On a recent episode of “The Ramsey Show,” a woman named Katie from Akron, Ohio, called in with a dilemma: should she and her husband, a physician with a $400,000 salary and nearly $500,000 in student loans, spend $40,000 on two used cars?
Not A Car Problem, But A Planning Problem
Katie explained their current situation. Her husband works out of state and is gone 50% of the time, leaving her with the kids and unreliable cars. When both vehicles broke down last week, they started considering replacing them. But with the weight of the debt, she wasn't sure it was a smart move.
“Are we attacking the massive student loan debt?” personal finance expert and host of the show Dave Ramsey asked.
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“Probably not as fiercely as you would like,” Katie admitted, noting they'd paid off $100,000 in the last two years but still had a long way to go.
Despite their high income, Ramsey was frank. “You make $400,000, you only paid off a hundred grand in two years. This is awful,” he said. “You are a broke doctor's wife. You're married to a doctor who is broke. Broke poor people making 400 grand. That's what you are.”
Katie mentioned several unusual expenses, including maintaining an apartment out of state, monthly travel to visit her husband's children from a previous marriage, and general costs associated with a blended family.
But Ramsey was straightforward. “You guys are not working our system,” he said. “I’m not mad at you, but I don’t know why whether you buy a car matters.”
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Ramsey emphasized the bigger issue: they were trying to make progress while keeping up a lifestyle they couldn’t afford. “What you’re doing is you’re half-butt doing everything. And that’s just not going to work,” Ramsey said. “Buy all the cars you want to buy. I don’t care.”
What Needs To Change
Ramsey challenged them to decide whether they want to keep living like this or get serious. “At this current rate, you’re going to be in debt for 10 years. And that’s not a good plan,” he said.
He told them to sit down and do the math. If they want to be debt-free in three years, they need to put $170,000 toward the loans annually. That means sacrificing lifestyle expenses—possibly repairing the cars for $5,000 instead of spending $40,000, stopping retirement contributions temporarily, and having serious conversations about priorities.
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