Hey, guys.

It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet. And today, I'm here to talk about the kind of advice you should not be listening to.

So if you're someone who goes on the internet or to HomeGoods stores or opens magazines, chances are probably pretty high that you've seen a lot of really vapid, empty motivational quotes. So these are the kind of Pinterest-y quotes that you'll see on Pinterest or also in those weird wooden blocks that people put up in their house that they buy at like TJ Maxx that say, always be loving and just really, really general positive things. Point being, these are the kind of quotes that people surround themselves with because they're like, ah, this sounds right and good and looks cute.

Why not? And most of the time, they're pretty empty. But they're also just harmless.

But when you combine the sort of empty motivational poster with financial advice, then you get in trouble. If you're looking for financial advice on the internet, chances are kind of high that you're going to find a lot of these weird quasi-inspirational quotes that are also about how you do money. And those are the things you should really be looking out for.

And to that end, here are six dumb inspirational quotes that you should always ignore. Number one is "spend on experiences, not things." Now, this is one of those really common pieces of financial advice that on the surface sounds pretty good. After all, studies do show that people who put more of their disposable income towards experiences and life events tend to be happier than people who put them more toward objects.

And it is also very true that particularly in America, we're often buying way more "things" than we really need and would be better served putting that money toward experiences. But here's the thing. A lot of the time, you frankly shouldn't be spending on either.

And the whole "spend on experiences" thing leads us to feel like we should justify really frankly unaffordable life experiences. Some of you might remember Lauren's story about how she literally drained her savings account to go on a fun girl's trip to Spain when she was about 20. And I can't even count the number of trips and concerts and vacations that I've gone on when I really couldn't afford it because I was like, it's an experience.

It's something awesome and life-based. I can't not do it. And when it comes to more substantial life events like, say, a wedding, we're often driven to spend way more than we really need to because we think, hey, you only do this once.

It's got to be big, right? And mantras like "spending on experiences" make us feel justified in that. So the better version of that quote is really, sometimes, spend on experiences.

Sometimes, spend on things. And sometimes, stop fucking spending money. Number two is "do what you love." Now, this is one of the most prevalent of these dumb inspirational quotes and also one of the most dangerous.

Basically, over the past several decades, we've come to this weird point in culture where we've started to conflate what gives us personal fulfillment and joy with what we do for work. We've started to believe more and more that we should not only find our personal fulfillment, but also our self-identity in what we do for money. And there are so many problems with this mentality, but there are a couple really big ones.

Number one, expecting to love your work means you'll justify it bleeding into more and more areas of your life. When you're answering emails at 11:00 PM, that's just what happens when you're doing what you love. Number two, not everyone is going to be able to love their job and nor should they.

Sometimes, you're going to have to just do a job because you need the money and stability, and you shouldn't feel like that's a personal failure. And number three, a job is not your friend. No matter how much you love a job, it will never love you back and should never take up that much of a personal meaning in your life.

The more you can separate out what I do for work and what I do with the rest of my life, the more you will have a work-life balance and a good idea of who you are outside of your professional definition. Number three, "don't worry about what other people think." I've always found that the people who tend to say this also tend to be the people who should most be caring about what other people think. Let's be honest.

Most of life means being a part of a greater society, whether that's your friend groups, your relationships, your office, whatever. We all have to get along and share the same space. And that means that whether or not we like it, we have to be concerned with how we're impacting other people.

And in our professional lives, what other people think of us is literally the driving factor in how much money we'll make. I'm not saying you should be riddled with anxiety about everyone's opinion. But if you don't care what other people think of you, chances are pretty high you don't care how you treat them.

The important thing is identifying the people in your life whose opinions really matter to you and working to live up to their expectations. Do care what other people think, within reason. Number four, "see the world while you're young." Here's a pro tip.

Any time you see a piece of advice that makes it sound like you fall off a cliff at the age of 30 and no longer have any meaning in life, ignore it. Travel whenever you want. And more importantly, don't expect to be putting all of your fun and fulfilling life experiences in the first 25 years of your life, because if you do, that's how you end up being one of those tragic people who talks about how college were the best years of their life.

Yikes. Number five, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Here's a fun fact about this very common inspirational/motivational/life quote. It's actually originally an ad for cereal.

And yes, I grant you this one isn't as sort of generally positive and inspiration-y as the rest of them. But it's still something you hear all the time that is completely asinine. People who are in the business of dispensing this really sort of general life advice are also often in the business of talking like you have to get everything done in the first three hours after dawn, or you're never going to do anything with your life.

The truth is that some people are night owls. The other truth is that some people don't even eat breakfast, and they're fine. The point is we should all be structuring our days in the way that allows us to make the most of them and not forcing ourselves into following some kind of prescribed routine.

I've almost literally never eaten breakfast my whole life, and I'm doing great. Number six, "live each day like it's your last." Absolutely do not do this. There are so many reasons why living each day like it's your last is a terrible idea.

But maybe the biggest one is financially. There are so many bad decisions that we can justify to ourselves financially or logistically if we think to ourselves, well, I could die tomorrow. So I should do this now.

This whole mentality of acting like your young life is the only time to do a lot of these things or like we won't be around for literal decades is what gets us into so much trouble. Financial health is about one thing more than anything else, and that is investing in your future self. The more you contextualize your life on a grand scale, the more easy it will be to make good financial decisions and the more long-term comfort you'll be able to create for yourself.

It sucks so much to do things like put money in a retirement account, because it's so easy to think like, well, I could die tomorrow. So I should just probably spend that money on a trip to Majorca. But you have to do it because not only are you likely to be here for retirement, you will also want that money.

Forcing yourself to think in terms of your future makes this possible. Long story short, don't get your money advice from wooden blocks at HomeGoods. So as always, thank you for watching.

And don't forget to hit the Subscribe button and to go to thefinancialdiet.com for more. Bye.