I think that, often, the emphasis is on “spending less” instead of “gaining more” as people tend to still have the same spending habits no matter how much they make. If you analyzed the spending vs saving habits of the majority of people, this is probably true. There are, of course, exceptions, but these people aren’t necessarily the personal finance site’s core reader group.

PS. Ramit: Just found your site and as a 23-yr old, for the first time in my life, have started to care about my finances. Your ability to break down the complex and often inaccessible world of personal finance into simple, manageable, actions has re-programmed how I think about money, and hopefully, has initiated a life-long relationship with my own money that will now be conscious and guilt-free.

I love my free time and time with my family and friends. and have to be convinced of the worth of something before I give it my time.

There’s nothing wrong with earning more money. I think it’s a wonderful thing. It’s an area I focus quite a bit of my energy on actually. But there’s also nothing wrong with not wanting to sacrifice the precious hours you have here on earth to create a business or move up in the corporate world when you already have plenty.

Before giving up their life’s time pursuing worldly wealth, people should ask themselves whether it’s better to focus their efforts on making a living OR living.

I just finished reading your book, and it seems to be a very basic guide for people who know absolutely nothing about finances. And this is great for the vast majority of people. But some people are beyond that and should be looking at it from a larger perspective.
For instance, we should be looking at how the system came to be and how we can turn the system on its head to benefit from it.

Whenever I have visited a casino, I don’t think about the possibility of winning a large sum of money like most people do, I think about how to make a casino! Those guys are the guaranteed winners! We should be trying to break out of the system instead of becoming further entrenched. The idea that 401(k)s will somehow make you “financially independent” is, quite frankly, insulting. Sure there is money to be made in that casino gamble, but I’d much rather open my own casino than play at their game.

I hope you have a chance to check out my site, Fruitfulista.com
Cassie

I just wanted to say that after reading through, or skimming through these comments, the single most impressive fact to me is that you are reading all your comments. It shows me how committed you are to this project and is one of the primary reasons I find myself continually returning here.

It is a must read for the new economy and is full of great advice for making yourself more valuable and less replaceable. If you don’t want to be a expendable cog in the machine and you want to do more in life and not less, then it is required reading.

I think its great that you are reading articles about money. That’s the way to figure out what your own philosophy is and move forward. But remember that choosing to prioritize your spending instead of working evermore harder to chase the almighty buck is not what everybody wants and its definitely not aiming low. There are plenty of jobs out there that are rewarding because of how much you can affect people’s lives that are not that highly paid. As Clayton said, people who start their own business usually don’t have a problem managing money. That might be because they believe in what they are doing. Also, I don’t really believe that spending alot of your money to live a little rich is not going to do anything more than stoke the desire for what you can’t (at least now) afford. As the Buddhists say, desires are endless. When you figure out who you are and how you are going to effect change in this world, then you won’t feel so much like an outsider looking in. Because you will be doing what you are meant to do. Otherwise you are just selling your time(= life) for a job that has little real meaning . Just recently I met with my financial advisor to see when I can retire. Spending less has enabled me to consider retiring now, with the idea that I can spend twice as much money as I am currently living on for the next 30 years, and still never run out of money (within certain parameters!). I would never tell you not to work harder and work smarter, for sure, but the one thing I would tell you is to make sure that your money is ALWAYS working for you.