When it comes to growing your wealth, sticking to some hard-and-fast rules can go a long way.
Michela Allocca would know. She’s a former financial analyst who managed to accumulate a net worth of more than $500,000 by age 28, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
In 2022, she left her corporate job to pursue her side hustle as a personal finance consultant full-time. In a recent TikTok post with nearly a million views, the “Break Your Budget” author shared practical tips on how to grow your wealth, drawing from her own experience.
These are five common money habits she avoids.
1. Shopping sales
While most people think of sales as a way to save money, they can also be an excuse to splurge on things you normally wouldn’t have purchased, Allocca says.
“Sales are designed to create FOMO,” Allocca says on TikTok, referring to the fear of missing out. “They’re designed to prompt you to purchase.”
Buying something you don’t need for 50% off is still spending money you weren’t planning to spend in the first place, she says.
Allocca still buys things she needs when they’re on sale, but she’s mindful to avoid unnecessary spending on anything else.
2. Impulse spending
Nearly all American adults say they spend impulsively, with 64% saying they’ve regretted the impulse purchases they’ve made, according to a 2023 study.
Since it’s so easy to make regrettable purchases, Allocca tries to avoid impulse shopping altogether. Instead, whenever she feels the urge to buy something, she adds the item to a list on her phone, which creates space between her and “an immediate urge and desire to buy something,” she says.
As a rule, she recommends giving yourself four or five days to consider the purchase. At that point, “you’re probably going to have forgotten about it,” she says.
“We as a culture are very uncomfortable denying ourselves what we all like to call ‘little treats,’ but everything can’t be a little treat,” Allocca says.
3. Using traditional savings accounts
Allocca favors…
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