{"id":423601,"date":"2026-01-22T20:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/423601\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T20:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:46:14","slug":"those-cars-were-your-retirement-fund-ramsey-show-caller-worries-about-retirement-as-hes-434k-in-debt-and-pays-1752-per-month-for-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/423601\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Those Cars Were Your Retirement Fund’\u2014’Ramsey Show’ Caller Worries About Retirement As He’s $434K In Debt And Pays $1,752 Per Month For Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Nashville man called into \u201cThe Ramsey Show<\/a>\u201d hoping to get some guidance on how to turn his financial life around. What he got was a reality check from hosts George Kamel and Ken Coleman.<\/p>\n

Steve shared that he and his wife are carrying a total of $434,368 in debt, including a $268,000 mortgage and $166,000 in non-mortgage obligations. That includes two car loans, credit card balances, and personal loans.<\/p>\n

Don’t Miss:<\/p>\n

Despite working a full-time job and running a side business, Steve said he only cleared about $37,000 last year from the business, with an additional $80,000 coming from his job. His wife brings in around $30,000. That puts their total household income at roughly $147,000 before taxes.<\/p>\n

But the real gut-punch came when Steve revealed their car payments: $1,752 per month.\u00a0 \u201cGoodness gracious,\u201d Kamel said.<\/p>\n

Steve admitted he felt completely overextended. \u201cIt\u2019s more about how can I get this cleared up and start actually putting money toward our retirement<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That’s when Kamel delivered the tough love. \u201cWell, the answer is simple. You\u2019re driving your retirement right now,\u201d he said. \u201cThose cars were your retirement fund, but you decided, I want a nice car instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trending: Americans With a Financial Plan Can 4X Their Wealth \u2014 Get Your Personalized Plan from a CFP Pro<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve owns a Jeep with a $56,000 balance and a Honda with $23,000 left to pay. Combined, he’s sitting on roughly $80,000 worth of vehicles. Kamel and Coleman urged him to sell both cars immediately<\/a>, even if it means taking a hit on value, as more than half their annual income is tied up with \u201cthings of wheels and motors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don’t need a $56,000 Jeep right now to live your life, do you?\u201d Kamel asked. Steve admitted, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his wife on board, Steve said they’re ready to make a change. Kamel told him to get serious: sell the cars, buy cheap used ones<\/a>, and aggressively pay down debt using the snowball method. Retirement planning, he said, comes after cleaning up the mess.<\/p>\n

See Also: Wall Street’s $12B Real Estate Manager Is Opening Its Doors to Individual Investors \u2014 Without the Crowdfunding Middlemen<\/a><\/p>\n

For households like Steve’s, earning a solid income but stuck in lifestyle traps, working with a vetted financial advisor can make a big difference. WiserAdvisor<\/a> helps people with at least $100,000 in household income connect with fiduciary advisors who specialize in creating tax-smart drawdown plans, protecting assets, and maximizing Social Security strategies. The matching process is free and tailored for people looking for trustworthy, personalized advice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Nashville man called into \u201cThe Ramsey Show\u201d hoping to get some guidance on how to turn his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,132291,8548,36552,147,530,29586,724],"class_list":{"0":"post-423601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-car-loans","10":"tag-george-kamel","11":"tag-ken-coleman","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance","14":"tag-retirement-fund","15":"tag-warren-buffett"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}