I'm 50 with Nothing in Retirement and Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck

Brought to you by CHM, a budget-friendly, faith-based alternative to health insurance. chministries.org slash budget. 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 doing that. And I'm just overwhelmed with how to start, where to start. I know the snowball, it's a 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 And I don't know where to start or what to do. Okay. Well, you came to the right place and we're going to start with two words. It's possible. Cause 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? That is true. Okay, great. So we start with it's possible. All right. So George, let's do our thing. Let's get into the details. Let's get some numbers. And the fact that you even decided this at 50 is amazing. Cause 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 Anne's doing great. She's got a 12 year ahead start. And so it very much is possible. And we're going to dig into the numbers here to give you a tactical plan. So are you working full-time right now? Yes, I am. Okay. What do you make? What do you bring home every month? I bring home right about 1400 a month, a pay period, which is every two weeks. So 28? Yes. Great. And are you renting right now? I rent, yes. What's your rent? 15. Okay. So there's, I'm just throwing up the flags. Flag number one, over half of your income is going towards rent. So there's one problem to solve. We'll put a pin in that. Now tell me about your debt. How much debt do you have? My debt is medical bills. And then again, one of the worst things you could possibly do is like payday advances with incredibly high interest rates. What's the balance of those? Balance of those is 10. 10 K total between the medical debt and payday? Okay. No, between the medical debt is right around 15 and then the cash advances is 10. Okay. Any other debt? No, I do not have any credit cards. I don't have any of that. What do you do for a living? I work in a medical office building. Doing what? I'm kind of like a patient advocate type thing, like receptionist. I work with patients. Are you hourly or is that your salary that we got from you? I am hourly. What is that rate? $23.77. Okay. And then I'm curious about your physical stuff that's going on. Are you on the other side of that? Is that going to be a lingering thing that will cause issues for you because you've mentioned it? That will be something that will linger. Does that affect your ability to work? If you missed Health Plan Open Enrollment, don't panic. Christian Health Care Ministries offers a budget-friendly alternative to health insurance, and you can join at any time. With CHM, there are no network restrictions, and members say they often save hundreds of dollars a month compared to traditional insurance. So make a change that fits your budget, your values, and your timing. Check out chministries.org slash budget to learn more. Does that affect your ability to work? No. There are times I have to be off, but no. Okay. But you're still pulling 40 hours a week and all that? Yes. Okay. What other bills do you have? Are you going 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? Yes. Because I have electric, gas, internet, cable, car insurance, and a car payment. Are you doing any investing right now through a retirement plan? None. Okay. Good. What's your car payment? Yeah. We didn't catch the car debt. All I heard was the payday loan and medical debt. What's the car debt? I apologize. The car, it's $450 a month, and it's right around $1,600. And what is it worth? It's a $2,022. I would say it's probably worth, I mean, I really haven't looked it up. Hey, homework assignment number one, because if we can get out of this car, we just gave you over a $5,000 raise. Are you tracking with me real numbers here, Ann? Okay. So I'm telling you Kelly Blue Book is what we're looking for to sell this thing, and then you're going to get a cheap car. So let's say you've got, I'm hoping, what kind of car is this? A 2022 what? Kia K5. Okay. And you owe $16,000 on it. So let's say you come away with $4,000 or $5,000 in equity. That's what you're doing. That's what you're putting towards another car. And now you've saved yourself $450 a month immediately. Okay. For your budget's huge. And George, I'm jumping in and getting ahead of the game here. No, this is great. But what's your apartment situation? Are you in a lease? When is that up? It's actually a, it's a home, a three bedroom, one bath home. It is up in April. Okay. You don't need a three bedroom home. Unless you have two roommates. Okay. Fantastic. That's where I was going. That'll cut you down to 500 bucks a month, wouldn't it? Your share? Yeah. Around here, a one bedroom is about $1,100, $1,000 to $1,100. What about some elderly couple or an elderly lady who's got a room over a garage? I just believe in most cities in America, you can get below a thousand bucks a month if you find something like that. Am I nuts? Tell me if I'm wrong. 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. 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 car. You could have a 2013. I'm not even driving a 2022. 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. 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. 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 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. 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 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. George, what can we give her? 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, Anne. Christian Healthcare Ministries can save your family hundreds of dollars on healthcare every month. Learn more at chministries.org slash budget.