What is your Rich Life?

I listened to Ramit Sethi’s last appearance on the Tim Ferris Show.

I wrote this article for two reasons. First, I wanted to draft some ideas for my own rich life. Second, I wanted to invite you to start thinking about what your rich life looks like.

Many people believe that even thinking of the rich life is evil. Some may think it’s a thought experiment reserved for the privileged few. For some folks, this may apply. Personally, I see the act of writing down what constitutes your rich life as more of an exercise in defining your values instead of setting arbitrary financial goals.

You’re essentially exploring what brings you lasting happiness. We are terrible at predicting what will make us happy. This was one of my main takeaways from reading Stumbling on Happiness. The author of the book later coauthored an influential paper titled: If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right. You can review your rich life items by using the 8 principles laid out in the paper.

1. Buy more experiences and fewer material goods.
2. Use their money to benefit others rather than themselves.
3. Buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones.
4. Eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance.
5. Delay consumption.
6. Consider how peripheral features of their purchases may affect their day-to-day lives.
7. Beware of comparison shopping.
8. Pay close attention to the happiness of others.

Most of the items on my list below are informed by personal experience as well as the cultural wisdom on happiness.

My Rich Life

• Buy books and pay for education without hesitation.
• Host people without thinking about money.
• Start working at 1 pm (or desired time) every day.
• Pay for fitness classes or equipment without hesitating.
• Not having to look at the price at the grocery store.
• Donate to charities and local organizations that mean something to me.
• Being able to volunteer without feeling like I could be getting paid.
• Continually taking university courses or getting coached.
• Having the financial confidence that I can say no to opportunities instead of saying yes for the money.
• Feeling good about outsourcing the things I don’t enjoy doing.
• Not worry about any decision that costs less than 100$ (change this number based on circumstances).
• Having the means to invest in or fund the projects and people I believe in.
• An hour of my time is worth 800$ (change this number based on circumstances).
• Not spending more than 30 minutes per month thinking about or managing money.
• Have an Oura ring.
• Have a sauna.
• Have a water-cooled matress.
• Have a huge walk-in rock shower.
• Have an isolated cabin in nature for retreats.

Articles you might like if you’ve enjoyed reading this one

• Life Is A Jar
• Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam (2nd Edition)
• Hindsight Thoughts on Doing a Masters
• What is your Investment Goal?
• The Wealthy Barber
• Is it Luck or is it Skill?
• Does it Make Sense to Buy Raffle Tickets?
• What I Learned from Tracking my Mood for 1000 days
• Atomic Habits

Affiliate Links

1. Stumbling on Happiness – Daniel Gilbert
2. Invest Automatically – Wealthsimple Invest Robo-Advisor
3. Build your own portfolio – Wealthsimple Trade
4. Save money and make a little – EQ Bank High-Interest Savings Account