You don’t have to be rich to Live a Rich Life: Wanting Versus Needing

Ramit Sethi had a great event back in 2017 called Forefront in NYC. Ramit Sethi is best known for his personal finance classic for young adults “I will make you Rich” and has developed a cult following due to his blunt and fresh thinking about money and how to manage it in this day and age. He has built a business empire of digital classes and even has a Netflix show.

In my pursuit of self development I always try to check out new conferences to learn new things and this event was really insightful. One of the biggest concepts he mentioned was that you don’t need to be rich to live a rich life. 

But the slow learner that I am, while I understood the concepts he discussed at a conceptual level,  I did not truly understand or take this to heart. Ironically, I only really figured it out when I had massive money problems like I did in 2020. Knowledge comes from pain as I’ve written many times. 

Everyone has a magic number in their head: The F-ck You $$. I remember the number when I moved to SF was $10M USD. With inflation and rising costs here, FU money level is now probably $50M. But the lesson I learned is it all depends on what matters to you. 

I firmly believe financial independence should be the goal of every young man. But this number really varies and all depends on what they value. 

Some people want the expensive cars and expensive houses in top zip codes. The holidays in Hawaii at the Four Seasons Hotel, flying first class or private planes, wearing brand name luxury goods. That obviously will require substantially more money and a pretty high cost structure. 

For me, I think it’s important to have the resources and capabilities to be able to afford these things. But you also need to understand what is a “want” versus a “need”. That’s critical for you to be independent. 

I prefer a more asset light path. I love stuff as much as the other guy, I have an immense  collection of books & a half decent set of weapons. I love traveling and staying at nice hotels. I’ve never cared that much about having a big house or expensive car. It’s too showy and frankly makes you a target. A very dangerous thing in a time of growing wealth inequality and lots of people falling behind and desperate. The USA is going to become more like Latin America & South Africa of rising violent crime. 

It’s important to know what is valuable to you: for me it’s being generous and having time with family and friends, doing business and working with smart, awesome, honorable people; while building assets. I also love traveling around the world doing business and eating delicious cuisine. Having plenty of time to read, rest and exercise is also key. These are all needs for me. Everything else is a want and thus, not as important. I can be frugal with the things that I don’t care about. That leaves me with resources to spend on things that matter. 

You don’t have to be a multimillionaire to have a great life, although it clearly does help. But if you keep your cost structure low, you will have freedom to pursue all the things that matter to you. This to me is what a rich life is about.