251. "We own a $1M house but can’t pay for groceries"
3/10/20261 hr 34 min
Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich talks to John and Victoria in a follow-up episode. This couple, in their thirties with three children and a home in suburban New York, is facing severe financial challenges with 97% fixed costs and over $100K in non-mortgage debt.
In their last session, Ramit highlighted the urgency of their situation, presenting them with two stark choices: sell their house and clear debt, or double down on income and aggressive cuts. They chose to keep their house, which required Victoria to return to work, both of them to significantly...
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First 90 secondsRamit Sethi· Host0:00
If you or your partner has fallen for a scam, I wanna help, especially if you've recently fallen for an email or text scam, or you've gotten bad financial advice from someone who did not keep their promises, or maybe you just have not even told your partner because you are embarrassed. If this is you, I wanna talk. Apply for free coaching with me by being on my podcast. Apply today at iwt.com/apply. That's iwt.com/apply. Previously on Money for Couples [gentle music] You will probably lose your house. You're spending more than you make. You're running out of savings.
Victoria· Guest0:37
We need to make better decisions on how we're spending.
Speaker 20:40
Anything that doesn't get directly applied to our debt doesn't keep us in this house, basically.
Ramit Sethi· Host0:46
You're spending 97% of take-home pay on fixed costs alone. You are broke.
Victoria· Guest0:50
Yeah. We are.
Ramit Sethi· Host0:52
Severe danger. Red flag. Stop everything. What do you want to do? Last week, I spoke with John and Victoria, a couple in their 30s with three kids and a home in suburban New York that they are desperately trying to keep. On paper, they have a net worth of over $600,000, but almost all of it is trapped in their house. And here's the reality: 97% fixed costs, which means they are spending more than they make every single month. Their savings is just $1,155. That's less than one week's of expenses if