{"id":214082,"date":"2026-01-01T01:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T01:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/214082\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T01:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T01:28:10","slug":"im-scared-to-death-wife-says-as-savings-fall-to-80k-while-husband-earns-literally-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/214082\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’m Scared To Death’ \u2014 Wife Says As Savings Fall To $80K While Husband Earns ‘Literally Nothing’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With her family’s savings down to $80,000 and no income coming in, Lara, a caller from Raleigh, North Carolina, told <\/a>\u201cThe Ramsey Show\u201d she was increasingly alarmed. “I’m scared to death,” she said.<\/p>\n

She explained that her husband worked at the same job for about 10 years before being laid off in 2018. Since then, he has worked full-time on developing a golf-related product, with the family living entirely off savings.<\/p>\n

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Lara told hosts John Delony and Rachel Cruze that her husband had previously built a successful company, which made her comfortable supporting another business effort. At the time of his layoff, the family had significant savings, no consumer debt, and only a mortgage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The venture has produced no income over the past five years. When asked what her husband currently earns, Lara replied, “Literally nothing.” She said the family received a severance package in 2018 and 2019, but there has been no income since.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know how much I spend because if we need it, I buy it,” Lara said, estimating her family’s annual living expenses at roughly $100,000\u2013$120,000. She said financial discussions often stall, with her husband urging her to stop spending while offering no defined budget.<\/p>\n

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Delony said what began as a temporary plan had stretched far beyond its original scope. “It’s been five years,” he said, adding that the situation was no longer about patience but sustainability.<\/p>\n

Lara agreed and said she recently told her husband that if the business does not gain traction, she wanted him to get a job. She also raised the possibility of selling their home.<\/p>\n

The couple has about $415,000 in home equity, though Lara said she was unsure of the home’s current market value. Cruze pushed back on the idea that housing was the core issue. “It’s not a house problem \u2014 it’s an income problem,” she said.<\/p>\n

Cruze said the problem was income, not housing. She encouraged Lara to document several months of spending and build a clear monthly budget before discussing it with her husband. “Facts are your friends,” Cruze said, explaining that concrete numbers could reduce fear and ground future conversations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With her family’s savings down to $80,000 and no income coming in, Lara, a caller from Raleigh, North…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,268,85,46,40826,19989,266,267,52942],"class_list":{"0":"post-214082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-john-delony","13":"tag-lara","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-the-ramsey-show"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}