I'm 62, $79,000 In Debt, And Have No Retirement

Summary

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The Ramsey Show Highlights: "I'm 62, $79,000 In Debt, And Have No Retirement"

Date: March 3, 2026
Podcast: The Ramsey Show Highlights
Host/Experts: Ramsey Network Team (Primary Experts in this segment: Two financial advisors, referred to as Financial Expert 1 and Financial Expert 2)
Caller: 62-year-old male listener in debt and facing retirement challenges

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on an urgent financial crossroads: a 62-year-old caller seeks advice about whether to consolidate $79,000 in debt as he heads toward Social Security, despite owning three properties but having no remaining retirement savings. The Ramsey team provides actionable, compassionate guidance on debt payoff, leveraging property assets, budgeting, and realistic planning for late-in-life financial stability.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Debt Consolidation: The Wrong Move

• Caller’s Query: He's received a letter about debt consolidation and wants to know if he should do it ([00:12]).
• Expert Advice:
  • Financial Expert 1: "Short answer, yes. Debt consolidation. It is not the answer to this situation. I would never suggest it as the answer… they’re just doing what you could do, only with fees attached. So you don’t need help doing that." ([00:44])
• Reasoning: Debt consolidation adds unnecessary fees and doesn’t address the underlying problem or provide actual assistance the caller couldn't manage himself.

2. Property Assets: A Pathway to Hope

• Caller’s Situation: Owns three houses—one rented below market to a family with five kids, one rental house, and one apartment on his primary property ([01:14-02:32]).
• Key Facts About Houses:
  • House 1: Family with five kids; renter pays $1,100/month; below market rent.
  • House 2: Rents for $1,350/month; market value approx. $170,000; owned free and clear.
  • House 3: Small apartment on his property; rents for $1,000/month; cannot be sold separately.
• Expert Guidance: The experts urge the caller to consider selling House 2 to clear the debt.

3. The "Why": How Did He End Up Here?

• Expert Probing:
  • Financial Expert 2: “For a guy who’s got two cash houses, why do you have $79,000 in debt?” ([02:58], [03:36])
• Caller’s Story:
  • Previously cashed out retirement after heavy 2008 market losses to buy houses ([03:46]).
  • “When it dropped so much in 2008, I got upset… I took the rest of it, paid the fees, and bought these houses.” ([03:50])
  • Admits: “I spent too much.” ([03:40])
• Result: No retirement funds left; only income sources are Social Security, rental income, and small plumbing business.

4. Income Picture and Budget Haze

• Income Sources:
  • Rentals: $1,100 + $1,000/month.
  • House 2: $1,350/month (potentially).
  • Social Security: $2,000/month (caller has already filed, cannot wait for a higher payout due to health issues) ([05:21-05:31]).
  • Plumbing Business: Income unclear; spends on parts, pays taxes, not keeping a regular salary ([05:44-05:50]).
• Expert Feedback:
  • Financial Expert 1: “I have a feeling obviously you don't have a budget.” ([06:21])
  • Warns necessity of knowing actual post-expense income.
• Notable quote:
  • “What I'm gathering is you're bringing in somewhere around $4,000 to $4,100 a month plus whatever plumbing you do. We don't know what that amount is. The equation we need is how much does it cost for you to run your lifestyle minus the debt?” ([06:21])

5. The Action Plan: Payoff & Prepare

• Key Steps Recommended:
  • Sell House 2, use proceeds to pay off $79,000 of debt ([06:09], [06:21]).
  • Keep 3-6 months of expenses in high-yield savings.
  • Invest remaining funds in mutual funds/Roth IRA with a SmartVestor Pro’s help ([06:21]).
  • Ensure ongoing rental income covers essentials; only continue as landlord as long as able.
• Quote:
  • “If you get to the point where you can no longer be a landlord, you're selling those and you're popping those into a Roth IRA as well.”
    — Financial Expert 1 ([07:43])

6. Moral vs. Financial Balance: On Raising Rent or Selling a Family’s Home

• Compassion Acknowledged:
  • The experts empathize about the emotional difficulty of selling or raising rent on the family with five kids ([01:24], [02:32]).
  • Financial Expert 2: “Appreciate your heart, but they need to at least be paying market rent… if you need to unload that to take care of yourself, you can give them plenty of advance notice to where you're not kicking them out.” ([08:15-08:33])
• Practical Reminder:
  • “You can't just be the… hero here, it doesn't make you a bad guy. There's a way to go about it… that does not make life for them really uncomfortable and stressful.” ([08:34])

7. Closing Urgency: Take Control Now

• Expert Urging:
  • “You need to sit with a SmartVestor Pro tomorrow and begin to plot out your future.”
    — Financial Expert 2 ([08:54])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Debt consolidation… it is not the answer to this situation. I would never suggest it as the answer.”
  — Financial Expert 1 ([00:44])
• “I spent too much.”
  — Caller ([03:40])
• “What I'm gathering is you're bringing in somewhere around $4,000 to $4,100 a month… The equation we need is how much does it cost for you to run your lifestyle minus the debt?”
  — Financial Expert 1 ([06:21])
• “If you get to the point where you can no longer be a landlord, you're selling those and you're popping those into a Roth IRA as well.”
  — Financial Expert 1 ([07:43])
• “You can't just be the… hero here, it doesn't make you a bad guy. There's a way to go about it… that does not make life for them really uncomfortable and stressful.”
  — Financial Expert 2 ([08:34])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:12] — Caller explains dilemma: age, debt, Social Security, and property situation
• [00:44] — Experts reject debt consolidation
• [01:14-02:32] — Detailed discussion of the three rental properties
• [03:36] — Experts ask how the debt accrued
• [04:05-05:44] — Income review: rentals, Social Security, plumbing business details
• [06:09-07:43] — Step-by-step action plan: sell, payoff, reinvest for future security
• [08:15-08:34] — Discussion on ethical balance: raising rent/selling home to family in need

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Summary Takeaways

• Debt consolidation is not advised; it won't solve the caller's financial root issues.
• Selling a property to clear debt is the fastest path to stability, even if difficult.
• Budgeting and clear income analysis are crucial—the caller was urged to know his real numbers.
• Remaining property should earn fair, market rent; generosity shouldn’t jeopardize the owner’s future.
• Act now: Meet with a professional, invest for the long term, and prepare for the day you can no longer manage rentals.

The episode delivers concrete financial wisdom paired with empathy for the caller’s struggles, urging proactive, practical steps toward late-in-life stability.

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Transcript

[Radio Host]

Brought to you by CHM, a budget friendly faith based alternative to health insurance. Chministries.org budget I'm 62 years old and

[Caller]

about ready to claim Social Security, but I have about $79,000 in debt and I got a letter from the consolidating to consolidate it by stopping your credit cards. And so that was the first question. I've kind of listened over and looked at the show. It doesn't, you know, like that's a bad idea from what I hear you say. Or is it a bad idea? Or I own three houses. Okay, tell us about one of those houses.

[Financial Expert 1]

I'm going to go. Short answer likely, yes. Short answer, yes. Debt consolidation. It is not the answer to this situation. It rarely. I would never suggest it as the answer. The question reason is what it's doing is something you could do which is not pay your debts, pull the money and then when they're ready to settle now you can make a settlement. That's all they're doing and they're just doing with, with fees attached. So you don't need help doing that. Tell us about the three houses because your, your solution is likely there.

[Caller]

Well, I, the thing is I have renters and I rented for forever and to sell one of the houses I'd have to be putting a family out.

[Financial Expert 1]

That's true.

[Caller]

They really aren't in that position and I, so far I haven't been able to do it and I have problems there. Just because they have five kids.

[Financial Expert 1]

Are your prices competitive or are you giving them some sort of a deal that they wouldn't be able to get elsewhere?

[Caller]

I'm probably very, I'm very low on that house that I would sell.

[Financial Expert 2]

Okay, let's go to the other two. We'll set, let's set that one aside. We appreciate your heart. What about the other two houses? Give us the numbers.

[Caller]

One house rents for 1350. It would sell for 170,000.

[Financial Expert 2]

How much would you make on that?

[Caller]

Oh, I don't know anything on the houses.

[Financial Expert 1]

Okay, so it's all, it's all profit.

[Financial Expert 2]

That's house number two. Let's go to house number three.

[Caller]

House number three is, it's basically a rental apartment, but it's a home, but it's not very big.

[Financial Expert 2]

How much is it worth? If you sold it today, how much would you pocket?

[Caller]

It's on my property, on my house where I own a house.

[Financial Expert 1]

Okay.

[Caller]

So I couldn't sell that part of it. You know what I'm saying? It's just a spare house.

[Financial Expert 1]

Okay. So, and you just happened to figure

[Financial Expert 2]

out a way just for the heck of it, what is the house that the family of five or the family of seven with five kids house. How much is that house worth

[Caller]

down the street? It went. One other house went for 170.

[Financial Expert 1]

Okay. So this is, this is a no brainer to me.

[Financial Expert 2]

Ken, can I ask a question before because I know what you're going to do. I just am curious. For a guy who's got two cash houses, why do you have $79,000 in

[Radio Host]

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[Financial Expert 2]

Why do you have $79,000 in debt?

[Caller]

I spent too much.

[Financial Expert 2]

But you paid off these other houses, right?

[Caller]

Well, I paid off the other houses a while ago. Basically I paid cash. I turned in my 401 or my, my retirement. When it dropped so much in 2008, I got upset that they took all that money. I lost a lot and so I took the rest of it, paid the fees and bought these houses.

[Financial Expert 1]

Oh gosh. So you have Nothing in a 401k?

[Caller]

Oh, I have nothing now.

[Financial Expert 1]

Understood. So your income, your income will be. Then go back and tell me again, what's the rent from house number one with the family of five? What's your rent on that? What do you take?

[Caller]

Eleven hundred.

[Financial Expert 1]

And what goes away in fees and upkeep? What do you actually pocket as profit from that house?

[Caller]

There's not much season, I haven't been much season uptake over the last couple years.

[Financial Expert 1]

Well, I mean certainly you take, certainly you take money out in case the AC goes out or in case it needs a repair.

[Caller]

I'm a plumber.

[Financial Expert 1]

Okay.

[Caller]

So I kind of fix things. I own a plumbing business.

[Financial Expert 1]

So for round numbers, for round numbers, I'll use the 1100. But I want to encourage you to know what the numbers are. Less upkeep. Because that's going to give you a clearer picture of how well this is doing. Tell me, tell me the rent on number three, the one that's on your property.

[Caller]

A thousand.

[Financial Expert 1]

A thousand. So so far we've got 2100. And what's it take? Are you going to be drawing. You said you're going to draw Social Security Here soon. What will that be?

[Caller]

Yes, 2000.

[Financial Expert 1]

2000. Do you think you can hold on until later so you can get a higher amount?

[Caller]

No, I, I've already signed up for it and I don't know, some health problems. I'm not sure I want to wait.

[Financial Expert 2]

Are you currently employed?

[Financial Expert 1]

Okay.

[Caller]

I work for myself. I own a plumbing business.

[Financial Expert 2]

Okay, great. What do you pay yourself out of the plumbing business?

[Caller]

I, I, I basically don't know. I pay for the plumbing parts and the plumbing bills and then I pay my taxes.

[Financial Expert 2]

Are you busy? Are you busy?

[Caller]

I work as I work. I work as much as I want every day.

[Financial Expert 1]

Okay.

[Caller]

I don't push it as hard as I used to because your health, eight to ten hours a day.

[Financial Expert 2]

Well, you got no, you got no retirement. You got no retirement. So you need to sell at least one of these houses and clear up the debt and then Jade walk you through. You've got to start reinvesting in now.

[Financial Expert 1]

Yeah. So I mean here's the thing. We need real numbers. I have a feeling obviously you don't have a budget. What I'm gathering is you're bringing in somewhere around 4,000 to 4,100amonth plus whatever plumbing you do. We don't know what that amount is. The equation we need is how much does it cost for you to run your lifestyle minus the debt? Because we're going to pay the debt off. So we need to find out how much does it take to keep the lights on, keep the water going, keep food on the table, keep the vehicles running. If it's 4100, you're okay and you can make this work. What I would suggest is just what Ken said. We're going to sell house number two and we're going to take the, you know, 79 of the 100,000 and we're going to pay off the debt. And then you're going to take 90,000 and I would say keep three to six months of expenses out, keep that in a high yield savings account and then the rest you're going to plop it in some nice mutual funds. And if you, if you can, after this call go to ramseysolutions.com/smartvestor I believe is what it is. And I, I want you to get with a smartvestor pro because investing some of this money is going to be helpful for you. It's not going to be the break free point for you. I think at this point, I think at this point for you, keeping these paid for real estate is going to help you Live like you can't afford to sell these just yet. So keeping the rent on them is probably going to be a big. A good move for you. And if you get to the point where you can no longer be a landlord, you're selling those and you're popping Those into a 401k. I'm sorry, into a Roth IRA as well.

[Financial Expert 2]

Really? So you don't think you should sell one to clear the 79?

[Financial Expert 1]

If he sells it, he doesn't have any income. I told him to. No, he's got. No, no. I told him to sell number two.

[Financial Expert 2]

Okay, good.

[Financial Expert 1]

Oh, okay. I'm talking about the other two. The one that's on his property. He can't sell that one anyway.

[Financial Expert 2]

I agree. But I would tell you the one with the family of seven with five kids, appreciate your heart, but they need to at least be paying market rent.

[Financial Expert 1]

That's true.

[Financial Expert 2]

And then at the same time, if you need to unload that to take care of yourself, you can give them plenty of advance notice to where you're not kicking them out.

[Financial Expert 1]

That's true. That's true.

[Financial Expert 2]

You can't just be the, you know, whatever you've fashioned yourself to be this hero here, it doesn't make you a bad guy. There's a way to go about it in a way that does not make life for them real, really uncomfortable and stressful. But that's something to be thinking about. And I agree. You need to sit with a smartvestor pro tomorrow and begin to plot out your future.

[Radio Host]

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