This Retired Couple Prove It's Never Too Late to Pay Off Debt
2 Min Read | Sep 24, 2021
David and Gail were retired before they realized they had $82,000 in debt.
"We had seven credit cards, most of them maxed out," David says. "We had been transferring balances . . . had a second mortgage on our home . . . and we’d bought a new car."
He was 65. She was 63. And they weren’t communicating about money.
"If I saw something I wanted, I would leave it up to him to figure out how we were going to get it," Gail says, of her antiquing hobby.
David thought he could juggle their mounting debt by getting an extra job or opening a new credit card. "I was the king of the credit card balance transfer," he says.
In 2011, as they were driving across the country, they began listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. It was their turning point. As soon as they could, they attended a Financial Peace University class and began working through the Baby Steps.
"I love to go to vintage shows," Gail says. "So for me to have to give up going to those shows was very hard. I had to also sell off many of my treasures. David told me, if you give it up now, you’ll have the freedom to go find those treasures again."
And she did. All their hard work paid off and now they’re completely debt-free! They’re living proof that age has nothing to do with achieving your money goals.
"It’s never too late to start," David says. "We look back and of course we have regrets: Why didn’t we do this when we were 20, when we were 30? But you can’t roll that time back. You can start now. This was a new beginning for us. And it’s been exciting."
"But you can’t roll that time back. You can start now. This was a new beginning for us. And it’s been exciting." —David
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