Ramit Sethi talks to someone who skipped eating out for five years to buy two houses, then realized they're trapped. Their housing costs eat 40.5% of income. The American Dream of owning a big home often means sacrificing everything else.
You said we cannot eat out because of our housing.
Yeah.
Now, if you came here and you said, look, we've decided we are not eating out for the next 5 years because we've made a conscious decision that we want to have these properties for this reason, and we've run these numbers, I would say amazing. You've done all the math. You've decided. Is that the case here?
No.
Okay.
I don't want to just exist in the two houses, not doing anything.
Nicely put.
Yeah, that's—
I really like how you put that because that actually describes how so many Americans live.
Yeah.
Let's buy a big old house and then we got to furnish it and then we got to maintain it. And then for what? This is the American dream.
Yes. And then we're trapped.
Then we're trapped. Okay, so you do not want that? No. And yet nevertheless, you are here spending 40.5%. Yeah. On housing.
