How I Live On $25,000/Month In New York City

**Sam Parr** (0:00)
My wife is like insane about this stuff. She has a drawer full of coupons.
So we went to Costco this weekend because we had a $20 off or something like that coupon. So we still use coupons or coupons.
All right, what's going on? This is Sam, Shaan's out with some surgery. I've been telling people he's getting a nose job. I don't know if that's true, but let's just pretend it is. But anyway, we are doing a quick 10 or 15 minute Q&A session. I asked some of the listeners and some of my Twitter fans what type of questions they had for me, and we'll talk about it. Let's get into it. So all right, what's the first question? What do we got?

**Shaan Puri** (0:44)
Let's start with one that's really timely. You're about to be a dad.
Someone's asking, what is top of mind as you become a dad?

**Sam Parr** (0:52)
So I'm gonna have a child, November 1 That's the due date. We'll see, a little girl.
So in preparation of having this baby, I was freaking out about just the actual, the physical, her physical wellbeing of raising her. And so I read the biography of Lewis and Clark because I remember that Sacajawea had a kid on that journey or something like that. And so I wanted to read the book. And so it turns out she had a three month old that she carried in a little sack across America for two years in the winter.
And that kind of like encouraged me like, I'm not going to hurt this baby. So I'm not too worried about that. I would say the biggest thing though that I am freaked out about is raising a spoiled kid and raising a kid that's going to be a drug addict.
I'm very like, like that, like I genuinely have like a deep fear in me. And so I've been trying to figure out how do I like in a very healthy way, withhold things from her? Like how do I not give her what she wants just in order to instill some types of grit because the sound's kind of douchey, but I can give her anything she wants, like in terms of like physical stuff. And I'm really freaking out about how do I stay strong and not give her what she wants in order to create grit? And how do I make sure that she's not spoiled and works hard? But my biggest fear is raising like a kid who is freaking out over that or who like just feels like she doesn't need to work. And so my current thinking, this has not been settled, but my thinking, this is just me, not my family, me is the only thing that I'll pay for is free tuition and free medical for life. And beyond that, give her nothing. That's kind of like my current thinking.
That's what I had growing up. My parents paid for my school and I never had to worry about getting braces or anything like that. And that's kind of like where I am now. I read the Titan by John Rockefeller and he was the richest person in the world. And his wife has this famous quote where she says something like the biggest joy that I have in life right now is withholding from my children things that they want because I know it's gonna make them stronger. And I'm kind of in that camp at the moment on how to do that. But I don't feel very confident on the right way that I'm gonna do that. But my fear is the outcome of a drug addicted, indulgent child who won't work hard. That's my biggest fear at the moment. And so I'm preparing by getting my mind right on how to withhold things from her and not give in because I do give in to a lot of things.
Is that a good answer? You have, Jade, am I...

**Shaan Puri** (3:33)
I'm a very withholding mother, so I totally get. And speaking of you being effing rich, this is a next question that I personally am curious about. It's what's the biggest difference in your lifestyle now that you're effing rich?

**Sam Parr** (3:48)
I have nothing to do with picking these questions. I just want to say that. I hate talking about... I don't like that topic, but I will discuss it. So basically, before I sold my first company, my four years of salary leading up to it was 20,000 a year, 20,000 a year. I think I paid myself 150,000 a year. And then the last year, I think I paid myself $350,000 a year. So for the first while, I didn't have a lot of money. I was, I didn't have much. And then all of a sudden I sold the business and I had enough.