The one stupid purchase every rich person makes

Will a big house make you happier? If you use it as a way to have better relationships with people. If you have a big house so you can have 20 of your best buddies over every Friday night and have a great time, yes. If you have a big house because that's what you need for you and your spouse to have five kids and that's your meaning and purpose in life, yes, absolutely. But I think if if you're using it as as a way of just like a you know, because that's what you should want kind of thing. Then it could be pretty miserable. Very interesting Harvey Firestone who created Firestone tires. He He He was He was He was alive 120 years ago or something. He wrote a biography in the 1920s. And he pointed this out. He said, "Every wealthy person that he knows, without exception, buys a gigantic house. And every single one of them, without exception, finds it to just be a tremendous burden." >> [laughter] >> And and he was and he was like he was like, "Why why do we do it?" And he even said Henry Ford, who at the time was like a cheap miser kind of thing. He was like he he was like even Henry Ford has a gigantic house that he hates. But he's like there So he's like there has to be something in the human soul that just associates large property with success. >> Big abode. >> Because and I think a lot of people who have a big house know this. Like a big house is a tremendous amount of upkeep. And a lot of people who live in those giant homes will eventually basically seclude themselves to a small little corner of that house that feels homely. I would love to see people who have homes over 10,000 square feet or whatever. I'd love to do one of those GPS tracking maps. >> Yes. Where do they stay with us? Yeah, yeah. I'd want to see, "Oh my god, you know of the 10,000 square feet that your house is, you use the same 1,500 square feet. And you would be able to purchase that in this location or however many of these or you This is what you lived in You use the size of house that you lived in when you were 22." Yes. And you're still living in that same house. It's just slightly bigger surrounding. >> But even if you showed that person that that information or for myself, and you said, "Hey, you you could actually only live in a house that's 1,500 square feet." No. No, thanks. Not interested. So, that that's what Harvey Firestone got right. He was like, "It's a burden, but you still do it. And you're still going to do it." I I have a friend whose parents have live in a 20,000 square foot house, and he gave us a tour. And the tour was basically yeah, down that hall, there's four bedrooms that nobody ever uses. Down this hall, there's a room it was going to be a gym, but we never We actually put the gym downstairs. Nobody ever uses it. It was He would give us a tour of places that are never used. And just like I said, they basically secluded themselves to the kitchen, living room, bedroom, and that was it. Behold my obsolescence. Look at how Yes, surplus I But I think this is why it's such a fascinating topic because people have always done that, and they will always do it. >> An interesting point is even uh rich people at not all rich people buy fancy cars. Not everyone's into cars. >> Yeah. Uh not all rich people Most rich people fly at a slightly nicer class. I think that's one of the places, but very few people regret choosing to fly business over flying economy. If you're in the market for that kind of travel quality. Yeah, this is what Sam Zell, who is a a billionaire real estate guy, he told David Senra this. Sam Zell said Sam Zell said the only true material luxury is flying private. So, Sam's Sam's advice, it's ambitious advice. He was like, "Get the private jet money. That's the only thing that makes Scott Galloway said the same. Scott Galloway said, "Once you were able to own your own home, the only next thing worth buying is being able to have a jet." >> And obviously that's >> a [ __ ] Yeah, I'm like, "Scott, the difference between I mean, for a lot of people being able to buy a house is That's that's the >> out of [ __ ] reach at the moment. And then the jet thing, but at least to me, the the sort of funny note on that was like, "What about a yacht?" He's like, "Yachts are stupid." >> pain in the ass. Yeah. It's >> [laughter] >> Yeah. I thought it was so funny. Uh how do you define financial success then after all of this time thinking about it? What does financial success come to me? To me it's independence to be who you want to be. And who I want to be is not who you want to be. Is everyone is their own very individualistic definition of that. It's waking up and saying I can do whatever I want today and having the independence and the freedom to do that. And the distinction is there are billionaires who have no control over their time, no control over their schedule, spend their entire day doing things that they don't want to do. And there are people who make $50,000 a year who are living their absolute best life and totally control their life, control where they live, where they work, who they spend their time with, doing the hobbies that they want to do. And so to me that's really what wealth is. And I think I think a lot of people can get this wrong in their ambitions. That if your sole financial ambition is I want the highest net worth and and the way and the way in which you're going to get that is to basically put on a performance of somebody that you're not and wake up every morning and do things that you don't enjoy doing. And that's that's not to say hard work. I think I think the vast majority people get a big thrill and a lot of pleasure out of hard work. They like being productive doing the thing that they want to do. It's working hard on things that you genuinely don't enjoy solely because you're attracted to a bigger bank account. And but then that's a very common thing. So I think I think the definition of wealth is the ability, the pleasure of being who you want to be, being independent, waking up every morning and saying what I'm going to do today is the thing that I want to do. Wealth without independence is a unique form of poverty. That's that's what it is for a lot of wealthy people. This to This to me is one of the most fascinating things of meeting a lot of wealthy people. If you associate wealth with material and you got they have a big house, they have a big car, maybe they have a plane and you associate, oh this person is very wealthy. And for a lot of them, not all of them, but for a lot of them if when you if you get to know them they spend the vast majority of their day doing things that they don't want to do. And that to me that that still might be a be appealing to some people. Or if you're not at that, you might say, "Look, I understand you say that, but let me experience it for myself. Let let me try to do that." That's always the appeal. So, I get that. But it's of the very wealthy people I've met, some of them have truly amazing lives. And I wouldn't say jealous, but I look at them and be like, "I I I want to be you." Yep. There's I think there's a greater number though that when you if you get to know them, you're like, "Wow, that's that's not what I thought it would be." Well, a lot of people have to do things that they don't want to do. And many people who worked super hard, two jobs, got the kids, all the rest of the stuff, would say, "Well, you know, good. They they should do I have to work hard and so should they." You go, "Yeah, but why do you think they made themselves wealthy?" Yeah. "What would you do if you Well, if I was wealthy, I wouldn't have to work the second job." It's like, if you are the sort of person who is driven to make yourself into the kind of wealth that they have, >> Yes. you can't turn off the switch. >> you can't You're never going to meet a a billionaire except on the very few people who like accidentally got rich. You're never going to meet a self-made billionaire who has a kind of personality who can say, "That's enough. Let me put it all in muni bonds and go home." Mhm. It's it's not it's not going to there. The reason that they are successful is because they have the kind of personality where they cannot 24 hours a day all they can think about is their business. Mhm. And the way and that's that's and even if I would say I don't want that for myself. Of course, I want to be financially successful and I enjoy the work that I do. I'm so grateful that those people exist. Like the vast majority of the great technology and great medicine that we all enjoy in the world came from people who were maniacally obsessed about their job even if it came at the expense of their health, their marriage, their relationship with their kids. They created something amazing and that's why they got successful. >> Human perpetual motion machines. Yes. >> That's just churning sucking in problems and spitting out solutions. >> Yeah, I think we should be almost the most grateful for people in society who created amazing technology and amazing things at the expense of their own happiness that we all get to benefit from now. >> Yeah, I mean it should be a cautionary tale, but from the outside everybody looks at it and thinks some version of that might be true for them, but it won't be true for me. Watch me dance through the minefield that has been laid by art and literature and movies and songs and stories from my grandparents and the most famous investors from history. Watch me dance through that minefield and not kick any of the tripwires. David Senra has profiled 400 of the most successful entrepreneurs. I just done such a good job doing it. And he says of the 400 entrepreneurs he's profiled, there's two whose lives that he thinks that he would he that he would actually want to live. Who are they? Uh one is Ed Thorp who was a a card counter in Vegas and then a hedge fund manager. Okay. And had just an amazing personal life on the side. Just amazing family, incredible health. I think he's still around. I think Ed Thorp is 90 years old and genuinely looks 55. Just an incredible life. But of the other, you know, 399 people that he's profiled, it's that person created something amazing, built an incredible thing, an amazing amount of wealth, technology that we all benefit from and we should worship that person or at least admire that person and I would never want to be them. Yeah. And evade them as much as you can at least in a role model. You got this great line, money serves you best when it stops being the thing you think about. Yeah, I think I think a lot the vast majority of successful entrepreneurs, with the exception of maybe hedge fund managers, were not chasing the money. They were absolutely fascinated with the problem that they were trying to solve, but they weren't doing it just to get rich. The the money the money came. It eventually came. If you solve enough problems in a way that's helpful for people, it'll eventually come to you. But, I think people entrepreneurs who set out the goal is to become rich very seldomly do. In other news, you've probably heard me talk about Element before, and that's because I am frankly dependent on it. Uh and it's how I started my day every single morning. This is the best-tasting hydration drink on the market. You might think, "Why do I need to be more hydrated?" 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