282. "We spend 154% of what we make. Will we ever stop drowning?"

Ramit digs into how years of overspending, money avoidance, and relying on future income have left a couple with more than $428,000 in debt, no savings, and a financial life they can no longer sustain.

Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You to Be Rich talks with Addison, 39, and James, 43, who earn around $138,000 a year but have $0 in savings and fixed costs consuming a staggering 154% of their take-home pay. Addison feels responsible for keeping their finances afloat, while James admits he's spent years relying on optimism and money he expects to earn in the future.

As Ramit digs deeper, it becomes clear they are both contributing to the problem through restaurants, concerts, Ubers, shopping, and pet spending that has reached thousands in a single month. He helps them uncover the childhood money patterns behind their behavior, confront what they can actually afford, and make some of the biggest lifestyle changes attempted on the show all in an effort to stop living on future money and build a financial life they can actually sustain.

A special thanks to our new partners at Monarch for sponsoring this episode. Try Monarch for free today, and get 50% off your first year of Monarch’s core tier at https://monarch.com/ramit, promo code RAMIT. When you sign up with my link only, you’ll get your Monarch account customized with my exact CSP categories so you can see exactly how you’re stacking up to your plan each month. That’s https://monarch.com/ramit, promo code RAMIT.

In this episode, we uncover:

Why Addison says they may divorce if their relationship with money doesn’t change

How more than $428K of debt, $0 savings, and 154% fixed costs have left them financially exposed

Why James admits he has been “betting on money that’s not there yet”

How Addison became the financial safety net while increasingly feeling like a caretaker

Why restaurants, concerts, Ubers, shopping, and convenience spending became part of their everyday life

How they planned to spend more than $3,300 a month on food and over $1,000 a month on their dogs

Why Addison’s frustration with James is only part of the story and how her own spending contributes too