Carlos called into The Ramsey Show with an embarrassing admission. He and his wife are in their 50s, they live in Miami, they have two high school aged children and one at the end of college. In 2020 they became debt free: No mortgage, no loans, no credit cards. Then “the world opened up again,” and he and his wife found themselves $30,000 in debt (1).
The slide back into debt didn’t come from one emergency, it came from a series of lifestyle upgrades once pandemic restrictions were lifted. Travel was the biggest trigger. “Things started opening up after COVID and we’re like, we would like to go here, we would like to go there,” he said.
That mindset quickly expanded to cars. The couple bought brand-new vehicles, including cars for each of their children, one of which still carries about $17,000 in debt. Add in a leased vehicle and nearly $29,000 in zero-interest credit-card balances, and what began as celebratory spending turned into a full financial reversal.
It’s not the end of Carlos. He said between them, they make nearly $300,000 per year. But the siren call of adventure is ringing in their ears. “The brand new Royal Caribbean ship is docking next month. And I’m like, ‘Oh, we got to check that out!’”
Here’s what the Ramsey Show hosts had to say, and how anyone with a penchant for spending can break the pattern.
Carlos and his wife’s situation is familiar to many Gen Xers. After the pandemic, extra savings and pent up demand, driven by a feeling that life is short and a booming stock market, encouraged many folks in that cohort to spend on lifestyle items like vacations and upgrades to their homes and cars.
Experts and observers dubbed this burst of travel fever, “revenge travel” (2). As Geoff Whitmore described it in Forbes, revenge travel is “about payback and taking that trip that was lost due to the global pandemic.”
But by late 2023 and into 2024 and 2025, spending habits began to diverge, reflecting a K-shaped economic recovery. While lower- and middle-income consumers started facing headwinds from inflation, higher interest rates, and the depletion of their excess savings, wealthier consumers continued to spend freely.
Economist Mark Zandi crunched the numbers and determined that the continued growth of the U.S. economy is being powered by high earners, whereas the bottom 80% of earners (those who make $175,000 per year or less) are simply keeping up with continuing inflation (3). Grace Zwemmer, an analyst at Oxford Economics, says, “Younger, less affluent households are facing ongoing challenges, while older, wealthier consumers are driving overall spending growth” (4).
Carlos didn’t sound too worried about backsliding on debts, but he had to admit, “I’m not getting paid right now cuz I’m a federal employee, but my wife is not. But at least we have her check.” That set off alarm bells for Ramsey hosts Rachel Cruze and John Deloney.
“You’ve missed two humongous lessons though,” said John, “The thing you’re missing here is there’s always another there’s always a day after the party, right? And in between those days after the party, you live like this is the last party that’s going to happen.” Blowing all your money on a party without a plan for what you’ll do the day after the party is a mistake.
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Carlos’s relapse shows how easy it is to let feelings override math. After reaching Baby Step 7, he and his family upgraded cars, housing, and lifestyle, convinced that a $300,000 dollar income meant they were safe. Fancy dinners, travel, and toys became normal. On the call, the Ramsey team forces him to face the numbers and admit that his “we deserve this” mindset has turned high income into high risk.
His story mirrors what surveys find about many Americans. People feel anxious and ashamed about their debt, yet often do nothing for months. Fear of giving up comfort, embarrassment about past mistakes, and the myth that “it will work out somehow” keep them stuck. Carlos is not a villain. He is a reminder that emotions like entitlement, denial and avoidance can quietly pull you back into debt unless you confront them with a clear plan.
“Dave always says that children do what feels good,” Rachel says. “Adults devise a plan and follow it.” John agrees. “The greatest thing you can give to your wife is to say, ‘Hey, for the first time in our marriage, I want to act like grown-ups.’” The adult self-discipline that led Carlos and his wife to high-paying jobs and no debts in 2020 can all-too-easily be lost if spending habits lapse back into immature pleasure-seeking.
Carlos’s cautionary tale is not a one-off. His slide back into debt after nearly reaching the finish line mirrors what is happening across the country. Household debt is at record highs, many families have little or no emergency savings, and delinquencies are rising. Even people with strong incomes are using credit to finance one surprise bill or one extra splurge (5).
Getting out of debt is only half the job. Staying out requires the same level of focus and discipline, but spread out over years instead of months. A high income cannot replace a written budget, automatic saving and guardrails that limit lifestyle creep. The real measure of financial success is the cushion between your life and your credit limit, not the size of your paycheck or the zip code on your lease.
Article sources
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The Ramsey Show Highlights (1); Forbes (2); @Markzandi (3); CBS News (4); New York Fed (5)
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