- A truck driver called Dave Ramsey's show to ask for help with his debts.
- Travis, from Michigan, said he earned some $80,000 a year, but owed $67,000.
A truck driver called into Dave Ramsey's finance show to ask for help paying off his debts which were almost as big as his whole year's salary.
Travis, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, said he was projected to earn over $80,000 this year, but was struggling to pay off debt on his credit cards, auto loan, and student loan.
Travis, who didn't share his surname, said he owed $67,000 — $40,000 was student loan debt, $11,000 was a balance on a car, and the rest was credit cards.
Ramsey is an American radio host and evangelical Christian who is known for his financial advice. He has faced some controversy due to his methods being more akin to a preacher rather than a financial coach, and has recently been embroiled in a $150 million lawsuit brought by some listeners who say they were defrauded by a timeshare exit company he promoted.
However, he remains a trusted financial guru among many. A man recently told Insider Ramsey's advice seven years ago helped him escape $38,000 in car debt.
Travis' clip on TikTok, where Ramsey has found a large audience recently, was viewed over 4 million times.
@daveramsey Travis makes $80,000 a year as a truck driver and is trying to pay off debt. #moneytok #debt #debtfree #trucktok #truckdriver ♬ original sound - Dave Ramsey
Ramsey asked Travis if he was single. Travis said he was living with his partner and was hoping to get engaged soon. He said he was also helping her with the mortgage, paying her $500 per month.
"So you are paying part of your roommate's payment as rent?" Ramsey said.
"Essentially, yes," Travis said.
Ramsey asked Travis why he hadn't gotten on a "tight, tight, tight, tight budget" to get his debts down.
"You should have all kinds of margin in this budget," he said. "$4,800 minus 500, minus food, that's a butt load of money left over."
Travis said he had been struggling to get a handle on his outgoings.
Ramsey said Travis should meet his basic obligations then throw everything else at his "stupid credit card debt until it's gone."
"Then you cut up the credit card," he said.
"I've cut two of them up since I've started listening to you," Travis said.
Ramsey's cohost, John Delony, said Travis should have around $3,700 left after all his payments.
That would mean he could pay his three credit cards — with balances of $2,100, $600, and $700 — within two months. Ramsey said he could do it in one month if he wanted to.
"But you're not going out to eat, and you're not going on vacation," Ramsey said. "And you're not going drinking with your buddies. You've got no life, you're getting ready to clean up your dumb mess because you want to get married."
Ramsey said Travis had to look at his finances like "every dollar has a mission:" necessities or his debt.
He had to send every dollar he could to the credit cards like they were "the enemy," Ramsey said, "because they are."
"You squeeze every one of these dollars until Benjamin Franklin is squealing, then you are ready to go," he said.
Delony said Travis' situation was a good representation of how mindset can change everything.
"For everybody listening, don't blow by this, because it's easy to look at him and be like, 'Man, that guy,'" he said. "You can't out-earn your unintentionality, your lack of intentionality."
He said Travis simply "couldn't figure out" where his money was going.
"It's not because he's dumb, it's because it's just chaos — there's too many spinning plates everywhere," he said. "And that's what a budget does."
Ramsey said everyone listening should do the same thing with their next month's paycheck, and the result would feel like getting a raise.
"You will go, 'Where is all this freaking money going?'" he said. "It's going to blow your mind how much you waste."