#275 Nick Maggiulli On 'The Wealth Ladder' And Why Being A Millionaire Isn't Special Anymore

Nick Maggiulli, COO at Ritholtz Wealth Management and author of "The Wealth Ladder," presents his data-driven framework for understanding wealth progression. He explains his six-level wealth ladder system (from under $10K to over $100M) and introduces the 0.01% spending rule for lifestyle decisions. Maggiulli emphasizes focusing on controllable factors rather than macro predictions, shares his personal journey from working-class background to level four wealth through consistent content creation, and discusses why different strategies are needed at each wealth level. He advocates for the "just keep buying" approach for level three investors while acknowledging that business ownership becomes necessary to reach level five.

Sponsors:

Monetary Metals. https://monetary-metals.com/julia

Kalshi: https://kalshi.com/julia

Links:

The Wealth Ladder: https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Ladder-Proven-Strategies-Financial/dp/0593854039/

X: https://x.com/dollarsanddata

Of Dollars and Data: https://ofdollarsanddata.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Welcome and introduction - Nick's return to the show
1:19 Big picture outlook - focusing on individual control vs macro
3:14 Death of the Amex lounge - rise of the upper middle class
7:21 The wealth ladder framework - six levels explained
10:06 Spending framework - the 0.01% rule
13:03 Income vs wealth-based spending decisions
17:11 Nick's personal journey through the wealth levels
19:37 Building through content creation and consistency
23:22 Stanford experience and class differences
26:07 Progressing from level three to four - just keep buying
28:41 The book as guide and warning - when is enough enough?
30:20 Money and happiness - the logarithmic relationship
32:44 Just keep buying framework at all-time highs
36:45 Why Nick owns Bitcoin - the 5% allocation
40:39 Final thoughts - importance of income across wealth levels