時，第二，擺脫這種消費主義文化美國人就是喜歡在東西上浪費錢。

They don't need Americans waste about a pound of food per person each day with people who have healthier diets rich in fruits and vegetables.

他們不需要美國人每人每天浪費大約一磅的食物，與那些有豐富的水果和蔬菜的健康飲食的人。

The most wasteful.

最浪費的。

According to research about 100 and 50,000 tons of food is tossed out in the U.

根據研究，在美國約有100和50,000噸的食物被扔掉。

S.

S.

Households each day equivalent to about a third of the daily calories that each american consumes.

家庭每天相當於每個美國人每天消耗的卡路里的三分之一左右。

People often ask, how do I start saving money?

人們經常問，我怎樣才能開始存錢？

Here you go stop wasting money on stuff you're going to throw away anyway.

給你，別再浪費錢買你反正要扔掉的東西了。

We've already made a video about conscious spending.

我們已經做了一個關於自覺消費的視頻。

I will leave the link in the description but you get the point thirdly, we are most likely going to go into our session.

我將在描述中留下鏈接，但你會明白的，第三，我們很可能會進入我們的會議。

That is going to be long and painful.

這將是漫長而痛苦的。

Yeah.

是的。

Some experts point out that recession is unlikely but there are enough reasons to be conscious during recessions.

一些專家指出，經濟衰退的可能性不大，但有足夠的理由在經濟衰退期間保持清醒。

What matters the most is cash that's why saving money now is even more important.

最重要的是現金，這就是為什麼現在存錢更加重要。

I get it, inflation is rising and the cost of living is becoming ever more expensive.

我明白了，通貨膨脹正在上升，生活成本變得越來越昂貴。

But if you want to make the next session your turning point then you should start preparing now of course it takes far more just saving money in order to avoid the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle.

但是，如果你想讓下一屆會議成為你的轉捩點，那麼你現在就應該開始準備。當然，為了避免從工資單到工資單的生活方式，需要的遠不止是存錢。

We have already talked about that in previous videos, from how to teach yourself to save money to different investing strategies.

我們在之前的視頻中已經談到了這一點，從如何教自己存錢到不同的投資策略。

By the way, I have created an entire course on how to start investing that you can find on skill share.

順便說一下，我已經創建了一個關於如何開始投資的完整課程，你可以在技能分享上找到。

If you use the link in the description you can get two weeks of skill share premium and get the course for free.

如果你使用描述中的鏈接，你可以獲得兩週的技能共享溢價並免費獲得該課程。

The US is far from broke, it might have reached its potential but there is always a room to grow.

美國遠遠沒有破產，它可能已經達到了它的潛力，但總是有一個增長的空間。

It remains the wealthiest country in the world and will be at least in the foreseeable future.

它仍然是世界上最富有的國家，至少在可預見的未來會是這樣。

The challenge is to learn how to take advantage out of this wealth especially since we are in the middle of the greatest wealth transformation In history, baby boomers, the wealthiest generation in the history of the US are getting old and expected to transfer $30 trillion dollars of wealth to younger generation over the next decade.

我們面臨的挑戰是學會如何利用這些財富，特別是因為我們正處於歷史上最大的財富轉型期，美國曆史上最富有的一代--嬰兒潮一代正在變老，預計在未來十年將有30萬億美元的財富轉移給年輕一代。

That's what you should focus on.

這就是你應該關注的問題。

If you go it's financial independence.

如果你去了，那就是財務獨立。