Money. It's Not What You Think It Is

Most people think saving money makes them smart. While others fritter their money away without thinking about it.

But investing in something to actually improve their lives? They pause and delay.

Well, what if that's actually keeping you stuck?

What if these habits of yours don't actually serve you?

In this Sunday Session, I break down the biggest money mindset mistakes self-employed HR consultants make — and why clinging to your cash could be the most expensive decision of all.

You’ll hear the story of the £1,000 course that changed everything for me, plus a thought challenge that might just shift how you treat money from today onwards.

So tune in and enjoy.

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Transcript

0:01 there, and welcome back to another episode of Sunday Sessions with me, Nick Paninski. Today we are talking about something a bit personal and a bit uncomfortable.
0:09 We're talking about money. Not how to save it, but not how to make more of it, but how we use it and how we think about it.
0:16 Because here's the truth. Most people are terrible with money. They don't think they are, but they are. They either cling to it like it's something sacred that must be protected at all costs.
0:28 Or they casually burn it on things that make no difference to their lives. And both habits have the same result.
0:35 They miss the things that could actually move them forward. And that's when they end up paying what I call the dumb tax.
0:42 Now let's start with that first habit. And I'm not saying you shouldn't keep any money in the bank. Of course you should.
0:49 You should keep a healthy amount in there, whatever gives you that sense of security. There's nothing wrong with that. That's a good idea.
0:56 But if all you're doing is keeping money in the bank, like some mad little squirrel, hoarding nuts for the winter, then you're not moving that money in the way that you could be.
1:05 You're not using it as a tool to improve your life. Now, it feels responsible to do this, because you can see your money sitting there, safe and untouched.
1:14 It's, you know, you can access it. You it whenever you want, and you've been told all your life to save for a rainy day, and friends and family, they will nod approvingly when you say that you've got money in the bank, if you share that with them.
1:27 But here's the reality. You're losing money every single year you just keep it. Because inflation, that is usually higher than your interest rate, right?
1:37 So that safe money of yours, it's worth less and less over time. And it sits there doing nothing. So, so are you.
1:46 Meanwhile, the bank is taking that safe money, lending it, investing it, making a healthy return for themselves. And they are giving you peanuts in return.
1:56 Now, the second habit is wasteful spending, right? This is the £5 a day takeaway coffee. The state will give you a drip of Amazon or Timu orders that you barely remember a week later.
2:07 Now, these feel harmless because they're small. You don't feel the impact in the moment. But over a year, you've spent hundreds, often thousands, on things that don't move you forward one inch.
2:18 And that's the crazy part. Both the safe hoarders and the wasteful spenders behave completely differently in the day-to-day, but they both make the same mistake when something valuable comes along.
2:30 Now, I'm talking about when a course, a program, or a tool appears that could actually help them, help them earn more, help them save hours, or make their life better in some meaningful way.
2:40 And that's when the shutters come down. Oh, that's too expensive. I can't justify that right now. I'll think about it.
2:48 But here's the thing. They've already spent. that much, or more, on things that changed nothing. Now, I get it. Amazon, Timu, Starbucks, whatever.
2:56 These brands are familiar. You know exactly what you're going to get, even if it's junk. Buying that junk feels safe.
3:03 But a course or a coaching program, that sort of unknown, right? It might not work. It might not give you the result that you want.
3:11 But here's the problem. While you're playing it safe, you're also, you know, standing still. And standing still isn't neutral. While you wait, while you do not grow, while you do not change, other people are.
3:25 They're moving, they're learning, they're improving. And if they're self-employed, they are raising their prices and they are filling their diaries.
3:33 Now here's a funny thing. People will hesitate for weeks over a £1,000 programme. They could start paying off next month, but they will sign off on a mortgage in like half an hour.
3:44 Now think about that. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of debt, 25 years, 30 years, whatever it is. A huge commitment for decades of your life, and one that is going to come to cost you a hell of a lot of money along the way.
3:57 And I'm not saying a mortgage is bad, right? I get it. It's normal, for want of a better phrase. And a house is shelter, security, and in theory, it will go up in value if you look after it.
4:08 There is a return on that investment. But the paradox is that we're weirdly brave with those huge commitments that take decades to pay off, but we're terrified of those small, short-term investments that could start delivering results in weeks.
4:23 And this is where the dumb tax comes in, right? That dumb tax. The tax is what you pay when you try to figure everything out for yourself instead of taking the shortcut that someone's already mapped out.
4:34 It costs you time, sometimes years of trial and error. And it costs you the earnings that you could have made if you'd just invested in something that worked.
4:44 Let me give you an example. I could have learned copywriting on my own. There are free books, free blogs, free videos.
4:50 Copy hasn't changed that much in decades. It's still about showing the pain that someone's in, then painting the picture of the better life that they could have.
4:58 But if I'd skipped Mike Samuel's 1,000 pound copywriting course, and Mike was on the podcast a few weeks back if you want to hear his views on copywriting, I'd have missed out on his personal feedback, on his network, and wouldn't have helpful bits that directly helped me to land clients.
5:17 And that would have been the dumb tacks at work, trying to work it out all alone when someone could just grab me by the hand and show me the way.
5:26 So here's your Sunday morning Take a second to look at where your money goes. Are you using it to grow, to learn, to move forward, even if imperfectly?
5:36 Or are you spending hundreds, maybe thousands on things that change nothing, while avoiding the very thing that could make the biggest difference?
5:44 Because time isn't waiting. No one is coming to save you. And if you want things to change, it starts with making different decisions about your attention, your energy, and yes, your money.