I'm 57 and Never Thought About Retirement

Summary

The Ramsey Show Highlights – January 8, 2026

Episode Title: I'm 57 and Never Thought About Retirement
Host: Dave Ramsey (with Chris Hogan)
Guest Caller: Susan

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Overview

This episode addresses a common concern: facing retirement planning later in life. Susan, a 57-year-old who never considered retirement in her earlier years, calls in seeking advice on whether she can still build a secure financial future. Dave Ramsey and Chris Hogan offer encouragement, practical strategies, and emotional support for making up lost ground and building hope, even after financial setbacks.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Psychological Hurdle of Starting Late ([00:06]–[00:39])

• Susan’s Confession: She shares never having thought about retirement, focusing on enjoying life in her earlier years. Now at 57, with only a small amount in savings and an IRA, she feels concerned it may be too late.
• Hosts’ Response: Dave and Chris use humor to break tension—“You need to go to the bar and find you somebody because it’s over for you.”
  • Dave Ramsey: “Of course not. Now, obviously it would have been better if you started when you were 27, but that’s in the rearview mirror. So let’s just deal with what we got.” ([00:48])

2. Retirement Planning Can Start Now ([00:48]–[02:24])

• Current Financials: Susan earns $50,000/year. Dave advises aiming for a 15% savings rate—$7,500/year.
  • Advice: Max out a Roth IRA, invest in good growth stock mutual funds, and explore SmartVestor investment advisors for guidance.
  • Dave Ramsey: “If you do that for the next 10, 15 years, you’re going to have a pretty sizable chunk of money, like probably a million dollars.” ([01:01]–[01:21])
• Encouragement to Learn: Dave stresses becoming a student of investing and using automatic drafts to enforce discipline.
• Plan Summary: If Susan saves $7,500/year and increases her contributions with raises, pays off debts and eventually owns a home again, her retirement is within reach.

3. Susan’s Setbacks and the Impact of the Pandemic ([02:30]–[03:35])

• Life Changes: Susan sold her house and now rents, citing instability and a drastic business decline due to the pandemic—losing $4,000/month “in a blink of an eye.”
• Dave’s Challenge: Dave gently questions the lingering struggle and suggests Susan might still be processing the trauma (“PTSD from the pandemic”), noting many caterers have rebounded.
  • Dave Ramsey: “You’re still living in the trauma and the pain... Me too, by the way, but...every time I hear the word Fauci, I still want to flip.” ([03:35])

4. Running the Numbers ([03:58]–[04:38])

• Chris Hogan runs a calculation: With Susan’s $57,000 IRA and annual $7,500 Roth IRA contributions, by age 77 she could feasibly have over $1 million.
  • Chris Hogan: “You’re gonna have $1,050,000.” ([04:18]–[04:34])
  • Susan: “Okay. And that’s going to be enough for me in retirement?”
    Dave: “It’ll be more than you have now.” ([04:36])
• Extra Motivation: The hosts urge Susan that with renewed business efforts and prudent investing, she can beat even this estimate.

5. The Letter to Future Self ([04:54]–[05:41])

• Chris Hogan’s Homework: Suggests Susan write a letter to her 77-year-old self, detailing the decisive actions she’s taking now to provide for her future.
  • Chris Hogan: “There’s something powerful about getting out of your body and...imagining yourself at 77...thinking, I can go to sleep tonight. Cause I got a million dollars in retirement.” ([05:41])
• Dave’s Vision: “Called these weird guys on a podcast...started putting $7,500 a year away. And I even put more than that away...I wanted to get it at 67.”
  • The key takeaway: Take ownership and write your own comeback story.

6. Emotional Recovery and Opportunity Ahead ([05:53]–[07:18])

• Housing Considerations: Dave reintroduces the idea of owning a home “when it is appropriate for you.” ([05:53])
• Economic Trauma: Acknowledgement of lingering pandemic-induced fears but insistence on moving forward.
  • Chris Hogan: “You can have everything in line and then all of a sudden you wake up on a Monday and you can’t go to work anymore. Or all your business goes away.” ([06:16]–[06:26])
• Broader Perspective – Technology & Opportunity: Dave highlights the changing landscape with AI and other technologies, suggesting that disruption also brings unprecedented opportunity.
  • Dave Ramsey: “I think I’m really starting to believe there are going to be more millionaires created by AI than any other technology disruption to come along.” ([06:43])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On starting late:
  “Of course not. Now, obviously it would have been better if you started when you were 27, but that’s in the rearview mirror.” – Dave Ramsey ([00:48])
• Calculating hope:
  “You’re gonna have $1,050,000.” – Chris Hogan ([04:18])
• Letter to future self:
  “Write a letter to your 77-year-old self and tell her about what you decided to do at age 57 so that she could have a million dollars in retirement.” – Chris Hogan ([05:01])
• On pandemic struggles:
  “You’re still living in the trauma and the pain... Me too, by the way...” – Dave Ramsey ([03:35])
• On new opportunities:
  “There’s a very real possibility, I think some people are going to use AI...and became millionaires. This is exponentially larger.” – Dave Ramsey ([06:43])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:06] Susan’s situation and question about starting retirement at 57
• [00:48] Dave’s reassurance and action plan
• [01:01] Specific advice: 15% savings goal and investing in Roth IRA
• [02:30] Discussion of housing, pandemic impact, and setbacks
• [03:58] Chris performs future value calculations
• [04:54] Chris’s letter-to-future-self assignment
• [05:53] Emotional recovery and looking forward; possibility of home ownership again
• [06:43] Dave on AI, technology, and new wealth opportunities

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Tone and Closing Thoughts

Encouraging, direct, and optimistic—with a dose of Ramsey-brand tough love. Dave and Chris focus on practicality but also the importance of mindset and emotional healing after setbacks. Their central message: It’s not too late. Discipline, learning, and renewed confidence can turn your future around, even after major disruptions.

Chris Hogan: “Feel that that fear’s real. Fine. And then get on about the next right thing, which is get after it.” ([06:26])

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Susan]

I never thought about retirement. It was just something not in my, in my vocabulary. I spent my 20s and 30s having a good time. Very unusual. But now that I'm 57, I'm starting to think about things I should have thought of a long time ago. So I have a little bit in savings. I have a little bit in an Iraq. And my question is, is it too late for me to think about retirement?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, it's over. You're just so. You're sorry, Susan. You're so old you can't do anything.

[Chris Hogan]

You need to go to the bar and find you somebody because it's over for you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Of course not. Of course not. Now, obviously it would have been better if you started when you were 27, but that's in the rearview mirror. So let's just deal with what we got. What do you make a year?

[Susan]

I make $50,000 a year.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so if you save 15% of that, that's 7,500 fully funded Roth IRA tax free growth in a good growth stock mutual fund. And if you do that for the next 10, 15 years, you're going to have a pretty sizable chunk of money, like probably a million dollars.

[Susan]

Seriously?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Susan]

Okay, so $7,500 a year into a.

[Dave Ramsey]

Roth IRA in good growth stock mutual funds. Jump [e-mail] and click on SmartVestor. And those are investment advisors that we endorse. They don't work for us, but we vetted them and they have the heart of a teacher. And I want you to become a student of this. It's not rocket science. You can do it, I can do it. Everybody can do it. And just sit down and learn how that mutual fund works and learn how that Roth Iraq IRA works and have it automatically drafted out of your checking account. And if you get any raises in the future, and you probably will increase the amount that you're saving, clear your debts, get the house paid off. And if you come into 70 years old 13 years from now with a pile of money in your Roth IRA and a paid for house, you're going to be in really good shape.

[Susan]

Okay, sounds good.

[Dave Ramsey]

But you, but you're going to have to concentrate on it, like you said, for the first time.

[Susan]

Well, one of the things too is that I don't own a home anymore. I sold my house. So I rent. I will, I will be renting right now. I. Why? I don't know, to be honest. It was, I was, it was Just getting too crazy.

[Dave Ramsey]

What was crazy?

[Susan]

Well, my business suffered dramatically during the pandemic. I had a catering business, and so when the pandemic hit, I lost $4,000 a month in income in a blink of an eye. And I had a very difficult time bouncing back.

[Dave Ramsey]

Are you bounced?

[Susan]

I'm still. Still trying to get back on track.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why five years later?

[Susan]

It's when you're in the hospitality industry.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, honey, we pay thousands and tens of thousands of dollars to caterers every year. I don't know one that. I don't know one that hadn't bounced back.

[Susan]

Yeah, I don't know why. I don't. That's one of the mysteries that I don't know why. I think I've been making some poor decisions.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, like you're still living in the trauma and the pain. Got PTSD from the pandemic. Me too, by the way, but, I mean, every time I hear the word fauci, I still want to flip. So, you know, it's just somebody. If I see somebody in a mask, I just go crazy. So, I mean, I understand, but. But anyway.

[Chris Hogan]

All right, Susan, I did the math for you, okay? How much is in your IRA right now?

[Susan]

50. 57,000.

[Chris Hogan]

Oh, 57. That's even better. All right, check this out. You ready?

[Susan]

Huh?

[Chris Hogan]

57,000. I'm gonna put in here 75. I'm on the Ramsey investment calculator.

[Dave Ramsey]

7,500 a year at.

[Chris Hogan]

7,500 a year at 77 years old. Okay? If you put 625 bucks a month, that's $7,500 a year. You're gonna have $1,050,000.

[Susan]

Okay? And that's going to be enough for me in retirement.

[Dave Ramsey]

It'll be more than you have now.

[Susan]

Okay? Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you're going to have more than that because you're going to get the catering business moving again. You're going to get over the ptsd, start smiling and cooking again.

[Susan]

I appreciate that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, you got you. Go get this. Go get those customers back. Don't let some other caterer have them.

[Susan]

Okay.

[Chris Hogan]

You may give you. I want to give you a wild homework assignment. You ready?

[Susan]

Yes.

[Chris Hogan]

Do you live by yourself right now?

[Susan]

I do.

[Chris Hogan]

I want you to write a letter to your 77 year old self and tell her about what you decided to do at age 57 so that she could have a million dollars in retirement.

[Susan]

Okay. I can do that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Called these weird guys on a podcast. I went to their website. I got a Smartvestor Pro. I got my business Kicked in the butt and moving again. And I put. Started putting 7, 500 a year away. And I even put more than that away because later on I started making so stinking much money. I wanted to have a million faster than 77. I didn't want to. I wanted to get it at 67. So, you know. Yeah, yeah, that's going to get you there. Pretty cool. That's a good idea. Write yourself a letter.

[Chris Hogan]

There's something powerful about getting out of your body and putting it on the. On imagining yourself at 77, sitting in that same crummy recliner you got and thinking, I can go to sleep tonight. Cause I got a million dollars in retirement right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. And let's talk about owning a home during that time again. Yeah. When. When it is appropriate for you. Yeah. So, yeah, it's. It's very real, though, to emotionally still have scars from the economic damage that was done to your life during the Fauci pandemic.

[Chris Hogan]

Well, it, it's. You can't. You can have everything in line and then all of a sudden you wake up on a Monday and you can't go to work anymore.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Chris Hogan]

Or all of your business goes away.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Right.

[Chris Hogan]

And that, that could be the same. I know people are panicking all over the country about AI. Like, I'm just going to wake up tomorrow, my job will be gone. And that could be paralyzing. And that goes back to the thing we were talking about in the earlier segment. Feel that that fear's real. Fine. And then get on about the next right thing, which is get after it.

[Dave Ramsey]

I tell you what, man. We spend so much time with millennials and Gen Zs that every article I've read, probably five different things this week that were credible. I think I'm really starting to believe there are going to be more millionaires created by AI than any other technology disruption to come along. There's a very real possibility, I think some people are going to use AI. Like people. You know, people use the Internet and digital to access and to start a business that they never would have dreamed prior to that and became millionaires. This is exponentially.

[Chris Hogan]

That times a billion. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Exponentially larger. Yeah. And so I think the opportunity of AI is so huge that it offsets what little bit of pain going to come from that. That's the plan. Wow. Yeah. Go get you some. That's a plan. Create your free every dollar budget today. The simplest way to budget for your life.