the money hack you've probably never heard of
financially hot brain tricks | issue #55
Today we’re talking mental models. But what are they?
We all have mental models running in the background, shaped by our past experiences and beliefs.
They influence how we see money, success, and even ourselves. The best part is that once you understand a model, you can use it on purpose to make smarter decisions and spot opportunities you’d normally miss.
I love using them for money because they help you build wealth without needing to reinvent your whole lifestyle.
And the one I’m sharing with you today is one of my favourites: contrast. Once you see it, you’ll spot it everywhere, and you’ll be glad you’re subscribed because you’ll know how to get financially hot with it.
𝜗ৎ In this issue:
Charlie Munger’s Contrast Dial
Charlie Munger's famous contrast experiment involves three buckets of water:
Bucket A = Ice cold
Bucket B = Near boiling
Bucket C = Lukewarm
For 2 minutes, participants put one hand in Bucket A and their other hand in Bucket B. They then put both hands in bucket C.
Even though both hands are in a bucket of lukewarm water, one hand feels burning hot and the other feels freezing. The participants perceived their hands feeling completely different temperatures… because of contrast.
This experiment teaches us that we don’t actually judge things objectively at all, we judge them in comparison to something else.
You can view your brain as a contrast dial, constantly turning up and down depending on what it’s exposed to.
And honestly, I’ve noticed that the contrast dial gets turned up a lot when it comes to money.
Why contrast matters for money
Spending & lifestyle creep
You earn £2,000 a month and are happy with your flat. Then you visit a friend’s £3,000/month flat with a rooftop view. Suddenly your place feels “bad” when nothing changed.
The danger: You increase spending not because your life got worse, but because the comparison shifted.
Career and salary
A £40k salary feels great until you overhear someone on £60k. The danger is quitting, resenting, or burning out based on comparison, not whether your salary meets your real needs and goals.
Saving & investing motivation
Seeing only millionaire stories on Instagram makes your £5k savings look tiny. I get it.
When in reality, compared to most of the population, you’re doing well. The wrong contrast point actually robs you of motivation and kicks you when you’re down.
So how can we use this to level up financially?
Instead of letting contrast work against you, use it on purpose:
Set your own benchmarks → Compare your money only to your past self, not influencers, family or friends.
Example: last year you saved £200 a month. This year you’re saving £250. That’s progress.
Control your inputs → Limit your exposure to “highlight reels” of wealth online. Especially social media. Curate what you consume so you’re not constantly dialling your brain contrast against private jets, Euro Summer and teenagers buying mansions.
Use negative visualisation → Instead of seeing investing £100 a month as “too small,” contrast it with doing nothing. Actually visualise your life if you did nothing. In 10 years, the difference is tens of thousands.
Reframe purchases → When you’re tempted to upgrade your lifestyle, contrast the cost of it with a freedom goal.
Example: “This £500 bag = two weeks of my travel fund.”
"Nothing like a health problem to turn up the contrast dial on the rest of life" -
Naval
Do a Contrast Reset™
How can you implement this into your own life now? Walk yourself through these steps:
You can do this for anything, not just money.
This is one of the core principles of the Financial Hot Girl™ Method: using yourself as your own baseline in order to rewire your happiness, gratitude and comparison against only yourself — so that you can earn, keep and grow your money while feeling good about it.
The FHG Method is the payday workshop, but better. It’s the clear and immediately implementable way for you to build a financial routine rooted in essential principles for happiness, fulfilment and most importantly wealth building.
It’s not for everyone, it’s for those of you who want higher than average levels of mental, physical and financial wealth. It’s dropping Wednesday AM. Be ready.
How did you find this issue?
Share Financial Hot Girl
✧ Grow the financial hottie gang ✧
{{rp_personalized_text}}
Or copy and paste this link to others: {{rp_refer_url_no_params}}
✧ Simplest way to get referrals quickly? Share a screenshot of Financial Hot Girl on your instagram story with your unique referral link. Thank you for your support 🫶
This newsletter and everything shared in it is to help you build a well-rounded, aspirational life that includes money. I hope it was able to do that today 🫶
— Dev xo