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After 46 years of work and a six-figure income, a 64-year-old South Carolina man thought he was approaching retirement. Instead, he finds himself staring down more than $230,000 in debt while wondering if he’ll be able to stop working anytime soon.

Bruce shared his situation on “The Ramsey Show,” explaining that he wants to retire by age 65 but is struggling to get control of his finances. Despite earning about $160,000 a year and having significant retirement savings, he admitted that debt and spending habits have put his plans at risk.

A Retirement Plan That Doesn’t Add Up

Bruce told personal finance expert Dave Ramsey that he and his wife have more than $20,000 in credit card debt, a $12,000 car loan, a $118,000 mortgage, and a $36,000 second mortgage.

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At the same time, he has roughly $735,000 saved between his 401(k), Roth IRA, traditional IRA and an annuity.

Still, he hoped to eliminate the debt within a year and retire shortly afterward.

Ramsey quickly pushed back on that idea.

“You’re not going to retire with 230,000 paid off in one year,” he said. “You don’t have the money.”

The bigger issue, according to Ramsey, wasn’t the debt itself. It was the spending behavior that created it.

Bruce admitted he had been paying down the credit cards, only to see balances climb again months later.

When Ramsey asked how that happened, Bruce responded, “Not enough boundaries, not enough conversation.”

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That answer appeared to confirm what Ramsey already suspected.

“Your household spending’s out of control,” he said.

Ramsey warned that even if Bruce somehow became debt-free, the debt would likely return unless the couple addressed the root cause.

A Difficult Conversation After 36 Years Of Marriage

As the discussion continued, Ramsey focused on what he saw as a lack of financial alignment between Bruce and his wife.

After learning the couple had been married for 36 years, Ramsey called for what he described as a serious “come to Jesus meeting.”

“We are screwed and we have screwed ourselves and we have to fix this now and never go back to the old ways,” Ramsey said, describing the conversation he believed the couple needed to have.

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He urged them to cut up their credit cards, create a budget and start living on roughly $80,000 a year while using the rest of their income to eliminate debt.

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Ramsey also addressed Bruce’s reluctance to push back on spending, saying that after decades of marriage, he needed to be willing to tell his wife “no” when purchases didn’t fit their financial plan.

“She’s going to get to hear a word that you haven’t told her in a long time. And here’s the word: No,” Ramsey said. “We’re not doing that. We are broke people.

Ramsey then challenged Bruce’s retirement expectations.

“You guys can’t live on 160,000. How are you going to live on retirement income?” he asked.

Bruce estimated his retirement income would be roughly half his current earnings.

That prompted one of the harshest warnings of the call.

“This is going to run off until you’re 90 and you’re going to be eating dog food,” Ramsey said. “And this is where this is headed.”

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This article His Wife Is Spending Faster Than He Can Pay It Off. $230K In Debt, He Wants To Retire, But Dave Ramsey Says He Might Be ‘Eating Dog Food’ At 90 originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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