Johi called into the The Ramsey Show from Cincinnati, reeling from a week in which her boyfriend of 14 years deserted her — right after she discovered she was pregnant with their second child.
“He was just not ready to take on that responsibility, so he left,” she said.
They already have a 12-year-old child together.
“I feel like I’m too old to be having these problems,” Johi, 32, confessed.
While she deals with the emotional fallout of her breakup and the prospect of being a single mom, Johi sought Dave Ramsey’s advice on her next steps financially.
The good news is that she’s been using the debt snowball method to get her finances in order and only has one debt left: a $14,000 car loan.
She was ready to “attack it” and pay $1,600 a month “to wipe it out by the end of this year.” But with a baby coming, she doesn’t know if that’s the best plan — especially now that she finds herself in the position of being a single mom.
“Now I’m just confused on where to go from here,” she said.
After taxes, Johi makes about $4,500 a month, though a few months ago she started taking on side hustles so she now brings in about $5,500 a month. She’s not sure that’s sustainable as her pregnancy progresses.
Normally Ramsey recommends paying off debts first. But with a baby on the way, he says to “stop your debt snowball and pile up cash” for a baby budget.
“I want you to get the biggest possible pile of cash you can get between now and baby,” he told Johi. “Treat it like you’re paying off debt,”
Read more: Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan ‘works every single time’ to kill debt, get rich in America — and that ‘anyone’ can do it
With her side hustle, she could save about $3,000 a month for over five months. She may need to slow down her side hustle as she nears her delivery date, but could save $15,000.
Fortunately, Johi has health insurance, though she’ll need to contact her provider to find out what her out-of-pocket costs will be for obstetric appointments, labor and delivery.
Generally for someone with health insurance, those add up to $2,854 — including your health insurance deductible, copayments and coinsurance — according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker..
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