A caller into The Ramsey Show detailed his domestic predicament on the Sept. 18 episode
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NEED TO KNOW
- During the Sept. 18 episode of The Ramsey Show, Ben, a caller from Shreveport, La., asked financial experts Jade Warshaw and John Delony what he should do about his wife’s spending habits
- Ben explained that they each have a monthly allowance for what they call “fun money,” but his wife regularly runs out and pulls a few hundred dollars from their main checking account
- “She has specifically told me that she wants me to stop her from doing that — to take away debit cards and take away her access to that,” he said
A man is deciding whether he should take his wife’s debit card away to stop her from spending.
During the Sept. 18 episode of The Ramsey Show, Ben, a caller from Shreveport, La., asked financial experts Jade Warshaw and John Delony what he should do about his wife’s spending habits.
“I am just wanting some advice on whether or not I should essentially take away access to spending for my wife because of her self-described ‘spending problems,’ ” he said, explaining that she has been dropping what he feels is unnecessary cash on “things that are pretty iffy on whether or not you need them” like clothes and hobbies.
Ben — who said he and his wife together take home roughly $4,500 a month — explained that they each have a monthly allowance for what they call “fun money,” but his wife regularly runs out and pulls a few hundred dollars from their main checking account.
“She’s kind of just doing that, month after month,” he said. “She has specifically told me that she wants me to stop her from doing that — to take away debit cards and take away her access to that.”
But Warshaw and Delony warned that Ben limiting his wife’s debit card access was not a smart move.
“That’s her setting you up as the bad guy in her story,” Delony said.
Warshaw instead suggested that they together discuss ways that she could limit her spending on her own, such as deleting shopping apps from her phone or together building a monthly budget that they did a better job sticking to.
“Accountability is different from control,” she added.
Credit: The Ramsey Show/YouTube
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But Ben pushed back during his call, saying that he was “afraid” that his wife would find alternative ways to spend, even if they worked on strategies together to help limit it.
In that case, John said, “You might need to open your own checking account for the safety of your home” — noting that if he’s worried about his long-term finances, he might have to take control of his money.
“You’ve got a way bigger fracture in your marriage than debit card spending because you’ve got somebody who is actively fighting against the vision you are supposed to be co-creating together,” he added.
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