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The Ramsey Show

"I’m 50 With No Retirement Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck"

19 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

4.739 - 8.464 Unknown

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today.

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8.504 - 42.13 Ken Coleman

Normal is broke and common sense is weird, so we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is the Ramsey Show alongside... The Natalie attired George Camel bringing out another beautiful winter shacket. Love seeing the shacket make an appearance. Just happy to be alongside my good friend, George Camel. I'm Ken Coleman.

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Chapter 2: How can I start budgeting effectively at 50?

42.49 - 60.574 Ken Coleman

And we have a fantastic studio audience today out in the lobby. I got to tell you, they just look like they're excited to be alive and here. And so we're grateful to see you all as well. Handsome audience out there, George. Absolutely. Absolutely. Let's go to Ann, who starts us off in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ann, how can we help?

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63.577 - 84.662 Unknown

So I am 50 years old. I have no retirement, no savings, nothing. I am not, I'll be honest, I'm not good with money. Growing up, I don't have a relationship with my family, never been taught how to manage money, how to budget. And I would like to start 2026.

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85.064 - 107.663 Unknown

doing that and I'm just overwhelmed with how to start where to start I know the snowball the dead snowball I just you know I also have health conditions where I was out of work for a month in October I was in the hospital and it's just it's snowball and I feel like I just can't catch my breath and I don't know where to start or what to do

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107.744 - 124.048 Ken Coleman

Okay. Well, you came to the right place, and we're going to start with two words. It's possible. Because you understand the baby steps, but the idea of how to actually make it work for you seems like an absolute impossibility. True or false?

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124.771 - 125.792 Unknown

That is true.

125.812 - 131.5 Ken Coleman

Okay, great. So we start with it's possible. All right. So George, let's do our thing.

131.54 - 147.942 George Kamel

Let's get into the details. Let's get some numbers. And the fact that you even decided this at 50 is amazing because I know you think it's too late for you, but there's someone who's going to call in probably today who goes, hey, I'm 62 and I got nothing saved. So Ann's doing great. She's got a 12 year ahead start. And so it very much is possible.

147.962 - 153.63 George Kamel

And we're going to dig into the numbers here to give you a tactical plan. So are you working full time right now?

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Yes, I am.

Chapter 3: What steps should I take to manage my overwhelming debt?

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that will be something that will linger does that affect your ability to work no there are times i have to be off but no okay but you're still you're still pulling 40 hours a week and all that Yes.

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271.131 - 283.462 George Kamel

Okay. Now, what other bills do you have? Because are you going, you know, kind of beyond the pale here into the red every month because you don't have enough money with the $2,800? And so you're turning to payday loans to fund the gap?

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283.923 - 284.723 Unknown

Yes.

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284.743 - 285.084 George Kamel

Okay.

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285.104 - 295.674 Unknown

Because I have electric, gas, internet, cable, car insurance, and a car payment. Okay.

296.434 - 299.397 George Kamel

Are you doing any investing right now through a retirement plan?

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None.

301.203 - 301.944 George Kamel

Okay, good.

302.204 - 308.792 Ken Coleman

We've got to focus on this debt. Yeah, we didn't catch the car debt. All I heard was the payday loan and medical debt. What's the car debt?

Chapter 4: How can I improve my financial situation and save for the future?

426.75 - 444.552 George Kamel

No, but the other thing is, so our parameter for your rent, your mortgage, is a quarter of your after-tax monthly income. And so for you, we're talking about $750 is really where you're going to max out in order to accomplish any financial goals. And so as long as you're in this lease, you're going to be stuck because you have no margin.

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444.632 - 461.848 George Kamel

As long as you have this car, you're going to be stuck because you have no margin. But see what we're doing, Anne? We're looking at all the things that you can actually control, even though it feels like they are immovable objects. Well, I got to have a car. Yeah, but you don't need a 2022. You could have a 2013 and still get some A to B. I'm not even driving a 2022.

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462.489 - 481.31 George Kamel

I got to have an apartment and they're expensive. Sure, but you have three bedrooms and you only need one. So let's get two roommates, go on Facebook, find an area. You know, if you're in Cincinnati, jump on. There's a Cincinnati roommate Facebook group and vet them, interview them, meet up with them for coffee and say, hey, I'm looking for a roommate. It's going to be 500 bucks plus utilities.

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481.851 - 500.833 George Kamel

And all of a sudden you just cut $1,000 off your rent. And if you sell the car, you just cut $500 there. that's $1,500 extra dollars a month you would have. You understand what we just did? Yes, absolutely. And so you're $41,000 in debt. If you could throw $1,500 at the debt, you're done in 27 months if you do nothing else.

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501.269 - 514.111 George Kamel

And I would cut cable yesterday because we're not going to be watching the latest season of Survivor. George, you're so intense. We've got to probably get a second job on top of that. I want more work. Nights and weekends. That's it. More income on top of all of this.

514.331 - 515.213 Ken Coleman

George, what can we give her?

515.573 - 524.408 George Kamel

Every dollar is a great start, and I'm going to give you my book Breaking Free from Broke. It'll walk you through the entire plan with tons of ideas to help create that margin. Hang on the line, Ann.

541.364 - 559.997 Unknown

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. All right, as we head into the new year, I want you to take an inventory of all of the junk you're carrying. You know, all those things you have to do, all those things you think you should do, all of the past hurts, all the past pains, all the past guilt and shame, all of it.

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When the world feels heavy, it's important to look in the mirror and consider maybe for the first time setting down that old weight and choosing not to carry it forward into 2026. Therapy can help you identify the heavy stuff, set it down and move forward with clarity so you can focus on who you want to become in the new year. If you're thinking about therapy, check out my friends at BetterHelp.

Chapter 5: What advice is given for handling student loans after a divorce?

3737.71 - 3759.463 Ken Coleman

I see one bid for the chance. What are we talking about? I need to know what the market is. The one you sent me, Will, is right in the range. It's pretty good beat up. And then I would hire an artist to make it look like the one in the movie. You know what I mean? They could probably do with it some type of sandblasting or something like that. It looked like it had a lot of rust on it.

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3759.443 - 3760.686 Ken Coleman

Are you coming up with anything?

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3760.706 - 3768.888 George Kamel

You're not the only one, Ken. I just found a forum where someone said, I'm looking for the motorhome like Cousin Eddie had in the movie. Oh, yeah. You're not the first one to think of this. I never said I was.

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Chapter 6: How can I approach my daughter's house mortgage situation?

3769.129 - 3771.034 George Kamel

I think this guy wants to get to your business idea first.

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3771.154 - 3790.047 Ken Coleman

But I don't know how many people are thinking about it turning into a seasonal bar. See, I'm thinking moneymaker. This feels like a retirement dream because it's going to cost you money. I don't think it's going to make you money. I disagree. The only cost is buying one of these things. All right, we'll stay with the research and see what the market is. Do you want to take a guess?

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3790.728 - 3802.85 Ken Coleman

What it would cost? I'm going to say people are charging 50 grand or more for something like that. If they know what they got. Who doesn't know they have a condor? There might be some old guy out there who hasn't seen a movie since, you know, 1968. I don't know.

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Chapter 7: What should I consider before buying a new truck?

3802.87 - 3809.565 Ken Coleman

It's the greatest Christmas movie of all time. I think if you got a condor, you know you got a condor. You know what you got.

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3845.911 - 3861.27 Unknown

I love entrepreneurs. Don't forget, guys, I started my company on a card table myself. So I know what it's like to have people counting on you, your team, your family, not to mention your customers. And when you're the one signing the paychecks, you can't afford to fly blind.

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3861.731 - 3884.382 Unknown

But I'll be honest, early on, one thing that nearly sunk us was wasting time with spreadsheets that didn't add up because business units didn't talk to each other. I finally told my team, just fix it. And they did. We got NetSuite. That was years ago, and we've never looked back. See, NetSuite isn't just for tech giants. It's built for growing businesses like yours.

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3884.883 - 3909.199 Unknown

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3909.62 - 3918.971 Unknown

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Chapter 8: How should I manage my savings and debt repayment strategy?

3919.412 - 3921.835 Unknown

That's netsuite.com slash Ramsey.

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3936.85 - 3940.074 Ken Coleman

All right, Jeff is up next in Minneapolis. Jeff, how can we help?

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3941.657 - 3946.964 Unknown

I just wonder if I could get some money advice or real estate advice, kind of both, I guess.

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3946.984 - 3955.015 Ken Coleman

We will allow both of those today. We're feeling very generous. Awesome, good. Go ahead. What's up?

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3956.096 - 3964.748 Unknown

Okay, well, the real estate part of it is it's our daughter's house that I'm wondering about. She got divorced about a year ago.

3965.723 - 3993.283 Unknown

and she got the house but she also got the mortgage with it but there's plenty of there's about half of it she had good assets you know half the value but she had to refinance it for half of it and she really can't afford it so we've been helping her and just wondering if we did the wrong thing probably co-signing for that so she could qualify and oh you co-signed for the mortgage we did yes

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For the refinance, yeah.

3996.222 - 3997.063 Ken Coleman

And you're helping her.

3998.565 - 4003.171 Unknown

Because she can't afford the payments right now. She's going to school and working part-time, yes.

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