We React to Crazy Money Reddit Stories With Paula Pant

Join the Free Master Your Money Workshop on January 14, 2026 here! Join the community built to help you master your money, stay accountable, and reach financial freedom. 👉 Join Master Money Academy today! In this episode of The Personal Finance Podcast, Andrew sits down with Paula Pant to react to wild Reddit money stories and crazy financial situations. They break down the psychology, red flags, and money lessons hidden in each story, sharing their unfiltered reactions to some of the most absurd, entertaining, and eye-opening personal finance drama from the internet. Listen to The Business Show here. Join The Master Money Newsletter where you will become smarter with your money in 5 minutes or less per week Here! Partner Deals Join the loyalty program for renters at joinbilt.com/PFP Indeed: Start hiring NOW with a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at http://Indeed.com/personalfinance Go to http://acorns.com/pfp and start automating your investments and get a $5 bonus today! Get 50% Off Monarch, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarch.com/PFP Go to http://policygenius.com to get your free life insurance quote. Thanks to Fundrise for Sponsoring the show! Invest in real estate going to http://fundrise.com/pfp DeleteMe: Go to https://joindeleteme.com/PFP20/ and Use Promo Code PFP for 20% off! Link of the Episode Mentioned: 7 Mindset Shifts to Master Your Money Psychology Connect with Paula Pant: Afford Anything Podcast Website https://affordanything.com/ Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5W8zGpHrklp57raNMnu9iP Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/afford-anything/id1079598542 Youtube https://www.youtube.com/affordanything Instagram https://www.instagram.com/paulapant Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AffordAnything/ X https://x.com/AffordAnything Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/affordanything/ Connect With Andrew on Social Media: Instagram TikTok Twitter Master Money Website Master Money Youtube Channel The Master Money Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Andrew Giancola?

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• 1:17Speaker 01

  Wayfair, every style, every home.

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• 2:28Speaker 02

  Unfortunately, put herself in the position where she got screwed. You know, uh, uncle is a jerk for putting his sister in a position to screw her over. And son is being not compassionate.

• 2:40Andrew Giancola?

  Buddy, like, it doesn't even make any sense whatsoever. I mean, this is just a crazy scenario that I think is honestly just one of those situations where she says she doesn't know what to do. I think you gotta break up with him is what you gotta do.

• 2:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's clear the parents do not value her getting educated.

• 2:55Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 2:55Speaker 02

  You know, they don't value her future prospects because, and fundamentally, what does that mean? It means they don't value her being able to be an independent adult.

• 3:09Andrew Giancola?

  All right, so Paula, welcome back to the Personal Finance Podcast.

• 3:12Speaker 02

  Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

• 3:14Andrew Giancola?

  So we're going to react to some crazy Reddit situations that we have found. And Paula, I can't wait to hear some of the reactions that you have to some of these because some of these are absolutely wild and hilarious. And I know our audience has asked for a ton more of these coming up. So, um, so we're going to go through a bunch of these and we'll, we'll see what happens here.

• 3:33Andrew Giancola?

  My friend thinks he's hot shit since he inherited his grandparents' home. It's a large house worth approximately a million dollars. He rents out several bedrooms to make up for the taxes because he can't afford the upkeep of the home on his own. He went to the club and introduced himself to a couple of girls as an investment advisor and took them back to his place to have a swim in the pool. He told the girls he's a millionaire and whatever. I told him it's cringe because he's not even a millionaire, just because his house is worth it. My friend laughed in my face, saying, since the home is an asset and paid off, technically he is a millionaire if he decides to sell his house today. I told him houses aren't liquid assets, so it's not really like he's one. He blocked me and all of our other friends.

• 4:17Andrew Giancola?

  It acts like I'm the a-hole for saying anything, but I think he's deceiving and cringe for him to go around telling people he's a millionaire. Paula, what do you think about that? And is he a millionaire?

• 4:25Speaker 02

  He is a millionaire. He's also cringe and a douchebag.

• 4:30Andrew Giancola?

  I think that's one of those areas too, like it's if you're walking around announcing that you're a millionaire, just based on, you know, inheriting an asset and you have, you know, that asset in place. I mean, that's just a huge red flag in and of itself, starting off there.

• 4:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, he is technically a millionaire, you know, home's worth a million bucks. It's paid off free and clear. He has an asset that's over a million dollars. He is a millionaire. He's also super cringe by, by lying to people and saying that he's an investment advisor. He's not, you know, like, he could just say, hey, I got super lucky and like, I have the world's greatest granddad, you know, God rest his soul. And, um, you like, he could be honest, or he could just like, not mention where the house came from. And, you know, like, so yeah, I think he's a douchebag for lying, but he is technically a millionaire. But the fact that, that his friend, this guy, cares enough about this to think that he like, needs to

• 5:26Speaker 02

  call him out on it and then to post about it on Reddit, like, his buddy is also jealous.

• 5:31Andrew Giancola?

  Right. There's some, there's definitely some insecurities going on, on both directions there. And I think for, for most of them, they're either overcompensating for something. I don't know what they're doing there. Uh, but both of them seemingly are, you know, one is jealous and the other one is trying to just show off in some way, shape or form. So that, that is a, the very interesting one for sure.

• 5:47Speaker 02

  Yeah. Everyone's insecure here.

• 5:49Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. Overall, yeah, for sure. And we can see, if you haven't heard our other episode that we did with Paula, we talked deeply about money psychology. There's a lot of money psychology going on in these situations that I think are really going to become present here in a second.

• 6:04Andrew Giancola?

  Am I the a-hole for pretending I don't have money, so my family won't bother me? My wife, 52, and I, 51, recently partly retired with $4 million in savings, 1 million of which is our home. I am a systems engineer and my wife is a registered nurse. I still work part-time slash contract, but less than 20 hours per week, and my wife is fully retired. We are very frugal people and try to save where we can. I've also made it clear to my wife to never tell my family we have money and to pretend that we are dead broke. Her family knows we do well, but they never ask about money. My family won't stop asking Me for money. My mom, dad and brother are terrible with money. My dad and brother both work in oil and gas, which results in a few fat years and tons of money coming in, followed with layoffs.

• 6:49Andrew Giancola?

  Not saying the layoffs are their fault, but they have never saved anything, so they run up credit cards to pay for everything. My parents have borrowed against their house so many times, they effectively haven't paid anything towards principal and have had that house for 35 years. They should be retired, but can't, and my dad recently had to go back to work as a school bus driver because they have so much debt and no money. My brother inherited their spending issues and had alcohol struggles, and he's currently going through his second divorce. I didn't tell my son not to tell his grandparents we recently retired, and they found out from him recently and have been calling me livid because we pretended we were broke for years. But clearly, if we can retire, we have savings. I didn't tell them because I know the results are they would just ask us for money constantly.

• 7:32Andrew Giancola?

  They have, on several occasions, when we went on vacation, found out via Facebook and have since learned not to post. And they come knocking for money every single time. We lied and told them we wanted some money, but had spent it all on vacation. Am I obligated to help them? I don't feel so because both of my parents and brother made lots over their career, but my dad is in his 70s and still working. I'm sure they are contacting me to ask for money, but am I the jerk if I continue to pretend I have none?

• 8:00Speaker 02

  Man, first, props to this person for being surrounded by people with bad money habits and being the one person in the family, he and his wife have great money habits. Props to him for that. And I think it's perfectly reasonable to pretend that you don't have money because, A, it shows that he lives below his means. I mean, the only way you can pretend you don't have money is if you're, like, living a cheap life, which is great. He's happy doing it? Wonderful. But yeah, man, pretend you don't have money. That's a great way to go. It avoids, you know, it avoids conflict. It avoids these awkward conversations. The best battle is the one never fought. Sun Tzu.

• 8:40Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. And I think overall, especially with family situations, but in any situation, if someone's going to ask you for money, that you have one of two options. You can either give them the money and not ask for it back. So if you have to give somebody money, you can either give them the money or ask for it back. Otherwise, if you do give them the money and they don't pay you back, then you are going to resent them for not paying you back. But if you give them the money and then you are asking for the money back, then they're going to start resenting you even though you gave them that money. There's a whole dynamic there that could cause just so many different issues. So you have one of two options. Either you say, hey, it's just, I don't give money out to family or friends and you just let them know, set those boundaries. If they don't respect those boundaries, that's a whole nother red flag. But then secondarily, again, you can continue to pretend like you're broke and it's not their business to know how much money you

• 9:23Andrew Giancola?

  have in the first place. And so that's completely okay in my book. Do you agree?

• 9:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, totally. I'd say just flat out, if you're gonna give them anything, like, look, this is not a loan, this is a gift, right? And be really upfront. This is a gift. Because people will fool themselves into the I'll pay you back thing in order to absolve themselves of guilt, right? If you straight up, flat out, no holds bar, say this is a gift, people are often, they don't want to accept something that is just a gift. Because when it's so blatant that it's a gift, you know, like, there's a level of awkwardness there versus if people can fool themselves into thinking, no, I'll pay you back eventually.

• 10:02Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 10:02Speaker 02

  Right? So if you're gonna give someone a gift, tell them, I'm giving this to you, you do not have to ever give it back to me. This is a gift for you. And if you're not gonna do that, that, which I think that this guy shouldn't.

• 10:15Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 10:16Speaker 02

  Because his family is proven to have bad money habits, you know, then, then just say, no, I'm retired. That means I'm on a fixed income.

• 10:26Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 10:26Speaker 02

  You know, I'm a pensioner now on a fixed income.

• 10:28Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. And I think overall, it's, it's, that's the two options. Either it's gifting it. But if you see these, this perpetual money behavior that just over and over and over again, they're bad with money, usually that's a situation where I'm not interested

• 10:38Speaker 02

  in it. That's enabling.

• 10:39Andrew Giancola?

  It is.

• 10:39Speaker 02

  You know, yeah, then you're just enabling them and that does them a disservice.

• 10:43Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. And I think the more you enable people, I mean, there's, there's so many studies on this, but the more you enable people who are just not good with money, it just really just compounds over time. And I think that's, that's the biggest thing.

• 10:55Andrew Giancola?

  Am I the jerk for asking my wife to spend all her savings? So I'm a 34-year-old male, married to the love of my life, who is a 33-year-old female. My wife is kind, nurturing, and motivated in her career. She does a lot for me at home, and I work long hours. We married four months ago, dated for eight years, and we're both easygoing and have the same sense of humor and rarely argue. I make four times more money, I'm in healthcare, but she makes a good salary as well. Since I make four times what she makes, I tend to pay for most things: dinners, weekend trips, mall shopping, which I absolutely do not mind. With bigger purchases, we pay for things together in proportion to what we make. And she's usually okay with paying her share of things, a quarter of the rent and groceries and everything else. And we'll sometimes offer to pay for dinners and dates.

• 11:38Andrew Giancola?

  She's very close with her friends, she has four. They're great people, but they're basically attached at the hip and talk daily in a group chat, which is fine. Everyone needs a support system. I have similar friends. Her and her four friends have a combined savings account together for investing in something together. And they've each been putting in a few hundred dollars per month, each. I've known about this for years and didn't love the idea initially, which I expressed. But she was adamant she wanted this, and at the time, we were hurting for money, and it was ultimately her money and her decision. We are now looking to buy a home in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the US, and she expresses that she doesn't have much in her own savings, but has 20K of her own money tied up with her friends' combined savings. Over the last year, they've been told by two financial advisors

• 12:23Andrew Giancola?

  that five people attempting to invest together in real estate or stocks or a business wasn't a good idea. And they also recommended to split the funds to five separate accounts, since the account is under one of the friends' names, and there are tax implications for having that amount of money to her name, which is like a hundred thousand dollars. The homes that we were looking at were around $60,000 to $70,000 for the down payment. I stated I was willing to spend nearly all of my savings for the down payment for a home, so I told her she should pull all that money from her joint friends' account to help with the down payment. It's a huge purchase, and I don't think it should be my burden alone. She got really upset with me and told me, "I don't want to touch that money. I promised my friends it would be for us investing together, and we should look for a..." Less expensive home then, maybe a fixer-upper.

• 13:07Andrew Giancola?

  She stated, "It would be easier for you to accrue the money back since you make so much more." "Now, this is very frustrating and I told her it's unfair. I have to spend nearly all of my savings and you don't." "Your friend front is stupid and it's stupid not to use that money on our future home." "Am I the jerk for asking her to use her own cash from her friend's account "and break her promise to her friends so that we can buy a nice home together?"

• 13:29Speaker 02

  Phew, there's a lot going on there. Let's, let's unpack it because there is some boundary setting and independence and like, there's some stuff that needs to happen here. First of all, um, I fully support, this is, she promised her friends, she made a promise to her four best friends that this money is earmarked for them. I actually applaud her for being true to her word, for not going back on her word. And I do think that he's a jerk for asking her to violate her word.

• 13:58Andrew Giancola?

  Yep.

• 13:58Speaker 02

  Right? To break a promise to her best friends. Like, it is unprincipled to break that promise. That being said, the money that's in the account, uh, all five of their names should be on that. The money belongs to all five of them, so all five of their names should be on it. Or it should be held in the name of an LLC and all five of them should be equally owners of the LLC. Like, there needs to be the proper paperwork drawn up to legally protect all of them.

• 14:29Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly, and I think if you look at one account with one person, the tax implications are the first part. And that's just one huge thing that I think, um, you know, that person, depending on what's going on there, they could have some massive tax implications. Uh, number two is that, you know, having only one person on there without the rest of them associated with that. I mean, she could, if she wanted to, she could take the money and run if she wanted to, even though each person is contributing money into that account. It's a liability. I know they're best friends, but it is a liability. And I do agree with you, if they had an agreement even prior to them being married, you know, they were dating at that point in time and they had an agreement with, you know, all of their friends. It's not like it's their combined money. It's, it's her money that she had separate. I think that's a place and time where, you know, he, he should not be asking for that. They just need to find a different way or find another house that that kind of works for them. And so over

• 15:14Andrew Giancola?

  There's a lot of things going on here, but it's really a wild situation. Honestly, I would never, I mean, we don't recommend things here, but I would never say, I would never, you know, invest with a bunch of my friends, you know, into something specific. That could just cause friendship rifts. There could be a lot of different relationship issues that could happen there. Money tears people apart if you start to bring it into relationships. And I think that is one of the areas where if I was her, I would try to get it separated or and or just put it into a business or an LLC and just consider that money gone if you lose it.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, exactly. I agree. I would, I would not want, you know, and it's funny to me like, they don't even have an idea of what kind of business or investment they want to like. It's just this amorphous, like we, we all want to work on a project together. It's, it's so ambiguous. Like, I don't know what they're gonna do with that money. They'd honestly, they'd be better off just taking that money and spending it on a big trip or spending it on, or maybe they all want to like jointly make some big like charitable donation together. I don't know, like, I certainly can, can see some issues coming if they all decided that they were going to like, have a side hustle together as the five of them, you know, like, yeah.

• 16:26Andrew Giancola?

  And talk about lost opportunity cost, too.

• 16:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. But, you know, the, a promise is a promise. And I do applaud her for like, she promised her friends this and they've all been making sacrifices of their own in order to put this money in. So like, you know, it wouldn't be fair for one person to go back on their word when the other four people have, you know, stood by their word.

• 16:47Andrew Giancola?

  Agreed. You gotta stick with it. And I think, you know, for, for this, they gotta find another way to buy a house. But it is, it's just a wild situation. I've never heard of that. Have you ever heard of anybody doing that?

• 16:56Speaker 02

  No, no. Especially, you know, man, with just one person's name on it, it's like, there's so much risk there. Yeah, that person can totally, if they wanted to, and it's, you know, when it comes to like trust, people often are so blind to like the risks. You know, you'll protect yourself from risk in all of these other ways, but you trust somebody, you don't want to think the worst of them. But the reality is they have the right to completely screw you over. And that's a, that necessarily creates a power imbalance.

• 17:26Andrew Giancola?

  Right. And I think, you know, I've heard the, the reference of the saying partnerships are ships that never sail. And I, that, I, I think in large groups like this, that could be a lot more true where there's just too many personalities, too many things going on, and it becomes a lot more difficult.

• 17:42Andrew Giancola?

  So am I the jerk for suing my parents for my college money? So my great aunt set up savings accounts for all her female relatives. In our culture, education for women is not really valued, and she thought that was BS. She lived with her father in London, and she was educated, and she went on to attend university and become a doctor. She married a British man, and they moved to America and had a great life. And she funded the education of as many of her nieces and grandnieces as she could. When she passed away, she left money for every girl relative she could. My parents managed to access the accounts that were set up for my sister and I, and they used it to pay for my brother's wedding. My sister didn't care because she got married two years out of high school and had no intention of going to college.

• 18:25Andrew Giancola?

  When I graduated, I went to the bank to get money for school, and it was almost all gone. There was like $13,000 left. I asked my parents about it, and they said they had needed the money. I finally found out where the money went, and I was furious. I got student loans and moved out. I am a great source of shame to them, and I don't give two Fs. I am currently suing them for the money that was left to me. My entire family is against me. They think that I am a complete a-hole for airing private family business in public, and that I am putting money ahead of my family. My friends are all on my side, but they are all Americans that don't really get my culture. Neither do I, to be honest. My brother called me up and offered to pay for my university if I dropped the lawsuit. I agreed as long as we had a legally binding contract.

• 19:09Andrew Giancola?

  He said I was being a jerk for not trusting him, and I said he should not have accepted the money for his wedding. It is causing all kinds of embarrassment in our community. I am somewhat ashamed to be doing this, but I don't want to have this debt I should not have. So, am I the jerk for suing my parents?

• 19:24Speaker 02

  Wow. This, oh my goodness. So, all right, first of all, all of the accusations that her family is hurtling towards her? Let's flip that around. They are embarrassed that she's airing family laundry? She's not posting about this on TikTok. She's going to a court of law, right? That's not airing dirty laundry. That is seeking justice for money that was stolen from her. If they're embarrassed that she's airing family business, they created family business, right? They created the dirty laundry. They dirtied that laundry, right? Second of all, the fact that the brother will not sign a legally binding document shows that...

• 20:09Speaker 02

  He doesn't ever intend to actually pay her.

• 20:11Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 20:12Speaker 02

  You know, if he intends to pay her, then sign the document. And, and the fact that he's putting it on her, like, what, you don't trust me? Oh, no, you know, like, really?

• 20:23Andrew Giancola?

  It's

• 20:23Speaker 02

  Really?

• 20:24Andrew Giancola?

  Those guilt trips are the, the biggest red flag overall. I've seen it time and time again, where people will try to have these conversations. They will not sign, you know, a legal document, but they will try to say, hey, you know, we have this bond. We have this trust, we're family. They'll say, you know, use terms like that, where it ends up becoming a situation that maybe they'll pay you for a month. Or maybe it's three months, but then all of a sudden down the line, you will see they will stop paying. You could see even, you know, in the real estate world, you know, you and I have had rental properties and you'll see tenants say stuff like this. Hey, we've, I've been a tenant for a really long time, you know, maybe I don't need to sign a lease or we can go month, you know, month to month, some of these other things. And you see it over and over again, where people will try to use your psychology or try to use emotion in order to get you to do what they want you to do. And it usually never lasts. You gotta have the contracts in place.

• 21:06Speaker 02

  You know, it's funny, because the, the only time that people want you to avoid a legally binding contract is when it benefits them.

• 21:13Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 21:13Speaker 02

  Right? You never hear that argument the other way around. You never hear somebody who's like trying to get you to avoid a legally binding contract in a situation in which that, the, the avoidance of that contract would benefit you and harm them.

• 21:26Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly.

• 21:26Speaker 02

  Right? People only ever try to get you to avoid the contract if they're the ones who benefit from it.

• 21:32Andrew Giancola?

  And the, the parents caused a huge rift here, because it really, it's not their money to take. The aunt left it for them, so they go to college. It was a huge thing, it was a huge thing of value to her. You can see right here that she talked about this, that she, she was educated and it, and it made a huge impact on her life. And that's what her wishes were for her nieces. And so I think that's just a really, really important thing that they are kind of stealing from her. And it's something that, um, you know, they have no right to take that money whatsoever. Now, if the parents actually, this is something interesting, Paula. If the parents contributed money for her college and then needed to use it for something, what do you think? Do you think they'd be in the right for taking it then?

• 22:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, I don't think, uh, I think once you turn 18, your parents' financial obligations to you are over.

• 22:14Andrew Giancola?

  Yep.

• 22:14Speaker 02

  And so from the moment that you are 18, you're an adult, you're out of the house, like, "Good luck, kid." See, you know, like-

• 22:20Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly.

• 22:21Speaker 02

  So, yeah, so the, the parents are well, totally, completely within their right to cut off all support from the minute she turns 18. That's totally fine. But this is different. This is money left to her from a great, from a great aunt.

• 22:35Andrew Giancola?

  Right. And I think it's, it's just, it's one of those things where they caused, the parents caused a rift right there. I mean, that, that's a huge, huge deal. Even like, maybe the brother understood ahead of time that that money was coming from that account and didn't tell her, that'd be a bigger issue, too.

• 22:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:48Andrew Giancola?

  But that is, that is just a crazy family dynamic and I would not want to be involved in that situation whatsoever.

• 22:53Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I gotta admit, when I, when I saw the headline and it was like suing my parents, my, my first, I was like, "Wow, the entitlement."

• 22:59Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 23:00Speaker 02

  Right? But then, man, hearing the story, it's like, the parents just, it's clear the parents do not value her getting educated.

• 23:07Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 23:08Speaker 02

  You know, they don't value her future prospects because, and fundamentally, what does that mean? It means they don't value her being able to be an independent adult.

• 23:15Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 23:15Speaker 02

  You know? They think that she should probably just get married and depend on somebody else and not have any form of financial independence of her own.

• 23:26Andrew Giancola?

  Right. And I think that's just, overall, is just, they robbed her of that. And her having to go into debt because of it is another big thing, I think, that, that most people need to realize.

• 23:36Andrew Giancola?

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• 24:19Andrew Giancola?

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• 25:04Andrew Giancola?

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• 25:46Andrew Giancola?

  And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com/podcast. Just go to indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. It's kind of amazing how much can change in just a single year. Every summer, the kids are a little bigger, a little more independent, and life looks a little different than it did the year before. And it reminds me that while we can't predict the future, we can prepare for it. That's one of the reasons I like Policy Genius. PolicyGenius isn't an insurance company.

• 26:31Andrew Giancola?

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• 27:16Andrew Giancola?

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• 28:02Andrew Giancola?

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• 28:46Andrew Giancola?

  So back in 2022, my uncle, who was 36 at the time, asked my mom, who was 50, to cosign a loan for a truck. My mom agreed because he told her he was going to use it for business as a subcontractor. I overheard my mom discussing this with my dad, who was 49 when he passed away. My dad said it was not a good idea, but my mom always made the final decision. He gave up and did not argue. I joined in and told her there was a good reason why the bank did not want to give him a loan on that truck and that she shouldn't be risking her nearly perfect credit score. My mom argued that he was using it to start his business and already had multiple contracts lined up, which she claimed to have seen. I told her he did not need a brand new F 250 Lariat Super Crew.

• 29:29Andrew Giancola?

  There was plenty of reasonably priced used F 250 XLs at half the cost. She replied that I did not know what I was talking about and he was in construction and knew the truck he needed and that I was just a kid with no life experience and she told me to leave her alone because I was annoying. At the time, I was 23 and also working in the trades. Framers don't need a Super Duty truck, let alone a luxury trim. I tried convincing her, but she gave me the silent treatment and acted like I was being manipulative. I did some side work on his site, repairing his G C semi truck. Literally every material is hauled through his other subs or by the G C himself. He could have gotten a cheap half truck and it would have been more than enough. Now, I am 26.

• 30:11Andrew Giancola?

  My dad died two years ago and my mom only has one income and still has $300,000 on the mortgage. She is already struggling financially and she called me last week and asked me to help her manage her finances. She showed me a letter from the bank stating that they will repossess my uncle's truck unless the balance is paid. It turns out, my uncle does not know how to manage a business and he has had not a single contract in months and is terrible with money. He used to gamble away his entire paychecks and spend on designer clothes. None of this surprised me. I told my mom there was nothing I could do and I reminded her that I begged her not to go through with this more than three years ago and she ignored me because I was just a kid. I told her I was not going to waste my time helping idiots who don't want to be helped and I am sorry. So, am I the jerk for how I responded? Ooh.

• 30:54Speaker 02

  I think everybody sucks here.

• 30:56Andrew Giancola?

  Yep.

• 30:56Speaker 02

  Absolutely, everyone sucks. Uh, the mom, mom is dumb and a jerk for not listening to her kid, for dismissing her kid, her kid's ideas because the kid was too young, um, for not having her own, you know, she's old enough to have some defenses built up and, and she unfortunately put herself in the position where she got screwed, you know? Uh, uncle is a jerk for putting his sister in a position to screw her over and son is being not compassionate, you know, like, uh, he did provide good advice. I understand why he's a little miffed that she didn't listen to him, but now he's just kind of kicking her when she's down.

• 31:35Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. And I think overall, i- if you look at the, the situation as a whole, I am not a huge proponent of cosigning loans whatsoever, especially for folks who are grown adults. Like if you, you know, you're buying your teenager their first car, obviously got to cosign a loan in that, in that case, but like for folks who are really in a, in a place where they should have their financial situation together, I think cosigning a loan for someone who doesn't already have the credit score in place is, is a difficult situation. And so I avoid that at all costs in most situations, depending on that. Um, and I think in this situation, you know, the uncle not going with a vehicle that is costs way less. I mean, the, the truck that he bought is like a hundred thousand dollar truck. I looked it up and it is one that I think, you know, for most people out there, you know, just get a used truck, especially if it's a work truck, you can beat it up, get

• 32:20Andrew Giancola?

  it, you know, a old used truck with a hundred thousand miles on it. As long as it's working condition, that's really what you need. And so really every single person in this situation is just tough. And then the way that, that the, the son responded, I think is just not the way to, to handle that situation, even though, you know, they made mistakes, you told them, they responded negatively to you. It doesn't mean you need to respond negatively back to them. I mean, not helping them, I think you're in your full right to not help them. Uh, but the way that he responded, I think is just not the best, the best, especially to your own mother.

• 32:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, exactly. I, I'd agree. The son should not be giving any handouts, like don't give him any money, but you could at least have some compassion in the way that you talk.

• 32:57Andrew Giancola?

  A hundred percent. And I think that's overall the, the best practice, especially in these types of situations. So for anybody out there listening, I would not cosign on any loans for, for anyone. That's just not the way that I would roll with it. Uh, and, but, you know, be a little more compassionate to people who are in these situations.

• 33:15Andrew Giancola?

  My boyfriend, 28 male, has been collecting rent for a free house. Okay, so I've been living with my boyfriend for a year. I'm a graduate student, so I have very minimal income and I'm very upset about this. But my boyfriend says he was trying to do something nice. My boyfriend and I moved in together to a house that he found. He arranged all the landlord stuff and told me to send $1,000 a month to the landlord's bank account, and this is very normal rent in our area, but I could have probably spent less if I lived in an apartment. I have been doing so for the last year, only to find out yesterday from his mom that his parents actually own the house and they aren't charging us rent. Upon hearing this, I asked my boyfriend about the 13K that he has had me send to some account, and he told me that he was doing it to give back to me as a gift later on, to see how much I could save.

• 34:00Andrew Giancola?

  I am livid. I'm not irresponsible with money, I have no debt, and even have some savings. And over the last year, there have been things I've had to miss out on because they weren't financially feasible without this money. Now, there have been times where I couldn't get my tires replaced on my car, and it has always made me feel so bad that he could live just fine on this salary, which is not that much higher than mine, but I couldn't live well on mine. Now, I know it's because he was spending $1,000 less than I was every single month. I don't know what to do. I feel upset and uncomfortable about the whole situation, but my boyfriend won't listen to me. He keeps saying it was supposed to be a surprise gift, and I'm taking it the wrong way. I don't know what to think. Am I overreacting?

• 34:41Speaker 02

  You are underreacting. You are under... I mean, holy patronizing, right? To lie to somebody, basically steal their money, and then when you get caught, position it like a gift and gaslight them into thinking, "Oh, I did it for you." I mean, okay, best-case scenario, he did it for her and that is patronizing. So patron... That's not a partner, that's a parent-child relationship. Um, that's the best case scenario. Worst case scenario, he was actually planning on stealing from her and got caught.

• 35:17Andrew Giancola?

  Right. Honestly, if I had to like, just if I was a, you know, get a bet on this situation, I would say for sure he was stealing the money and then got caught and then acted like he was saving it to give it to her. Cause why on, why on earth would you ever do this for somebody? Like, it doesn't even make any sense whatsoever. Let her, you know, save her own money if she wants to or whatever else. I mean, this is just a crazy scenario that I think is honestly just one of those situations where she says she doesn't know what to do. I think you gotta break up with him is what you gotta do. That's kind of what you have to do right now.

• 35:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.

• 35:46Andrew Giancola?

  It's one of those areas where I think if this is happening to you, there are red flags all over the place, but someone who is trying to parent you in a relationship that is, it's only gonna get worse as time goes on, especially if you decide to marry that person or, or take things further.

• 35:59Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I will say, so I'm like, my question to her is, did, I mean, did you sign a lease? Right? Because like, if, if it's the case that she didn't sign a lease, um, you know, she didn't interact, like, cause she says, uh, he set up everything related to moving in. That also means that she is not adequately, you know, taking the precautions to protect herself.

• 36:25Andrew Giancola?

  Right.

• 36:25Speaker 02

  Right? She should be reviewing the lease. She should be reading it carefully. She should be signing it. She should know who her property management is. Like, otherwise, if you're trusting that to someone else, you're putting yourself in a position where you, uh, could be financially abused. And right now, um, you know, it's only $13,000, but like, imagine in the future, if it's, you know, financial abuse can happen in a marriage, um, to the tune of hundreds of thousands.

• 36:50Andrew Giancola?

  Exactly. And that's a great point, cause I think for most people, you know, if you rent a place, you need to understand all the dynamics of the lease. You need to understand, you know, who owns the property? Is there a property manager? Is it just the landlord there? You know, how much do you have in a security deposit? All those, you need to understand all the dynamics of your lease because it's a legal binding document. And if you're living there, you know, there is a lot of things that could happen to you negatively, you know, financial and/or legally, that you're living in a, in a property and you're not supposed to be in there. So you definitely need to understand all of those different areas for sure.

• 37:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:22Andrew Giancola?

  Awesome. So that is our last one for today. Paula, thank you so much for being here. And can you tell us more where people can find more about you and your podcast and everything else?

• 37:30Speaker 02

  Yes. So I host the Afford Anything Podcast. The idea is you can afford anything, not everything. So it's all about spending money and investing money in a way that fits you, fits who you are. You can find it on any major podcast player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, here on YouTube, youtube.com/affordanything. You can find it anywhere and everywhere.

• 37:50Andrew Giancola?

  Awesome. Well, we will link up everything and all of Paula's links down below. I highly, highly recommend her podcast and each of you go ahead and check that out. And thank you again so much, Paula, for being here.

• 37:59Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 37:59Andrew Giancola?

  Awesome.

• 38:01Speaker 03

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