How To Get Rich in 2026

Today we’re talking about how you actually get rich in 2026. I’m walking you through the 4 steps you need to take in order to build real net worth, even if you feel behind right now. Debt Free Planner: https://www.mrsdowjones.com/free/debt-free-planner Free Index Guide for 2026: https://www.mrsdowjones.com/free/4-index-funds-we-love-in-2026 Financial Tea with Mrs. Dow Jones is a Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us at @sonypodcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Haley Sacks?

  What's up, rich people? It's me, Haley, AKA Mrs. Dow Jones, and this is Financial Tea. Okay, so I just gave my apartment a major refresh. And hands down, the hardest thing to get right was the rug. I just couldn't find one that fit right. And I really wanted something that pulled the room together because like a rug is a big deal. But then I found Ernesta. And Ernesta's amazing, you guys. It makes designer quality rugs custom cut to the exact size of your space. So it actually fits instead of almost fits and looks great the first time. Like in the past, I've just defaulted to stock sizes when buying rugs. And also, like when you're in a New York City apartment, that really just doesn't cut it, but they're all weirdly shaped.

• 0:46Haley Sacks?

  But with Ernesta, you can send photos and dimension to Ernesta's design team, and they help you get the size exactly right, completely free of charge. Hand-selected by design experts, Ernesta rugs are beautiful, they're durable, and they're made for the way you actually live. Cut, finished, and delivered in as little as two weeks. Visit ernesta.com and order five samples for only $10, and you will get $50 toward any rug of your choice. That is E-R-N-E-S-T-A dot com. What's up, rich people? It's me, Haley, AKA Mrs. Dow Jones, and this is Financial Tea, the podcast where I am going to teach you how to build wealth

• 1:29Haley Sacks?

  with a little side of market drama, money scandals, and financial pop culture. Today, though, I am going to be giving you the exact blueprint for how to get rich in 2026. Getting wealthy is literally 65% of people's New Year's resolution. But here's the tea. Most are going to end this year with the same bank account balance that they started with, if not less. Same broke vibes, different year. And then next January, they're going to be rubbing sticks together, manifesting money instead of growing it because they don't have a system. They don't know what actions to take to actually make it happen. But not you, Sipper. Can I call you that? Comment if you think that's a fun name or if I need to be put in jail. Because you are listening to the Mrs. Dow Jones Podcast,

• 2:14Haley Sacks?

  and I'm going to walk you through my rich method. You guys, if you follow this, you're guaranteed to build net worth this year. Yes, you will end 2026 richer than you started it. Like with the rich method, you cannot lose. This framework is so foolproof that like even your friend who financed her Dyson airwrap could use it. So my darlings, I'm going to walk you through it step by step. Get your notebooks out. It's going to be juicy. It's going to be financial tea and it's gonna actually make you rich. So let's jump in.

• 2:52Haley Sacks?

  Okay, the first part of the rich method is R, which stands for reserves. If you're serious about growing wealth this year or like any time in your life, step one is always just getting three to six months of essentials in a high-yield savings account, legit as fast as you can. Like sell your clothes on eBay, ask for a raise, side hustle, whatever you've got to do. And the reason this is so important is that life is going to hit you with unexpected chaos. And this is your safety net so that when it does happen, you don't have to take on more debt. Like say your car dies, your company does restructuring, the boyfriend you live with ends up being like a walking red flag who's in a relationship with a chatbot and you've got to move out immediately.

• 3:35Haley Sacks?

  You don't need to finance or raid your investments to deal with the situation. This is your fuck you money that will get you out of dodge. Just set it aside, know it's there, and then we'll lock in on the next step in building real wealth. Next up in the rich method, ah, yes, it does stand for interest traps. Interest, ooh la la, you guys. I know that we love a credit card. I love a credit card too. They're fabulous, but they can also be so dangerous. Like when you are not paying them off in full and you have 20, 25%, 30% APR happening, like. Your relationship with your credit card becomes more toxic than Zach Bryan's love life. Like, I don't know how he got that girl to marry him, but like, he did. Except like with a credit card,

• 4:19Haley Sacks?

  you don't even get a viral breakup story out of it. You're just getting debt. Like, you're basically running on a financial treadmill, going nowhere, no matter how hard you hustle. Like, the interest is going to eat your progress faster than you can build it. So, step two in the rich method, we've got to pay off your high interest rate debt so that you can leave this toxic situation like Brianna did. I have an amazing free debt payoff planner that I will link in the show notes just to get you started. Download it. It's helped over 10,000 people and that is a really good first step if you want to make 2026 the year that you annihilate your high interest rate debt.

• 4:59Speaker 01

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• 5:30Speaker 02

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• 5:58Haley Sacks?

  Okay, guys, now we're getting to RIC. Compounding assets, baby. That's what it stands for. This is the third step and this is where your net worth is actually going to start growing, okay? This is when we start investing. But we're not going to be investing in crypto. We're not going to be investing in whatever Reddit says. We are going to be buying. Two to three low-cost index funds. We keep it really simple around here. I always say, you want your life to be really exciting. You want your career, your travels to be exciting too, but your investments should be super boring. And yes, this is the most boring advice I'll ever give you, but boring is what makes you rich. You don't want a boring life. You don't want

• 6:43Haley Sacks?

  a boring career, but what you do want is a boring portfolio. The exciting stuff, the crypto, your brother-in-law won't shut up about, the penny stock, some finance bro is pumping on Reddit. Guys, that's how you lose money. Boring investments are what will make you rich, so you can have an interesting life. Investing shouldn't be entertainment. It just has to be like automated and consistent and average. Think about an index fund like a Chipotle bowl. I am obsessed with Chipotle right now. It's so good. The same way Chipotle, you buy one bowl and in the bowl, you're getting all these different toppings. The same thing is true for an index fund. You're buying one index fund and in it, you're getting all these different stocks,

• 7:26Haley Sacks?

  which is awesome because you have instant diversification. And the same way that Chipotle is well-priced, unless you got like so many extra toppings, index funds are also well-priced. So you're getting good value and you're getting good diversification and you don't need to pick a winner. Like maybe the corn salsa is really bad that day. Maybe the chicken's giving you the ick. Well, you've still got guacamole. You've still got rice. You've still got romaine. So you're still having a great meal. That's the same thing with an index fund. You don't need every stock in it to be awesome, but you just need some of them to be great and then you're going to stay winning. Okay. And I know you're probably like Haley, but which funds should we actually buy though? I will link you in the show notes to my free index fund guide for 2026.

• 8:08Haley Sacks?

  But just to give you a preview, like I said, you only need two to three. I really like QQQ. It gives you good tech exposure and it's returned around 15% the last 20 years. I also like VOO. It gets you a small piece of the top 500 companies in America and that has returned around 10% the last 20 years. And I also like VTI because it lets you buy the entire US stock market. And it's also returned around 10%. But I just want you to know that if you're listening to this podcast, I will bully you into investing. Like, we are friends now. We are girls. You're a sipper. I'm a sipper. Let me know, do we like sippers still? But like, we gotta invest. We can't, you can't work your way to wealth, guys. Gotta get our money compounding like Taylor Swift's "Career Mama."

• 8:52Haley Sacks?

  If you want to be a billionaire, that's how we make it happen. Okay, now we're going to talk about the final step, which is H, human capital. I feel like people don't talk about this enough, but like, how you make more money is investing in yourself. Like, your salary isn't set in stone. You actually can control how much you can earn by building skills, negotiating your raises, switching jobs strategically, or even like, starting a side hustle or your own business. Think about it, like, Alex Earl, queen of everything, went from a college student at U Miami to multi-multi-millionaire, like, that girl's gonna be a billionaire, by investing in her human capital. She learned video editing, she studied what content actually performs, she mastered storytelling and reliability, like, her "Get Ready With Me's" are so good.

• 9:37Haley Sacks?

  And then she built expertise in personal branding. Like, she didn't just post random videos, she actually developed real skills in audience engagement, in content strategy, in business negotiation. And then she was able to leverage those skills into sponsored deals. She's not waiting for someone to give her permission. She built herself into a conglomerate, and now she's able to create multiple revenue streams because she invested in becoming really good at what she does. And now, guys, like, if there was a polymarket on Alex Earl being a billionaire, I would bet on Alex Earl. Like, she is going to leverage these skills into so much money. And you can do this too, like, building human capital, becoming really good at what you do so that you're undeniable, and people don't want to lose you, and you have to be paid more,

• 10:22Haley Sacks?

  is something that's in your control. Maybe 2026 is the year that you finally take the course, or you learn that skill that's gonna get you a promotion, or you ask for a freaking raise, even though you've never done that before. The worst they can say is "no," and then you just start looking elsewhere. But you need to take- Your earning into your own hands. No one is going to hand you more money. You need to make yourself more valuable and then demand that you get paid for it. And if they can't pay you for it, you walk away. You find something else because you're valuable. And if you don't have a seat at that table, there will be another table that wants you. And the reason that this is so important is because the more that you make, the more that you can invest. Like it's a flywheel.

• 11:03Haley Sacks?

  And then the more you invest, the richer you can get, the more your net worth will grow. It is literally that simple. So please invest in yourself like you are the best stock on the market because you really are. So there you have it, sippers, lock me up. I called you sippers again. The rich method, reserves in your HYSA, interest traps eliminated, compounding assets on autopilot and human capital maximize. Okay, those are the four steps, but now let's talk about the traps that will derail you because they will derail you. Okay, like these will destroy your progress. These are the villains in your 2026 get rich story. We're going to do a deep dive on these in future episodes, but like you do need to know what to watch out for.

• 11:48Haley Sacks?

  Number one is just lifestyle inflation. Like this is like when you got a raise and just immediately upgrade everything. Upgrade apartment, upgrade car, upgrade wardrobe. Like your expenses rise with your income, so you're still broke. You just have nicer stuff. So like the new rule is that when you get a raise, instead of increasing your lifestyle, increase the amount that you're investing. Increase your 401k contribution, increase your Roth IRA contribution. It's not to say that you can't splurge and you can't enjoy your money and you can't travel. Like that's so important, but you want to make sure that you're upgrading your life and your net worth, not just your life at the expense of your net worth. Trap number two, buy now, pay later.

• 12:33Haley Sacks?

  If you have no heaters, then I am dead. Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay, you guys suck. Like, if you can't afford something right now, you just can't afford it. Plus, this whole like 0% interest rate thing is such a lie. If you miss any of those payments, they're gonna hit you with 36% interest. That's a firm's interest rate, which is higher than credit card companies. But you're getting none of the benefits. You're getting none of the protections. You're not building your credit. But they will also report your missed payments to the credit bureau. So they just suck. Stay away from them at all costs. Like, literally, I want you to just engrain in your head, we don't use that. Like, don't even think about it. They're, they're, it's just, it's trash, okay? It creates really bad habits.

• 13:18Haley Sacks?

  And I know I'm gonna get comments with people who are saying, I use By Now P Later so well. And yes, for a small majority, you can use it and pay it off on time and enjoy the 0% interest. But like, for the mass market, that's not what's happening. It's just enabling people to buy things that they don't need with money that they don't have. And then trap number three is not automating. Look, we all wake up in January of each year, having so much willpower. We're eating kale, we're not drinking, we're budgeting. And then February comes around and we are, you know, back to our old ways. Relying just on willpower means that you will fail. Like, willpower is finite. But automation, that's forever.

• 13:59Haley Sacks?

  If you set up automatic transfers on the day that you get paid, you will pay yourself first and make sure that you are hitting your financial goals. And then you can live on what's left. I would not be a millionaire without automation. Like, it helps me reach every single one of my financial goals, starting with my emergency fund. Okay, but guys, can I be real? Like, what are you gonna do next? Like, are you gonna actually implement the rich method? Or are we just keeping this in our notes app forever? If you want the breakdown of those index funds I mentioned, or the debt payout planner, those free guides are in the show notes. You better download them. And if this was helpful, share it with a friend who needs to hear it. Like, you know the one who keeps saying, this is my year, but doesn't even know her bank account password? Like, that's the one that you need to share it to. I have to say, when I started my financial journey, I did it with my best friend, Victoria,

• 14:44Haley Sacks?

  and it was so helpful. And if you don't have someone, I will be that someone, because we are going to be here every Thursday, sipping the financial tea. I am Mrs. Dow Jones. And remember, we want boring portfolios, we want interesting lives, and we want lots of dates with Warren Buffett. I'll see you next week. Stay rich.

• 14:59Speaker 02

  Coming up next week on Financial Tea.

• 15:01Haley Sacks?

  What do you lie about when it comes to money? Because we all fib a little.

• 15:06Speaker 03

  Ooh, what do I lie about when it comes to money?

• 15:08Haley Sacks?

  Like with dating, like anything.

• 15:10Speaker 03

  Ooh, well, first off, I would say, you know, people think I'm the points gun. I put every single expense on credit card and by and large I do. I also carry around cash all the time. And this is a mistake I see a lot of people making.

• 15:23Speaker 03

  I am a believer in a tip and I think tips can get you extraordinary value.

• 15:29Haley Sacks?

  Cash is king. This is a Mrs. Dow Jones production for Sony Music Podcast.

• 15:37Speaker 04

  Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start. This year, I've been layering in some styles from the new Lululemon fall drop because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it. Lululemon's fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces. So I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece and head out, knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me. Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at lululemon.com.