Money Habits: How to Create a Rich Life with Ramit Sethi and lewis Howes

He argues that basic personal finance advice over-emphasizes cutting back, while high earners face a different, more advanced challenge: deciding what’s worth paying for and why. He frames spending choices (like business class) as a rational recalibration when money becomes a tool, not a constraint.

He describes “money dials” as the category you love spending on (and can endlessly optimize), such as relationships, convenience, travel, wellness, or frugality. The point is to cut spending in areas you don’t value and spend extravagantly—without guilt—on the dial that actually improves your life.

He says he sets an aggressive annual savings/investing target and sends unexpected income mostly into investments, rather than lifestyle inflation. He also warns that many entrepreneurs fail to invest because they think putting everything back into the business is enough.

He recommends simple, low-cost index funds (including target date funds) as a strong default approach, especially for entrepreneurs who might overcomplicate investing. He adds that once the fundamentals are automated and maxed out, a small portion (he suggests 5–10%) can be used for “fun” investing if you’re prepared to lose it.

He shares that when he saw a short-term drop (he cites losing $75,000 in 11 days in one account), he did nothing—because the system is automated and designed for long-term investing. He argues people behave irrationally by selling when markets drop, even though they’d celebrate discounts in everyday purchases.