Ramit Sethi explains money dials: spending categories that give you outsized happiness, like eating out or travel. He walks you through imagining what happens if you double, quadruple, or 10x your spending in one category, showing how money buys not just more of something but better versions of it.
What do you love spending money on? I don't mean like, I mean love. You and I intuitively have something in our lives that when we spend money on, excites us, makes us happy. And if I asked you, what would you like to spend even more money on? You know it. Think about it. There are some common categories that fall under what I call money dials. And I call money dials because you can turn that dial up and you might even be excited to spend more on it. Let me give you a few categories. Some of these categories could be eating out. That's one of the most common ones. Health and fitness, travel, convenience, and a variety of other categories. So take a second right now, think about what you would love to spend more money on. Okay, got it. Now I'm going to ask you a few guided questions. I'd like for you to follow along. What if you could spend two times the amount of money you currently spend? What would that look and feel like to you? Okay, for example, if you eat out every so often, what would it look like and feel like to double your spending on it? Well, for most of us, the answer is not much. So I'm going to push you a little bit. What if you could quadruple your spending on that money dial? Right? Turning that dial up 4x, what would it look and feel like? Now, I want to point something out to you. A lot of people think linearly here. You know, for example, I remember asking this question on book tour when I was in Washington D.C. somebody's money dial was eating out. And when I asked him, what would it look like if you could quadruple your spending? His answer was, well, I'd probably have to go on a diet because I'd be eating out four times a week. Ha ha ha. It's one of those ha ha ha jokes. Because deep down everybody knows we're thinking linearly. We're thinking, if I quadruple my spending, I have to quadruple the, the frequency. But that's not true, is it? In the DC examples case, I asked him, what if you 10xed your spending, what would you do then? And he sat there for a second and then he said, you know, I have a list of every Michelin starred restaurant in town. And I knew I was getting somewhere. I said, who would you take with you? And now it got very quiet. He said, my family. I said, why? He said, because they've never been able to afford to go anyplace like that. This is an example of a money dial. When you quadruple your spending. Or the next question, what if you 10x your spending? It doesn't necessarily mean that you would 10x the frequency. Yeah, sure, if you want to eat out double, fine. If you want to buy two times the amount of clothes, great. But think about all the different dynamics. Think multidimensionally. For example, if you like clothes, you might not just shop at the same place, you might actually level up, you might buy higher quality. In fact, if you truly 10x, if you turn that money dial all the way, you might take your mom and you might fly to Italy and get something custom made for both of you. What a magical experience. If you love health and fitness, you might not just work out twice a week. You might actually get a personal trainer or even fly to India for a one week yoga retreat. Now, I know that these questions can sound unusual because for most of us, we've never thought about spending more on the things we love. We've only been told you have to spend less. But if you don't have a reason to earn and save and invest money, then it's no surprise that you're not motivated to do it. In many ways, money can buy you happiness, it can buy you convenience, it can buy you memories, it can buy you experiences. And for some people, it can also buy you things that you just like. You like a nice T shirt, fine. Money can solve that for you. So what I want you to do is to truly go through this exercise. Start off with that thing you love. What is it? Is it health and fitness? Is it travel? Is it eating out? Is it convenience? And so on. Then what if you could 2x your spending easy, not much would change. What if you could 4x your spending? And then what if you could 10x your spending? What would it look like? What would it feel like? Remember, I want you to not just think about frequency. Think about how it would make you feel. Think about what that experience would be like. This is the beginning of really thinking about how money can affect your happiness and craft your rich life.
