What Would You Do if You Were Rich?

One of my favorite movies is The Italian Job. After stealing $35 million worth of gold, explosives expert, Left Ear, asks his fellow thieves what they are planning to do with the money. In other words, now that they are rich, how are their lives going to change?

The answers range from simple (a great stereo system) to extremely complex (a house in Spain that includes a library full of first-editions and a room for shoes). As the thieves go through their answers, we soon find out that all of the answers except for one involve buying stuff. And if we’re honest with ourselves, buying stuff might be our answer as well.

If we became rich, we might buy a bigger house, a newer car, a sailboat, or a brand new wardrobe. Or, instead of buying stuff, we might travel and begin to live a jet-setting, lavish lifestyle.

My answer

One thing that we can’t really buy is time. However, if I was rich, I think that it would make sense to free up a lot of my time by not having to work a full time job. Although I enjoy my job, I also love having autonomy to decide what to do with my time. Even when I have days or weeks off, I feel that I always have a lot of different things that I could do. Therefore, having a bit more free time would be something that I could “buy” if I was rich.

Travel is another thing that I would probably buy if I was rich, especially if I had more free time from not working. Besides just seeing new cities and countries, I still get fascinated by flying in an airplane or driving over landscapes that I’ve never seen before. I also find that travel breaks me out of any type of normal routine that I have. It causes me to think about things in different ways, approach problems from different angles, and find a different side of myself.

Besides buying travel and time, there wouldn’t be a lot of other things that I would buy if I was rich. My wife and I have already owned a huge house and are happier now that we decided to sell it. We also don’t have the need for fancy cars (except for maybe a Tesla), new furniture, or a lot of other things around the house. There would probably be a few things that we would buy, but I don’t think that the amount of stuff in our lives would change too much.

The “frugal analog”

Jonathan Mendonsa, who is a host of the ChooseFI podcast, explains a concept called the frugal analog. Instead of buying a designer, $500 purse, you may be able to get a “frugal analog,” a purse that is just as good for $50. I think that this is an important concept for those of us who aren’t rich yet.

For instance, instead of buying a vacation home for $200,000, we could use AirBNB to rent a vacation home for $2,000 per month. Instead of spending $4,000 to travel to New York City, we could use travel rewards and get a first-class trip to NYC for the cost of a pizza. Instead of focusing on the amount of time that our job is eating up, we can make sure that we get the most out of the free time that we have.

Even though we may not be rich, we can start to live like someone who is by using frugal analogs.

Just like me, you probably want to travel for free. Find out how you can use travel credit card rewards to get free travel by setting up a meeting with me. It doesn’t cost anything and it just may help you get some free travel! Fill out this form to set up a meeting.

A similar question

Although the question asked by Left Ear was was “what would you do if you were rich,” we could also phrase it this way:

How can we use money to make us happy?

When answering this question, it’s helpful to realize that excessive money does not necessarily make us happier. As a matter of fact, a study has shown that an income of around $75,000 may be optimal for happiness, with the amount varying slightly based on where you live.

So if excessive money, multiple vacation homes, piles of stuff, or even dozens of annual vacations don’t really make us happier, then what does? For this answer, we may have to turn back to The Italian Job and check in with the character played by Donald Sutherland:

“Find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with and hold onto her forever.”

In the thin lens of this movie, Mr. Sutherland’s character is talking about finding happiness from someone that you love. Of course, we know that we can’t rely solely on someone else to make us happy. But having good relationships, whether with a partner, friends, or family do make us happier.

So think about what you would do if you were rich. But also realize that you may be able to find a frugal analog of this activity that you could do today. And, even more importantly, make sure to realize that happiness, not wealth, is the primary focus.

Thanks for reading!

~Nathan

Let’s keep living a great life … with the help of money. So what’s next?

• You can travel for free by using rewards credit cards.
• You can get motivated and get out of debt.
• You can check out the next post or the previous post and continue to learn.

But no matter what you decide to do, let’s leave the ordinary behind and take action today!