Ramit Sethi breaks down five money moves that actually build wealth: negotiate a higher salary, cut your biggest expenses like housing and transportation, lower investment fees that drain hundreds of thousands over time, pay off high-interest debt fast, and automate your savings. A $10,000 raise beats penny-pinching.
Here are the big wins I recommend you actually focus on. Number 1, negotiating your salary. A $10,000 raise is worth more than a decade of skipping coffee. And please don't tell me you can't negotiate. Negotiation is a skill. Number 2, reducing your biggest fixed costs. For most people, that's housing and cars. Now, you could save $5,000, $6,000 or more a year by making a smart decision here. But I will admit it's tough to change housing and cars once you have already locked it in. Number 3, optimizing your investment fees. That 1% fee you're paying to a financial advisor, that can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. Number 4, paying off high-interest debt aggressively. Every dollar you put towards a 27% credit card is a 27% return. It's incredible ROI. Number 5, automating your finances. Set your system up once so that you're automatically saving and automatically investing every single month. These are big decisions that actually move the needle.
