{"id":483286,"date":"2025-12-31T21:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T21:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/483286\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T21:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T21:50:16","slug":"im-scared-to-death-wife-says-as-savings-fall-to-80k-while-husband-earns-literally-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/483286\/","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

Don’t Miss:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lara told hosts John Delony<\/strong> and Rachel Cruze<\/strong> 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

Trending: Have $100k+ to invest? Charlie Munger says that’s the toughest milestone \u2014 don’t stall now. Get matched with a fiduciary advisor and keep building<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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":3,"featured_media":483287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,90980,8511,255,22161,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-483286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-john-delony","tag-lara","tag-personal-finance","tag-the-ramsey-show","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115816393790294757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}