5 Things I Will Never Spend Money On as a Multimillionaire (And 5 That Are Worth Every Penny)

Tyler Gardner (0:00)

You spent your whole life making sure you wouldn't run out of money, but nobody warned you that you might just run out of time first, with the money still sitting there. Unspent, unenjoyed, waiting for a version of the future that, guess what, is right in front of you. The money was not the finish line. The money is just the tool to buy what you already value, and at some point, I want you to use it.

Hello friends, this is Tyler Gardner welcoming you to another episode of Your Money Guide on the Side, where it is my job to simplify what seems complex, add nuance to what seems simple, and learn from and alongside some of the brightest minds in money, finance, and investing. So let's get started and get you one step closer to where you need to be.

Quick note before we start, September's pre-order bonus for my book Real Wealth is something I've wanted myself for years and never been able to find. So I created it. It's called the Real Wealth Money Calender. Twelve months, five action items per month, all on one page because most people I know already know what to do. They just don't necessarily know when and they don't have accountability. So this is your 2027 on one page, 60 moves in the month you actually need to make them. Pre-order Real Wealth at tylergardner.com/book. Let me know you did and your money calendar will be in your inbox in early October. Welcome back my friends to another episode and I'm going to start with a question that almost nobody in the financial industry will ever ask you that I know of. Not your advisor, not your 401k provider, and certainly not the guy selling you an annuity at your free steak dinner this evening.

What is the money actually for? I know, I talk about this a lot. Not how you get the money, not how to grow the money, not how to protect it from taxes, inflation, and your brother-in-law's business idea. But what is it for? What at the end of all of the compounding is the money supposed to do for me, my family, my well-being, my sense of purpose and fulfillment. Today we're doing something a little bit different. I'm not going to go into the data. I'm not going to go into historical trends. Mostly, this is a very personal episode. And I'm going to tell you exactly what I spend money on, exactly what I refuse to spend money on, and why I think the second half of your financial life is a completely different skill than the first half. A skill, by the way, that the data says most of us are not doing too well at. And fair warning, one of my answers for what I spend money on is absolute financial heresy. And I'll stand by it forever. And familiar ask, as always, if you have found this show helpful in any way, if you've ever found it made your commute just a little less hectic, or you've shared it with a friend who could use some quick guidance, please consider leaving a review on Apple or Spotify as it helps more people find the show and it helps me know that this entire endeavor in free financial literacy is getting through to some folks and we're all getting a little bit closer to where we need to be.

Let's start with the skill nobody taught you.

The most devastating retirement statistic that I will read you all year is from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and it's about as sober and unglamorous an organization as exists in America, but they published new research this spring tracking real retirees over decades, and they found that among people who retired with $500,000 or more, 6 in 10 still had at least 80% of their money a full decade into retirement. 45% had more money than they started with. And even after 22 years of retirement, 42% still had most, all, or more than all of their original savings.

Nearly half of well-funded retirees are 10 years into retirement and richer than they were the day they quit. Now, some of that has been good markets, but EBRI's own Director of Wealth Research looked at the number of people in their mid-80s still sitting at 100% of their savings. And his conclusion was blunt. These people are being too conservative. Now, obviously that's subjective and as always, do what works for you and your family. But here's the part about that that really does get me. When researchers asked thousands of Americans between 45 and 79 which outcome they'd regret more, 56% said running out of money while still alive, but only 6% said dying with money left over. Only 6% of people fear the thing that is actually happening to almost everybody. Now, I'm sure much of that has to do with legacy planning and knowing that money can continue to serve a very important purpose for future generations. But for sake of this thought process and this particular episode, I'm going to put that aside just for a moment, but knowing that it's there.