256. "We moved abroad for fun. Now we can’t afford to leave"

Money For Couples with Ramit Sethi

Ramit Sethi

Business, Relationships, Society & Culture, Investing

4.6 • 124 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 117 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 keeps getting treated like a victory every time they pay it off. If nothing changes, moving back to Canada, the thing Liza wants most, will never actually be an option. They can't afford the flights, the furniture, or the fresh start. But this episode goes deeper than the numbers. What Ramit finds is a dynamic that has been quietly running their marriage for years. Bradford takes on every financial burden alone, and every time he does, Liza is left feeling like she has no purpose and no reason to contribute. After years of this, both of them are stuck in roles that aren't working. In this episode we uncover: • The expat "money hack" that turned into a trap, and why Liza hasn't been able to find traction in Colombia • Why doubling Liza's income in Canada wouldn't actually improve their financial position • The taxi fleet that lost between $60,000 and $100,000, and the pattern it revealed • How Bradford's "I'll handle it" efficiency has been disempowering his wife for years • Why Liza ties her self-worth to what companies are willing to pay her • The debt cycle they've been treating as a win, and why Ramit sees it differently • What a shared financial vision actually looks like for this couple • The follow-up update from Liza and Bradford Chapters: (00:00) Cold open: Can we afford to leave? (01:08) Episode intro + financial breakdown (02:31) Meet Liza and Bradford (05:07) The “money hack” that became a trap (09:30) Five years of the same argument (25:00) The debt cycle begins (32:30) Opening the Conscious Spending Plan (38:00) How much can Liza actually earn? (41:39) The line of credit problem (45:52) Breaking down their system (01:30:00) The pattern hurting both of them (01:33:30) What do you each need? (01:47:00) Follow-up This episode is brought to you by: Factor | Head to factormeals.com/ramit50off and use code ramit50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box, with new subscription only, while supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details). Facet | As of the date of this recording, Facet is waiving the enrollment fee for new annual members, and for my audience, Facet is offering $300 into your brokerage account if you invest and maintain $5,000 within your first 90 days. Head to facet.com/ramit to learn more about which membership option is best for you. Offer has been extended to 12/31/2026. #FacetAd Netsuite | Get the free guide “Demystifying AI” at https://netsuite.com/ramit Wispr Flow | Try Wispr Flow for free at wisprflow.ai/ramit Connect with Ramit • Get my new book, Money For Couples • Get Money Coaching with Ramit • Download the Conscious Spending Plan • Listen to my book—now on Audible • Get my New York Times best-selling book • Get my no-numbers journal • Other episodes • Instagram • Twitter • YouTube If you or your partner get stressed spending $150 on dinner, or are covering up spending, I’d like to help. Apply to be coached for free on this podcast at iwt.com/apply

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you or your partner has fallen for a scam, I want to help, especially if you've recently
0:05.5	fallen for an email or text scam, or you've gotten bad financial advice from someone who did
0:10.6	not keep their promises, or maybe you just have not even told your partner because you are
0:15.6	embarrassed. If this is you, I want to talk. Apply for free coaching with me by being on my podcast.
0:22.8	Apply today at IWT.com slash apply.
0:26.5	That's IWT.com slash apply.
0:29.8	I'm Colombian, but I grew up in Canada.
0:32.0	I wanted to come back and live here as an adult as a fun experience for like a year or so,
0:35.9	but we've been here almost seven now.
0:37.8	I didn't sign up to come here forever. If you were to move back to Canada tomorrow, would you be able to afford it? I mean, we could get there. I don't know if we'd survive a month without like the food bank. I feel like everything in North America has gotten more expensive. Thinking of going back, suddenly it feels like a big leap. Why is this question about moving back to Canada coming up now?
0:56.3	My... more expensive, thinking of going back, suddenly it feels like a big leap. Why is this question about moving back to Canada coming up now?
0:56.9	My financial situation kind of changed recently, then I feel like desperation.
1:02.6	Oh, I need to go find something else.
1:04.4	I mean, I can understand it.
1:06.1	When things get hard, sometimes you just want to say, like, I want to go home.
1:09.1	Yeah.
1:09.7	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 want to be 70 and working. As you sit here and think about the numbers, what does it feel like to you? I mean, the first word that comes to mind is hopeless. If I've got to put more than that away, I don't know how to do that without basically just living for retirement and forgetting how to live
1:30.8	my life right now. Bradford and Lisa moved to Columbia six years ago with three children. And they had
1:37.7	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
1:46.2	their finances, they realize they might not actually be able to afford to leave. That's because
1:52.2	for years they've been cycling through the same old pattern. Get into debt, pay it off,
1:57.8	then get right back into debt. I'm looking at their conscious spending plan,
	...

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