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\u00a9 AntonioGuillem \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
When RJ called The Ramsey Show with his wife, he laid out a situation that looks crushing on paper: three kids, $70,000 household income, and $80,000 to $85,000 in consumer debt. Co-host Jade Warshaw cut straight to the math without sugarcoating it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve either got to lower your lifestyle, RJ, or increase your income, or do a combination of both,\u201d Warshaw said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only options really that a person has.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is right, and the advice is more useful than it sounds. The stakes for a family in RJ\u2019s position are not abstract. Carrying debt larger than annual income while feeding five people in an environment where CPI just climbed to 332.4 in April 2026, up 0.6% in a single month, means every month of delay erodes purchasing power on the income side while interest compounds on the debt side.<\/p>\n
The verdict: the advice is right, but the lever matters<\/p>\n
Warshaw\u2019s framing is sound because debt payoff is an arithmetic problem. There are exactly two inputs you control: money in and money out. The gap between them is what attacks the balance.<\/p>\n
Run the math on RJ\u2019s actual numbers. A $70,000 household income translates to roughly $4,800 to $5,200 per month after taxes for a family with three dependents. If essential expenses (housing, food, utilities, insurance, transportation, childcare) consume $4,500 of that, the family has a few hundred dollars left for debt against $85,000 in balances.<\/p>\n
Now flip the income lever. RJ just started as a locksmith earning about $1,700 every two weeks in training pay, with the realistic potential to make $100,000 to $120,000 within a year or two. Move the household to $110,000 gross, hold expenses flat, and the surplus jumps to $2,500 or more per month, clearing the same balance in a fraction of the time.<\/p>\n
This is why co-host George Kamel told them, \u201cMost people do it in 18 to 24 months. It might take you 3 to 4 years, and that\u2019s okay.\u201d The timeline is a function of the gap.<\/p>\n
The variable: the order you attack the debt<\/p>\n
RJ\u2019s debt has very different costs attached. The $50,000 in student loans likely carries federal rates in the 5% to 7% range. The $15,000 car loan on a vehicle worth $7,000 to $8,000 was originated with a \u201cterrible interest rate,\u201d probably 18% or higher given his credit. The five or six personal loans of $3,000 to $4,000 each typically run 15% to 30%.<\/p>\n
The avalanche method (highest rate first) saves the most interest. On RJ\u2019s mix, killing one $4,000 personal loan at 24% saves nearly $1,000 a year in interest, while paying an extra $4,000 against a 6% student loan saves $240. Same dollar, four times the impact.<\/p>\n