Ramit Sethi

I've learned that 50% of the people I talk to do not know their household income.

90% of the people I talk to who are in debt do not know how much debt they're in.

And 100% of the people I talk to in credit card debt also have trouble saying no to their children.

Isn't that shocking?

Each of those things, 50% do not know how much income they make because most of us are simply living by looking at our checking account and that's it.

The debt part kind of makes sense.

Why would you want to know how much debt you owe?

You don't really want to think about it.

So you ignore those emails and envelopes.

And the credit card debt part, that is really interesting.

The idea that if you can't say no to spending, so you've racked up a bunch of credit card debt, the same principle applies to saying no to kids debt.

For me, when I discover these, I find them absolutely fascinating, but the good news is you can also change these things.

Men always describe themselves as providers.

Always.

That's what we are taught.

It exists in culture.

The problem is, of course, what happens when they are not the top earner, which is happening increasingly more now.

So when I often ask them, who are you, financially speaking, if you're not a provider?

and they're just stumped.

But there's got to be something more than simply being a provider.