280. "We have $11M in assets. Why are we still living month to month?"

Ramit unpacks what happens when a couple earns more than $1 million a year but still feels like they’re living month to month, and how a lifestyle built around family, community, and tradition can become almost impossible to afford.

Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You to Be Rich talks with Margo and Kevin, 42 and 52, who live in Brooklyn with their five children. They take home around $600,000 a year and have approximately $11 million in assets, yet only around $50,000 in savings. Once Ramit uncovers expenses missing from their original plan, including private school tuition and summer camps, their fixed costs climb above 100% of their take-home pay, revealing that they’re spending more than they make every month.

Their biggest challenge isn’t simply earning more money. Kevin has taken on most of the finances while Margo has had limited visibility into their overall financial picture, and neither of them has a clear picture of where their money is actually going. Ramit helps them confront how community norms and family traditions shape what they see as non-negotiable, and the difficult choices they may need to make around private school, their homes, their children, and the lifestyle they’ve built.

In this episode, we uncover:

How a couple earning over $1 million a year can still live month to month

Why they describe themselves as “rich poor people”

How missing expenses push their fixed costs above 100% of their take-home pay

Why $160K in tuition and camps completely changes their financial picture

How a $400K–$500K mold crisis wiped out much of their financial cushion

Why they have $11 million in assets but only around $50K in savings

Why Kevin manages most of the money while Margo has limited visibility into their finances

How childhood money lessons shaped their “earn more, spend more” cycle

How community and tradition shape their spending

Why they may need to make major changes to their homes, education costs, and spending to finally start saving and investing

Chapters:

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:02:00) Why they call themselves “rich poor people”

(00:25:00) Ramit opens up their numbers

(00:43:00) The hidden expenses pushing them over 100%

(01:06:00) How their childhoods shaped their money habits

(01:11:00) How community and tradition shape their spending

(01:15:00) They finally confront what has to change

(01:33:00) Why $11M in assets still leaves them cash poor

(01:36:00) Private school, their homes, and the difficult decisions ahead

(01:58:00) Follow-ups

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