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A woman with $200,000 in debt seeks advice after her fiancé won the lottery. She considers filing for bankruptcy to clear her debts for a \"clean slate,\" but the host strongly opposes this, citing a lack of integrity and the fact that student loans are generally not dischargeable. The host emphasizes the need for behavioral change and shared values over quick financial fixes.
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My fiance recently won the lottery.
He's from South Africa.
So he's in quite a tax-friendly country
when it comes to the lottery winnings.
And I'm currently about $200,000 in debt.
And he's been thinking that, you know,
he's been looking through ChatGPT, and I don't
really know exactly how to go around the processes,
that it's probably better for me to file for
bankruptcy with the current debt that I have,
so that we can start on a clean slate.
So it's just inconvenient for you to pay the debt that you owe?
Sorry, can you repeat that?
I'm sorry?
Sorry, I'm just struggling to hear you.
Yeah.
So what kind of debt is the $200,000 that you owe?
So I've got about $50,000 in student loans,
$50,000 for my car, and then $104,000 credit
card, medical debt, and some personal loans that I have to pay.
Okay.
You understand that you pay the car
or you lose the car in bankruptcy, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
So you're just going to give up the car?
So, what we're thinking of doing is,
I file for bankruptcy, I give up the car, I also
just write off the other debt that I have,
the $100,000 that I've gotten, the credit
and the medical, and then we can take care
of the student loans with his winnings, and
if I don't do that, then we might have to look at getting a prenup.
Why not just sell the car?
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I could look at selling the car,
but where I'm just a little bit worried about is
You know, how will I be traveling around?
You get a cheaper car.
I'm not saying go without transportation.
Wait a minute.
If you give up the car in bankruptcy,
you don't have transportation until you buy another car, right?
Yes.
So if you sell this car, you give up
the transportation until you buy another car, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
And the student loans aren't bankruptable anyway.
So $100,000 of the $200,000 of this scheme of yours is bull crap.
Because you can't bankrupt the student loans anyway,
and you're either going to pay the car off,
or you could sell it and pay it off anyway.
I have a different view on this than you and your fiancé have,
so I don't think you're going to do what we tell you to do.
I think you see things differently than I do.
You're able to pay your bills, and you should if you can.
I don't like that your fiancé thinks it's inconvenient.
And I really don't like it that you think it's inconvenient.
And to the point that the only way he's going
to marry you if you keep this debt
is if you sign a prenup because you didn't do it the way he wanted to.
So there's so much fish in this kitchen that stinks
that somebody's getting food poisoned before we're done.
I'm just, this is going to go bad.
So I'm old school, and I understand when people get in a pinch.
and can't pay their bills,
that's different than won't pay my bills for me.
Yeah, regardless of where the money comes from, lottery, savings,
if you have all that money and you have this pile of debt and you go,
nah, I don't really feel like paying that.
Yeah.
So what would I do?
I would sell the car and I'd work my way through these other debts,
plus or minus this fiance, the lottery winner from South Africa.
It's just, there's just, this is bad.
That,
No, I would not tell you to do that because it's not what I would do.
And if you were my little sister,
I would tell you not to do that because I love you
and I want good things for you in your life.
um
And I want you to live a life where of honor, of integrity, of dignity,
not where paying your bills is just inconvenient for him.
you.
And so now, but I don't think you guys
are going to do that because I don't, I think
you think differently than I do.
And that's okay.
You're allowed to do that, but you called here.
So you have to get our opinion because that's like what you pay for.
Right.
So, oh, that's a, that's a tough one.
Yeah.
And the other thing is either way,
you're not changing the behavior that got you here,
whether it was through bankruptcy
or the lottery winnings, paying off the debt.
You got to go.
Why did I go into all this debt in the first place?
Why did I buy a $50,000 car?
I couldn't afford.
And so that's the other piece of the puzzle
to solve before you guys get married,
is align on your values.
Because otherwise, those lottery winnings are gone.
You're going to blow right through those too.
Yeah.
Well, we don't have that piece of information as to the amount,
but it's just a matter of time.
You can burn through any amount of money.
Create your free every dollar budget today.
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