Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below.
Jeff, 50, is a specialized surgeon. His wife Susan, 48, is a stay-at-home mom. Even though Jeff earns an enviable $665,000 a year, the couple — married 19 years — are still struggling to pay the bills.
The couple called into finance guru Ramit Sethi’s podcast, “I Will Teach You To Be Rich,” to get some help (1).
-
Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don’t have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here’s how
-
Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake — here’s what it is and 3 simple steps to fix it ASAP
-
Get early access to privately-held AI companies with Fundrise Venture Capital for as little as $10. Join 350,000+ investors today
After taxes, Jeff takes $426,000 a year, but he only started earning that much around the age of 40. As his income grew, the family’s discretionary spending ballooned.
Sethi pointed out that people can feel money anxiety and develop poor spending habits, whether they make $50,000 or $500,000 a year.
“If you feel bad about money at $50,000, you’re probably going to feel that way when you make 10 times your income,” he told the couple.
But it turns out flashing their cash wasn’t the only problem. Here’s the piece of the puzzle Jeff and Susan were missing.
Sethi first pointed to some of the psychological issues at play. For example, Susan grew up without a lot of money, and while she often deprives herself of small expenditures like pedicures, she also has a hard time saying no to her kids when it comes to big-ticket items.
But, according to Sethi, one of their biggest problems has to do with their financial advisor.
In a more recent YouTube video posted to Sethi’s channel, he states, “I would never pay a percentage of assets under management (2).”
Percentage-based fees grow as your wealth grows, which means you can end up paying an ever-increasing sum to your advisor.
But Sethi clarified he’s not against working with a professional, saying “I would, and have, happily paid a financial advisor to help me out, to take a second look at my asset allocation.”
Sethi advocates for fixed advisory fees — which are a safer way to keep more of your investment gains as your wealth grows.
As for Jeff, he has two brokerage accounts managed by an advisor charging a 1.24% fee.
“I generally feel as though most people are good and they’re not trying to rip us off,” Susan said.
But when she asked their financial advisor about his fee, “he told me, ‘oh, it’s roughly around 1%.’ I’ll never forget, he made this face like, oh, it’s not that much.”