#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