Lifestyle

Janice, 70, Cleans Houses and Has No Retirement Savings. Then She Called Dave Ramsey for a Plan: “My Problem Is I’m So Stressed”

By Erica Coleman · November 14, 2026

Janice did not call in to brag. She called because she was worried.

“I’m 70 years old,” she told Dave Ramsey on a 2021 episode of The Ramsey Show, in a clip posted to the show’s YouTube channel (@TheRamseyShow). “I have no retirement.”

Neither she nor her husband had a retirement account, she explained. What they did have was about 25,000 dollars in cash, “no CDs, nothing, that’s it.” They owed about 27,000 dollars on a home in Oklahoma City she valued at around 250,000 dollars, plus a car loan. Her husband wanted to use the cash to pay off the car first, then put the freed-up car payment toward the house. They did not agree on what to do.

“My problem is I’m so stressed,” Janice said. “I at least want to have a house to live in.” She told Ramsey she did not think she could live anywhere cheaper than her current home, not even an apartment.

The couple gets about 2,000 dollars a month in Social Security combined. Janice earns roughly another 2,000 a month cleaning homes. “It’s good money, but it’s physically demanding,” she said, adding that she did not know how much longer she would be able to do it. Her husband works part time when a store owner needs him, but he has health problems, and she said they have had large medical bills along the way.

Then Janice mentioned one more asset: an old roadster worth maybe 10,000 dollars.

Ramsey did not hesitate. “I’m sorry, but the roadster is gone,” he told her, acknowledging it would probably break her husband’s heart. His plan was to sell the roadster to pay off the car, keep 15,000 dollars as an emergency fund, put 10,000 toward the house and spend the next 17 months or so paying off what was left.

He was blunt that the margin was thin. “You do not have wiggle room here,” he said, and he told her that was where the stress she felt was coming from. Restaurant meals, which Janice said were the main thing they spent on, would have to stop for now.

He also gave her a second option. If they sold the house, he said, they would be debt free and could buy a modest two-bedroom condo for about 100,000 dollars and keep the rest invested. He admitted that one would likely be harder emotionally.

His point was that the situation could be fixed. “You’ve got several ways to fix it, but you have to make a choice and commit to doing that,” he said.

Janice’s position is more common than many people realize. According to the Social Security Administration’s fact sheet, Social Security makes up about 31% of the income of people over 65, but among beneficiaries 65 and older, 39% of men and 44% of women get half or more of their income from it. The same fact sheet says only 16% of people without access to an employer retirement plan report having any retirement savings.

For anyone in a similar spot, a few checks can help. Write down every monthly bill against your guaranteed income, without counting work you may not be able to keep doing. Look at what you still owe on your home and whether a payoff date is realistic. Check your Social Security record and benefit estimates at ssa.gov/myaccount. And if you are thinking about selling, compare the full cost of a smaller place, including any association fees, which Janice raised herself on the call.

She ended the call by telling Ramsey she was listening.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. Janice’s story and quotes are from a 2021 call on The Ramsey Show; Social Security figures are from the Social Security Administration. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.