Transcription
You work too hard to live a small life. Imagine opening up your 2026 calendar and seeing trips already booked, weekends with family, slow mornings that actually belong to you. Now picture the other version, opening up your calendar and seeing endless meetings, bills, obligations. That is how most people live their life.
Over the years, I've helped millions of people design their rich life using the same playbook that I used for myself. And today I'm gonna show you how to design your 2026 so you don't default to just another year passing you by. By the end of this video, you'll have a real map that turns someday into actual dates, dollars and decisions. And I'll show you the one calendar move that can instantly change how your money feels this year.
If you don't decide what this year will stand for, your calendar will. So before 2026 fills itself up with meetings and obligations, let's design it on purpose. Every year, my wife and I pick a theme. One year, it was a year of beauty. Another time, it was a year of freedom. And your theme sets the tone for the entire year. You make decisions based on that theme.
Now, the vast majority of people do not pick a core value or a theme. It's actually quite normal not to, but I don't want to live like everybody else. I wanna live a rich life. And I want my year to look uniquely special for me. So let me show you how specific a yearly theme can actually get.
For example, if your theme is a year of beauty, here's what that year might look like. Weekly flowers delivered to your house on subscription. You might stay at a hotel that is so beautiful, you actually get inspired to think of new ideas. You might take an architecture tour in a city that you've been curious about. And you might upgrade your everyday, like glass jars for the pantry, or better lighting at home, or a coffee setup that looks beautiful and functions really well.
Or if your theme is a year of freedom, you might have slow mornings. If possible, you might push your first meeting to 10 a.m. You might take a three-week trip instead of three days. Every quarter, you might have a no-plan weekend where you do absolutely nothing and you feel great about it. And finally, you might have a phone-free hour after dinner every single night. You can see how each of these becomes uniquely special for you. Maybe you don't wanna take a three-week trip, that's fine, but you can adapt it for your own needs.
When my wife and I chose a year of beauty, we actually did most of the things on that list. We were inspired in beautiful places. She ordered flowers to be delivered every single week. We just wanted to get the experience of surrounding ourselves with beauty. Your theme becomes the filter for your decisions. And in a second, I'll show you how to actually turn your theme into a map, not just a wish list.
So what word do you want 2026 to feel like? Think about it right now. Is it beauty, freedom, connection, adventure? For me, last year was a year of maximalism. What's your word? Say it out loud. Or you could just try to wing it. "I'm gonna try to travel more." "I should spend more time with my family." And then next December, you look back and wonder where all the time went. We're not gonna do that this year.
You already know what a rich life isn't. It's not a spreadsheet with 172 budget categories, which is pointless. It's probably not eating lentils for dinner every night to save $3 out of fear you won't have enough until you're 95 years old. And it's definitely not working 80 hours a week only to realize you forgot what you were working for. A rich life feels different. It actually feels great. It feels like ordering two appetizers because you see both, they both look good, and you're not concerned with the price. It feels like booking a trip and paying for it in full, months in advance, because you saved and planned for it. Or it feels like opening your calendar and seeing your life already planned around what matters to you. That is what we are building in this video. A rich life is designed. It is never accidentally tripped and fallen into. It's using your money and time deliberately to create experiences and memories with the people that you love. And if you don't design your rich life, your calendar is just gonna get filled up with meetings, not memories.
So open up your calendar. Go ahead. If you don't have a calendar, close this video, because I can't help you. I don't work miracles here. This is just a YouTube video, okay? Open up your calendar and create an all-day event in June called Rich Life Week. That's not a joke. That's actually your anchor week. We're gonna price it and fund it later in this video using actual numbers.
In a second, I'll show you the two maps I use to turn these dreams into real numbers and where a lot of people stop short. I like inspiration just as much as anybody, but you know what I really want? A plan. I want us to get moving, not simply feel like we are moving. Scrolling, saving posts, listening to random podcasts about living a cool life, but not actually doing something, I find it all kind of pointless. You know what I wanna do instead? I wanna make choices right now that are gonna help us live our rich life. You've got your theme for the year. You know what your rich life is going to feel like. Now let's make it real because inspiration only takes you so far, but execution is what makes it happen. So if you want your rich life to actually happen, you need a system that connects your vision to your money. And that's where these two maps come in. One shows you what you want. The other shows you how to pay for it.
Let's start with the first one, the Rich Life Map. This is your vision on paper. The experiences, habits, people, places, and products. Think of it almost like a personal menu for 2026. I'll give you some examples. Let's start with experiences, the trips, the concerts, or the projects that bring you joy. Habits, they could be slow mornings, date nights, gym routines, whatever gives your life rhythm. People, your family, your friends, the relationships you want to build and nurture. Places, the restaurants, neighborhoods, or cities that make you feel alive. And finally, products, the things you use, especially the ones you use every day that make your life smoother or more beautiful or more rewarding. It could be the perfect coffee maker. It could be a great pair of shoes, noise canceling headphones, or a mattress that helps you sleep better.
When you start writing these down, you're gonna notice two things. First, you don't need 50 items. A handful of high quality products and experiences can measurably improve your life. And second, every one of these things cost something. It might cost money, it might cost time, it might cost energy. And that brings us to our second map, the financial map. This is where you turn your dreams to dollars. What it costs, we're looking for real numbers, not just vibes or approximations. Where it lives in your conscious spending plan, is it part of your fixed costs, your savings, your investments, or your guilt-free spending? And finally, when it happens. We're gonna book it and we're gonna automate funding so that we can pay for it in full. If your rich life map is the what, this is the how. Think of it like two parts of a bridge, your dreams on one side, your money on the other. And a lot of us stop building halfway across.
Let me give you a real example. I coached a couple who had been saying for five years, we want to travel more. And when I asked where they said, "Europe?" I said, "When?" Sometime, like in the next few years. "Okay, how much is it gonna cost?" No idea. That is not a plan, that's a wish. That is how so many people go through life. I wanna do this vague thing, when? I don't know, how much? Don't know, what are you actually gonna do there? That is not how a rich life is created. You are never going to, "Ha!" your way into a rich life. It's okay to be ultra specific about what you want.
For example, one year my wife and I went to Paris. I wasn't particularly into it, but my wife really wanted to go. And when your partner gets excited about something, unless there is a mortal reason to fight them, you better go along with them because that kind of excitement is rare. So we created a vision. What do we want to do in Paris? Well, we wanted to eat food and we wanted to walk around. We pinned a bunch of stuff on a map. There were textiles that we wanted to see. There were different types of perfume that my wife wanted to see. And we wanted to have slow mornings and wander around. You know what we didn't wanna do? We actually didn't wanna go to a bunch of museums. And that was okay as well. We made a vision that was specific to us. It might make no sense to other people, but for us it was perfect. And we loved the trip, loved it. This is the kind of specificity and unapologetic approach to a rich life that I want for you.
With that couple in 20 minutes, we chose Portugal in September. We priced it out at $4,800. We split it into $400 a month. And we put it under short term savings in their conscious spending plan. You know what they did? They automated the transfers and by summer the trip was booked. That is the difference between someday and done.
Now, once you see these two maps side by side, your rich life and your financial map, everything starts to click. You're gonna stop asking, "Can I afford this? What should I do?" I don't know. And you're gonna start asking, "How do I make this happen?" And that shift from guilt and vague ideas to unapologetic design is where your rich life really starts to take shape.
You ever hear someone wish that they could spend more time on Slack and emails? I haven't. When I'm thinking about my rich life, I am not sitting around wishing I could spend more time in my inbox. In fact, time is my most valuable resource. I want to get through admin work that's required so that I can focus on things that are even more important. And if time is important to you, then I want you to check out a tool. It is amazing. It's called Whisper Flow. My team uses this and they love it. Flow turns your voice into clean, final draft writing inside whatever app you are currently using. Email, Slack, Docs, on Mac, Windows, and iPhone. With Flow, you hit a hotkey, just talk, and the text will appear. It's fast, it's accurate, so you can get through your inbox incredibly quickly, write thoughtful replies, and then get back to living your rich life. It learns how you write, your names, acronyms, tone, so it actually sounds like you, not a robot. It even works when you whisper, so you won't bother the people around you. On iPhone, it shows up as a keyboard, open any app, tap Start Flow, just talk, and then you are done. It'll capture your ideas while you're walking, or commuting, or on the couch, or you can reply to people right on the fly. You can get these ideas out of your head and into calendars, emails, and plans fast. If you want more time for the decisions that actually shape your 2026, and less time typing the same messages over and over, try Flow for free at whisperflow.ai slash remit, or click the link in the description below.
How I design my 2026 rich life step-by-step. All right, you've seen the two maps. Now let me show you what it actually looks like when I use them myself, because I don't just talk about living a rich life. I live it and I plan it. Every year, my wife and I sit down and map out exactly what we want the next 12 months to look like, and more importantly, to feel like. This year, our theme is a year of freedom. Freedom for us means time, space, and choice. It means slow mornings, fewer obligations, all by design.
So here's how a sample rich life map could look. This isn't my actual 2026 plan. I'll share that later, but an example of how I think through it step-by-step. January, gonna be heads down on business. Deep work, planning, no big travel. February, I know that I have my CEO council meeting, which I'm gonna travel for. That's a chance to learn, to zoom up, and to connect to my old friends, and probably get some inspiration to grow my business. March, Japan. 10 to 14 days with friends in Tokyo and Kyoto. I know exactly where I wanna eat. Plus, they probably know some new places I have not tried. We're gonna have a lot of time to bond, and not gonna work while I'm traveling. This is a reminder that work supports life, not the other way around. April, back to New York for a big family event. July, staying put at home. No flights, no schedule, just slow mornings, exploring our own city, heads down, working out. Throughout the year, weekly, I'm gonna have two slow mornings where my first meeting does not start until 10 a.m. That's what freedom looks like to me next year. Quiet, deliberate, unhurried. Monthly, one dinner out that feels special, especially because we wanna invite another couple. Sometimes it'll be couples that we know. Sometimes it'll be couples that we want to get to know.
Okay, you've heard a rough sketch of what I would wanna do month by month. You've also heard what I might do weekly and monthly, quarterly, quick check. Could you name your theme right now? If not, I want you to pick a word before we move on. When you look at your year like this, you realize money is not simply about restriction. It's actually about design, and that's what a financial map does. It turns wishes into dates, dollars, and decisions. You don't need to optimize 172 budget categories. You do need to decide the three to five things that you truly care about and make sure that you fund them with time, money, and attention.
If this has inspired you to start planning your own rich life, hit subscribe. I have a lot more to share with you. Every week I show you how to find that money to live your dreams. You don't have to use a complex spreadsheet. You certainly don't have to feel guilty, and yes, I will show you that it's okay to spend more on the things you love. Now I'm gonna show you how to build your own version of a financial map, no huge budget needed. Reverse engineer it for you. Don't overthink this, just start small. Here's exactly how.
Everything I just showed you, Japan, family time, slow mornings, it started small, one trip, one weekend, one dinner. You don't need to have it all figured out. That's one of the most common barriers. I don't know what I'm doing in November, Ramit. How can I plan that far ahead? This is just a skill. We're gonna start off, if you don't know what you're gonna do in November, let's focus on February. How many dinners out? And if you go, I don't know, then pick one. Put it down on paper. It's okay if you're wrong, but it's the process of going through it and being intentional that is the actual magic here. What you need to do is pick one thing for 2026 and start designing around it.
So let's do yours step by step. Level one, the $600 local reset. This takes two days, a weekend away. Maybe you, maybe you and your partner, maybe you and a friend can change how you feel about money. That is $50 a month set aside to buy yourself perspective and breeding room. Now, the goal here does not have to be to stay at the most luxurious place. Remember that. It's freedom. A weekend where you don't have to check in with work. You do not have to take your laptop with you. And actually you can just chill. You can even watch TV for the entire weekend if that's what you wanna do. That might be your rich life moment.
Level two, the $2,700 beach week for seven days. Now a full week that feels like vacation, it's quite different than a long weekend. That is setting aside $225 a month for a memory that could potentially recharge you or even elevate you. And this is where you stop saying words like someday. You pick a week, you fund it, and then you go. How does it feel to land and drop your bags and know that this trip was already paid for because you've been saving for it for 11 months? That is what I want you to feel.
Level three, the $10,200 European trip for 14 days. Okay, stop writing angry comments. I can already see the smoke coming up from keyboards around the world. I'm not telling you you have to spend $10,200. You could drop a zero off that freaking thing or two. It's up to you. The point is to dream bigger and to adapt these numbers for your own situation. Now this one is the big vision. Maybe it's a milestone birthday. Maybe it's a bucket list adventure you wanna take. $10,200 does sound like a huge number until you realize it's $425 per paycheck for a life-changing experience. Or if that's unaffordable this year, stretch that savings period out to two years or three. Imagine you're walking around Lisbon, eating incredible food, totally present. You're not checking your credit card balance because you already planned for it. If travel is not your thing, that's also fine. Pick an anchor around health or family or a passion project. The system is still the same. And if those numbers feel out of reach, stick with me. You have lots of options. I wanna cover them. Because whether it's $600 or $10,000 plus, the system is still the same. You pick a goal, you price it, you automate it, and then you go. That's how a rich life starts. It's not with a spreadsheet. It started with a single decision on this is important to me.
Now you've already started designing your rich life. The trips, the habits, the experiences you actually want in 2026. Let's make sure it actually happens. Inside my money coaching program, I'm gonna walk you through how to fund every part of that plan. Your travel, your savings, your guilt-free spending. And I'm gonna show you how to set it up in the next 48 hours. You don't have to do this alone. I want to show you how to do it for your own situation. You're gonna plug in your numbers and our new AI tool is gonna instantly create your customized rich life plan. You'll get access to me, to my team, and to a community of people building their rich lives right alongside of you. This is the difference between dreaming and doing it. You're gonna have a system, and that is exactly what you're gonna build using our new AI tool and money coaching program. So don't let the next year slip by you while you figure it out. I hate that phrase, figure it out. Click the link below or scan this QR code to join money coaching today. Let's build the year that you have been dreaming about for way too long.
But even with the best plan, it's easy to hesitate. It's easy to procrastinate. You tell yourself you'll start once things calm down, or once you've figured out every detail, or once you finally have enough money. That hesitation is exactly where your rich life starts to slip away. The biggest risks aren't out there. They are the quiet traps you create for yourself without even realizing it. Let's talk about how to avoid them.
Trap number one, waiting until everything is perfect. Guys, life is never gonna be perfect. You're sitting on your perfectly clean desk with a perfectly brewed cup of jasmine tea. There's nothing else in the room except one piece of hinoki wood. You go, okay, finally, I have calm and peace in my life. That never happens. I have a messy desk right now, and here I am recording a video for you. You don't need to have it figured out. In fact, a good philosophy that I learned from a personal trainer was if you wanna do more pull ups, just start doing more pull ups. If you want to plan a rich life experience, plan a rich life experience. The way to do it is pick it, set a date, and start funding it. The next mistake is one that kills 90% of good intentions, and you're gonna see why.
Trap number two, creating goals without logistics. Would you please stop saying phrases like, I want to travel more? Yeah, I wanna fly by flapping my arms. Doesn't mean it's gonna happen. That gets you nowhere. Instead, I would rather you say, Portugal, September 12th through 22nd, $4,800. I'm saving $400 a month in a labeled account. That is going to happen. Saying, I wanna travel, never gonna happen.
Trap number three, living reactively in your calendar. You know, your calendar reveals your true values. If you claim family is important to you, show me where it is in your calendar. If you claim health is important, show me in your calendar. And if you claim travel is important, show me. Your real priorities are revealed through your calendar and your spending. And this next trap is the silent killer of almost every financial plan I've ever seen.
Trap number four, trying to save your way into a rich life that you haven't yet defined. You gotta define your rich life first, then fund it, not the other way around. You've seen what it looks like when people just save money blindly. They end up accumulating a bunch of money and they have a total inability to spend it. But in this video, you've seen how it works when you create a vision.
Now here's what happens when you don't decide. Okay, you might be watching this video saying, "Sure, Ramit, this is nice, but this is too much planning for me. I don't live this way. I prefer to be more spontaneous." I like spontaneity as well. But you know what else I like? Living a (beep) rich life. People who are thinking, I'll plan it later. Let me show you what later actually feels like. You work another year. You talk about some half plan trip that never happens. You keep sending we should hang out text to your friends with no dates. And you watch your money disappear into forgettable random commodities that you bought, because they were in front of you. You wake up in December, you look at your banking app. I don't even know why you have that freaking thing on your phone. You have your photos. All they are are photos of grass swaying in the wind. You go, "Wow, what happened to my life? What happened to this year?" It's not a rich life. Nobody trips and falls into an amazing year.
So let's fix it right now. What's your theme? Say it out loud again. Now write down one anchor experience, one special thing, where if you did it, you would look back in December and go, "Oh, that was awesome." Give it a date. Now let's do it together in this rich life design exercise. You've been watching, you've been nodding. Maybe you've been dreaming a little bit. Your mouth is watering, because you're thinking about that pasta dish you want to eat.
Step number one, choose your theme. Say it out loud. Type it in your calendar. 2026 is the year of, put your theme right there. Now you have already done more planning than 99% of people will this year. This is awesome.
Step two, pick two anchors. One is big, like it's seven to 14 days. Adapt it for your own personal scenario. One is smaller. It could be two to three days. Hell, if you can't do two to three days, it could be two hours. You pick. Put them on your calendar right now with placeholder titles and make them evocative, make them awesome. Ramit's awesome 2026 big anchor. Let's get excited about this. I'm gonna tell you, nobody ever lived a rich life with their boring ass titles. Annual recurring personal inspiration trip. What the hell? Why not just put kayaking with my friends? By doing this, you have officially claimed space for your rich life.
Step three, price them. Flights, lodging, transportation, meals, experiences. Do an approximate price. This should take no longer than 10 minutes. And then add 15% on top. That's your buffer, so you're not surprised. Total it up. Now you're not just dreaming. You know exactly what it costs. Well, approximately, and that's good enough. And that is powerful. By the way, if these numbers feel out of reach, you have lots of options. You can shorten the trip. You can give yourself more time to save, or you can focus on earning more. We have a bunch of programs like Earnable that help you do that. The point is you have to stay in motion. Do not let one tiny barrier stop you from doing this. You're too strong for that. A rich life is not about having everything happen at once. It's about continuing with deliberate progress.
Step four, fund this automatically. Name your savings account. Amazing kayaking trip with friends. Take the total, divide it by the months until the trip. That's how much you need to save every single month. You can divide by your paychecks. You can set the transfer up today to automatically go into your named savings account. And that's it. You just turned a dream into an automatic system. As long as you can breathe oxygen, you know that in a matter of months, you are gonna be ready to go on this amazing trip that you yourself chose.
Step five, rebalance your guilt-free spending. I wanna suggest to you that you can cut low-joy areas of spending. You don't actually even have to think about it as spending less. Oh, I'm gonna spend $50 a month less on getting Arby's delivered via DoorDash. You don't have to spend less. You're actually just spending better. Okay, I'd rather go kayaking than eat Arby's. In fact, I'd rather eat cyanide rather than Arby's, but that's a whole different discussion. Every dollar you redirect here is buying your rich life. Don't think of it as restriction. Think of it as living your rich life.
Step six, add the habits and people to your calendar. If you want slow mornings, block it off and cover the logistics. Maybe you need to talk to your boss and say, hey, if I stay later once a month on Tuesday night, would it be possible for me to work Wednesday starting at 10 a.m. instead of nine? Get creative! Nobody's gonna make your rich life happen for you. You have to figure out how to do it. Add monthly date nights. Add quarterly friend meetups. Add a weekend with your poor, long-suffering parents who never see you. Freaking kids never calling your parents. What's wrong with you? This is actually the best YouTube video of all because now you have an Indian guy lecturing you and making you feel guilty for not calling your parents. I mean, (beep) we might as well have some dosas sitting here right now, eating it. You're in an Indian household as far as I'm concerned. Now your calendar now reflects your values. It's not just a bunch of obligations that somebody else put on there.
Step seven, book one thing in the next seven days. It could be a flight, it could be a hotel, it could be getting a library card because you're gonna spend two hours at a public library and nobody's gonna bug you. It's up to you. Money follows decisions. If you just blocked that trip off, if you calculated your monthly number, if you are moving, I am proud of you. You've done more for your rich life in the last few minutes than most people will candidly do all year. Remember, a rich life is designed. It's not dreamed. You just designed your first draft of 2026. Now, fund it and live it and then watch this video next.