In Canada we have OAS and CPP (and up to ~13k GIS if you are under 23k income as a single), in the US you still have some assumptions around Social Security, no? So living costs don’t only need to come from investment returns. Even with us leaving work early and no more contributions to CPP, if we delay both to 70 we’re looking at over 40k annually in today’s dollars just from that.
But yes, 1MM seems like a lot, until you look at what cashflow can be pulled on the regular. Can’t both have a million and spend that million. rude.
We likewise did all our math assuming no gov’t money. But I think it’s unlikely there will be zero. More means tested, not actually matching inflation. The closer we get to 60, the more likely I think we’ll get something (e.g. I had zero expectation when I was 35 or 40). The problem I see is that if there is a problem, we’re (ppl and govt) all relying on the same things, and I can’t figure out diversification beyond community resilience.
Yeah. I’m 40, so SSI is 22+ years in the future for me. 10 years ago I would have told you that of course there would be SSI when I retire, just probably less proportionate to costs, but now I am… really not so sure.
The US is not on a trajectory that is kind to the vulnerable.
These people are unable to agree on their expenses and they seem to just be throwing out random numbers. I don’t buy this and I wish Ramit got madder at them. These are things they can look up. Who comes on a show without this information. That’s the whole problem, regardless of income
Initially they seemed kind of unbelievable but by the end they just seemed kind of sad. He earns a lot of money, I suspect they’re spending way more than what they identified on the show and way more than what he earns, and she can’t imagine a life without the luxuries they’ve become accumstomed to. The most jaw-dropping moment for me was when
Spoiler
She wanted to pull one kid, out of five, out of private school, or tell that kid they would loan them the money and the kid would have to pay (half of?) it back to them.
Like that’s not going to create some hard feeling between kids that won’t last decades.
But she won’t consider selling the summer house.
I can’t imagine what happens when it all comes crashing down.
Ramit would probably be madder at me that I got annoyed at myself for a few seconds that I price matched sweet potatoes this week at 0.99/lb instead of 0.88/lb (I’m obviously not putting effort into the right things, or I could have 11MM too)
I wish he would do what Gail did on Til Debt Do Us Part: Review their last six months of financial statements, and say “You think you’re earning / spending this much? It’s actually THIS much.” The disconnect was usually huge.
There were a lot of things this couple talked about that were nowhere to be seen in their CSP.
I watched the episode on YouTube. Wow, their priorities are so different from my own! I don’t feel very hopeful from their recap that they will make the changes they need to make. I think they will end up having her dad help pay for tuition longer (I think they were the ones who had decided that he shouldn’t be helping with that any longer).
Also, Ramit mentioned the couple had flown out to be on the podcast. I had assumed he was still in NYC, but I guess not! Does anyone know more about where he is living/recording the podcast these days?
I’m still listening to the episode. It is weird to me that they are so locked in on private school for their 5 kids but have NO money saved for college??? And I get it—it’s hard to switch schools mid academic career, and you want to set your kids up for success, but I would think college is more important??? Am I missing something
Also the buying a car for your kid to get to work. You live in BROOKLYN. Why did the subway never come up??? Why did the kid paying for their own transportation never come up? TBF Ramit is pushing back because they keep saying they’re going to cut but then they have a long story about why they can’t cut in any area
And the Shabbat meals. Why $30 organic kosher chickens every week? Why not…soup?
Oh and did anyone else catch that they’re paying $500/mo (I hope total and not per kid oh god) for herbal supplements for the mold situation? Is mold some big MAHA tiktok pop medicine racket rn?? I know herbal supplements help a lot of people yadda yadda but that seems wild
If I had 5 kids each one would be assigned a Shabbat meal and we’d make it a game. Each of you make a soup and we’ll vote on the best one at the end of the month. Extra points for low cost
There is an interesting conversation to be had here about the conflation of community/values with money. I don’t doubt for a second that there is a deep fear, beyond a “keeping up with the joneses” thing, that if they don’t send kids to one of three Jewish schools, one of three Jewish summer camps, don’t splash out for the holidays, don’t have a giant Shabbat, that they’re losing their community, because those are the spaces their community is in and there is a cost. We all know that maybe it’s not a “real” community if the bill is so high and if you can’t pay, then you’re out. But it doesn’t make the fear less real
