Many listeners of a recent “The Ramsey Show” had quite an emotional reaction to a plastic surgeon who, despite earning about $750,000 a year, said money felt tight.
“Anyone else punching their steering wheel like I was listening to a plastic surgeon making 750k a year complain about how things are too tight and they are only a single income family?” one vented on Reddit.
The caller told the hosts Ken Coleman and Jade Warshaw that he and his wife are a single-income household with three young children and another baby due within weeks. Despite earning roughly $34,000 a month after taxes, he said he felt uneasy about tackling their debt.
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That debt was substantial: about $600,000 in student loans, a mortgage, and two car leases costing roughly $1,400 a month combined. At the same time, the family had already saved $122,000, enough to cover more than six months of expenses.
While the debt was large, the hosts said the income changed everything. The key issue was speed, not caution.
The hosts’ advice was aggressive. Get out of the car leases as fast as possible. Buy reasonable cars with cash. Use savings to wipe out the smaller $100,000 student loan immediately. Then live far below their means for a short period and attack the remaining $500,000 with intensity.
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Many Redditors couldn’t get past the idea of someone earning three-quarters of a million dollars saying things felt tight. “It’s always interesting that we are all the same at every income level,” one commenter wrote. “If you make a mil a year you have to have a mortgage and bills to match.”
Another called out lifestyle inflation directly, saying, “Income creep, it’s what we humans do.” Others took it further, arguing that habits matter more than income. “People who are ‘stuff’ people are still ‘stuff’ people at $750k a year,” one said.
Doctors, in particular, became a focal point. Several commenters shared personal stories of physicians who earned enormous incomes but still lived paycheck to paycheck.
“Doctors are some of the most financially illiterate people I’ve met,” one wrote, adding that intelligence in one area doesn’t guarantee discipline in another.
