Her Husband Lost $270K In A Crypto Scam And Lied About It—Dave Ramsey's Advice Pulled No Punches

In a recent episode of The Ramsey Show, published on Sunday, Dave Ramsey fielded a call from a woman whose husband secretly wiped out nearly all of their retirement savings in a cryptocurrency scam.

What Happened: The 57-year-old caller explained that her 58-year-old husband had drained his 401(k) without her knowledge and invested the money in what turned out to be a crypto scam tied to a company in Hong Kong.

Initially, he claimed it was just $30,000. But after months of evasion, the truth came out: he had lost $270,000—virtually their entire retirement fund. To complicate matters, the woman is battling cancer and had left her job due to side effects from her medication. With their home paid off and no debt, they were otherwise in a solid financial position—until this blow.

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Why It Matters: Ramsey's assessment was blunt: "This is more than just a dumb financial move—this is a betrayal," he told the caller. He said: "He not only did something stupid—he lied about it at length."

He continued, "I'm not telling you to leave him. I am telling you, though, if he ever does something like this again, you should." Ramsey also addressed the couple's next steps. "You're going to have to work ten more years, save everything you can, and rebuild from scratch," he said.

"There's no miracle investment. That's how you fix this."

On his show, Ramsey has highlighted the importance of 401(k)s multiple times. To a woman whose boyfriend thought they were a scam, he said, "’Don't marry this guy, he ain't worth it." He has also highlighted the importance of tackling debt, putting extra cash into a 401(k) and Roth IRA, and investing in broad‑based mutual funds that compound over decades.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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