Ramit Sethi: Ignore These 10 Pieces of Advice If You Want To Get Rich
Written by
Nicole Symon
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Molly Sullivan
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There’s a ton of advice out there on how to make more money and cut your expenses so you can “get rich.” Not all advice is good advice, though.
That’s why personal finance influencer Ramit Sethi recently shared a YouTube video all about the advice you should avoid while pursuing your financial goals. Here are his thoughts.
1. Focusing on Extreme Frugality
It’s tempting to try to reduce every little expense as much as possible to save money and grow your wealth. Sethi argued that’s a mistake. Putting too much time and energy toward cutting expenses like coffee and making homemade lunches every day will get in the way of looking at the big picture.
Instead, Sethi recommended gradually cutting your top two or three discretionary expenses by 20% to 50% over the next six months. “You can reallocate that to savings, investing, even guilt-free spending on something that you actually care about.”
2. Relying on Budgeting Apps or Fancy Spreadsheets
Similarly, Sethi suggested tools like budgeting apps and fancy spreadsheets can lead to agonizing over every small purchase. His recommendation is to instead focus on big things like your mortgage and debt repayment.
3. Moving To a Low-Tax State To Save
Sethi said he often gets comments from people earning around $60,000 to $70,000 annually about moving to a state with lower taxes to save money. He rejects this advice. Moving across states can cost over $8,000, depending on the distance, which will immediately eat into any tax savings you gain. Sethi told viewers to instead focus on earning more and on voting for the values they agree with.
4. Implementing Vague Mindfulness Tips
Tips such as “do morning affirmations, get in a cold plunge, then a sauna, then drink 68 gallons of water, then journal” are everywhere online, Sethi said. But these are not necessary — he doesn’t do any of those things and is still successful. His advice is to focus on a rich life plan, instead, with specific goals for your future.
5. Following Your Passion
You’ll often hear people say to “follow your passion,” and the money will follow, but that’s unfounded. “Passion alone is not a strategy for making money,” Sethi argued. He turns the advice around to suggest that you develop skills related to something that is valuable to others.
6. Making Financial Decisions Based on Shame
Shame is a powerful influence, so it’s no surprise that many people online try to use it to affect others’ purchasing decisions. Sethi’s opinion on this is clear: “That’s ridiculous.” You don’t need to justify your purchases to people you don’t know. Avoid the “negative money spiral.”
7. Being an Angel Investor
An angel investor is someone who provides funding to early-stage startups while they’re still private. It’s something you hear about rich people doing, and you may even see advice to participate, too.
As Sethi pointed out, though, the average American cannot make these investments. You have to be an accredited investor, meaning you either have a net worth over $1 million excluding your primary residence or an income over $200,000 (individually) or over $300,000 (with a spouse or partner).
And even if you fit these criteria, angel investing is high risk. He recommended sticking to low-cost index funds for your investing instead.
8. Chasing Trends
When everyone’s telling you to hop on the next big financial trend, whether it’s special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), NFTs or something else, you should probably ignore that advice. Sethi argued that these “opportunities are far more like gambling than investing.” Focus on long-term investing over trends.
9. Believing You Can’t Get Rich From a 9-to-5 Job
Sethi said the good news is, “You have the opportunity to build serious wealth working a normal 9-to-5 job,” even if you don’t earn as much as a lawyer or a doctor. He suggested negotiating a raise, upgrading your skills and carefully choosing your career.
10. Buying a House
As Sethi acknowledged, buying a home is incredibly common financial advice. He called it “America’s number one religion,” but tells viewers to ignore it. Specifically, Sethi stressed that many people don’t account for the unseen costs of homeownership, such as maintenance, property taxes and insurance, which can add “30% to 50% to a monthly mortgage.”
It’s not that you should never buy a house. His take is simply to run all the numbers and make sure that you can afford the purchase.
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