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

I do NOT need dog owners coming after me…I love dogs! But use our Conscious Spending Plan...

1 Jun 2023 · 1 min

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Ramit Sethi advises a caller about the real cost of pet ownership, urging careful budgeting and use of a conscious spending plan. He questions the caller's ability to afford more animals, flags a recurring $1,000/month (caller) vs. $500/month (speaker recollection) claim as high, and emphasizes hidden, annual or indirect costs (e.g., vet fees, taxes, tipping, food) through analogies—duck ownership vs. hotel stays—showing how headline prices can rise ~50% once add-ons are included.

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I think that you need to be thinking very carefully about how much you can actually afford to spend on pets. I know you have a good cause, but if I were in your position, the first thing I would say is, like, absolutely no more animals. Oh, yeah, no, we're in agreement on that. Okay, and next is, what's the plan for these animals? Do you plan to provide for them forever, etc. Just because $1,000 a month is a lot of money right now. I thought it was 500. I thought that was a lot. So let me give you an example why this is so important. You love ducks. I love hotels. Okay, let's just be a perfect example. So a duck, you go, oh, this duck costs like 50 bucks a month. But then you forget that once a year you need to pay some expensive vet fee. For me, I go, oh, this hotel is 300 bucks a night. But I got to factor in taxes, tipping, eating at the restaurant, whatever. It actually adds 50% to the price. So 300 actually becomes $450 a night. It's a lot of hidden costs in all these things that we choose.