Dr. Daniel Crosby (3:16)

See, I brought that up to Michael this week and he didn't believe me. But I said that rich people, we've never been richer and people, and rich people have never been more miserable than they are right now. Because I think it's easier to compare yourselves to others. It's easier to see that others have more than you. And I think just the fact that so many people have more material wealth now, it makes it harder to enjoy the fruits of your own labor.

Ben Carlson (3:37)

And Daniel, as a scientist, you should know that Ben was basing that, that observation on the white lotus.

Michael Batnik (3:44)

As a white lotus enthusiast myself, Ben is right and Michael's wrong. So yeah, no, it's, that's exactly, exactly right. You know, if you think about, if we boiled down human existence into a one year period that 250 years ago was like December 31, late in the day. I mean, this was just a recent thing for most of human history. You knew like a hundred people, right? If you look at most animals, animals, they can only kind of transact and do business with a hundred, hundred, you know, of their species. We were the same way for a long time. You knew fifty or hundred people, their lives all kind of looked like yours and you didn't have much to compare your plight in life to. Well, now you can with your phone, follow the person with the, you know, the biggest bank account, the best abs, the best hair, the best life, and compare your life to theirs. And we don't think about wealth in, in absolute terms. We think about it in relative terms. And that's a big, that's a big driver of this dissatisfaction.

Ben Carlson (4:50)

I wrote about that years ago talking about like, oh, we have it so much better than our parents, our Grandparents zoom out. People don't zoom out. They zoom in. And I wrote, you don't compare yourself to your ancestors. You compare yourself to your neighbors.

Michael Batnik (5:03)

Oh, yeah. Like the. The average home size in the US has tripled post World War II. You ever look at a house from 1940? Like, the average home size has tripled post World War II. And people feel poorer. Like, people feel poorer than they did then. It's just the. The mechanism of comparison is much more advanced now.

Ben Carlson (5:25)

I spoke about this with Ben a couple of months ago. My father took me to the area that he grew up in. Now, my father grew up in an apartment with his. He was an only child. His parents had no money. I forget, I don't even think his mother. My grandma worked. But my grandfather worked at a liquor store. And he worked, I think, briefly as a tailor. And even, like, no money. Even up until in the 70s, he was pushing shopping carts at Publix down in Florida. So, like, real, really no money. And my dad shared a bunk bed with his grandfather, if you could imagine. And he didn't. And I asked him, I said, did you feel. Did you feel poor? And he said, no. He had, you know, what he needed. He had his friends. They played baseball on the boardwalk, whatever. He got a pack of baseball cards whenever he could. And that type of life today would be just abject poverty. And not to say that life. That life doesn't exist today for. For too many people, of course, but the fact that he grew up that way and he didn't feel poor is unbelievable, considering that's not 11 generations ago. It's, you know, 50, 60. It's 60 years ago.

Michael Batnik (6:36)

Yeah. Oh, well, nothing's changed except the ability to compare. And people's eyes have been opened to the disparity. Like in the book. You know, in the book, I talk about people at different income levels and who's the most satisfied. And your reference class is a better predictor of how wealthy you feel than the dollars you have in your bank. So how much money you have is less material than who you're comparing yourself to and how rich you feel.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (7:05)

I think one of the reasons we wanted to talk to you. Cause it's in the book, but you talk about how, like, the Joneses aren't that happy, and like, chasing what they have is only going to make you miserable. But it's really, really hard to not look at what else. Look at the house they have, look at the car they have. Look at the life they have on social media. And then just like, okay, because, like, the typical financial advisor advice is just ignore the noise, but the noise is literally beating you over the head every day. It's impossible to ignore. So the question for most people is, like, how do I deal with it, knowing that it's there and it's never going away?

Michael Batnik (7:37)

Yeah. So nature abhors a vacuum. You can't just ignore the noise. Right. That's, like, overly simplistic. I think what you need, what psychologists call the replacement behavior, you need to fill it with something else. In the book I talk about, there's over 350 different studies that I draw on that talk about how the Joneses aren't that happy and that people who pursue goals of outward extravagance or sort of outward displays of wealth are miserable. But. But people who pursue wealth with an eye to personal growth, philanthropy, or deepening relationships are the ones that are happy. So it's not like, you know, that we shouldn't care about money. It's just that we should benchmark our money to something that is. Has the ability to sate our, you know, sate our hunger for these things, which is things like making your own game sharper, investing in the people you love, doing good stuff with the people you love, and helping the world.

Ben Carlson (8:39)

I think a lot of behavioral stuff is, like, it sounds good, but a lot of it is, like, hard to apply. But I think there's something that you can apply here. So who said comparison is a thief of joy? Somebody said that.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (8:53)

Was that Roosevelt or JP Morgan or.

Ben Carlson (8:55)

Who is it? I wasn't sure if it was Super Mario or.

Michael Batnik (8:57)

I had Roosevelt. I had Roosevelt. It's the name of one of my chapters. I should.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (9:01)

I think it. I think it is. I think it maybe is Roosevelt.

Ben Carlson (9:03)

So it's interesting, Daniel, if you were to ask people, would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond? I think people would say a small fish in a big pond. But it doesn't really make sense because if you are the poorest rich person in your rich neighborhood, that's not setting yourself up for success. Your kids are going to be comparing themselves and why don't they get this? It's going to drive you nuts. And so when you're considering where to plant your roots, not that you need to be, you know, a person who's like, such an outlier that you're, like, in the wrong place and with people that look at you like, who is this asshole here? But it's probably much healthier to live in a Modestly, even if you have money middle upper class town, than to live in the richest town where it's just everybody's knifing each other in the back.

Michael Batnik (9:54)

One of the biggest financial mistakes that I have ever made was moving from my hometown in north Alabama, which is profoundly middle class, like the most sort of conservative middle class place I've ever seen frankly, to suburban, to like a wealthy suburb of Atlanta, which is probably one of the more blingy, flashier cities in America. The outward displays of wealth here, I mean, they have had a material negative impact on my happiness and the way that I spend, save and invest my money. When I look back honestly on my own financial decisions, you know, you can be the king of Alabama with a hundred thousand dollar a year salary. You're the king of Alabama. Moving to a bigger pond was a material negative for me personally and I think it's consistent with the research.

Ben Carlson (10:45)

It's so interesting when you see people, and I was about to say not to judge, but it's impossible not to judge. Come on, who am I kidding? When you see people whose car is, I don't know, a third of the cost of their house, a modest house, to be generous with a hundred thousand dollar plus car or Range Rover or whatever, it's like, wow, that I would love to know what's going on inside that person's brain. The conversations the, the spouses are having with one another.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (11:18)

I would love to know what's going on inside their 401k and 5 29.

Ben Carlson (11:21)

What are the. What, what is that about, Daniel? When people just have these outward displays of wealth that are clearly living above their means.

Michael Batnik (11:30)

Well, so it's interesting. Outward displays of wealth are a signal to the world that you've made it. Right? And so, I mean, I have a neighbor who lives in probably a $2 million house and has, no kidding, $3 million worth of cars in the driveway, has eight or nine cars, Maserati, Lamborghini, G Wagon, on and on and on, has eight or nine cars that have got a total 3 million DOL. And look, they, they may be richer than Croesus, I have no idea about their financial situation, but it is fascinating to think that you'd have more invested in a depreciating portable visible asset than something like a home. And you know what's interesting though is you look at certain groups in the US are more prone to outward displays of wealth than others because it's a symbol of having made it and having arrived. And I think especially under groups that have been Historically underrepresented or oppressed. It's a symbol of having, having mated.

Ben Carlson (12:37)

That part I think anyone could fully understand. Right. If you grew up in abject poverty and you want to demonstrate to the world everyone could understand that mentality. But I'm not talking about those people. Yeah, I'm talking about like people that are just. I don't know if it's insecurity or I'm sure, I mean, obviously that's part of it, but it is, it is bizarre. I guess the other, the other side of this is people that have so much money that drive Honda Accords.

Michael Batnik (13:03)

Another sickness.

Ben Carlson (13:04)

Another sickness. Isn't money meant to be enjoyed? When I see a rich person driving a rich car, I don't, I don't judge at all. If you enjoy spending money on that and you can afford it, like more power to you. That's what the money's for. You, you can't take it with you. You're gonna die.

Michael Batnik (13:16)

I think it's demonstrative of the way that money is a signaling mechanism. You think about the really wealthy person who drives the Honda Accord that's every bit as much a vanity metric and every bit as much a vanity flex, total flex as the person, you know, driving the expensive supercar. I mean, it is just as intentional in what is this it is saying about them, but they get the benefit of getting to act righteous and pious about that's even worse.

Ben Carlson (13:48)

The rich people that wear the $15. What's that old watch?

Michael Batnik (13:53)

The Casio. The Casio?

Ben Carlson (13:55)

Yeah. It's like, dude, come on, we know you're rich. You don't have to like flex shit us.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (13:59)

Well, the weird, the weird behavioral thing is Michael and I always talk about how like the, the inability of most people to be content in their life is actually a good thing for society, but it's bad thing for individuals. And it's maybe a good thing when you're younger and you're hungry and you need to strive to get better, but then it can hurt you when you get older. And then nothing is ever enough. Just like the people who save their whole lives and then can't turn around and in spend. So it's like sometimes these things are good for you and. But it's just too much of them or at a certain point in your life they become, they become a negative. And that's the hard part is like when do you know how to flip the switch and turn it off?

Michael Batnik (14:35)

Absolutely. I mean the US economy would be nothing without the hedonic treadmill. I Mean, we. We. We depend on it. We depend on this to survive. For sure.

Ben Carlson (14:45)

Daniel, that was. I was talking to a client, I don't know, four weeks ago, a concerned client. Concerned as an understatement. And I was. I just leaned back on that. I said, listen, at the end of the day, we're all sick maniacs, and we're the richest country in the world, and for each of us, generally speaking, it's never enough. We're never satisfied. We always want more. And that just will and does show up in earnings per share. And while it might be sad at the individual level, to Ben's point, for. For all of us as stockholders in this country, it's a wonderful thing. Like, that's. That's the upside of the downside, that we're never satisfied.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (15:23)

Well, I think you have a good chapter in your book called, like, I'll Be Happy when. And you say that's a trap. And I think that's the thing that people can learn over time, is that when you hit these, you have these goalposts in mind. If I can just make $100,000, I'll be happy. If I can just get a million dollars in the bank, I'll be happy. And then you get those things, and you realize, oh, there is literally no. There's no difference in me from one day to the next. And if I hit this goalpost, I think that is a good learning experience for people to have that, oh, this actually doesn't fill any holes in my life at all. And now I just. I'm pushing the number up and I'm moving the goalposts, and it's completely changed now.

Michael Batnik (15:58)

Yeah, it's funny. There's. There's, you know, all this advice about what you can do around the margins to. To make that better, but I have never personally found anything that works except to just to learn to enjoy the journey a little bit more, just to, like, savor every day a little bit more. Because if I think about some of the biggest wins I've had in my life, I mean, I would tell you the most disappointing day of my life was the day that I got my PhD because I had built it up to such a level, and I was the same asshole I was the day before. Like, you know, it's like you hit. You hit this metric in your life, and you're just the same dummy that you were the day before. And, you know, you can do that with professional success or a million other things. I really do think it just comes down to learning to enjoy every day and savor. Savor the journey, as trite as that is.

Ben Carlson (16:47)

We were speaking about this earlier in the show, and Ben and I spoke about this last week is Ben wrote a post on things that he doesn't spend money on. And people love that. People love talking shit and judging people for what they do and don't spend money on.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (17:03)

Oh, yeah, yeah, I got a lot of comments on that. Like, hey, listen, I agree with you on these three things, but you are so wrong on this one and I. And you're right on this one and it is. But that's the thing, is that the spending is. Is personal. That's like, I think sometimes material possessions get a bad rap in the personal finance community. Like, I told Michael this, like a month ago, I got a new sweater. And I tell you what, when I wore that sweater, it put me in a very good mood. And it was like, sometimes material possessions can make you happy, even though it's not going to fill a hole in your life. But I think you just have to figure out those areas of your life. Like, what did you. What was the research say about spending for you in terms of, like, what actually moves the needle?

Michael Batnik (17:37)

Okay, so there's. There's one thing that I think we know a lot about, like expending on experiences and things like that. I want to share a couple of that I thought were interesting. One is spending in ways that are consistent with your personality actually brings happiness. So you can't see it here, but I've got a bunch of guitars up on this wall. I'm not great at guitar, but I'm someone who values creativity. I like practicing, I like music. So my guitars are much better than I am so at guitar, but they still bring me a lot of happiness because they're, you know, I'm a hobbyist, and it's consistent with how I want to be seen in the world. For you may, maybe it's the sweater for someone else, maybe it's the car. But spending in ways that help the world understand you and see you the way that you want to be seen, that actually buys a lot of happiness. The other thing is anything that deepens relationships. One of my favorite studies in the book talks about people who buy cars. On average, spending money on a car is one of the worst ways you could ever hope to buy happiness. Because they're big ticket items and we habituate to them very quickly. And except for people who buy cars to join car clubs, get it. Get an enormous and enduring spike in happiness because now you got some guys to hang with on Saturday, you got some people to go on little trips with. You can have people to talk with your hobby about. So people who buy a Porsche to flex on their neighbor are miserable. People who buy a Porsche to join the Porsche Club of North Atlanta are quite happy and it is an enormous gift and blessing in their lives. So those little tweaks matter a great deal.

Ben Carlson (19:23)

Is there such a thing? In fact, let me rephrase that because I know there's such a thing as too much money. Where money becomes a liability, where it becomes a job. You need multiple people, a team to manage becomes something that you can't hide, oftentimes if it's a sale of a business. So what is the sweet spot?

Michael Batnik (19:43)

Did one of you guys write the article about five to $10 million net worth? Is.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (19:48)

That was me. I was trying to figure out what is the right amount, where it's not going to be too anxiety driven and it's still going to be enough. And yet that's the number I came up with based on like client interactions.

Ben Carlson (19:56)

Well, hold on. So I was talking to Chris about this yesterday. So we have, we have one client, we have several clients who have a ton of money, but one in particular where this person was not, did not come from money, is not a material person whatsoever, given the circumstances would, I'm sure she would be thrilled to have 1/20 of the amount. And Chris told me like it's become a job for this person and my God, that's not great.

Michael Batnik (20:20)

Speaking totally anecdotally, I couldn't remember you two are the same person in my head. I couldn't remember who, I couldn't, I couldn't remember who wrote it. But when I read Ben's article, it was completely consistent with my own experience of that being sort of the sweet spot. Because I feel like you get too, too far north of that and you start to enter this sort of the stratosphere. You compare your reference class changes, you're comparing yourself now to really, really, really rich people. You know, you're, you have a new set of concerns because yeah, at some point it becomes a part time job to take care of it, to steward it, to manage it. I think that 5 to 10 million spot of net worth is really, really a sweet spot for, for letting it serve you without it becoming a master. That's again anecdotal.

Ben Carlson (21:11)

When you see the greed and the behavior of wealthy individuals, to me it serves as a reminder that these aren't just rich assholes, these are people who made too much money. And I'm sure there are some people for which all the money in the world wasn't a problem, guessing they're an outlier. But this is what it is to be human. You just get to a point where it's just not natural. It's too much.

Michael Batnik (21:40)

Yeah, I absolutely agree. And again, it changes your reference class because when you're in that 5 million, 6 million, 7 million, your reference class is more balanced. When you get too far north of that, you're comparing yourself to, you know, incredibly rich people who are living insane lives. And again, it shifts your lens on life. And I think for the negative in.

Ben Carlson (22:03)

A lot of ways, and to say nothing of the people who are judging you, the people that used to be friends with you, the people that used to be able to hang out with you who are like, oh, Mr.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (22:10)

Fancy Pants, you have a chapter in your book about giving, and I think it's something in the finance industry that we probably don't talk enough about, Whether it's charitable giving or spending on others. I think that's always the most interesting behavioral psychology research is that people always. The studies always show that giving to others in some form. Right. Whether it's time or money or charitable giving or whatever, actually gives you, like, a huge boost in terms of spending money. But it's something we really don't focus on at all. Like, I don't know how many advisors actually even talk about that. There's clients who focus on giving. But what did your research show on that end?

Michael Batnik (22:47)

Yeah, so a couple of things that I think are worth mentioning there. The first is that this is a very human thing. We observe this in children as young as two that they have a pronounced uptick in happiness when they give, but it has to meet one condition. It has to be costly. And I think this is something for advisors to keep in mind with our clients. You know, when. When the kid gives, you know, when. When the kid's friend wants a candy bar and mom or dad gives them a second candy bar to give to the friends, that doesn't help. They don't feel better. They have to take their candy bar and break it in. Give of their own, you know, their own portion to. To that friend for them to feel better. And so I think when we as an industry are talking to people about how much to give, there's a very real sense we have to say, look, you got to give until you have to think about it a little bit. And I don't know that a lot of people are doing that. The other thing that I found in there is when you look at financial contentment, there are two best predictors of financial contentment. And there's one sort of practical reality which is just how much money you have, but there's one, you know, call it soulful reality, which is how much money you are giving away. So what you find on average is that people are not financially contented unless they are both well off and generous. So you would see people at the 95th, 98th, 99th percentile for wealth who are not sharing of their substance. They don't feel rich and they get trapped in this sort of, you know, chasing their own tale of more, more, more. You know, the final thing that I'll say there is that, you know, to, to Michael's point about the insanity of writing a book, one of the things that I wanted to make very sure of with this book was that the lessons were enduring. Like I wanted this to be an evergreen book. And in every faith tradition, every philosophical tradition, in every corner of the world, there is some sort of maxim that the more you give away, the better off you'll be. And even though the math doesn't make sense, it just appears that there is really, really something to that. Even though, to Ben's point, when you ask people, will you get more out of spending this on yourself or spending it on others, people nine to one say, I'll be happier if I spend this on myself. That is definitely not the case.

Ben Carlson (25:16)

So this resonates with me a lot. I give to one charity regularly and it's a pittance. It's, it's. Honestly, it's kind of embarrassing how little I give, but I do give here and there, but it's certainly not, not nearly as much as I should be. But I love, I love, love, love over tipping. Because I was in the hospitality business from the time I was 15 to like 22. Whether it be a Valley Parker or waiter or whatever, I, or Commander Boy, I always worked on tips. And so to me, it gives me massive satisfaction to be able to make somebody's day with a little bit more than they're used to getting. It's interesting. I was with Robin and my kids in Florida last, last, I don't know, March, April, whatever. And there was a guy who sat down at, in a lounge chair by the beach and he gave the waiter or the server $100. And I said to my wife, like, that's fucking awesome. Like, I love that I should, I want to do that. I should be doing that. And her take was interesting. She said, really? What an asshole. And I said, really? An asshole for giving somebody a hundred dollars? And her observation, which I don't. I think she was actually spot on, is that. Well, no, he was. He did it when he. As soon as he sat down. It was a transaction like, I will give you $100 and you will give me incredible service. And I said, okay, that's a fair point. And she said, had he given $100 when he was done? Totally different. And I said, she's right.

Michael Batnik (26:40)

People really react strongly to, like, highly visible sort of acts of charity. And I'm sort of conflicted about this, right, Because I think the natural human tendency is like, okay, you name the hospital wing after yourself or whatever. Like, that's. That's your reward. You don't need me to feel, like, warm and fuzzy about this giving. Like, your reward is the recognition that comes from that. However, we know from the research that being visibly charitable and being visibly pro social encourages other people to do the same. So, you know, all else, all else equal. We see that somebody dropping a big tip, like you were probably influenced to tip your, you know, your attendant better than you might have otherwise by seeing that guy give a hundred bucks, even if we feel like it's a little. A little shady or a little dicey when he did it. So it's funny, right? You read the Bible or something and it says, look, you got to do this in secret. If you do this in secret, that's what you do. If you do it in open, that's your reward. But we know from the behavioral science that even really showy acts of giving really encourage other people to do the same. So I feel like our human response to public acts of charity versus what it does for us behaviorally are a little bit at odds there.

Ben Carlson (28:02)

So I've wrestled with this a lot because I've always been of the anonymous giver. I'm happy to give more. I don't need any public recognition. But to your point, it's almost selfish to not be public because it literally, it does encourage people, oh, wow, Michael gave $500 or $1,000. Maybe I should do that too. So I think that credit to me, I'm willing to let people look at me and say, wow, what an asshole Michael is. He needs. He needs praise for this. So I'm will. I'm willing to take that burden as long as it encourages people. No, I'm kidding. But it really, really. It really is complicated because I don't want people saying that about me.

Michael Batnik (28:35)

Can we at least litigate? What is the minimum amount you can put on a giant, comically oversized check, though? Because I have seen so many.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (28:43)

That's true.

Michael Batnik (28:44)

Have you seen these giant, comically sized checks?

Dr. Daniel Crosby (28:46)

And it's like, it's gotta be five figures, right? Otherwise it's too big.

Ben Carlson (28:48)

Yeah, $10,000 minimum. I totally agree.

Michael Batnik (28:50)

I've seen them in the hundreds and I do die inside a little bit when the cost to print the giant check was as much as the actual gift.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (28:59)

So you talked earlier about your health scare, and I won't spoil it because it's in the book, but it was interesting that you didn't end up suing someone. But you've also. I've seen you share a lot on social media about, like, your journey to becoming healthier. The personal finance analogy has always been health is like wealth. Like, everyone knows what to do, but it's just hard to do them. And I actually, I've come around on that to thinking that actually health is way harder than building wealth because you can automate a lot of good decisions when investing. You have to actually think about every decision you're going to make when you eat or when you go work out. Like, you have to focus, force yourself to do it right. The, the compound interest, it's like an everyday slog. So I'm just curious about your experience with getting healthier. And if you agree to that, it's actually way harder than finances in some.

Michael Batnik (29:43)

Some ways it's, it's way harder for the very reason you said, which is I got to walk through my kitchen 20 times a day in terms of my saving and investing. Like, I, I auto withdraw and auto escalate my savings. I have an automated investment program. I barely think of it. Whereas, you know, you got to face, you got to square up to the table at least three times a day. So for me, I think there were some interesting analogs between, you know, losing weight and getting healthy and what we do with our finances. The, the first was, you know, I've lost, I've lost 65 pounds in the last year. And when, when people that's, you know.

Ben Carlson (30:18)

Saying that's like, what are the. Was that a quarter of your body weight? Whatever?

Michael Batnik (30:21)

Yeah, I went from so like 230 to 165. When I see people, I, you know, they're like, whoa, what happened? And they always assume that it's much more dramatic than it was because I did two things. I stayed under a calorie goal and over a protein goal. And that Was it like that? That was the only thing I did, but I did it like unfailingly every day for a year. No cheat days, nothing.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (30:50)

Right.

Michael Batnik (30:51)

And so people, I think they're like, are you exercising three hours a day? Are you eating 1200 calories a day? Like, no. A slight calorie deficit and enough protein and that's it. And so I think the same thing is true of finances, right? Like, people who get rich slowly or get rich in very conventional ways, people think that it has to be some big exit or some big grand thing. Diversified basket of index funds and taking a little cash out every two weeks has made, made plenty of people very, very wealthy over time. The other thing that I did that worked, that has, you know, compared to things that I had tried in the past, every night at 8 o' clock, I eat a full size candy bar. And like when I wake up in the morning and I'm entering my calories for the day, planning out what I'm going to eat, the first thing that always goes in is a Snickers bar. And when I have tried it in the past, I was too extreme. You know, it was like, I would like no carbs or no bread or no sugar. And that stuff is great and I love it. And I couldn't, I couldn't stick with it long term. So I think that the lesson there is infrequent splurges are the best. Right. That, that Snickers bar hits like a Mac truck every night at 8:00. Like, it tastes, it tastes, it tastes amazing.

Dr. Daniel Crosby (32:11)

Well, it's like a reward, right, for being good in the other part of your life.

Michael Batnik (32:14)

Yeah. And so those infrequent splurges we know from the behavioral science literature are really powerful. And the, the best program is not the best program in isolation. It's the best program you can stick with. And it's the same thing that's true of a portfolio. You know, people are always talking about, should we do 100% equity portfolios and all this? Like, well, yeah, maybe, if you can, if you can survive a 100% equity portfolio. But can you? You know, I would have lost weight faster had I not eaten a Snickers bar every night at 8:00. But I probably couldn't have stuck with it as long. So I do think there's some sort of money lessons in my, in my health journey as well.

Ben Carlson (32:54)

All right, so, Daniel, as we, as we come to a close, what is the soul of wealth?

Michael Batnik (32:59)

So the soul of wealth is spending, saving and investing your money in ways that build meaning. And there's. There's three things that, that lead to a life of meaning. It's believing, belonging, and becoming. Right. So believing is what are your rules for living? What's the playbook by which you live your life? People who live rich, full lives believe in something and they try and stay true to those rules. That personal philosophy of life belonging is, are you. Are you giving and receiving love? Like, are you important to people? And are there people that are important to you? Are you spending your money on them? And becoming. Is having a vision of the person you could be one day. So, you know, my research shows that the happiest people have those three things. They have a set of rules they live by, they prioritize the people in their lives, and they have a vision of the kind of person they could become.

Ben Carlson (33:55)

Wonderful. Daniel, congrats on the book. Thank you for coming on. Always really love reading your stuff. And more. More enjoyable is even getting the opportunity to talk to you. So thank you.

Michael Batnik (34:07)

It was a pleasure, guys. Thanks for having me.