I'm 53 Years-old and Have Nothing Saved For Retirement

Summary

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The Ramsey Show Highlights

Episode: I'm 53 Years-old and Have Nothing Saved For Retirement
Date: October 16, 2025
Host: Ramsey Network (George Kamel & Chris Hogan as co-hosts in this segment)
Main Caller: Chris (Caller, 53 years old)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the Ramsey team fields a call from Chris, a 53-year-old who’s concerned about his and his wife's financial future. With no retirement savings and significant debts—including a mortgage, a $73,000 pool loan, and a $27,000 car note—Chris is exploring drastic measures, like selling their home to reset financially and catch up for retirement. The hosts walk him through possible solutions, focusing on aggressive debt elimination and lifestyle adjustments to build a secure retirement from scratch, despite a late start.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chris's Financial Snapshot & Dilemma

• No retirement savings, limited emergency fund: Chris has just started "the Ramsey steps" and is on Baby Step 2.
• Income: $8,200/month net, $128,000/year gross (Chris and his wife's combined).
• Debt breakdown:
  • $370,000 mortgage (26 years left)
  • $73,000 pool loan (treated as a second mortgage)
  • $27,000 car note (car worth $42,000)
  • Pool loan and car note are separate from traditional consumer debt
  • Already paid off $16,000 in credit cards

2. Sell the Car, Get Debt-Free Faster (01:42–02:18)

• Strategy: Sell the car (worth $42,000, loan is $27,000), buy a used cash car.
• Outcome: Frees up $15,000 in cash and eliminates a $500/month payment.
  • "You just won $15,000, my friend. That’s the difference. If you sold that car... you just freed up a payment and became consumer debt free." – George Kamel (01:47)
  • "We then saved you $6,000 a year of net income. Hello." – Chris Hogan (02:03)

3. Making Difficult Choices for Retirement (02:33–02:48)

• Sacrifice Presented: Choosing short-term discomfort (like downgrading cars) for long-term dignity.
  • "Do you want to be eating Alpo in retirement but have a nice car or do we want to make a short-term sacrifice so we can retire with dignity?" – George Kamel (02:36)

4. Should They Sell the House? (06:06–08:49)

• Chris’s proposal: Sell house for ~$600,000, pay off debts, and put 20% down on a smaller house or rent for a period—ends up with little cash left after.
• Host advice: Selling the house is a big decision and shouldn't be the first option; focuses on the importance of behavior change, not just asset liquidation.
  • “Selling a house is always the last answer, not my first solution... it just feels like a get out of jail free card and it kind of moves you backwards. Instead of building equity and... getting that house paid off, now we’re liquidating and starting from scratch again in our 50s.” – George Kamel (07:57)

5. Special Considerations for Age and Health (03:29–04:51)

• Health impact: Chris recently had a heart attack, prompting urgency for a better work-life balance and more sustainable income strategies.
• Side hustles: Chris is working two jobs—full-time sales and 50 hours of DoorDash per week—but this is unsustainable.
  • "I'm working every single day from morning to night...I don't know how long I can sustain that." – Chris (03:54)

6. Income Growth & Focus (04:33–04:52)

• Recommendation: Focus on earning more through sales commissions rather than working unsustainably long hours at side gigs.
  • “Forget Uber number one, spend 50 hours... on the phones and email selling... your better, your, your health and the financial ROI for you is way better to go after that commission.” – Chris Hogan (04:38–04:52)

7. The Retirement Savings Math (05:18–06:06)

• Projection: If debt is eliminated and emergency fund built up, investing 15% of income (around $1,600/month) from age 54 to 70 could yield $750,000 for retirement (not counting possible increases from sales commissions).
  • "If we begin investing 15% of our income... by the age of 70... you would have $750,000 likely in that one account." – George Kamel (05:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You just won $15,000, my friend. That’s the difference. If you sold that car... you just freed up a payment and became consumer debt free.”
  — George Kamel (01:47)

• “Do you want to be eating Alpo in retirement but have a nice car or do we want to make a short-term sacrifice so we can retire with dignity?”
  — George Kamel (02:36)

• “Selling a house is always the last answer, not my first solution... it just feels like a get out of jail free card and it kind of moves you backwards.”
  — George Kamel (07:57)

• “I like the aggressive approach here. I rarely disagree with you, but... I think a reset to try to really get focused on retirement investing... is aggressive, but I like it.”
  — Chris Hogan (09:03)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:00 - 02:18: Car loan strategy, consumer debt discussion, recommendation to sell the car.
• 02:33 - 02:48: Discussion of short-term sacrifice vs. long-term retirement dignity.
• 03:29 - 04:51: Health discussion, side hustle burnout, focus on sustainable income.
• 05:18 - 06:06: Retirement investment calculation and projection.
• 06:06 - 08:49: In-depth debate about selling the house vs. staying, weighing pros and cons.
• 09:03 - End: Conclusion on aggressive reset, supportive send-off.

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Conclusions

The hosts endorse an aggressive but necessary approach due to Chris’s age and lack of retirement savings:

• First: Sell the car, eliminate all consumer debt, and build a starter emergency fund.
• Next: Focus on primary job income and potential commission growth, not unsustainable side hustles.
• Then: Consider selling the house as a last resort, but only after deeply analyzing if it aligns with long-term financial behavior and not as a quick fix.
• Most importantly: Make lifestyle changes now to achieve a debt-free, dignified retirement—even if it means downsizing and making tough sacrifices.

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If you’re in your 50s with little to no retirement savings, this episode emphasizes: it’s never too late to reset, but aggressive, focused action and major lifestyle changes may be necessary for a secure financial future.

Transcript

[A]

Zander shops all the top term insurance companies to save you money. Get [e-mail]. my wife and I are really concerned, really right now about our future retirement. So just a little background. Don't have anything saved. Don't have three to six months expenses. Just started doing the Ramsey steps. I'm on baby step two. So we're talking about selling our home to get the equity out of it, to basically just pay everything off and just kind of start fresh and be able to put some money back and then start, you know, investing 15% like the Randy step says. But I'm not sure if that's the right answer to do that or not. The other option is I keep working like a madman like I've been doing. Keep the house. But we have a pool, and I don't know if that should be, like, included, like with the mortgage payment, even though they're separate or that's considered consumer debt. With our car note.

[B]

How big is the pool loan?

[A]

The pool loan is 73,000.

[B]

And what's your household income?

[A]

About 8,200amonth after taxes.

[B]

Okay, what about before? Just give me the gross household income tax.

[A]

About 128.

[B]

Yeah, I would put it up there with your mortgage since it's over half of your annual income. We kind of treat that like a second mortgage at that point. And so I would focus on the consumer debt first. How much is all that add up to?

[A]

Well, we've paid off all the credit cards, which is about 16 grand. Now we have. All we have left besides the pool is a card, which is about $27,000.

[B]

What's the car worth?

[A]

42.

[C]

Oh, I know what we're doing there. George. Tell him what he's won.

[B]

You just won $15,000, my friend. That's the difference. If you sold that car and took the proceeds and got something cash, you just freed up a payment and became consumer debt free.

[C]

And let's, let's, let's stay right there. Chris, how much is that car payment?

[A]

It's 500amonth.

[C]

All right, so we just found you 15,000 in cash, and we then saved you 6 grand a year of net income. Hello.

[B]

See that magic trick right there?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And we still have a place to rest our head that we can call our own.

[C]

So what you won is a cheaper car. That's what you want.

[B]

Now, what is that?

[A]

What's the mortgage Wins.

[C]

But what's that? Say that again.

[A]

Unfortunately, that's what my wife wins.

[C]

Is she, Is she on board with this?

[A]

She is if that's what we have to do.

[C]

Yes, it is what you have to do.

[B]

Well, here's the thing. Do you want to be eating Alpo in retirement but have a nice car or do we want to make a short term sacrifice so we can retire with dignity? That's the trade off here.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

We're not trying to punish you.

[C]

Right to the dog.

[B]

Yeah, that was dark and it's honestly, dog food's not cheap. I take that back.

[C]

I tell you, my dogs eat really good food.

[B]

It's going to be ramen, I guess.

[C]

But you know, Chris, the reason I'm saying you guys have to do this is because you're 53 and you don't have any retirement. So we have got now, now this is where George is like, I love, I love when George. Oh, I see crunching. I wish you could see him right now. He's already got, he does the one hand keyboard thing. He's got the Ramsey investment calculator, which you can [e-mail] so the reason we're going to be super aggressive here is because you guys can catch, you can start to make headway. But we're talking, we gotta sell the car and it lists today and we have got to change. So let's, let's run the numbers. George.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Are you guys in pretty good health?

[A]

So that's a good question. So I had a heart attack back in March and I've changed a lot. My health has gotten a lot better for sure. I'm going to test all that stuff right now. And so that kind of leads me to, you know, I've been, you know, I work my regular job, which I work 50 plus hours at. I've been door dashing on the side about another 50 hours a week. Wow. Which is a lot because I'm working every single day from morning to night.

[C]

How long you been doing doordashing?

[A]

I've been doing the doordashing now for about three months.

[C]

Did you include that in credit cards? Okay, good for you. Did you include that though in the number you gave us on the 128,000 gross?

[A]

No.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

No, I did not. Because I don't know how long I can sustain that because I'm working every Saturday, only I'm taking off is a Sunday. That's it.

[B]

Okay. And what about your wife?

[A]

My wife works as well. She works full time. Her, her money is included in that number as well.

[B]

Okay. And what are you guys doing for work? Is there area for growth here?

[A]

Yeah, I'm in sales I mean there's potential for commission. I just started a new job.

[C]

Amazing. Right now Chris, that is far better than that. Forget Uber number one, spend 50 hours.

[B]

On the phones and email selling.

[C]

Yeah, I'm no doctor, I would like to play one on T. I want to point that out.

[B]

And he would make a great one.

[C]

I think I would look good in scrubs. But the point here is, is that your better, your, your health and the financial ROI for you is way better to go after that commission. But even at the 128. George, let's paint a picture here. If we sell the car and so we, we come up with 15 cash. So we got 15 George to work with.

[B]

Yeah. Okay, you take that 15, you buy yourself a used cash car.

[C]

There we go.

[B]

And then you're debt free. Now we can work on the emergency fund. So for the next, let's call it six to eight months, just stack away cash to build up that emergency fund. Then we can begin investing. So let's just paint a picture. You're a year from now, you're 54, right?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And you're debt free with an emergency fund. And we begin investing 15% of our income. That's about 1600 bucks a month. Are you tracking?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

By the age of 70. Now this is assuming you're going to have to work longer because we got a late start. You would have $750,000 likely in that one account. Now we're talking. Okay, we could, if we have a paid for house and 750 grand in the bank, we have a fighting chance of surviving right now.

[C]

What that doesn't include Chris is those commissions and more income socking it away.

[B]

What's left on the mortgage? What's the balance?

[A]

370.

[B]

Okay. And how many years left on the mortgage?

[A]

Took out a 30 year note when we bought the house. I still have 26 years on it.

[B]

Woo.

[C]

What's it worth?

[A]

That's why we're talking about selling the house.

[C]

What can you get for the house?

[A]

About 600.

[C]

So that would, you'd walk away with roughly what?

[A]

When I look at the numbers, I think I would, I would walk away with about 180. But then paying off the car in the pool, that leave me with about a hundred, I think.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Exactly.

[C]

I see what you did.

[A]

But then with the pool, I mean, I'm sorry, what would I have left? Would be about 20 on the house, which only leave me with about $11,000.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

But towards the three to six months.

[C]

Expenses, I. Yeah, I like it's Aggressive allows you to start with the emergency fund immediately and start investing and you guys can downsize. It's just the two of you?

[A]

No, we have two, two more kids at home. But you know, they're older, they're fine at some point.

[C]

That's right. They, they, they live where we tell them to live. George, what do you think about this? I'm actually leaning towards this. I like this move.

[B]

I'm trying to think what would you go rent somewhere for a while and just keep stacking cash? Because you're not gonna be able to afford anything for 180.

[A]

Well.

[B]

And that doesn't pay off.

[A]

We would have to. Well, if we sold it for 600, I think I like, we sold it for 600 today. I could pay off the pool and the car and be able to end up with about after I put 20% down on a house, on a 15 year note, I think I would have about $11,000 left. And then it'd be quicker there than if you start saving for retirement. As soon as I get that built up.

[B]

Yeah, you're just, you're going to be back to having a giant mortgage is my fear. With today's rates and today's prices. So that's the part you have to weigh. I would crunch those numbers heavily. I just. Selling a house is always the last answer, not my first solution. Because number one, it doesn't actually change the behavior that got us here. It just feels like a get out of jail free card and it kind of moves you backwards. Instead of building equity and, and getting that house paid off, now we're liquidating and starting from scratch again in our 50s. And so I would, I wouldn't, I would hesitate before just jumping on that. But I love the idea of you guys getting debt free faster, having more to retire with, but you would also have to go, we're going to downsize our lifestyle and change. I don't like the idea of you just keeping everything going. Well, we're going to keep the car, keep the pool, keep living how we're living and get the cake too. And so you're going to make some deep sacrifice.

[A]

Agreed. And I feel like if we keep the house, then I just don't see an insight how we could pay off the house eventually. I feel like with the income where it's at, even if I go up another 20, 30,000, I just don't see how I pay off the house.

[C]

Yeah, George, I'm, I'm going to tell you, I like the aggressive approach here. I rarely disagree with you, but I like where he's at to reset. Even if they've got a rent at this stage for a couple of years. I think a reset to try to really get focused on retirement investing. I don't know. It's aggressive, but I like it.

[B]

It's a reset for sure. Best of luck, my friend.

[A]

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