A couple in Alpine, New Jersey earns $3.7 million a year. Every month, they are left with just $2,390. Big pay does not make you rich if you don’t keep control of it.
Nurses, let this be an example of what not to do.
Who they are
One is a corporate lawyer. The other is a chief information officer. They are 37 and 39 years old.
They live in a beautiful home, and their kids go to private school. Julie Chang (@JulieChangRE) shared their budget on X in February 2024. She called them “cash poor.”
Where their money goes
They bring home $77,180 a month. They spend $74,790 a month.
| Category | Monthly amount | My notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage | $29,500 | This eats up about 40% of their income. If one of them loses their job, they are in serious trouble. |
| Nanny | $10,000 | Paying someone else to raise the kids so they can keep working to pay the nanny. |
| Dining, fun and shopping | $14,000 | A full down payment, spent every month. Pausing this for 3 months would double their savings. |
| Private school and tutors | $5,500 | A great education, but risky when the parents are one bad month from going broke. |
| Trainers, cleaners and lawn care | $5,600 | They hire out everything except their money. |
| Cars (lease, gas, insurance) | $3,440 | Luxury cars with no cushion. We made this mistake with our $76,000 Volvo XC90. Never again. |
| Other | $4,000 | “We don’t know where it went” is not a budget. It is a problem. |
| Left over after spending | $2,390 | Not even 5% of their income. One surprise bill and they lose money that month. |
| Savings | $30,000 | Not enough for even two months of bills. |
| Mortgage debt | $5.2 million | They don’t own the home. The home owns them. |
This couple brings in $77,180 a month and keeps only $2,390 after bills. They have $30,000 in savings and a $5.2 million mortgage.
The problem is not their income. It is a lack of discipline. This is not how wealth is built. This is how people with high incomes stay stressed and stuck.
You can read the full story of our Volvo in why luxury cars are not an investment.
What this means for nurses
Most nurses are not making $3.7 million. But a lot of nurses work 36 or more hours a week and still feel broke or behind. Many think more money would fix it all.
Making more money does help. It only helps if you stay in control of your money.
What we did differently
When Monica and I moved from NYC to Northern California, we had $128,000 of debt. We paid it all off in under a year.
Now we earn more than $300,000 a year combined. We work less than 20 hours a week. We spend 24% of our income on our mortgage. We have time and money to spend with our son.
We did not just earn more. We worked smarter, picked the right hospital and tracked every dollar. Read more in how we paid off $128K of debt.
What you can learn from this couple
- Income without a plan leads to stress.
- A big salary means nothing if your savings are smaller than your Amazon bill.
- Lifestyle creep can hit anyone who is not careful.
You don’t need to make $3.7 million a year. You just need a plan. For more on this, read why some nurses earning $200K are still broke.
Your next move
See what you’d take home, then make the move
Map My Pay shows what nurses take home after taxes and rent at 465+ hospitals and in 21,000+ cities. It’s the app I co-founded so you can compare cities before you pack a single box.
The Nurses to Riches Accelerator is the plan Monica and I used to go from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California: license, city, hospital, and what to do with the money after.
Get the Map My Pay app
See the Accelerator plans
Every Accelerator plan is a one-time payment with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Written by Jason, RN. I went from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California and paid off $128K of debt in under a year. I share our numbers in the Nurses to Riches newsletter and on YouTube.