A YOUNG mother was given a brutal reality check after revealing her family is drowning in debt because of her husband’s risky day trading.
She called into The Ramsey Show to ask for help, explaining the couple had lost $200,000 and was on the brink of losing their home.
A new mom said her husband lost $200,000 day trading after refinancing their home (stock image)[/caption]
Financial experts on The Ramsey Show told her bluntly they’re “broke”[/caption]
The caller, named Ava, phoned in from Charleston, South Carolina.
She told hosts Dave Ramsey and George Kamel that her husband refinanced their house to fund day trading – a high-risk style of buying and selling stocks within the same day.
Ava said her husband had convinced her to take out a 15-year mortgage with $4,000 monthly payments.
From that, $200,000 was pulled out, with 90 percent funneled straight into day trading.
“It’s all gone now,” she admitted.
George immediately cut in: “So he mortgaged the house to gamble?”
“Yes,” Ava answered bluntly.
She explained that when they first married three years ago, her husband had just started trading and was excited about the returns.
But everything later collapsed, wiping out the money and leaving the family in financial ruin.
When asked what her husband planned to do next, Ava revealed he was still trying to “trade his way out.”
Dave shot back that the collapse wasn’t a fluke.
“It wouldn’t have crashed – this is what happens,” he said.
George highlighted the staggering odds stacked against traders: “97% lose money if they persist … pretty much nobody is making money from this.”
Dave agreed: “It’s a 97% failure rate. This is called don’t do it.”
What is Day Trading
- Buying and selling stocks or assets within the same day
- Traders try to profit from quick price changes
- Experts say about 97% lose money if they stick with it
- Considered one of the riskiest forms of investing
The radio host told Ava there was no financial plan that could survive repeated $200,000 losses.
“You guys need to reset,” he warned. “There’s no Ramsey technique to keep losing $200,000 and turn that into wealth.”
Ava admitted she had already pleaded with her husband to stop, but he kept trading all day.
“I am not naive to think that he is addicted,” she told the hosts.
Dave told her the only way forward was for her husband to quit completely.
But Ava then dropped another bombshell – she and her husband were looking to buy a new home while trying to sell their current one.
Dave snapped back: “No, you are not. You are broke.”
When pressed on their income, Ava said she had quit working six months ago after having her second baby.
She had previously worked as a cardiac nurse.
Her husband, she admitted, was bringing in less than their expenses.
“That means you don’t know how you’re paying bills,” Dave said.
Ava quietly replied: “I don’t even know where to start.”
The hosts were blunt: her husband’s addiction could bankrupt the family, cost them both homes, and leave her raising children alone.
Dave warned: “You will end up calling in as a single mom in eight months … your house is going to get foreclosed on, both the new and old one, if you keep this up.
