We're Retired And Don't Have Enough For Groceries

Summary

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Episode Overview

Title: We're Retired And Don't Have Enough For Groceries
Podcast: The Ramsey Show Highlights
Air Date: April 2, 2026
Theme/Purpose:
In this episode, the Ramsey Show team takes a call from Angie, a retired listener struggling with significant credit card debt and insufficient income to afford basic necessities like groceries. The advisors offer tough-love advice on budgeting, debt prioritization, and the realities of retirement sustainability, highlighting actionable steps to regain financial stability.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Caller Situation: Retirement Without Financial Margin

• Angie and her husband’s profile:

  • Ages: Angie (70), Husband (65)
  • Both retired, both working part-time.
  • Paid-for house and vehicles.
  • Substantial credit card debt: $35,000–$40,000.
  • Combined monthly income: ~$3,000 (includes Social Security, small pensions, and part-time work).
  • Home valued at $300,000; vehicles worth about $20,000 combined.
  • Only $13,000 in an IRA; good health for both.

• Primary struggle:
  Credit card minimums are suffocating the budget, making it difficult to buy groceries or handle essential expenses.

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2. Advisors’ Immediate Recommendations

[02:00] Financial Advisor:

• Budget Re-prioritization:

  • Stop paying credit cards before essentials.
  • “You don't pay the credit cards first, and then figure out how to eat. You eat first, keep the lights on first, keep the homeowner's insurance paid first, keep gas in the car first, then with what's left, you pay what you can on the credit cards. Credit cards are not first in line. They're last in line after you survive.” (02:01)

• Emphasize needs over debt payments:

  • “It's not like after we pay our credit cards, we don't have the money for groceries. No, it's after we buy groceries, we don't have the money for credit cards. You see the difference?” (02:31)

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3. Increasing Income: “Too Broke to Retire”

[03:30] Financial Advisor:

• Urges Angie and her husband to consider full-time work, at least temporarily:

  • “$400. I mean, you're starving to death. You're too broke to retire.” (03:32)
  • Suggests a year of full-time work to pay off credit cards:
    “What if you guys went to work for a year, like full-time jobs, and made $30,000 or $40,000 each and you paid off all these credit cards?” (03:43)

• Angie expresses reservations about the feasibility—physical demands and the desire to remain retired.

• Advisor reassures:

  • "I'm not telling you to wait tables...There's a lot of customer service stuff you can do. It's not physically draining." (04:06)

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4. Coach’s Deeper Dive: Root Cause Analysis

[04:15] Financial Coach:

• Points to the unusual circumstance: paid-off assets but significant ongoing debt:
  • “I don't think I've ever been on a call like this where I've heard somebody who has a paid-for house, paid-for cars, and you have $35,000 to $40,000 of credit card debt. So what is the cause of that?” (04:15)
• Angie attributes accumulation to years of insufficient income and relying on credit for emergencies and daily expenses.

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5. Addressing the Cycle & Long-Term Fixes

[05:00-07:20] Financial Advisor:

• Emphasizes the need for both immediate and sustained increases in income to break the debt cycle.

• Selling the home suggested only as a last resort:

  • "Before I keep this credit card debt around five years, I would sell the house... But before that, roll up your sleeves, go do something and just get rid of this mess." (05:00)

• Advises to cut up the credit cards and avoid future reliance:

  • "Let's go crazy and get them paid off." (05:01)

• “Acting like you’re retired and you’re broke... The good news is you’ve still got your health. And in today’s world, 65 years old is not that old. I am, and I work. So, you know, at least they claim I work.” (05:30)

• Highlights importance of margin and creating an emergency fund:

  • “You've got to get that debt paid off, but then you've got to have that three to six months of emergency funds so that you aren't tempted to solve the problem with a credit card.” (07:23)

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6. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• "Eat first, pay bills last." (07:50, Financial Advisor)
  This phrase captures the episode’s core advice on budgeting priorities for survival before debt repayment.

• Plastic surgery party:

  • Light-heartedly encourages “chopping up” credit cards:
    “Chop them all up. Light a candle tonight and have a plastic surgery party.” (07:57)

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7. Practical Next Steps & Tools

• The advisors will set Angie up with a free subscription to the "EveryDollar" budgeting app to help track expenses and ensure survival needs are covered before tackling debt.

• Encouragement to revisit past skills and consider less physically demanding work options (e.g., customer service, consulting).

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Notable Segment Timestamps

• 00:08: Angie introduces her financial dilemma.
• 01:34: Discussion of assets (cars and house value).
• 02:00: Start of budgeting advice and survival prioritization.
• 03:30: Advisor suggests full-time work as a solution.
• 04:15: Financial coach examines the source of the debt.
• 05:00–07:20: Deeper analysis, emergency fund rationale, and tough-love motivators.
• 07:50: “Eat first, pay bills last”—summary of advice.

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Final Takeaways

• Main message: Prioritize necessities over debt payments, and realize retirement is only sustainable if income allows—otherwise, continued work may be required, especially in good health.
• Practical action: Cut up credit cards, boost income, build an emergency fund, and use budgeting tools to track and stick to essentials.
• Tone: Direct, compassionate, and humorous with a dose of tough love—classic Ramsey Show style.

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Transcript

[Financial Advisor]

Zander shops all the top term insurance companies to save you money. Get [e-mail].

[Client (Angie)]

my husband and I are retired. He's 65 and I'm 70. And our home is paid for and so are both of our vehicles. But we have a lot of credit card debt and it's kind of choking us so that it's hard to make groceries even. So I just looking for some direction.

[Financial Advisor]

How much credit card?

[Client (Angie)]

Part time? It's probably 35, $40,000.

[Financial Advisor]

Okay. And you both work part time and you're collecting Social Security?

[Client (Angie)]

Yes. And he gets a small disability pension from the military, and I have a small pension from.

[Financial Advisor]

So when I pile all of that together, what's your monthly income?

[Client (Angie)]

About $3,000.

[Financial Advisor]

Both of you are on Social Security and both of you are working, and both of you have a pension and you only got $3,000 coming in.

[Client (Angie)]

Right? It's a very small pension.

[Financial Advisor]

Very small Social Security.

[Client (Angie)]

Yeah. He gets 16, 25 and I get 1250 total. Right.

[Financial Advisor]

Does that include your jobs?

[Client (Angie)]

The jobs I get at $400 a month, and he gets paid by the job. He does trailer repair. Very.

[Financial Advisor]

Okay. And. And what are your cars worth?

[Client (Angie)]

My car is probably worth $5,000. He's got a truck. It's probably worth $15,000.

[Financial Advisor]

What's your home worth?

[Client (Angie)]

About 300,000. Okay.

[Financial Advisor]

Okay. And how is your health? And his health?

[Client (Angie)]

Good, both so far.

[Financial Advisor]

Good, good, good.

[Client (Angie)]

And I have about $13,000 in an IRA.

[Financial Advisor]

Good for you. Okay. All right. Well, two things come to mind immediately. One is you can't do this backward and expect it to work. You don't pay the credit cards first, and then figure out how to eat. You eat first, keep the lights on first, keep the homeowner's insurance paid first, keep gas in the car first, then with what's left, you pay what you can on the credit cards. Credit cards are not first in line. They're last in line after you survive. Okay, so it's not like after we pay our credit cards, we don't have the money for groceries. No, it's after we buy groceries, we don't have the money for credit cards. You see the difference?

[Client (Angie)]

Yeah. Yes.

[Financial Advisor]

So that's the first thing we adjust. The second thing we adjust is, I mean, you're only 65 and 70. Get a job. There are basics every family needs. Food, shelter, transportation, and term life insurance. Term life is simple. If you pass away, it pays money to your family so they can keep paying the bills. Protecting the people you love is part of Winning with money. And when you're ready to do that, go with, with who I trust Zander Insurance. Zander shops top companies to find the right coverage at the best price and they've earned my recommendation for nearly 30 years. Go to Zander.com today.

[Client (Angie)]

Well, we both are working part time making nothing right.

[Financial Advisor]

$400. I mean, you're starving to death. You're too broke to retire.

[Client (Angie)]

Well, that's true.

[Financial Advisor]

Yeah. I mean what if you guys went to work for a year like full time jobs and made 30 or 40,000 bucks each and you paid off all these credit cards, right?

[Client (Angie)]

Yeah, yeah, I thought about that.

[Financial Advisor]

Wasn't what you, you didn't think you was going to hear that today, did you?

[Client (Angie)]

It's not what we want. It's just a lot. Physically, physically honest. Even though we're in good health.

[Financial Advisor]

I'm not telling you to wait tables, but I mean you're, I'm talking to an intelligent lady that can carry on a conversation. There's a lot of customer service stuff you can do. It's not physically draining.

[Financial Coach]

Here's the question I have. I'm listening to your stats, Angie, and I don't think I've ever been on a call like this where I've heard somebody who has a paid for house, paid for cars and you have 35 to $40,000 of credit card debt. So what is the cause of that?

[Client (Angie)]

It's just accumulated over time. There's just always been, there's just always been a lot of more expense than we had income and it just kind of accumulated. And then when we couldn't buy groceries and we put it on a card, or when I needed $1,500 worth of car repairs and didn't have $1,500 on me, I put it on a credit card. Things like that.

[Financial Advisor]

Well, we're going to have to spend enough more years in the workforce to reverse the trend to get your incomes up and enough of a nest egg, a little bit of a nest egg built to where it doesn't leak again down into this. But cut up the credit cards and let's go crazy and get them paid off. I'm not asking you to sell your house, but before I keep this credit card debt around five years, I would sell the house. And instead if it's me, I'm gonna roll up my sleeves and go do something and just get rid of this mess. It's just lingering and you guys are walking around acting like you're retired and you're broke and the good News is you've still got your health. And in today's world, 65 years old is not that old. I am and I work. So, you know, and at least they claim I work.

[Financial Coach]

I think we could call it work. Yes.

[Financial Advisor]

I show up pretty regularly, you know, so you know. Yeah, you can do that. You can go do something. I don't know what your past career was, but go pick up a job doing that as a consultant or anything. And him too, if you, you know, again, you don't have to go swing a hammer. No. And you don't have to do something, you know, carry a waitress tray of £800 or something. I'm not asking you to do that. But I think there's something you guys could do to generate a few thousand dollars a month and a few thousand dollars a month to make this credit card debt go away. Yeah, because it needs to go away forever. This is not a sustainable situation. So first thing is reprioritize and take care of you. What we call the four walls of your house. Food, shelter, clothing, transportation and utilities. Before you pay any bills. You eat first, then you pay bills, you don't pay bills, and then hope you can eat then secondly, we got to get your income up to be able to address this overall issue or we gotta start selling stuff to cover it. And I don't think that's viable here. I don't think your house is crazy. I mean if you're living in a million dollar house or something, I'd probably have you move down in house and clean up this mess. But your house is not out of control. Your cars are not out of control. Thank God they're paid for. But your problem is you just do not have enough sustainable income to live on. And that's what caused the credit card leakage to your pocket.

[Financial Coach]

That's right, there was margin issue. So here's why baby steps two and three are so you've got to get that debt paid off, but then you've got to have that three to six months of emergency funds so that you aren't tempted to solve the problem with a credit card. There just was no margin for you to be able to have a rainy day fund. It's really important at the advanced age here to have a really well funded. I know. Hey, look man, I'm not far behind, all right, I'm trying to catch you. But I mean it's really true though because if you have limited income at that age and a car goes out for fifteen hundred dollars and you don't have an emergency fund, you fix it.

[Financial Advisor]

That's what they do. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the things that we would tell you to do, kiddo. And hang on. We're going to set you up with a free offering on every dollar the app, and that helps you put your budget together. And you and your husband sit down, look at the numbers and the numbers are going to tell you eat first, pay bills last. That's a short term fix. Your long term fixes create income to clear off these credit cards and chop them all up. Light a candle tonight and have a plastic surgery party. Zander is the best place to find term life insurance to protect your family. Visit Zander.com for quotes today.