Ramit SethiRamit Sethi: The No-BS Guide to Living a Rich Life

Do you spend money to feel good about yourself? #personalfinance #money #financialfreedom

11 Mar 2023 · 0 min

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0:14

A short conversational excerpt from a YouTube video where Ramit Sethi discusses how parental purchasing behavior communicates emotional messages to children. The speakers explore how parents buying things when they finally have money can make both parents and children feel good, and how that pattern can be passed down leading to overspending as an emotional response rather than child-centered generosity.

And remember when you were a kid and your parents bought you stuff when they had money? What did it mean?
Yeah, I guess it meant they cared. I don't know, but yeah, that's a whole deeper.
That's it. They bought you things when they didn't have money and when they finally got it and it told you what?
Yeah, well, now that you say that, I think maybe it made them feel good and maybe it makes me feel good. Maybe this wasn't about me, it was about them.
Exactly. And that got passed along to you. The, the problem is when they were buying all these things, you told me my parents didn't spend a lot of time with me when they had money on the off chance they would buy me stuff. And that felt good to you, but probably more to them. Now you're doing the same thing and you're spending more than you've got. That's the cycle.