Ramit Sethi.Photo:Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Finance advisor Ramit Sethi wants people to redefine what “being rich” means.
On his Netflix show,How to Get Rich, Sethi meets with individuals and couples to first define what their money goal is – and then create a plan on how to make it happen.
“When most of us think about the word ‘rich,’ we have this exaggerated caricature of what ‘rich’ is: Sitting in the back of a limo, being chauffeured around wearing a top hat. That’s a movie, that’s not reality,” Sethi tells PEOPLE. “Today, a rich life can be traveling for two months a year. It can be buying a beautiful cashmere coat, or it can be picking up your children from school every afternoon. Your rich life is yours and that is really the entire point of my work.”
And how do you design a “rich life?”
“Like you would design a painting,” explains Sethi, also the author ofI Will Teach You To Be Rich. “It takes multiple passes, multiple strokes. If you’re working with a partner, you got to both have a paintbrush.”
Then, one you have the life you want, it’s important to “start living that rich life today and living an even richer life tomorrow,” adds Sethi, 40.
“I don’t want people waiting until they’re 85 years old to start living a rich life,” he says. “I believe you should live it today and an even richer one tomorrow.”
Here are Sethi’s top tips on how to have a richer life.
How To Get Rich poster.Courtesy of Netflix
Don’t mindlessly save money
“Money is not merely meant to be saved,” Sethi says.
Sethi urges people to create aconscious spending planso that they aren’t just spending money willy nilly. Then, he asks people to think about what they really want to save for.
“Most of us have never thought about that – we go to work, we comparison shop at the grocery store, we try to save money, but we rarely really step back and ask ourselves: ‘What’s the point of all this?'” Sethi says.
Know When to Spend and When to Cut Costs
Once you have your definition of a “rich life” and what that means to you, then you can cut back spending on what doesn’t get you toward your goal.
“What I always want to start with is: What do you love spending money on? And what if you could actually spend extravagantly on that?” he says. “People hate money advice. Because some person who doesn’t understand you at all comes in and tells you all the things you can’t do with your money. I’d rather talk about what youcando.”
Sethi says that once people know what’s important to them it’s easier to see where they can cut costs “mercilessly."
Don’t Be Afraid toReallyTalk About Money with Your Partner
One of the biggest success stories of the show, Sethi says, is Drew – a man from Chicago who wasn’t open and upfront and honest about his finances with his partner. Splitting costs wasn’t a reasonable plan for them since their income wasn’t equitable. But thanks to their honest conversations, Drew was able to get a much higher paying job and pay off debt.
“That was a huge success for me, huge,” Sethi says. “Drew was ready to change.”
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Ramit Sethi.Courtesy of Netflix
Homeownership isn’t a great idea for everyone.
In the past, Sethi has talked to PEOPLE about his personal decision to rent a home,instead of buying, which is something he reiterated on the show.
There’s Only So Much You Can Save, But There’s No Limit to Earnings
Sethi always says that while there is a finite amount that a person can save, there is no limit to how much a person can earn.
“The financial world obsesses over cutting back on $5 expenses,” he says. “We’re obsessed with $3 questions, and we really should be asking $30,000 questions.”
Instead of just cutting back on coffee, he says,pick up another job, look for a higher paying one, or ask for a raise.
Being “Rich” Isn’t Just About Having Money
On his show, Sethi had a couple of clients who struggled to pay their bills each month despite having large incomes.
“We have this idea in America, like, ‘Oh, one day when I have a $100,000 or $500,000, all my problems will disappear and I’ll feel good about money,'” Sethi says. “The way you feel about money is highly uncorrelated with how much you’ve got in the bank. There are people I talk to who have $10 million and they still worry about the price of blueberries."
“I want people to know that just putting your blinders on and trying to accumulate a bigger number is not going to get you a rich life alone,” he adds.
Sethi has followed up with the people who appeared on his show, and aired them onhis podcast.
“What’s fascinating is that some people make small changes, some people make big changes, and some people make no changes at all,” he says. “Not everyone is ready to go from zero to a hundred.”
But he’s grateful they are still willing to talk to him.
He recently even received an invitation to Sarah and Reggie’s wedding in Italy. “I’m very flattered,” Sethi says. “They did great work.”
Season 1 ofHow to Get Richis currently streaming on Netflix.
source: people.com
