Client (Angie) (1:53)

Good, both so far.

Financial Advisor (1:55)

Good, good, good.

Client (Angie) (1:56)

And I have about $13,000 in an IRA.

Financial Advisor (2:00)

Good for you. Okay. All right. Well, two things come to mind immediately. One is you can't do this backward and expect it to work. You don't pay the credit cards first, and then figure out how to eat. You eat first, keep the lights on first, keep the homeowner's insurance paid first, keep gas in the car first, then with what's left, you pay what you can on the credit cards. Credit cards are not first in line. They're last in line after you survive. Okay, so it's not like after we pay our credit cards, we don't have the money for groceries. No, it's after we buy groceries, we don't have the money for credit cards. You see the difference?

Client (Angie) (2:44)

Yeah. Yes.

Financial Advisor (2:45)

So that's the first thing we adjust. The second thing we adjust is, I mean, you're only 65 and 70. Get a job. There are basics every family needs. Food, shelter, transportation, and term life insurance. Term life is simple. If you pass away, it pays money to your family so they can keep paying the bills. Protecting the people you love is part of Winning with money. And when you're ready to do that, go with, with who I trust Zander Insurance. Zander shops top companies to find the right coverage at the best price and they've earned my recommendation for nearly 30 years. Go to Zander.com today.

Client (Angie) (3:25)

Well, we both are working part time making nothing right.

Financial Advisor (3:30)

$400. I mean, you're starving to death. You're too broke to retire.

Client (Angie) (3:40)

Well, that's true.

Financial Advisor (3:41)

Yeah. I mean what if you guys went to work for a year like full time jobs and made 30 or 40,000 bucks each and you paid off all these credit cards, right?

Client (Angie) (3:53)

Yeah, yeah, I thought about that.

Financial Advisor (3:57)

Wasn't what you, you didn't think you was going to hear that today, did you?

Client (Angie) (3:59)

It's not what we want. It's just a lot. Physically, physically honest. Even though we're in good health.

Financial Advisor (4:05)

I'm not telling you to wait tables, but I mean you're, I'm talking to an intelligent lady that can carry on a conversation. There's a lot of customer service stuff you can do. It's not physically draining.

Financial Coach (4:15)

Here's the question I have. I'm listening to your stats, Angie, and I don't think I've ever been on a call like this where I've heard somebody who has a paid for house, paid for cars and you have 35 to $40,000 of credit card debt. So what is the cause of that?

Client (Angie) (4:31)

It's just accumulated over time. There's just always been, there's just always been a lot of more expense than we had income and it just kind of accumulated. And then when we couldn't buy groceries and we put it on a card, or when I needed $1,500 worth of car repairs and didn't have $1,500 on me, I put it on a credit card. Things like that.

Financial Advisor (4:55)

Well, we're going to have to spend enough more years in the workforce to reverse the trend to get your incomes up and enough of a nest egg, a little bit of a nest egg built to where it doesn't leak again down into this. But cut up the credit cards and let's go crazy and get them paid off. I'm not asking you to sell your house, but before I keep this credit card debt around five years, I would sell the house. And instead if it's me, I'm gonna roll up my sleeves and go do something and just get rid of this mess. It's just lingering and you guys are walking around acting like you're retired and you're broke and the good News is you've still got your health. And in today's world, 65 years old is not that old. I am and I work. So, you know, and at least they claim I work.

Financial Coach (5:52)

I think we could call it work. Yes.

Financial Advisor (5:54)

I show up pretty regularly, you know, so you know. Yeah, you can do that. You can go do something. I don't know what your past career was, but go pick up a job doing that as a consultant or anything. And him too, if you, you know, again, you don't have to go swing a hammer. No. And you don't have to do something, you know, carry a waitress tray of £800 or something. I'm not asking you to do that. But I think there's something you guys could do to generate a few thousand dollars a month and a few thousand dollars a month to make this credit card debt go away. Yeah, because it needs to go away forever. This is not a sustainable situation. So first thing is reprioritize and take care of you. What we call the four walls of your house. Food, shelter, clothing, transportation and utilities. Before you pay any bills. You eat first, then you pay bills, you don't pay bills, and then hope you can eat then secondly, we got to get your income up to be able to address this overall issue or we gotta start selling stuff to cover it. And I don't think that's viable here. I don't think your house is crazy. I mean if you're living in a million dollar house or something, I'd probably have you move down in house and clean up this mess. But your house is not out of control. Your cars are not out of control. Thank God they're paid for. But your problem is you just do not have enough sustainable income to live on. And that's what caused the credit card leakage to your pocket.

Financial Coach (7:21)

That's right, there was margin issue. So here's why baby steps two and three are so you've got to get that debt paid off, but then you've got to have that three to six months of emergency funds so that you aren't tempted to solve the problem with a credit card. There just was no margin for you to be able to have a rainy day fund. It's really important at the advanced age here to have a really well funded. I know. Hey, look man, I'm not far behind, all right, I'm trying to catch you. But I mean it's really true though because if you have limited income at that age and a car goes out for fifteen hundred dollars and you don't have an emergency fund, you fix it.

Financial Advisor (7:59)

That's what they do. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the things that we would tell you to do, kiddo. And hang on. We're going to set you up with a free offering on every dollar the app, and that helps you put your budget together. And you and your husband sit down, look at the numbers and the numbers are going to tell you eat first, pay bills last. That's a short term fix. Your long term fixes create income to clear off these credit cards and chop them all up. Light a candle tonight and have a plastic surgery party. Zander is the best place to find term life insurance to protect your family. Visit Zander.com for quotes today.