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Moneywise

Why Someone Worth $120M Cut Themselves Off From Making More Money

Moneywise

Hampton

Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing

4.8674 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Remember when Andrew Carnegie wrote that he was removing the pursuit of money from his life? Probably not, because he didn’t follow through on it. This was even before he founded the Carnegie Steel Corporation and became one of the richest people in the world. Today’s guest, however, also decided to cut himself off from earning more. And he followed through. By the time Jeff was in his forties, he was worth over $120 million. After a three-part exit from his company, Jeff decided that pursuing more money was getting in the way of his pursuit of happiness. So he quit building companies, he quit working, and he founded a support group of others in similar life stages. For Jeff, chasing money had become like an addiction, so he treated it that way. He made big changes in his life to focus on what truly made him happy. But, this “cut-off” from earning more does not coincide with spending less. In fact… it’s quite the opposite. In this episode of Moneywise, we'll learn about how Jeff realized he had enough, how his pursuit of more was getting in the way of enjoying what he built, and why he thinks it's his duty to spend his money. And of course, we'll also get into all the details about how much he has, where all that money is, and how he spends it. This is Moneywise, a podcast where host Sam Parr is joined by high-net-worth guests to explore exclusive insights into personal finance and lifestyle tailored for other high-net-worth people, or those on their way. They'll get radically transparent about the numbers, revealing things like their burn rates, portfolios, and spending habits. Who is Sam Parr? Sam is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of The Hustle, which he sold to HubSpot in 2021. He's also the co-host of one of the world's top podcasts for entrepreneurs, My First Million. Known for his insightful business acumen and candid communication style, Sam Parr continues to be a prominent figure in the world of media and entrepreneurship. Sam's newest and biggest venture yet is Hampton, which he co-founded in 2022. This podcast was made for the Hampton community, a private, highly-vetted, peer membership community for founders and CEOs of fast-growing, tech-enabled startups. Chapters: Jeff’s first few million (3:21) When he started the big company (5:58) His three-part exit (9:51) How his life changed (11:27) Why he started to think about cutting himself off (16:13) How he changed his life (20:12) Where is his money and his spending today (24:22) Reflection and advice (29:54) This podcast was produced in partnership with Lower Street and distributed by Morning Brew.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Money and sex are the only two addictions where people really envy the addicts. I'm here to tell you it's not all that great. I'm talking about money, of course. All right, so one of my favorite people to read about is Andrew Carnegie.

0:12.1

Andrew Carnegie was basically like the Jeff Bezos of the 1800s in America. He was one of the richest people to ever live. And it's funny because he said something when he was 33.

0:21.3

He wrote this in his diary. He said, I propose to take an income no greater than $50,000 per year.

0:27.3

Beyond this, I am not going to make a cent more and I'm going to spend the rest of my time and money

0:32.1

on benevolent purposes. Let's cast aside business forever. And what's funny is two years later, he went on and started U.S. Steel, which is what made him the richest person ever to live or one of.

0:43.3

And so he didn't exactly stick to that.

0:46.3

However, today's guess is someone who actually stopped making money.

0:50.3

By his own choice, he realized that he had enough money and despite his overwhelming

0:56.3

instincts, he committed to removing the pursuit of more from his life. The whole point of the money

1:01.6

was to enjoy it, to give it away to live life. The point of the money was not the money.

1:05.8

That's Jeff, and he's worth around $120 million, totally liquid because he sold his company.

1:11.4

But he says that if he stopped at $20 million, his life wouldn't be any different.

1:16.3

However, Jeff is quite the spender.

1:19.2

So I bought a jet.

1:21.0

In this week's episode of MoneyWise, we're going to learn about how Jeff realized that he's had enough,

1:25.0

how his pursuit of Moore was getting in the way of enjoying

1:27.5

what he built, and why he thinks it's his duty to spend his money. And by the way, unlike Andrew

1:32.6

Carnegie, so far, Jeff has actually stuck to his plan of not wanting to make any more money

1:36.9

for the rest of his life. And of course, we're also going to get into all the details about how much

1:41.0

money he has, where all the money is and how he invest it, and what

1:44.5

his monthly expenses are, and all of that transparent stuff that Money Wise is famous for.

1:53.8

I'm Sam Parr, and this is Money Wise. There's a ton of podcasts and resources out there

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