I saw something on my phone today that pretty well blew my mind. 😲

The Google AI alerted me to the fact that I was double paying for YouTube Premium. (Good job Google! I don't ever double pay for anything!) The error was because I recently upgraded my Google services to include their AI and I didn't know it already included YT Premium.)

Anyway, I've been a happy YT Premium paying customer since Dec 2020. And apparently, over the last several years, I’ve benefited from over 3000 hours of ad-free YouTube. (That's almost 18 freakin' weeks of my life! And 4 whole months!)

That stopped me for a second... Because for $13 a month, I didn’t just buy “no ads.”

I bought my focus. I bought my attention. I bought peace of mind from being interrupted every few minutes by someone trying to sell me something I didn’t ask for.

And it reminded me of something I said in that last interview which was probably one of my best:

"Poor people know the price of everything and the value of nothing."

Now, that might sound harsh. But it’s true.

A lot of people look at the price tag and say: “$13 a month? I can use the free version and save that.”

But they don’t ask:

“What is it costing me to have my mind constantly interrupted?”

“What is it costing me to be so darn distracted?”

“What is it costing me to absorb nonsense all day long?”

“What is it costing me to let advertisers, algorithms, noise, fear, and distraction shape my thinking?”

That’s the real cost. Because your mind is your greatest asset.

And most people are giving pieces of it away all day long.

To ads. To news. To social media. To gossip. To fear.

And then they wonder why they feel overwhelmed, scattered, stressed, broke, or uncertain.

This is why I obsessively talk about Becoming Financially Indestructible:

It’s about learning how to think clearly.

It’s about knowing the difference between price and value.

It’s about knowing when something is an expense… and when something is actually an investment.

A cheap decision can be expensive. And an expensive decision can be extremely valuable.

That’s true with YouTube Premium. It’s true with getting proper financial advice. It’s true with insurance. It’s true with tax planning. It’s true with investing. It’s true with your health. It’s true with your time.

The people who win financially are not the ones who avoid every cost.

They’re the ones who understand what is actually worth paying for.

Because the goal is not to spend the least.

The goal is to get the greatest return on your time, energy, money, and mind.

So ask yourself today:

Where am I being cheap with something that could actually improve my life?

And where am I paying for things that are giving me no real value at all?

Those questions can change everything.

Thanks for reading,

Michael Santonato

#becomefinanciallyindestructible