A couple that makes only $31,000 annually and carrying debt of $55,000 is expecting a lawsuit settlement that could be anywhere between $250,000 to $5 million. That seems like a solution to the problem, right?
But Jade Warshaw identified deeper concerns for the woman who recently called into The Ramsey Show with her good news. “My fear for you going forward, if you don’t choose to change and learn more, is debt,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how much money you make, you can’t outearn financial illiteracy and you can’t outearn stupid choices with money, right? And you can’t settlement out of it. None of that’ll work. You’ll blow through it.”
The caller said she has worked “maybe 3 years” total in her life. The $55,000 in combined debt includes $39,000 in federal restitution owed to the Department of Justice. The credit card debt, she explained, was “for necessities that we could not cover.”
“I don’t have any financial background,” the caller admitted. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m gonna go through the Baby Steps very quickly once I get that money.” Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps are a plan for personal financial health.
Warshaw’s concern is that dropping up to $5 million into the household doesn’t address the behavior — which has been to spend more than it makes. The spending patterns, the borrowing reflex, the absence of a budget — none of that changes because a big check arrives. Research on lottery winners and large windfall recipients consistently shows this pattern: Without changed habits, large sums disappear at roughly the same rate the recipient was already burning through money.
The Two Commitments That Actually Change the Math
Warshaw gave the caller two suggestions, regardless of whether a settlement is coming.
First: “You have got to decide today, I don’t borrow money,” she said. “You have to stop borrowing money for any reason. That is going to keep your income yours, and it’s going to keep the risk off your back.”
Second: “You’ve got to become a budgeter today.”
When you stop borrowing, you stop compounding the cost of your spending, Warshaw said. Every dollar borrowed at high interest rates costs more than a dollar. The caller’s credit card debt was described as covering necessities, which means the household has been paying interest on groceries and utilities — the most expensive way to buy the cheapest things.
A budget forces a confrontation with the actual numbers. Co-host Ken Coleman pointed out that a household in the Minneapolis area should realistically be earning a combined minimum of $60,000, nearly double what this couple brings in.
Don’t Build a Plan Around Money That Hasn’t Arrived
Coleman also had a warning about the settlement. “Settlements have a sneaky way of taking way longer to get paid out than maybe you were told,” he said. “And sometimes, shockingly, they don’t end up being the amount that we were told.”
“I wouldn’t wait until the settlement comes,” he said.” I think you need to go get a job today.” The logic is sound. Income you earn is certain. Income you’re promised is not.
If you’re waiting on an inheritance, a settlement, a bonus, or any other future windfall to “fix” your finances, Warshaw’s warning applies. She advises running a zero-based budget (a method where every dollar of income is assigned a specific purpose so that income minus expenses equals zero). List every debt by interest rate and calculate the payoff order that minimizes total interest.
The habits you build before the windfall are the ones that may determine what happens after it. As Warshaw put it: “I would love, love, love for that to take place before a dime of this money rolls in.”
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