Ohio man makes $100K a year but has $65K debt because money "trickles out." Ramsey Show hosts don't buy it

How tin idiosyncratic who makes $100,000 a twelvemonth beryllium struggling with debt?

Lance makes $8,000 a period astatine his occupation successful Ohio, including overtime pay, and has been “living similar a hermit” for six months to tackle his $65,000 debt. But helium feels similar he’s treading water.

He called The Ramsey Show for proposal (1). Co-hosts Rachel Cruze and George Kamel asked wherever his money’s going.

“I’m hopeless to get retired of debt,” helium said.

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Lance explained that helium moved to Ohio from New Hampshire, wherever helium lived rent-free with his parents. Now helium pays $1,400 a period rent.

“The remainder conscionable trickles retired there,” helium said.

Kamel said thousands of dollars of income don’t conscionable “trickle retired there,” and asked if Lance was spending “big piles of money” connected meals out, subscriptions oregon gambling.

“I don’t gamble,” Lance said. “I person a batch of bills.”

Then helium revealed that helium was paying disconnected a $25,000 motortruck and a $30,000 Harley, some of which helium bought marque new. He was besides paying down an $8,000 idiosyncratic loan.

Given that $55,000 of Lance’s $65,000 full indebtedness is from the motortruck and Harley, the hosts told him to merchantability his motortruck and motorcycle and enactment the net consecutive towards his debt.

“My lone fear, Lance, is erstwhile you bash each of this, and it does springiness you borderline and frees you up, that you’re gonna spell backmost to this spending wont that you’re successful of not knowing precisely wherever your wealth is going,” Cruze warned.

“I privation you to beryllium capable to cognize and power your wealth and wherever it’s going.”

It’s casual to deliberation that hitting a six-figure wage would beryllium capable to get retired of debt, statesman redeeming and triumph fiscal freedom. But that mightiness not beryllium existent for immoderate people. Or adjacent a batch of people.

A survey by BHG Financial recovered that 62% of earners making $300,000 a twelvemonth conflict with recognition paper indebtedness (2), and galore different six-figure earners inactive unrecorded paycheck to paycheck (3).

Credit steadfast Experian says consumers owed a staggering $18.33 trillion arsenic of June 2025. (4). Millennials owed an mean of $132,280. Gen-Xers carried the highest mean indebtedness astatine $158,105 (5).

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By 2024, Americans were paying an mean $1,224 a period towards their debt, with mortgages taking apical spot followed by car loans and idiosyncratic loans.