(67ish year old, stage 4 cancer survivor) husband was fired from his recently-reclassed-to-a-physically-demanding job from his 20 year desk job after he came back after cancer surgery? I helped them fight his ex-employer with the state and got him unemployment benefits. I asked here about Social Security, unemployment etc. Given his age and health, it is unlikely he will ever work for an employer again.
Anyway. They had no savings with only unemployment and Social Security. We went through TMMO together (this would be last fall, before he was fired) and they were supposedly on board, then he got fired, but when he filed for SS, decided that was a windfall and spent nearly $4k ON CHRISTMAS for their ADULT kids (they had 1 17yo at the house.) This is germane because of where they are at now.
Anyway….they put their house up for sale back in the fall, but didn’t really want to move since it was DS17’s senior year, so they took it off after 3 months.
Made a couple of trips out of state, decided in April (?) they had found the “perfect” $250k house in the middle of nowhere Utah, put an offer on it for full list which was accepted (THERE’S a real surprise) contingent on their selling their house here in CA which just sold & closed a few days ago. They moved this weekend (just arrived in Utah today.)
So the GOOD news is, they sold their house, paid off that mortgage and after realtor fees etc had enough left over to pay cash for the new house, so it’s mortgage free, with about $30-40k left over which “should” pay off all their credit cards, cars, etc. plus pay for their move. That would only leave them with about $30k left on a repossessed RV they turned back to the loan company.
Here’s what’s germane to this blog: it’s never the money, it’s ALWAYS the attitude.
This is a family who ought to be looking pretty decent financially. They are mortgage free, ought to be CC debt free since they have the $ to pay everything off, and still have enough that they could negotiate a steep discount on that RV repo.
Do I think they’ll do it? Not a chance.
I think they’ll spend that $20, 30, 40k furnishing the new place so it can be a showcase, not be able to keep up with minimum CC pmts on his SS income, start borrowing against the house (I’m sure they’ll find some banker willing to give them a HELOC against a mortgage free house) and a year or two from now, will be right back where they were this past fall.
It’s really sad and I truly hope I am VERY wrong. The “magic” of DR isn’t the math or even the method. It is the ATTITUDE change which comes when you work the baby steps, realizing that it’s really OKAY to be debt free. My mother does the same thing these two do…she has paid off her house THREE TIMES…and within a year after each, has refinanced to “remodel” or whatever her current craze is.
You can lead them to water, but only they can decide to drink. I vociferously wish them the best, and maybe after the dust settles, they will decide they are better off being debt free than living in a showcase.