Focus On What You Can Control With Your Money

The father of one of the callers had been hiding his spending for years, and the total debt had just crossed a million dollars. His wife was on the phone with Rachel Cruz and Dr. John Delony, describing how she had only learned the true scope of the problem three years ago when he admitted to a gambling addiction. Since then, she thought things were improving, but the debt had grown by another $150,000 in the past year alone. She was asking whether she should sell the house. Delony’s response was not about the house. It was about her safety.

The Trap of Co-Signing and the Anxiety of a Future That Hasn't Arrived

The show opened with a call from John in Detroit, who had co-signed on $60,000 of construction equipment for a family business. His stepfather’s main source of income was tied up in a legal dispute that might collapse in six months. If that happened, the stepfather would need to pull money from the business John worked in to maintain a lifestyle that cost $500,000 a year. John was already anxious, trying to prepare for a worst-case scenario where he would be stuck with the loan payments. Delony pointed out that John was “projecting out six months of a future calamity and dragging it back to right now,” which he called the definition of anxiety. The practical advice was to plan, not panic. If the equipment had to be sold, it would likely be worth $30,000 to $35,000 a