Why You Should Rent Even If You’re A Millionaire

**Sam Parr** (0:00)
All right, everyone, this episode is gonna make a bunch of people angry. I think it's gonna make a bunch of people angry, and here's why. So, we're gonna discuss renting versus buying. I saw recently on TikTok or something like that, there were so many people complaining that it's too expensive to buy a house, and they're complaining about renting, and I've got a surprise. I think it's way better to rent, and I'm gonna explain my reasoning, and I know that on the surface, that's gonna make a lot of people angry, but hear me out.
And we have my friend, Ramit Sethi. Ramit is famous for writing a book called I Will Teach You To Be Rich. He also has a famous Netflix show called I Will Teach You To Be Rich, and he gives his explanation as well. I think this might anger a bunch of people. Listen to the entire thing before you judge, and then comment on YouTube. So go to YouTube and comment, and let me know what you think. And by the way, I just looked at YouTube. Right now, 70% of people who watch our videos are not subscribed to our channel.
That is ridiculous to me, because we have a gentleman's agreement with this podcast. And what does that mean? That means if you've ever listened to more than one video or listened to more than one podcast, you need to go to YouTube, go to My First Million and click subscribe. We call it the gentleman's agreement because we can't track that you're actually doing it. But, Shaan and I and people like Ramit, we make content for you all the time. And all we ask in exchange is just clicking subscribe. It means very little to you. It costs you very close to nothing. And it means a lot to us. So please do that. And I hope you enjoy today's episode. And let me know what you think in the comments of YouTube, if you agree or disagree. Renting versus buying. All right, let's get to it.
All right, we're live. Ramit, so today I had you on because you and I are a little bit of an agreement on a few topics. One of them being that even if we think that you can't afford it, which I'm sure we could, we can afford it by a home, we actually prefer to rent. And most people, at least online and amongst even our friend group, think that that's insane.
And I wanted to have you on to discuss kind of your opinion on buying versus renting, to discuss some of the numbers behind it.
And we're gonna get tons of comments. We're gonna try to defend our argument against all of them before they actually come. I don't need to defend it.

**Ramit Sethi** (2:17)
I already know the answer. Like there's no defending, it's math. It's basic math. Here's my position. Let me state it very clearly because for the last 13 years, I've gotten about 150 comments a day telling me that I'm stupid.
But I think I turned into the joker around 2012 when random people were telling me it never makes sense to rent. You're always throwing money away on rent. You're not building any equity.
Equity is really important and what are you gonna leave to your kids and on and on. I don't wanna pay my landlord's rent, et cetera.

**Sam Parr** (2:54)
Well, and you actually do a funny job, by the way, of sharing the comments that you get on all your YouTube videos. Typically, the comments are something like, land is always a good investment or you're not really wealthy if you don't actually own land.

**Ramit Sethi** (3:09)
People tell me that I'm poor because I don't own a house. First of all, that's actually quite insulting because not everyone can afford to buy a house. Doesn't mean you're poor just because you're renting. There are actually a lot of people who rent by choice, including me and potentially you.
But anyway, let's, okay, here's my position. For the biggest purchase of your life, which for almost everybody is a house, you have to run the numbers because sometimes it's financially beneficial to buy and other times it's financially beneficial to rent. And this should not be controversial. It's like very straightforward, simple, especially if you have lived in a high cost of living city, New York, San Francisco, LA, I've lived in all three cities.
However, for some reason, saying that basic concept is like me telling everybody that the sky is green.

**SPEAKER_3** (4:04)
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