6 Normal Money Concerns Wealthy People Still Struggle With
Written by
Diana Kelly Levey
Edited by
Cory Dudak
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Have you ever thought that if you earned more money, your money problems — and other problems — might disappear? You aren’t alone in thinking that. In personal finance author and podcaster Ramit Sethi’s show “I Will Teach You to Be Rich,” he interviews couples who have various income levels and talks through their money challenges.
Spoiler alert: Even the multimillionaires still have money mindset struggles. In one podcast, Sethi said, “Just a quick reminder that 100% of the couples I speak to who have a spending problem always believe that if they just earned more money, their problems would vanish. This is totally untrue.”
However, Sethi believes we all can build a “rich life” when we follow his steps.
6 Money Issues People Who Earn Over $100,000 a Year Still Have
Unfortunately, all of your money concerns won’t magically disappear once you hit a certain income amount each month or year. Here are money struggles even wealthy people need help with, based on some of the interviews from the “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” podcast interviews.
Knowing Their Gross Annual Salaries
As you listen to or watch Sethi’s episodes on YouTube while he talks with couples, he goes over their numbers and shows a combined calculation with their gross annual salaries. He often asks couples, “Were you surprised to see that number?” after displying their gross income.
Trin and Lucas were a couple talking about their incomes with Sethi and estimated it to be between $8,000 and $11,000 a month. That being said, they were spending about 150% of their fixed income costs so they were often in the red. Christina and Jack’s gross monthly income was about $17,200 and Christina said, “It’s a lot. When we put the numbers [there], I was surprised. And I don’t know where it goes.”
Stressing About the Cost of Fruit
One of the grocery store items a lot of the seemingly-wealthy guests on Sethi’s podcasts struggled with the cost of was berries. That’s right. Buying various berries in particular was a common discussion amongst guests — and many of them made great salaries. Sethi said, “What is it about rich people and blueberries?”
Greg was a guest who made $270,000 and was driving to various stores to find cheaper berries. Another guest had a $10 million net worth and shopped at the dollar store for blueberries. He said on the podcast, “I get good value in the dollar store for light bulbs, batteries and frozen fruit for my smoothie. When I compare, unless I shop at Whole Foods, it’s almost 2x.” While many of us have been stressing about the cost of groceries in recent years, food price hikes aren’t expected to outpace inflation. That’s good news for berry-lovers out there.
Being Convinced They’re “Bad With Money”
Wealthy people can’t be bad with money, right? “I’m not good with money. I’m bad with money,” is a phrase some of the guests on Sethi’s podcast have shared. This mindset can hold anyone back. “I haven’t learned the skills of money yet, but I know I can,” is better, Sethi suggested.
Improving your financial literacy can go a long way to help you feel more comfortable with your personal finances and having a better understanding of how to manage your money. In one podcast, Becki makes about $100,000 a year and feels that she’s not responsible with money. Sethi often suggests guests work on their financial literacy by reading books and educating themselves. “A lot of us think that money is some mystical thing. You’re either blessed and good at it or you’re not. No,” he said in a podcast. “You can take control of your money. You can use it to live a rich life.”
Guilt-Free Spending
Plenty of the guests Sethi talks to on his podcast have no problem living by the “treat yo’self” mantra and spending on whatever they want when they want it because YOLO. Others struggle to allocate part of their budgets to something fun, and oftentimes, severely limit what they want their partners to spend on as well.
In a recent show, Kait and Em are a queer couple socking away money for fertility treatments and preparing for the eventual costs of having a baby. Their household income is $28,000 a month. (Yes, you read that right.) But, they still have some guilt about going out to dinner spontaneously and spending money on that expense — from $80 to $250 at an outing. Even if they spend $250 on dinner once a week, that $1,000 fun money allowance per month is only 1/28th of their budget. Sethi’s okay with this small part of their budget being spent on something enjoyable, and he encourages it.
Part of Sethi’s personal finance teachings are for people to build their “rich life” and he wants his audience to understand that it’s okay to buy an expensive bag, shoes, watch or travel if that’s what makes you happy. Keep this to 20%-35% of your take home pay.
Struggling With “Unconscious Spending Creep”
Unconscious spending creep is also known as “lifestyle creep” or “lifestyle inflation,” but Sethi has gone on the record saying he doesn’t like to use those phrases.
Sethi said on X formerly known as Twitter: “My expenses don’t ‘creep.’ I increase them consciously. You can do the same: If you make more, it’s OK to spend more! (And save & invest more.)”
He suggests everyone keep their fixed costs to about 50%-60% percent of their take-home pay (after tax) payment. So if those monthly numbers go up, it’s okay to let your spending increase.
That being said, plenty of couples on the podcast buy costly items when they really can’t afford it. Bebe and Paul make $113,500 combined but their fixed costs are 92% of their budget — and they spent $2,200 on a mattress. Beware of lifestyle creep that leads to debt and spending money to impress others or because you’re telling yourself a certain story behind the purchase.
Keeping Money Secrets
On one episode of the podcast, Cassandra and Aldo have been married for 18 years and have a joint income of over $165,000 a year, but Cassandra wasn’t aware of all the debt they had — $520,000 total. Aldo was managing the money and tried to keep their financial struggles from her so she wouldn’t stress about it. Being transparent about money and communicating how much you both have as well as any and all debts is paramount, said Sethi. He suggests couples have at least a monthly meeting to discuss financial topics and to bring money up throughout the month even when there isn’t a problem.
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