We discovered my husband’s $200,000 secret debt three years ago. Now we’re $2,700 short monthly and I’m crushing under the weight of it

A woman called The Ramsey Show in tears. "About 3 years ago I had discovered that my husband had amassed a pretty substantial amount of debt," she said. The total damage came to roughly $200,000, spread across a HELOC, credit cards, and two car loans worth $48,000. Three years into the cleanup, her law firm work dried up. Her income dropped from $90,000 to $45,000. Her husband still earns $160,000. They are still $2,700 short every month. And he is still funding his 401(k).

Dave Ramsey listened, then cut to the bone: "You don't go $2,700 in the hole while funding a 401(k). That's not logical. That's borrowing money to put in a 401(k)."

Households with negative monthly cash flow should pause 401(k) contributions to free up cash flow—contributing while carrying high-interest debt (credit cards at 22-24%, HELOCs at 9%) is borrowing money at rates far higher than retirement account returns of 7-9%.

A family earning $17,000 monthly but spending $2,700 more than income should immediately sell cars financed with $48,000 in loans, eliminate consolidation fees, and redirect all cash toward eliminating debt before resuming any investing or retirement contributions.

A recent study identified one single habit that doubled Americans’ retirement savings and moved retirement from dream, to reality. Read more here .

Ramsey is right. If you are bleeding cash every month, contributing to a retirement account is not saving. It is debt-financed investing, and the interest rate on the debt is almost certainly higher than the return on the investment.

Read: Data Shows One Habit Doubles American’s Savings And Boosts Retirement

Most Americans drastically underestimate how much they need to retire and overestimate how prepared they are. But data shows that people with one habit have more than double the savings of those who don’t.