The Ramsey Show

Snapshot · The Ramsey Show

Don’t Let Your Emotions Drive Your Financial Choices

Explore episode Jun 26, 2026

Where this was said

Jack in New York: A Widow's $1.1M Cruise Ship Art Problem

At 1:01 · chapter starts 0:41

Jack from New York opens with the most extraordinary call Dave has encountered in 35 years: his mother, after losing his father, embarked on a series of cruises and spent $1.1 million on onboard art auction pieces — hiding the purchases from the family until the art was literally overflowing into the garage. The family is now trying to sell the art and recovering only 10 to 20 cents on the dollar. Dave acknowledges that art auction purchases on cruise ships are notoriously illiquid and that his mother was clearly in a vulnerable, grief-driven state — she went from being someone who reused the same tea bag twice to blowing over a million dollars. Dave's strategic advice is novel: contact the cruise line's publicity department and make a PR case, not a legal one. Tell them a widow spent $1 million on your ships, we're not accusing malice, but this happened on your watch — buy it back. Dr. John Delony adds that with a remarried mother and complicated family dynamics, offering to help manage her finances going forward would be a compassionate next step. Dave notes this is the first time in 35 years this specific problem has come up — a milestone even for a show that has heard everything.

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