Rory Sutherland

If you drive a long way down to the south of France, it's going to come to a few hundred euros. But that's a lot less than you'd pay for a hire car if you flew. And it's just something you just suck it up if you want to drive down to the south of France. If you're French and you've got a stretch of motorway of 20 miles and it costs you €5 a goddamn day, that's €1,000 a year.

If you drive a long way down to the south of France, it's going to come to a few hundred euros. But that's a lot less than you'd pay for a hire car if you flew. And it's just something you just suck it up if you want to drive down to the south of France. If you're French and you've got a stretch of motorway of 20 miles and it costs you €5 a goddamn day, that's €1,000 a year.

If you drive a long way down to the south of France, it's going to come to a few hundred euros. But that's a lot less than you'd pay for a hire car if you flew. And it's just something you just suck it up if you want to drive down to the south of France. If you're French and you've got a stretch of motorway of 20 miles and it costs you €5 a goddamn day, that's €1,000 a year.

It's a completely different equation. And so one of the things we need to understand much better is to economists, price is a number, but to consumers, price is a feeling. And fundamentally, economists have this weird idea of money that it kind of, I mean, one of the most important topics, I think, in economics is how to spend it.

It's a completely different equation. And so one of the things we need to understand much better is to economists, price is a number, but to consumers, price is a feeling. And fundamentally, economists have this weird idea of money that it kind of, I mean, one of the most important topics, I think, in economics is how to spend it.

It's a completely different equation. And so one of the things we need to understand much better is to economists, price is a number, but to consumers, price is a feeling. And fundamentally, economists have this weird idea of money that it kind of, I mean, one of the most important topics, I think, in economics is how to spend it.

I mean, Scott Galloway did quite an interesting piece on this just a few days ago, which is, in other words, it's not just about investment. It's not just about wealth optimization. The level of skill with which you translate available money into meaningful experiences, into happiness, well-being, flourishing, whatever you want to call it. I mean, that's a skill in itself.

I mean, Scott Galloway did quite an interesting piece on this just a few days ago, which is, in other words, it's not just about investment. It's not just about wealth optimization. The level of skill with which you translate available money into meaningful experiences, into happiness, well-being, flourishing, whatever you want to call it. I mean, that's a skill in itself.

I mean, Scott Galloway did quite an interesting piece on this just a few days ago, which is, in other words, it's not just about investment. It's not just about wealth optimization. The level of skill with which you translate available money into meaningful experiences, into happiness, well-being, flourishing, whatever you want to call it. I mean, that's a skill in itself.

And there are undoubtedly people who do it very, very badly. By the way, not only people who are extravagant, but actually people who are too stingy. So there's a wonderful piece of research by George Loewenstein, which looks at the fact that we all acknowledge in economics that there are people who spend too much. In other words, they get into debt. They're extravagant. They live for the moment.

And there are undoubtedly people who do it very, very badly. By the way, not only people who are extravagant, but actually people who are too stingy. So there's a wonderful piece of research by George Loewenstein, which looks at the fact that we all acknowledge in economics that there are people who spend too much. In other words, they get into debt. They're extravagant. They live for the moment.

And there are undoubtedly people who do it very, very badly. By the way, not only people who are extravagant, but actually people who are too stingy. So there's a wonderful piece of research by George Loewenstein, which looks at the fact that we all acknowledge in economics that there are people who spend too much. In other words, they get into debt. They're extravagant. They live for the moment.

They're probably, you know, they kind of have short time horizons and optimize for the moment to a point where they neglect their long-term wealth.

They're probably, you know, they kind of have short time horizons and optimize for the moment to a point where they neglect their long-term wealth.

They're probably, you know, they kind of have short time horizons and optimize for the moment to a point where they neglect their long-term wealth.

But George Loewenstein also made the point that correspondingly, you would expect there to be people who are not spendthrifts, he called them skinflints, who actually find the act of spending money so painful. Just the act of parting with money is something, the very transaction itself is so painful, they spend far too little. And I think he did a kind of survey on this.

But George Loewenstein also made the point that correspondingly, you would expect there to be people who are not spendthrifts, he called them skinflints, who actually find the act of spending money so painful. Just the act of parting with money is something, the very transaction itself is so painful, they spend far too little. And I think he did a kind of survey on this.

But George Loewenstein also made the point that correspondingly, you would expect there to be people who are not spendthrifts, he called them skinflints, who actually find the act of spending money so painful. Just the act of parting with money is something, the very transaction itself is so painful, they spend far too little. And I think he did a kind of survey on this.

And roughly speaking, about 40% to 50% of the population get it roughly right. And then you have a chunk of people at one end. Actually, skin flints outnumber spendthrifts, if I remember his data. So there is, I mean, one of his points is that he's a very big believer in buying experiences rather than stuff.

And roughly speaking, about 40% to 50% of the population get it roughly right. And then you have a chunk of people at one end. Actually, skin flints outnumber spendthrifts, if I remember his data. So there is, I mean, one of his points is that he's a very big believer in buying experiences rather than stuff.