Despite bringing in a $156,000 annual salary, a Chicago family is struggling to afford groceries, something the wife attributes to her husband\u2019s growing $700-a-month addiction to tobacco and marijuana.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband is an addict,\u201d Megan said during an episode of \u201cThe Ramsey Show<\/a>\u201d last year. She is a stay-at-home mother pregnant with their third child and called for advice from personal finance experts Dave Ramsey and Jade Warshaw. Megan said her husband typically spends around $6,000 a year on the habit, but the past couple of months have been worse due to the deaths of his father and grandfather.<\/p>\n Don’t Miss:<\/p>\n Because of her husband\u2019s \u201cerratic behavior,\u201d Megan told the hosts she\u2019s hesitant to pay off<\/a> their $20,000 car loan even though they have the money. She fears that the freed-up $600 monthly payment would just vanish into his habit.<\/p>\n Ramsey immediately challenged the framing. \u201cIf I was to say that my wife was an addict, that would mean that our marriage was either getting ready to end or she was getting help next week,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you use this like it\u2019s part of the budget. If you\u2019re going to call him an addict, you\u2019re going to have to act like it.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that if her concern is simply that her husband occasionally uses substances and it\u2019s costing them $500 to $700 a month, that’s a very different scenario than describing him as an addict.<\/p>\n Trending: Designed for investors with strong market convictions, REX Shares builds ETFs for income, leverage, and tactical positioning \u2014 explore the lineup.<\/a><\/p>\n When they asked about his income structure, Megan revealed she brings in no income currently. Her husband earns the entire household income. They take home about $7,800 per month after taxes, yet Megan said food insecurity<\/a> remains a problem.<\/p>\n With a $3,400 mortgage, a $600 car payment, and significant deductions from his paycheck for things like a 401(k), the couple may be cash-strapped due to poor planning, not just his vices.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re making $8,000 a month take-home pay and you have a $3,000 house payment. You are not out of food because he spent 750 bucks,\u201d Ramsey said. \u201cYou are going to be out of food if he loses his job because he stays drunk all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n See Also: Put professional stock research to work in a single ETF \u2014 explore Motley Fool Asset Management’s factor-based funds.<\/a><\/p>\n The hosts stressed that the bigger issue is that Megan either needs to confront her husband\u2019s addiction seriously or reconsider whether it\u2019s truly addiction at all. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to reclassify this in your mind or you\u2019re going to have to take some more severe action than you have been willing to take so far,\u201d Ramsey told her.<\/p>\n They urged Megan to consider marriage counseling and emphasized that her children shouldn\u2019t be living in a home with an addict if that\u2019s truly the case.<\/p>\n For families like Megan\u2019s who earn a solid income but feel financially stuck, getting expert advice can be game-changing. Domain Money<\/a> offers personalized, professional-led financial planning, built specifically for households earning over $100,000. A free strategy session could help families like Megan\u2019s make smarter decisions and regain control of their finances.<\/p>\n Read Next: Professional traders demand transparency \u2014 see why Kraken Pro has become one of crypto’s most trusted advanced trading platforms.<\/a><\/p>\n Image: Shutterstock<\/p>\n UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily<\/a>, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets.<\/p>\n Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga:<\/p>\n This article Her Husband Brings In $156K, But They Struggle With Groceries Due To His $700 Monthly Vices. She Calls Him An Addict, Dave Ramsey Disagrees<\/a> originally appeared on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a9 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite bringing in a $156,000 annual salary, a Chicago family is struggling to afford groceries, something the wife…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,8374,4176,116981,140637,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-414344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dave-ramsey","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-her-husband","12":"tag-megan","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}