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 - How growing up around financial stress and poverty shaped the way they both think about money today - Why 30% of their spending went toward shopping and why they couldn’t even remember some of what they bought - How they radically restructure their spending, savings, investments, and rules around money ⏩ CHAPTERS: 💡 RAMIT’S PODCAST NEWSLETTER • I share new ways to think about money every Saturday. Get the emails here: https://iwt.com/podcastnewsletter 🙌 GET HELP FROM RAMIT SETHI • Order my new book: Money for Couples: https://iwt.com/moneyforcouples • Take control of your money with the Conscious Spending Plan: https://iwt.com/csp • Optimize your credit cards with the 1st chapter of my book: https://iwt.com/chapter1-pod • Join my Rich Life: Road to $100K program: https://iwt.com/100k • Listen to my book — now on Audible: https://amzn.to/48zko28 🤳 CONNECT WITH RAMIT SETHI • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ramit/ • X: https://twitter.com/ramit ✅ SUBSCRIBE SO YOU DON’T MISS ANY EPISODES https://youtube.com/user/ramitsethi/featured/ THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: NetSuite | If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, get the free business guide “Aligning for the Agentic Era: How AI Is Changing Everyday Work” at https://netsuite.com/ramit Granola | Try Granola totally free at https://granola.ai/RAMIT. Ladder | Get a free 7-day trial and $10 off your first month at https://ladder.fit/RAMIT Fabric by Gerber Life | Go to meetfabric.com/RAMIT and apply today, risk-free Trust & Will | Protect what matters most in minutes at https://trustandwill.com/ramit and get 20% off Want to know exactly when you’ll hit your first $100K? Rich Life: Road to $100K gives you a step-by-step system to automate your money, accelerate your timeline, and build your Rich Life along the way. Join today: iwt.com/100K Apply to be coached for free on this podcast at https://iwt.com/apply