After reading your comment, I was overcome by emotion so overwhelming that it compelled me to write to you.

I would bet $25 that, like many Indians and Indian Americans, you were raised by extremely frugal parents. They frequently denied you “splurging” experiences that were enjoyed by your friends and many others around you. They trained you to deny yourself such experiences. This left you with resentment and regret so deep that the bitterness has utterly blinded you to the following:

• The financial difficulties your parents likely went through or observed, to learn frugality.

• The likelihood that it was a conscious choice on your parents’ part to teach you, from a young age, to deny yourself “splurging” experiences

• The numerous financial catastrophes you avoided by practicing frugality, catastrophes that are worth some resentment and regret to avoid

• The critical role played by frugality in your amassing your own wealth

• The long-term financial difficulties faced by those who habitually enjoyed “splurging” experiences from a young age

• The tragic absence of education to help young people make wise personal finance decisions.

• The excellent personal finance education, geared toward young people, provided by Ramit in his speaking engagements, newsletter, and blog.

• The deeply informed reasons Ramit provides for frugal habits.

• The distinction Ramit repeatedly draws between financial net worth and “being rich”

• The numerous examples Ramit provides of people who may look like they are splurging but who are actually making informed investments in their own happiness.

• Ramit’s commitment to using his assets to help others.

• The good humor with which Ramit pokes fun at examples of excessive frugality.

Your blindness to these obvious facts suggests that you are overwhelmed by resentment and regret. In Ramit, you see only your own deficiencies. For this, I pity you.

Here is a prescription to rid yourself of these demons:

• Accept that some experiences are lost forever, and move on. To help you, think of people who had even fewer good experiences than you.

• Enjoy splurging experiences that were denied you at a young age. Buy the biggest ice cream sundae on the menu, or buy the most expensive Disney World experience. You will find yourself rapidly and cheaply satisfied.

• Treat some one else to such experiences.

• Fund an enterprise that helps others by providing wealth, employment, education, or financial aid.

You will find yourself liberated and spiritually enriched by the practices of the very person you deride. Unlike you, I wish Ramit continued success in his ventures. May his wealth surpass our own when he reaches our age.