An anonymous caller feels trapped in a no-win situation with her financially reckless mother. She has the means to bail her out, but it doesn’t feel right. What should she do?
Shannon is excited about investing in several companies overseas. But she can only access them using American Depository Receipts. What are they, and how do they work?
Jennifer calls back with an update on putting a vacation on a credit card and playing the rewards game.
Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these questions in today’s episode.
Enjoy!
P.S. Got a question? Leave it here.
Anonymous asks (at 01:27 minutes): My mother has always lived beyond her means, and now it’s finally catching up to her. My sister and I are deeply concerned.
A couple of years ago, she and my stepdad bought a new house—a larger garage, pool, the works. We knew it was a stretch financially and told her so, but they went ahead anyway. Now they’re house-poor and looking to sell.
Their marriage is also falling apart, and my mom wants a divorce. She’s in her mid-sixties and lives on $2,800 a month from Social Security and a small pension. Her husband doesn’t make much either.
A one-bedroom apartment near my sister costs $2,000 a month. My mother has a car loan, medical bills, and less than $100,000 in combined savings between the two of them. The math just doesn’t work.
She doesn’t want to move or downsize further, but neither my sister nor I are in a position to have her move in with us. We live in high-cost-of-living areas, have kids, and are juggling our own financial priorities—saving for college, paying for activities, and building retirement.
We’re both in strong financial positions thanks to years of hard work and frugal choices, but we don’t feel comfortable committing to giving her hundreds of dollars a month for decades.
Still… she’s our mom. So at some point, her crisis becomes our crisis.
How do we help a parent in a real financial bind when they’re unwilling to make the drastic lifestyle changes needed? Should we “meddle” now in hopes of reducing the long-term financial and emotional cost?
Would buying a rental property for her to live in be a reasonable middle ground—something that helps her but allows us to build equity?
We’re trying to find a compassionate, realistic, and sustainable solution.
Shannon asks (at 26:58 minutes): What do I need to know about investing in American Depository Receipts, or ADRs?
After a divorce nine years ago, I had to start over from scratch. Since then, I’ve built up $130,000—mostly in retirement accounts aligned with the Efficient Frontier—and I’ve set aside cash in a high-yield savings account for a home purchase in the next two to three years.
I’m 39 now, debt-free, and on track for early retirement. Recently, I decided to carve out a small “fun fund” for individual stock picks—just 2 to 3 percent of my portfolio.
I’ve found a few companies I’d love to invest in, but here’s the twist: they’re based in Finland and Switzerland, and aren’t primarily listed on U.S. exchanges. However, both offer ADRs that trade over the counter here in the U.S.
And… I have no idea what that means.
I’ve been listening to Afford Anything since 2020 (and went back to binge the archives), but I don’t recall hearing anything about ADRs. Can you shed some light on what they are, how they work, and what I should watch out for before investing?
Jennifer shares (at 38:01 minutes): I called in a couple of months ago to ask about potential downsides of putting my vacation expenses on a credit card and paying them off at a later time. I appreciate your insights, and to clarify, you had questioned whether I had the money to pay it back now.
The answer is yes. I have plenty in my savings account. If in the worst-case scenario, I need to pay it back immediately, I can. But basically, I was just trying to game the system in order to invest my money now and pay my expenses later. I had asked you what potential downfalls are to using this method, and guess what?
I came across one after so many years of trying to game the credit cards and take advantage of their interest-free 15 months or 18 months, I finally got gamed back. I got rejected by a credit card for the first time ever the other week because I had opened too much credit in the last 24 months.
Also, interestingly enough, the credit score that was being reported from certain credit bureaus – I believe TransUnion was one of them – was reporting my score in the 800s. But when my credit card rejection came back, they had used Experian, and my credit score was around 750. So it was a 50-point difference between one credit bureau to the other.
Anyway, just thought I’d follow up and give you a new downside I just discovered on the credit card opening game that I’ve been playing for a while now.
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