Couple With $38K Salary Loses $300K While Day Trading, Dave Ramsey Asks, ‘Where Did You Have $300K That You Could Lose?’

Pelican Press · May 29, 2025

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Couple With $38K Salary Loses $300K While Day Trading, Dave Ramsey Asks, ‘Where Did You Have $300K That You Could Lose?’

A recent call to “

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” opened with a tax question but quickly revealed a much larger financial and emotional crisis. The caller, a woman with a household income of just $38,000, shared that she and her husband had lost over $300,000 through day trading.

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‘s immediate reaction cut to the heart of the issue: “Where did you have $300K that you could lose?”

The answer? An inherited IRA that had been liquidated and lost in a flurry of trades.

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According to the caller, the trading took place over a six-week ******* during which her husband, later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, experienced a manic episode. She had just given birth and was recovering from a complicated pregnancy when her husband began trading full time from home.

“He was doing it and doing well… until he wasn’t,” she said.

“There’s no such thing,” Ramsey responded. He cited research showing that 78% of day traders lose money, noting that it’s “statistically… all of them.” Comparing the couple’s experience to gambling, he said, “That’s like saying I’m at the roulette table and I hit, so I’m doing well.”

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The call was originally about

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. After their losses, the couple had $316,000 in capital losses on the books. Their accountant told them they could deduct $3,000 per year against ordinary income. At that rate, the caller joked, “It would take 115 years.”

The accountant also suggested opening a taxable brokerage account to generate gains that could be offset by those losses.

Ramsey acknowledged the technical validity of the idea. However, he warned that trying to create new investment income to take advantage of past losses could expose the caller’s husband to more risk — something he clearly believed was unsafe, given the history.

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.

While the accountant may have given sound tax advice, Ramsey stressed the importance of considering the full context.

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“Before I put your family at further risk playing with the same snakes that already bit you, I would just say forget it,” he said. “It’s just gone.”

Ramsey urged the caller to seek a second opinion from another tax professional, just in case safer alternatives exist. But he also made his stance clear: her husband should not go anywhere near a brokerage account again.

This couple’s story is a sobering reminder of the risks tied to active trading — especially when life circumstances are unstable. In this case,

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was compounded by health challenges and emotional strain. Fortunately, the caller said their marriage remains strong and that they’re in counseling and working through it together.

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Couple With $38K Salary Loses $300K While Day Trading, Dave Ramsey Asks, ‘Where Did You Have $300K That You Could Lose?’

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Couple With $38K Salary Loses $300K While Day Trading, Dave Ramsey Asks, ‘Where Did You Have $300K That You Could Lose?’

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