Why Americans should consider personal finance as their ‘dream car’

Listen and subscribe Financial freestyle to Apple Podcasts, Spotifyor wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

Money is a constant stress for many people. According to the 2024 Discover survey, 80% of Americans report being worried about their financial situation, and a third of respondents report feeling “very worried” about their finances.

However, a change in perspective can help the average person feel more in control of their finances, Neon Money Club co-founder Luke Bailey argued at a recent Yahoo Finance’s Financial Freestyle event.

Bailey’s goal at the lifestyle financial technology company is to make saving and investing as attractive as other aspirational goals.

“If anybody asks you, ‘What’s your dream car? What’s your dream house? you can tell them,'” Bailey told Ross Mac on the podcast (see video above; listen below). “But if someone asks you, ‘What do you like about finance?’ or ‘What is your dream stock-to-cash portfolio?’ do you have an answer for them…Most Americans won’t have one.

Read more: How to start investing: A step-by-step guide

Bailey emphasized that the way a person makes financial decisions should fit into their lifestyle, and become a daily habit, just like getting dressed.

“I need people to think about their financial health like they think about beauty [outfit] before they left the house,” said Bailey. In other words, financial health should be something that is integrated into people’s lives, and something that they can talk about with others.

Bailey started working in banking when he was just 19 years old. And as a music singer, he believed that the idea of ​​working in the money industry did not appeal to him at first.

Bailey said: “My dad said, ‘Luke, … music is not your talent, … it’s what you think your talent is,'” Bailey added that his father told him to “‘keep producing. … ‘Just [banking and finance] like music.’

“And that’s what I do,” Bailey said. “Everything to me is music.”

Now, Bailey runs his company, Neon Money Club, as a studio.

“Producing is not fun,” Bailey said. “It puts the greatest people in the room to come up with something really special. That’s when I realized I could do that. [the corporate world] again, that’s when it hit me – like, wow, it’s always been there. I still use music today.”

The Story Continues