256. "We moved abroad for fun. Now we can’t afford to leave"
4/14/20261 hr 54 min
Liza and Bradford earn $120,000 a year as expats in Colombia, South America. They have three kids, $273,000 in net worth, and by the standards of expat life, they live well. But they have $1,500 in savings, no savings rate, and a line of credit they treat like a rainy day fund. And for five years, Liza has been pushing to move back to Canada almost every single day.
When Ramit opens their Conscious Spending Plan, the income isn't the issue. Investments are protected at all costs. Savings are non-existent. And the same debt cycle they've been running for years...
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First 90 secondsLisa· Guest0:00
I'm Colombian, but I grew up in Canada. I wanted to come back and live here as an adult as a fun experience for, like, a year or so, but we've been here almost seven now. I didn't sign up to come here forever.
Ramit Sethi· Host0:09
If you were to move back to Canada tomorrow, would you be able to afford it?
Bradford· Guest0:13
I mean, we could get there. I don't know if we'd survive a month without, like, the food bank.
Lisa· Guest0:18
I feel like everything in North America has gotten more expensive. Thinking of going back, suddenly it feels like a big leap.
Ramit Sethi· Host0:23
Why is this question about moving back to Canada coming up now?
Lisa· Guest0:27
My financial situation kind of changed recently. Then I feel like this desperation of, oh, I need to go find something else.
Ramit Sethi· Host0:34
I mean, I can understand it. When things get hard, sometimes you just wanna say, like, "I wanna go home."
Lisa· Guest0:39
Yeah.
Bradford· Guest0:39
I don't want my kids to have the same life that I had, where, you know, like, I did a few things, but later found out it was all my grandparents. I don't wanna be 70 and, and working.
Ramit Sethi· Host0:49
As you sit here and think about the numbers, what does it feel like to you?
Bradford· Guest0:53
I mean, the first word that comes to mind is hopeless. If I've gotta put more than that away, I don't know how to do that without basically just living for retirement and forgetting how to live my life right now.
Ramit Sethi· Host1:01
Bradford and Lisa moved to Colombia six years ago with three children, and they had a simple plan: try it for a year, have an adventure. But now they've been there almost seven years, and they are stuck. When they look at their finances, they realize they might not actually be able to afford to leave. That's because for years they've been cycling through the same old pattern. Get into debt, pay it off, then get right back into debt.