Dave Ramsey Tells Couple With $60K in Debt: “Get Married This Weekend”

Dave Ramsey Tells Couple With $60K in Debt: “Get Married This Weekend”

Thomas Richmond

Thu, September 17, 2026 at 3:42 PM GMT+3 3 min read

Quick Read

• Dave Ramsey advised Jason, carrying $60,000 in debt, to get legally married immediately and delay the wedding celebration by a year.

• Rachel Cruze warned against cross-paying a partner's debt before marriage, since payments cannot be recovered if the engagement ends.

• $30,000 of the couple's debt is covered by the National Guard over four years and should be excluded from their active payoff plan.

• Read More: Avoid these 13 retirement mistakes before they derail your future (sponsor)

A caller named Jason recently called into The Ramsey Show to ask how to save for a wedding while attacking debt. "We've got about $60,000 in personal loans and credit card debt," Jason said, adding that "we've got $90,000 still left on the mortgage" and that "net take-home pay is about $130,000 a year." His ask: "We are really committed to getting rid of this debt, but we really want to get married at about this time next year."

Dave Ramsey took the conversation in a completely different direction: "The way the language you used tells me that you've combined everything. You're living together, everything but a marriage," Ramsey said.

For that reason, Jason and his fiancée should get married now: "I would get a pastor and get married this weekend if I were you, and then I would say have a celebration a year from now and pay off as much debt as I can while budgeting for the celebration that looks a lot like a wedding. You're fooling no one, not even yourselves."

Until They're Married, Keep Finances Separate

Jason told the hosts he and his fiancée are "trying to work through Baby Step 2" of the Ramsey plan, which is Pay Off All Debt. Co-host Rachel Cruze pushed back on the way they were attacking debt: "I would not be paying on hers. I wouldn't have her paying on yours. I think you guys should still be functioning as two single people during the debt payoff process," she said.

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Until the marriage is signed, each partner's debt is their own contract. Jason said $5,000 of the total belongs to his fiancée, meaning the rest sits in his name. If Jason funnels his paycheck into her balance and the engagement ends, he cannot claw that money back.

Jason said the National Guard is paying off $30,000 of the debt over four years. That balance sits on a third-party-funded schedule and should be modeled as a fixed reduction rather than a target for the couple's paychecks. Jason said the mortgage predates the relationship and is solely in his name. Any extra principal payments his fiancée contributes would build equity in a home she does not own.

Build the Wedding Budget Backward From What They Can Afford

Cruze offered a framing to make the wedding more feasible financially: "What's the least wedding we can have that we would be okay with?"

This way, they could use extra savings to build wealth that would serve their relationship for the rest of their lives.

Key Takeaways

Dave Ramsey's solution separates two decisions couples often treat as one: getting married and paying for a wedding. Jason and his fiancée can decide when to make their marriage official without simultaneously committing tens of thousands of dollars to a celebration. With $60,000 of debt already on the ledger, they could get married now and celebrate properly later.

Help Avoid These 13 Retirement Mistakes Before They Derail Your Future

One investment mistake could create big risks for your retirement. Many investors make the same critical errors: being too conservative, making big bets on "sure things," or paying excessive fees. Any of those blunders can endanger your hard-earned savings.

Now you can learn the mistakes even experienced investors make (and ways you can sidestep them before it's too late) with this new guide: 13 Retirement Mistakes and How to Avoid Them from Fisher Investments. (sponsor)

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