MMy First Million
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Ramit Sethi24 April 2023

Ramit Sethi: His New Netflix Show, How To Stand Out & Spend Your Money

5Frameworks
12Insights

Frameworks in this episode

Finance5 steps

$30,000 Questions, Not $3 Questions

Stop agonizing over coffee and route your financial attention to the four decisions worth six figures.

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Finance5 steps

Making, Managing, Spending: The Three Money Skills

Treat earning, investing and spending as three separate skills and audit yourself honestly on each.

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Entrepreneurship5 steps

The Do Not Sell List

Refuse revenue from customers who cannot succeed with your product, and let selectivity build the brand.

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Finance5 steps

The Money Dial

Find the one category you genuinely love spending on, then quadruple it in vivid detail before cutting anything else.

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Marketing6 steps

The World Wants You To Be Vanilla

A checklist of unconventional decisions that make an audience-facing business stand out instead of blending in.

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Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Explainer· 3

Explainer08:30

Why a boring 8% is a spectacular return

Sam recounts a prior episode where he offered Shaan a hypothetical: invest only in your own business plus one vehicle returning a guaranteed 8% a year, nothing else. Shaan refused outright; Sam and Ramit both consider it an extraordinary deal. Ramit works the rule of 72 live — divide 72 by your return rate, so at roughly 10% nominal your money doubles every seven to ten years. His key correction is that people evaluate compounding as a one-off deposit when the real mechanic is continuous contribution, which he likens to pushing a train that eventually cannot be stopped.

  • Rule of 72: 72 divided by return rate equals years to double
  • At roughly 10% nominal, money doubles every 7-10 years
  • Average returns of 7-8% are phenomenal if you understand time
  • The compounding mistake is imagining a single deposit, not repeated contributions
  • Sam has never sold a stock in his life and holds HubSpot, Airbnb and index funds

“So, 72 divided by your return rate, if we say 10% nominal, it's about every 7 to 10 years it doubles.”

Ramit Sethi · 09:00

“what people forget is that you don't just put money in once, you keep contributing. So, it's like you've got a a train that's going…”

Ramit Sethi · 09:00
#compounding#investing#index funds
Explainer40:30

Inside Ramit's convenience stack and travel protocol

Pressed for the actual mechanics and cost of his own money dial, Ramit says he refuses to think monthly about anything except a conscious spending plan and estimates he spends probably hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on convenience. The goal is that every single thing is in its place — so much so that if he went blind he would know where everything is. Food ready, calendar invites with the link in the same position, meetings scheduled. A W-2 seasoned executive assistant handles day-to-day scheduling, haircuts, complex travel and a travel advisor, with his preferences documented down to the exact seat on a four-hour flight. A documented travel protocol activates when he travels, including healthy food sent ahead to the hotel. All of it is codified as an SOP and packaged in his Delegate and Done program.

  • Think annually at minimum, never monthly except for a conscious spending plan
  • Probably hundreds of thousands per year on convenience
  • Standard: if he went blind, he would know where everything is
  • A W-2 executive assistant able to interact at CEO level, preferences documented
  • An activated travel protocol including pre-sent healthy food, all captured as SOPs

“I don't want anyone to be thinking on a monthly basis except for your conscious spending plan. So, in order to have a bigger perspective,…”

Ramit Sethi · 40:30

“I want to wake up in the morning and I want every single thing in its place, so much so that if I go blind,…”

Ramit Sethi · 41:00
#delegation#systems#convenience
Explainer1:15:30

Why luxury brands build barriers to buying from them

Sam recounts Jay Leno, owner of perhaps 500 to 1,000 historically important cars, refusing to buy a Ferrari on principle because you must buy an entry-level model, join a waitlist, and accept resale restrictions to qualify for the rare ones. Sam applies the same objection to the Hermes waitlist. Ramit respects the refusal while explaining the logic from the seller's side: luxury is a completely different marketing beast where you do not want too many people to have the product, so barriers are deliberately created. His summarizing image is that the CEO of Volvo is happy to see two Volvos on a block while the CEO of Porsche or Rolls-Royce gets worried. He also points to Rolls-Royce launching a podcast as genius, given buyers of a $500,000 car will research every detail, and to their custom-colour policy where your colour becomes yours alone.

  • Jay Leno refuses Ferrari over the waitlist and resale rules
  • Luxury deliberately restricts access to preserve value
  • Volvo CEO happy at two on a block, Rolls-Royce CEO worried
  • Rolls-Royce podcast fits buyers who research every detail of a $500,000 car
  • A custom Rolls-Royce colour becomes exclusively yours

“when the CEO of Volvo sees two Volvos on a city block, he's happy. When the CEO of Porsche or Rolls-Royce sees two, he gets…”

Ramit Sethi · 1:15:30

“Luxury is a totally different beast. It's a totally different way of marketing. You don't want too many people to have it and so, you…”

Ramit Sethi · 1:16:00
#luxury#branding#scarcity

Story· 5

Story00:30

How to Get Rich hit Netflix's top 10 in 48 hours

Ramit's Netflix show launched days before the recording and immediately overperformed his expectations. It was number nine on all of Netflix on day one and number six on day two. His podcast simultaneously climbed to number 12 on all of Apple, displacing Ben Shapiro. He already receives roughly a thousand to two thousand messages a day across DMs, email and his newsletter, and has given up trying to stay on top of Instagram DMs because the inbox refreshes continuously. The part he values most is people posting photos from family rooms worldwide with the same show on screen.

  • Number nine on all of Netflix day one, number six day two
  • Podcast reached number 12 on all of Apple
  • Roughly 1,000-2,000 messages a day, DMs abandoned entirely
  • Netflix does not typically share actual viewership numbers with talent
  • Ramit is paid both as talent (host) and as an executive producer

“the show came out. It was number nine on all of Netflix the first day, number six the next day, and like the reception has…”

Ramit Sethi · 00:00

“I usually get about a thousand to two thousand messages a day just generally. Like including DMs, emails, everything”

Ramit Sethi · 50:00
#netflix#media#audience
Story04:30

Eighteen months of flyers and nobody came to the free money class

Sam's linear retelling of Ramit's career prompts a correction. Ramit really did hang flyers on the Stanford campus and try to recruit friends in the dining halls to a free personal finance class, and for a year and a half almost nobody came. The lesson he drew later was that people do not like going to events about money because it makes them feel bad about themselves. Rather than quit, he concluded the students were lazy and started a blog instead — the pivot that eventually led everywhere else, with a lot of trying and failing in between.

  • A year and a half of free classes drew only a handful of attendees
  • Root cause: money events make people feel bad about themselves
  • The blog was a pivot away from a failing format, not a master plan
  • Sometimes you should give up, and sometimes you shouldn't
  • The path looks linear only in hindsight

“For like a year and a half, nobody would come to my events. Like I would struggle to get people to come to get a…”

Ramit Sethi · 04:30

“It sounds so linear the way you say it. Like I sat at a chessboard and just like mapped it out, but if you go…”

Ramit Sethi · 04:30
#origin story#persistence#audience
Story19:30

The couple who agreed to the plan, then ordered eight pairs of jeans

Sam describes being genuinely angered by an episode featuring Monique and Darnell, grandparents in their late thirties on roughly $90,000 household income who agreed to a plan involving clearing a storage unit and cutting spending. Two weeks later a box arrives with eight pairs of jeans and $120 shoes, justified with 'I need these jeans'. Another woman sold a $1.1 million house she said was too big and bought a $2.2 million one. Ramit's reaction is the opposite of Sam's: he says he loves when people say one thing and do another because it is a puzzle, and his early-20s judgmental approach of pushing harder and showing another chart simply did not work.

  • Sam's frustration: people agreeing to a plan and immediately violating it
  • The woman who downsized into a house twice as expensive
  • Ramit was super judgmental in his early 20s and could see souls leave people's bodies
  • Pushing harder and showing another chart does not change behaviour
  • The goal is to get people to see their own contradiction, not to impose it

“I love when people say one thing and do another because to me it's like that beautiful contradiction of humanity.”

Ramit Sethi · 22:00

“I thought if I push him harder if I show him another chart they'll get it. Um and I can tell you that that doesn't…”

Ramit Sethi · 21:30
#behaviour change#coaching#discipline
Story45:30

What filming a Netflix show is actually like

The production found an LA office seven days before filming and designed it in 24 hours; Ramit walked in and said it looked like a white person selling their Airbnb, all geometric shapes and neon. He produced a Pinterest board of minimalist home offices and an unlimited-budget vision, which the crew laughed at because they had a real budget and two days. On day one there were around thirty people in what should have been a controlled environment — multiple cameras, sound, producers, makeup — and it felt like acting rather than conversation. The harder part was the home visits: opening your home and talking about money is the most intimate thing in America, and more Americans would be comfortable discussing their sex lives than their credit card debt.

  • Office found 7 days out, designed in 24 hours, rejected on sight
  • Around 30 crew for a controlled office shoot
  • It feels like performing, not like a conversation
  • Research finding: Americans discuss sex lives more comfortably than credit card debt
  • Ramit had to learn how to make people comfortable with a crew in their home

“People open up their houses, it's the most intimate thing you can do in America is to open up your home and talk about money.”

Ramit Sethi · 48:30

“most Americans would be comfortable talking about their sex lives than their credit card debt. That's actually research.”

Ramit Sethi · 48:30
#media production#netflix#money taboo
Story1:03:30

The helicopter tell that revealed who was really buying his business

A mysterious man with a generic name approached Ramit at a New York party knowing an unusual amount about his funnel structure and conversion rates, then invited him to breakfast at the Four Seasons in Midtown — at a time when Ramit was working out of coffee shops. Four people were at the table. Ramit spent the meal trying to read the power dynamic and got his answer incidentally: the quiet man with crossed arms mentioned a five-hour drive to a North Carolina place and then said he doesn't drive, he takes a helicopter. They wanted over 50% of the business and planned to hyper-monetize it with aggressive offers and Facebook ads. Ramit declined point-blank, asking himself what he would even do with the money.

  • The buyer knew his funnel structure and conversion rates before meeting
  • The helicopter remark revealed the real principal at the table
  • The offer was for over 50% and hyper-monetization
  • He declined because aggressive offers would cost him brand and reputation
  • The business went through a big growth spurt in the following years

“He goes, "Oh, I don't drive. I take a helicopter." Bingo.”

Ramit Sethi · 1:05:30

“I'm actually really glad I did not sell because the business went through a big growth spurt in the next few years.”

Ramit Sethi · 1:06:30
#acquisition#bootstrapping#negotiation

Takeaway· 2

Takeaway24:00

The $400-a-month storage unit full of a used microwave

The same couple, on roughly $90,000 a year with the wife having quit her job for a woodworking business, paid about $400 a month for a storage unit. Opening it revealed an old used microwave, plastic toys and containers from Target — junk worth less than two months of storage fees, and the husband still insisted he needed the microwave. Sam found it shocking enough that it made him want to clear out his own closet. Ramit's broader point is that once things enter your home and become part of your identity, they are almost impossible to get rid of, and that after a while the stuff starts to control you.

  • Two months of storage fees exceeded the value of everything stored
  • Household income roughly $90,000 a year
  • Stuff becomes part of identity and then cannot be discarded
  • Ramit's wife, a personal stylist, has removed up to 40 bags of clothes from one client's closet
  • His rule: be careful what you bring in, buy the best, keep it a long time

“we have to be very, very conscious of the things we buy because once they come into our home and once they become part of…”

Ramit Sethi · 28:00

“When I get it, I want it to be the best. And then when I get the best, I want to keep it for a…”

Ramit Sethi · 28:30
#spending#minimalism#consumption
Takeaway25:30

What Ramit reads in the first ten seconds of someone's home

Ramit turned down years of producer offers because the format was always to go into a couple's home and finger-wag at them. He finally agreed to visit a young woman's apartment in New Jersey and thought immediately that he should have done it ten years earlier. Walking in he catalogued signals: fifteen to twenty expensive Diptyque-style candles, a gigantic TV, a Jeep outside, and then he asked her to read the top ten emails in her inbox, which were Target and Pier 1. Where a visitor sees a living room, he sees what percentage of net income is going to fixed costs. He extends this to a general skill of reading clues — including who repeatedly arrives five minutes late to meetings.

  • The entryway alone reveals a great deal about someone's finances
  • Asking for the top ten emails in an inbox surfaces spending patterns
  • He reads objects as percentage of net income going to fixed costs
  • His format rule: ask what people love spending on, don't finger-wag
  • The world gives you clues about where you stand, in work and fitness too

“the minute she opened the door I thought to myself, "I should have done this 10 years ago." Because you can tell so much by…”

Ramit Sethi · 26:00

“you may see a living room, I see how much percentage of her net income is going to fixed costs.”

Ramit Sethi · 27:00
#diagnostics#spending#coaching

contrarian· 2

contrarian05:30

He bought Amazon in high school and says that is exactly the wrong lesson

Ramit's father, who came from India and was savvy with money, opened him a custodial Roth IRA at 14 or 15. Ramit put his first college scholarship check into the stock market in 1999 and lost half of it fast, but kept investing from pizza-place and sales earnings. He picked three stocks in high school: Excite@Home went bankrupt, JDSU went bankrupt, and Amazon he has held ever since. He is emphatic that the takeaway is not to find the next Amazon — that was complete luck — but to buy a target date or index fund and let it ride.

  • Roth IRA opened via a custodial account at 14 or 15
  • First scholarship check invested in 1999, half of it lost quickly
  • Two of three high-school picks went bankrupt; Amazon was luck
  • Do not try to pick individual stocks
  • Target date or index funds, then leave them alone

“You're never going to pick the next Amazon. That was complete luck. Do not do that strategy”

Ramit Sethi · 06:30

“don't try to pick individual stocks. Pick a nice target date fund or index fund and then let it ride and you will have more…”

Ramit Sethi · 07:00
#investing#index funds#personal finance
contrarian52:30

Twenty years of renting made him more money than owning would have

Ramit's position is that you should buy a home because you want it, not because it is a good investment, and at best treat it as a store of value. When accused of being negative on housing, his reply is that the mere suggestion of running the numbers on the biggest purchase of your life being read as negative shows how far the Overton window has shifted. His own record: about twenty years renting across San Francisco, New York and LA, making more money renting than owning. In New York the equivalent unit — same neighbourhood, view, size and bedroom count — would have cost 2.2 times more to own once phantom costs, interest, opportunity cost and maintenance were included, turning a $3,000 rent into roughly $6,400 a month.

  • Buy because you want it, not as an investment
  • About 20 years renting in SF, New York and LA
  • Equivalent New York unit cost 2.2x more to own
  • $3,000 rent versus roughly $6,400 all-in ownership cost
  • Index funds often, not always, outperform the housing purchase

“The fact that you think my advice, which is run the numbers on the biggest purchase of your life, is negative tells you how far…”

Ramit Sethi · 52:30

“It would have cost me 2.2 times more to own the equivalent unit. Same neighborhood, same view, same size, same number of bedrooms.”

Ramit Sethi · 53:00
#real estate#renting#contrarian