"My Rich Life" - Ramit Sethi on Netflix

Viking_mfw

Apologies if this gets moved somewhere else because it's not MFW, but I'm putting it here because 
1) I'm interested specifically in the views of the people who hang out in MFW and
2) it's really making me think about mortgage freedom and whether that's the thing. 

So, the 2009 book 'I can teach you to be rich' has been made into a netflix show 'How To Be Rich' but the primary point is to think about what 'your rich life' looks like, and making your money work for you to that end. He advocates spending on the things you care about and cutting back massively on the things that don't add value to your life. Otherwise it's all fairly normal suggestions re fire and forget investing, building up savings, etc, although (given he's in the US) he doesn't necessarily advocate home ownership for all. 

It's got me thinking about what matters to me - and actually we have quite a lot of what we need for a rich life, although I'd prefer a much bigger cushion of savings, and that's something that I need to work on, One of the things that has come up here and from elsewhere is that also I want to get rid of a lot of clutter, because feeling like we have more space and being able to keep things clean is much more aligned with 'my rich life'. 

So - has anyone else seen the programme, or have you read the book? What do you think? I suspect many of us will have had these kinds of thoughts when considering being MFW. 

South_coast

I haven't seen the programme, but I have read the book. There is also a podcast, where he counsels couples whose spending decisions are out of alignment. Being honest, I found the podcast quite same-y after a while and stopped listening, and the book was a bit basic for me (but he kept referring to it in the podcast, so I felt like I really ought to read it 🤦‍♀️!) But that's probably just my perspective after too many years of MSE and MFW - I'm past entry-level stuff with finances!

I do like the rich life idea though, and don't have any qualms on splashing out in certain areas (while not spending on other things that I'm not bothered about) 😀

Viking_mfw

Thanks @South_coast. Was pondering the book but suspected that would be the case. The tv programme is not repetitive in that they've clearly chosen contrasting cases, but also there's fairly straightforward answers in most cases. It was a bit of fun nonsense to while away a couple of hours though. 

beanielou

No harm in getting the book from the library!

Viking_mfw

beanielou said:

No harm in getting the book from the library!

That was my thought but it's not in our county!

savingholmes

I watched a few episodes while away. I found it irritating as stories were split across episodes and there were too many threads in one programme. I didn't agree with all his advice either and wondered how many of us MSErs could do a lot better. I do agree it's important to have a powerful vision of what you want out of life and to keep checking your progress against that. You might want to check out 'The money or your life' by Vicki Robin - which makes you challenge yourself on whether the spends you made were worth the life energy it took to get the money.