Steven

And you realize how much modern spending, and this has increased in the social media age the last 10 or 15 years, is trying to get strangers' attention. It's trying to put on a show, put on a performance for people that you think are paying attention to you, but they're absolutely not. They're not paying any attention to you whatsoever.

And so like lowering your, or like raising your humility is one way to think about it. But it's also just realizing like, who do you want attention from? It's different for everybody. For me, I want my wife, my kids, my parents, and like three friends to love me. And I desperately care about their attention. I desperately care what my kids and my wife and my parents think of me.

And so like lowering your, or like raising your humility is one way to think about it. But it's also just realizing like, who do you want attention from? It's different for everybody. For me, I want my wife, my kids, my parents, and like three friends to love me. And I desperately care about their attention. I desperately care what my kids and my wife and my parents think of me.

And it's fundamental to my happiness.

And it's fundamental to my happiness.

and from there it declines real quick you know there's a couple of really close friends who are in there and then there's some like colleagues and whatnot and it declines very quickly from there and strangers the person driving us could not care in the slightest and maybe that sounds obvious but so much of what we do with money is a performance to impress that guy who's not paying any attention to you whatsoever and so i want to put a lot of effort

and from there it declines real quick you know there's a couple of really close friends who are in there and then there's some like colleagues and whatnot and it declines very quickly from there and strangers the person driving us could not care in the slightest and maybe that sounds obvious but so much of what we do with money is a performance to impress that guy who's not paying any attention to you whatsoever and so i want to put a lot of effort

into fostering the relationships with those six or seven people. I want to put tremendous effort into that and very little every from there. And here's the thing. If I got a Ferrari, would my wife love me more? No. Would my kids admire me more? No. And so the people who I want to love me are not impacted by the fancy things that I would buy.

into fostering the relationships with those six or seven people. I want to put tremendous effort into that and very little every from there. And here's the thing. If I got a Ferrari, would my wife love me more? No. Would my kids admire me more? No. And so the people who I want to love me are not impacted by the fancy things that I would buy.

We live a pretty decent material life, but I also spend a lot of money. So the biggest expense that I have, what I spend money on is independence. And I view that as a thing I'm spending money on. I spend money on controlling my calendar. I spend money on the ability to say no to work that I don't want to do. I view it as I'm financially independent. And so I can do the work that I want to do.

We live a pretty decent material life, but I also spend a lot of money. So the biggest expense that I have, what I spend money on is independence. And I view that as a thing I'm spending money on. I spend money on controlling my calendar. I spend money on the ability to say no to work that I don't want to do. I view it as I'm financially independent. And so I can do the work that I want to do.

And I've been working on that for 25 years. What else do I spend money on? Here's what's interesting. My son back in the green room, you asked about him. It was the thing I was thinking about just a couple of weeks ago. I grew up as a skier. I was a ski racer in Lake Tahoe. And always, particularly when I was younger, there were always people on my ski team who had better gear than me.

And I've been working on that for 25 years. What else do I spend money on? Here's what's interesting. My son back in the green room, you asked about him. It was the thing I was thinking about just a couple of weeks ago. I grew up as a skier. I was a ski racer in Lake Tahoe. And always, particularly when I was younger, there were always people on my ski team who had better gear than me.

They had the newer skis and newer boots and cooler gear and whatnot. And I always, I hated it. It made me so insecure. I hated it. And one of the things that I did was when my son started skiing a couple of years ago, I was like, I'm going to buy you the best stuff. Because I was insecure and I'm going to make up for that little chip on my shoulder. I'm going to buy you the best gear.

They had the newer skis and newer boots and cooler gear and whatnot. And I always, I hated it. It made me so insecure. I hated it. And one of the things that I did was when my son started skiing a couple of years ago, I was like, I'm going to buy you the best stuff. Because I was insecure and I'm going to make up for that little chip on my shoulder. I'm going to buy you the best gear.

And here's the thing. He couldn't care less about it. He could not care less about the fancy stuff that he has. Couldn't care less about it. So everyone's different in that. And it also gets back to like a lot of spending is based off of a story or a scar that you had from earlier in your childhood.

And here's the thing. He couldn't care less about it. He could not care less about the fancy stuff that he has. Couldn't care less about it. So everyone's different in that. And it also gets back to like a lot of spending is based off of a story or a scar that you had from earlier in your childhood.

You said roughly what percentage of your net worth? 20%, 25% maybe. We own a house outright and then the rest in stocks. It's very simple. Our entire net worth is a house, cash, Vanguard index funds, and shares of Markel where I'm on the board of directors. That's it. That's my entire net worth. It's as simple and boring and bland as you could possibly get.

You said roughly what percentage of your net worth? 20%, 25% maybe. We own a house outright and then the rest in stocks. It's very simple. Our entire net worth is a house, cash, Vanguard index funds, and shares of Markel where I'm on the board of directors. That's it. That's my entire net worth. It's as simple and boring and bland as you could possibly get.

And what I want to do with that, the reason I keep it so boring is the variable that I want to maximize for is endurance, as we spoke about earlier. So if my finances are so simple, then I can spend all of my mental energy, all of the strategy is how can I make sure that I can just keep this going for as long as I possibly can.