Dad Asks Retired Millionaire Daughter For $55,000 To Get Out Of Debt & She Wants To Say No
She claimed that her father was being very manipulative and that she didn't feel right giving him a loan.
My Agency / Shutterstock Money can be a complicated and uncomfortable topic — especially when it comes to discussing financial matters with family members.
One woman named Carla called into 'The Dave Ramsey Show,' a financial podcast that provides advice on how to best handle money and relationships, with a dilemma.
The dad asked his retired millionaire daughter for $55,000 to get out of debt, and she wants to say no.
The 56-year-old woman called into Ramsey's show and said that her father and his wife have asked her and her husband for a large sum of money to pay off their debt — $55,000 to be exact. She explained that she and her husband are both retired and living debt-free but are now on a fixed and limited income.
"We do not have what they are asking in the bank," she said. "It would require us to take a draw out of our retirement accounts and we don't want to do that."
Carla admitted that she wanted to respond to her dad's request without being too emotional. “I want to respond to Dad with facts and data and not emotion," she shared, "because I am very emotional and he is a great salesman.”
Her father, who allegedly needs the money to pay off three credit cards and a car loan, thinks that because she and her husband are millionaires he's entitled to their money.
"My dad's statement was in order to get ahead and be able to do anything in their later years, they want this debt to be gone," Carla said when asked what her dad's argument for needing the loan was. The 80-year-old man claimed that since he's in his later years, getting a job is out of the question.
Listing off the reasons why she doesn't want to give her dad the loan, Carla mentioned that her dad's wife is owed a large amount of money from her family and won't pursue it. They are putting themselves in this situation and turning to her because she's the most comfortable solution. "You're the easier mark," Ramsey agreed.
Ramsey informed Carla that after learning the context surrounding her dad's request, he doesn't like her father, pointing out that no parent should ever call up their child and ask for that amount of money to pay off debt, especially because he's trying to manipulate and guilt his daughter into giving him the money.
"If the situation was completely different, $55,000 out of two million, you're not gonna miss it," Ramsey told Carla. "I would in a heartbeat pay off my dad or my mom's stuff, but the situation is different."
He encouraged Carla to tell her father that she wouldn't be giving him the loan.
Ramsey explained that he was going to tell Carla something that she already knew and was leaning towards anyway — that her dad wasn't going to be getting any type of loan from her.
"The answer is no," he said. "You're not doing it for any real good reason. You're only doing it because you're caving. It tears you up because it's your daddy, and that's why it's so wrong to put you in this position."
Ramsey admitted that this entire situation breaks his heart and he feels for Carla, but that she and her husband shouldn't be manipulated into helping her father when he has never been the best figure in her life. “This is not a six-year-old little girl… looking for her daddy's approval," he added. "This is a grown, very sophisticated woman that's very bright, in her 50s, that is making a conscious decision to say, 'I'm not going to be manipulated.'”
He advised Carla to tell her father that she and her husband's money is tied up and that if they need help settling their debts, they can ask his wife's family for help instead.
Ultimately, they don't owe him a reason for their refusal at all. “You don't have to give an explanation to the salesman. You just said, no.”
It can be troubling to receive a call from a parent asking for money to help them out of debt, and the decision to give them the funds is often accompanied by a roller coaster of emotions. However, in the end, it's only up to you whether or not you choose to engage. In Carla's case, she had to think about her well-being, along with her family's financial future because a loan that large would've had a great impact on their money.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.