Money Dials: why you spend the way you do

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Candidate,

Am I the only one who wonders why the hell some people spend their money the way they do?

Growing up in Sacramento, there were a lot of guys who loved buying old cars and repairing them. Huh? Why would anyone spend money to create more work for themselves? I just didn't get it.

Back then, I also used to think that people paying for first-class flights were suckers. After all, "we're all going to the same place anyway."

Over time, I've come to change the way I think about how people spend money. I'll never buy an old car to repair, but I do fly first class … and now I understand why people do both.

I'd like to introduce you to the idea of Money Dials, the 10 areas where people naturally spend money.

If you were to look at someone else's spending for 10 minutes, you would instantly know what their Money Dial was. And if I were to look at your spending, I could tell you what yours is.

I spent years talking to people about their spending habits and I boiled them down to 10 "Money Dials." They're called Money Dials because you can "tune" them up or down — just like a dial.

Here are the most common Money Dials.

Money Dial #1: Convenience
This Money Dial means spending on anything that makes your life more convenient.

Examples:

Travel apps
Ubers
Extra iPhone charger
Pre-cooked meals
Everything delivered
Automated bank accounts (and automation in many parts of life)

If you truly turn the dial all the way up — taking the Convenience Money Dial to its extreme — this means private chef, personal trainer, assistants, even private jets. This is my personal Money Dial (how I spend $50,000 every year on convenience).

Money Dial #2: Travel
People with the Travel Money Dial spend heavily on travel.

Examples:

On January 1st, they already know where they're traveling this year
They're often masters of points/travel hacking
They have an overflowing list of travel destinations saved and their conversations revolve around where they've been and where they're going
They have strong opinions about the "right" suitcase, the right way to pack, and the best seats on the plane

If you turn this Money Dial all the way up, it means traveling for months every year. Joining a travel group. Splurging on high-end travel experiences like a safari, Inspirato membership, or multi-generational travel. Developing strong perspectives on travel, including which friends to invite, how much "authenticity" matters, and specific parts of the world to return to.

Money Dial #3: Cost
This is the most common Money Dial, since most people are taught frugality and nothing else. I started with this one.

Examples:

Chooses items based on cost before anything else (e.g., "orders the menu by reading the right side of the page")
DIY attitude and ability to jury-rig one item to serve multiple purposes

Taken to its logical extreme, the Cost Money Dial means never experiencing premium/luxury items, extreme frugality and couponing — but also possibly saving considerable amounts of money and setting strict boundaries on the hedonic treadmill.

Money Dial #4: Fitness
This Money Dial is becoming more and more common, especially in big cities.

Examples:

Membership at a gym based on quality, not necessarily distance to your house / apartment
Personal trainer + nutritionist
Choosing food based on macros, not simply taste (e.g., Ezekiel bread)
Selective about your workout gear (Lululemon + Nike are the best)

Taken to its logical extreme, the Fitness Money Dial can mean annual yoga retreats, always checking restaurant menus before you go, joining social groups based on fitness. I've added this as a Money Dial in the last few years.

Money Dials 5-10:
These are in our course on Advanced Personal Finance.

What Money Dials mean for you
Do you know what you naturally gravitate toward spending on? Most of us don't. We've never thought about it. But as Tony Robbins says, "Success leaves clues." And spending leaves clues, too.

If I looked at your spending for 5 minutes, I could tell where you actually prioritize. I find this fascinating for several reasons:

People go where their time and money goes. For example, fit people spend time and money being fit. Fashionable people spend time and money reading fashion magazines and shopping.
The most fascinating part is when we're misaligned. For example, some people say, "Family is #1," but if you look at their calendars and spending, family is not even in the top 10.
Money Dials are an easy way to diagnose what you claim is important vs. what is actually important.

And there's one other thing.

My favorite part of Money Dials is that once you understand your own Money Dial, and you accept it, you can zoom in on what you love by TURNING THE DIAL ALL THE WAY UP.

For me, my primary Money Dial is Convenience. Over the last 15 years, I've gone all in:

I have a personal assistant
I have a personal chef
I have a personal trainer
My calendar is bulletproof and hyper-optimized
When I travel, everything is arranged, down to the perfect seat on the perfect flight and the perfect route to the airport

To me, this sounds like heaven. I LOVE IT. But to someone else whose Money Dial is Cost, this might sound insane.

This is one superpower of mastering Advanced Personal Finance: You can unapologetically turn the dial up on any part of life — your part — just like it was a knob on a stereo.

Value family time? One woman paid $3,200 to take her family to Disneyland with the Disneyland VIP experience. TWICE.

Value self-care? One IWT staff member spends $300 on two 90-minute massages per month as part of her self-care.

Value beauty? One friend loves to be surrounded by beautiful things so she has fresh flowers delivered to her house.

That's the power of Money Dials. They allow you to understand why people make the choices they do … and then go deeper than you ever thought possible.

If you understood your Money Dial and had unlimited money, what would you do? If you're into fitness, how would you spend $2 million? Or if your primary Money Dial was Travel, where would you spend that money?

Your Money Dial isn't just something you do every now and then. It shapes your ENTIRE LIFE.

The most successful people I've met are all very conscious about how they spend their money. That doesn't mean they don't spend. It means they choose how to spend and are unapologetic in allocating significant resources to live a better life.

Candidate, finding your Money Dial is intimidating and liberating. It allows you to comfortably say, "Hey, this is important to me — and that's not." And in our course, we show you actual, real-world examples of how people have gone deep on every single Money Dial there is.

If you've already mastered the basics of personal finance and want to know "what's next?" I welcome you to join my course and find your Money Dial. It will change the way you think about spending money.