Podcast Summary: “This Is Why You Pull Out” – Financial Audit with Caleb Hammer

Date: May 9, 2025
Guest: Maya, 22, New Braunfels, TX

Episode Overview

This episode of Financial Audit features Maya, a 22-year-old ranch hand and college student from New Braunfels, Texas. Host Caleb Hammer digs into Maya’s finances, habits, personal challenges, and the mindset fueling both her financial struggles and choices. The session becomes a candid, sometimes brutally honest intervention aimed at disrupting Maya’s spendthrift, unfocused lifestyle before she spirals further into debt and academic failure, despite several advantages such as free college tuition.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background & Current Situation

• Work: Maya works as a ranch hand in Johnson City, earning $600 weekly (freelance/contract, ~30–70 hours/week).
• Education: She is a junior in online college, majoring in criminal justice. Tuition is covered through Texas foster care programs.
• Income: Gross annual pay is less than $30k. No taxes are withheld automatically; Maya is responsible for setting aside and filing herself.
• Living arrangement: She rents a room from a friend’s family for $400/month, utilities included.

2. Financial Habits & Mindset

• Spending Pattern:
  • Maya routinely spends $500 to $1,000/month on “experiences”—concerts, clubs, travel, going out to eat and drink, etc.
  • Despite low income, she’s used credit extensively for nonessential purchases.
  • (14:01, 18:12) She takes spontaneous, costly trips multiple times a month to cities like Houston, New Orleans, and Dallas.
• Budgeting/Tracking:
  • She doesn’t actively budget or track expenses, often ignores statements and minimum payments.
• Debt:
  • $34,000 in total non-student loan debt across credit cards, Affirm/StubHub/concert tickets, collections, medical bills, and a financed car.
  • Many accounts are past due; several debts originated from covering expenses for friends or ex-boyfriends.

3. Education & Life Choices

• Academic Struggles:
  • Maya is at risk of academic probation (18:04) due to recent failing grades and withdrawals (partly for medical reasons—diagnosed with POTS).
  • Admits to prioritizing leisure over school, missing assignments during birthday “celebrations” and trips.
• Lost Focus:
  • Frequent major life changes, jobs, and moves. (07:12) Hammer labels her thinking “life ADHD.”
  • She ascribes risky, impulsive behavior to a fear of missing out from a tough childhood and foster care experience.

4. Debt Decisions & Relationship Fallout

• Engagement Ring Debacle:
  • Maya financed an engagement ring for a boyfriend notorious for cheating, who then cheated on her—with her best friend—and abandoned payment responsibilities.
  • The ring and other relationship-related purchases (phone, tickets, gifts) ballooned her debt.

  “So you got your own engagement ring financed?” —Caleb (35:01)

  • Maya is stuck with the ring (worth $1,900), receiving lowball offers for resale.
• Patterns of Enabling:
  • She repeated the mistake of putting others’ expenses (storage, phones) on her own credit, now stuck with the bills.
• Reliance on “It’ll Buff” Mentality:
  • Frequently dismisses consequences with lines like “It can be recovered,” and “It could be worse.”

5. Credit Card & Loan Situation

• Credit Cards:
  • High utilization; most cards are maxed and past due, including Capital One, Credit One, RBFCU.
  • Used for gas, food, outings, and repaying/ex-boyfriend purchases.

  “You allow that to be everything in life. It’s the easiest thing for other people to put their expenses on my stuff and then they don’t pay for it…” —Caleb (62:37)

• Car Loan:
  • $25,000 balance on a 2023 Hyundai Tucson ($616/month), co-signed by her grandfather, with some payment deferrals.

6. Attitude Towards Money & Change

• Avoidance:
  • Frequently says she doesn’t know her spending or balances; bills are rarely current and often in collections.

  “All my bills are paid.”
  “You don’t get that badge. … You’re a joke financially.” —Caleb (71:12)

• Excuses & Deflection:
  • Justifies excessive spending and lack of saving as “making memories,” or due to past hardships.

  “I’m giving back to the memories that I made when I’m 22.” —Maya (12:05)

• Lack of Ownership:
  • Admits to “giving up” in a sense and being overwhelmed. Only rent is consistently paid, enabled by her low-cost living situation.

7. Opportunities & The Way Forward

• Job Prospects & Plans:
  • Has been offered roles in corrections (Texas, Florida); hesitates due to fears about the work environment and frequent moves/changing plans.
  • An upcoming $20/hour, 50–80 hour/week job in San Antonio may dramatically improve her cash flow if she follows through.
• Hammer’s Advice:
  • Cease enabling others with her credit.
  • Sell accumulating assets (engagement ring, etc.)—even at a loss—to pay down overdue debt.
  • Radically cut nonessential spending; use budgeting tools rigorously.
  • Break the cycle of avoidance and impulsivity to preserve her one major advantage: free college.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Caleb: “You have $34,000 of bad debt with free school. No. You’re smiling about it.” (26:56)
• Caleb: “You’re destroying your future. The ‘could be worse’ will keep you here forever.”
• Maya: “It can be recovered.”
• Caleb: “You have a lifestyle that you cannot afford and you’re just doing it relentlessly. … What the fuck can I do with you?” (65:44, 66:03)
• Maya: “It's my birthday week, I turned 22, I kind of just took a break from life and avoided all the stress.” (08:52)
• Caleb: “You’re acting like a child. You’re not 22, you’re acting 12.” (20:13)
• Caleb: “If you live through a car accident, does that mean you should have a car accident once a year? I don’t think so.” (19:54)
• Caleb on the engagement ring: “You let a guy that historically and repeatedly cheats have you finance his entire life … why would you allow that piece of shit to finance his life on your financing?” (41:42)
• Maya fessing up: “So I wasn’t honest about one of my credit cards… my mother is homeless in Austin and I was helping her out.” (91:57)

Important Timestamps

• [03:00] – Maya explains pay structure and work hours
• [04:20] – College plans & ambitions (criminal justice, FBI/forensics)
• [08:52] – Explains birthday “break” and avoiding stress
• [12:05] – Justifying spending with “making memories”
• [15:20] – Admits no idea how much she spent last month
• [18:04] – School at risk: “One class away from probation”
• [26:56] – Revelations on bad debt (27% of income on eating out)
• [35:01] – The failed engagement and why Maya financed the ring
• [41:42] – Discussion of enabling ex-boyfriend financially, recurring pattern
• [65:44] – “Catch all” credit card maxed out for daily living and entertainment
• [71:12] – Caleb’s “joke financially” wake-up call
• [88:44] – Hammer’s budget review: underwater by $222.97/month
• [91:12] – Maya reveals helping her homeless mother via credit card

Conclusion: Hammer Financial Score

• Caleb gives Maya a 0/10 Hammer Financial Score for spending/budgeting, debt, emergency fund, retirement, and real estate readiness.
• If current patterns continue, bankruptcy is looming, though it wouldn’t even clear much of the debt and would repeat unless behavior changes.
• Some hope remains if Maya locks in a higher-paid job, ceases all nonessential spending, sells off assets, stops enabling others, and relentlessly focuses on school and rebuilding financial discipline.
• Caleb invites Maya (and listeners) to use his budgeting app & classes and proposes a follow-up in the future if she turns things around.

The episode closes with Maya admitting she’s helping her homeless mother via credit card—a late but revealing insight into her persistent enabling behavior and heavy personal/family load.

For more, including the post-show roast of Maya’s dating profile and a (planned) confrontation call to her cheating ex, join Hammer Elite for exclusive content.