This Couple Makes $150K and Feels Broke—Here’s Why Following Dave Ramsey to the Letter Might Be Backfiring

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A high-earning couple earning $150,000 annually just sparked a firestorm on Reddit after admitting they feel “broke” despite being debt-free and having $185,000 stashed in retirement accounts. Their confession reveals a paradox that’s becoming increasingly common among disciplined savers: you can do everything right financially and still feel like you’re living paycheck to paycheck.

The couple, posting in the r/DaveRamsey community, detailed their situation with brutal honesty. They bring home $8,250 monthly, maintain a fully funded emergency fund, and religiously follow financial guru Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps program. Yet they’re left wondering if they’re “over investing, over spending, or just living too far below our means,” according to their post on r/DaveRamsey.

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Here’s where things get interesting: the couple is spending $2,800 monthly on just groceries and general expenses alone. That breaks down to $1,200 per month on groceries for a family of four—roughly $300 weekly—and another $1,600 on gas, restaurants, weekend activities, and small home repairs, according to details shared in the Reddit discussion.

Community members were quick to point out the disconnect. “You’re not broke,” one commenter noted bluntly in the thread. “You have $1,600 a month in ‘general spending’ alone.”

But the spending doesn’t stop there. The family allocates $660 monthly to sports programs, including $425 for taekwondo memberships for two people, $235 for the wife’s cross-training program, and additional kids’ league fees. That’s roughly $14,000 annually on fitness and activities—a luxury expense that directly competes with their feeling of financial freedom, according to analysis from r/DaveRamsey community members.

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The real revelation came when Reddit users examined the couple’s $2,387 monthly mortgage payment, which represents about 30% of their take-home pay. With 25 years remaining at a 4.25% interest rate, several commenters argued the couple isn’t actually “debt free” at all—they’re just debt free except for their largest obligation.

“True financial freedom comes from paying off the house,” one user explained, referencing Ramsey’s Baby Step 6. The suggestion: pivot retirement contributions beyond the employer match toward aggressively eliminating the mortgage instead.

The couple’s situation illustrates what some financial experts call the “investment trap”—funneling so much money toward retirement and savings that present-day life feels unnecessarily restricted. They admitted in their post that after becoming debt-free, they “didn’t change our lifestyle at all” and instead directed extra funds toward retirement accounts.

Community members offered concrete solutions. One detailed strategy involved cutting general spending and subscriptions by $200-$300 monthly, while another suggested tracking the $400 weekly transfer more carefully to ensure alignment with actual priorities. Some recommended “frugal things like abusing free trials with virtual credit cards” and leveraging new-customer restaurant app deals to potentially save over $1,000 annually, according to suggestions from the r/DaveRamsey thread.

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Perhaps the most valuable insight came from commenters who reframed the couple’s thinking entirely. “You’re not broke—you’re structured,” one user noted. “You’re sending money to future you instead of wasting it.”

The couple’s story serves as a cautionary tale about the emotional toll of extreme financial discipline. Making $150,000 and feeling cash-poor isn’t a math problem—it’s a values alignment issue. The answer isn’t necessarily earning more or spending less; it’s understanding that every dollar allocated to Taekwondo and retirement is a conscious choice to skip other potential luxuries.

For the thousands of families following similar aggressive saving strategies, this Reddit discussion offers a mirror: financial freedom isn’t just about the numbers in your accounts. It’s about whether your budget reflects what you actually value—even if that means occasionally eating out without guilt.

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This article This Couple Makes $150K and Feels Broke—Here’s Why Following Dave Ramsey to the Letter Might Be Backfiring originally appeared on Benzinga.com