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Who are the UK’s mortgage borrowers, and how do their characteristics differ? Despite extensive literature on mortgage profiles, loan-level segmentation remains limited, existing work relies on aggregates or predefined categories. I address this gap by applying unsupervised machine learning to 20 years of data, allowing the model determine segments without prior assumptions. Three clusters emerge: one with low leverage, and two with high leverage but notably different income profiles. Lending composition has shifted gradually. High leverage, high-income borrowers now account for a larger market share, and first-time buyers increasingly fall into more leveraged segments. Machine learning is crucial for financial stability, revealing concentrations of characteristics, and trends, that aggregates and simple splits cannot, offering richer and earlier indications of potential vulnerabilities.
How can we sort UK mortgage borrowers into meaningful groups?
To understand how borrower characteristics are distributed across UK owner-occupier mortgages, I apply k-means clustering to the FCA’s Product Sales Database, a loan-level data set covering all mortgages issued between 2005 and 2025. The algorithm processes 10 variables in total: loan to value (LTV), loan to income (LTI), gross income, loan value, property value, interest rate, mortgage term, borrower age, debt-servicing ratio (DSR), and net income. The groupings are then characterised using three core features: LTV, LTI, and term length. In my diagnostics, these show the strongest influence on how observations separate into distinct groups, and are often recognised as key determinants of household vulnerability.
K-means is an unsupervised machine learning algorithm that groups loans so those within a cluster are more similar to each other than to those in other clusters.Think of it as an algorithm that looks for natural groupings in the data, rather than being told in advance what those groupings should look like. It iterates, reassigning loans to their nearest cluster centre and recalculates centres until groupings stabilise. All inputs are standardised before fitting to ensure fair comparisons across different scales, and outliers are excluded by removing observations above the 99.9th percentile for each variable.
I test alternatives. DBSCAN identifies clusters based on the density of nearby observations, making it well suited to irregular shapes but sensitive to parameter choices. Hierarchical clustering builds a tree of nested groupings, useful for visualising structure but computationally demanding at this data scale. K-means proves the most robust and interpretable for this task, with stable allocations across reruns and clear separation that can be communicated to both technical and non-technical audiences. The number of clusters is guided by the need for tractable interpretation, and the usage of two diagnostics: the elbow method, which identifies where adding more clusters yields diminishing improvements, and silhouette analysis, which checks how cleanly each loan fits its assigned group relative to the others as well as. All point to three clusters as the natural solution.
Three distinct borrower segments emerge from the data
Chart 1 shows the cluster centre for each group across the three core features (LTI, LTV, mortgage term) and gross income.
I assign cluster labels after estimation, based on the three core metrics. The cluster with the lowest average is labelled Group A; the highest, labelled Group C; and the other, labelled Group B. While these labels are determined mechanically, the resulting groups exhibit clear and stable profiles. Group A consistently corresponds to low‑leverage lending, Group B combines relatively high-leverage with higher-incomes, and Group C captures high‑leverage borrowing concentrated among lower‑income borrowers.
Group A (Low Leverage): This segment is defined by more conservative borrowing and accounts for about a third of the flow of mortgage lending. The median LTV is approximately 39%, the median LTI is 1.9, and the median mortgage term is 15 years. The share of lending at higher thresholds, such as loans exceeding 90% LTV or 4.5 times income, is negligible. Borrowers in this group are typically older, with higher incomes and substantial deposits, and are less likely to be first-time buyers.
Group B (High Leverage, High Income): Between 10% and 15% of new lending each quarter falls into this segment. Mortgages in this group have a median LTV of around 67%, a median LTI of 3.2, and a median term of 23 years. Around 7.5% of loans exceed 90% LTV, and nearly 11% are above 4.5 times income. This cluster mainly consists of more affluent borrowers accessing higher-value properties, leveraging their income and extending terms to do so.
Group C (High Leverage, Low Income): Over half of new lending falls into this segment each quarter, displaying a median LTV of 80%, a median LTI of 3.4, and a median term of 28 years. Around 13% of loans are above 90% LTV, and about 10% exceed 4.5 times income. While both groups have a similar proportion of high LTI loans and comparable average LTIs, this group has higher LTV and term lengths. Borrowers are younger, with lower incomes and smaller deposits, and the group includes a significant share of first-time buyers.
For three of the four metrics in Chart 1, cluster centres follow a sequential order from Group A to Group C. Income is the exception. Group B has the highest median income, followed by Group A, with Group C lowest. Group B borrowers have the financial capacity to service larger loans but take on more leverage to access higher-value properties. Consider a dual-income couple in London buying a £700,000 flat with a £550,000 mortgage. Group C borrowers take similar leverage but with lower incomes, like a single first-time buyer purchasing a £200,000 home on a modest salary. Both groups are highly leveraged, but their financial profiles differ markedly.
Chart 1: Average characteristics by cluster (2022–25)
Notes: Chart shows median values for each cluster. LTV and LTI are expressed as ratios. Gross income is in £s. Mortgage term is in years.
How has the composition of lending changed over time?
Group C has consistently represented the largest share of new lending, while Group B has been the smallest. However, Group B has grown in prominence, increasing its share from around 7% in the mid-2000s to 11% in recent years (Chart 2), resulting in a slow reduction in the market share of Group A over time. This gradual shift reflects changes in both borrower behaviour and market conditions.
Chart 2:Share of completions over time
Both Groups B and C, now include a greater share of first-time buyers than before the financial crisis (Chart 3). Group C in particular has seen its first-time buyer share growover the past 10 to 15 years. This pattern is closely linked to the increase in house price to income ratios. As affordability pressures have mounted, first-time buyers have increasingly needed to take on greater leverage and mortgage terms to access the market.
Chart 3:First-time buyer share over time by cluster
Mortgage terms have lengthened across all segments (Chart 4). Since 2015, the median term has increased by two years in each group. Compared to the mid-2000s, the increase is even more pronounced, up to five years longer in Groups B and C. Longer terms allow borrowers to spread repayments, reducing monthly outgoings and easing affordability pressures. However, they also mean higher total interest costs and longer exposure to market fluctuations.
Chart 4: Average mortgage term length over time by cluster
London and the South East have the lowest share of Group C borrowers (Chart 5), but also have the lowest share of Group A borrowers. Why? Because, a material share of lending in these regions falls into Group B, the high leverage, high income segment, which is much smaller elsewhere. Higher property prices mean borrowers often need both high incomes and large loans relative to their earnings, with longer mortgage terms common to manage repayments. Group B’s prominence in London and the South East is not a recent development but a longstanding feature of the UK mortgage landscape.
Elsewhere, the picture is more mixed. The North of England, Northern Ireland, and Wales have a greater share of Group A lending, reflecting lower house prices, LTVs, and LTIs. The Midlands, Scotland, and the South West show more Group C lending. A region may appear unremarkable in average ratios, yet mask a very different compositional story beneath. Rather than summarising borrowers by a single average, loan-level segmentation reveals the distinct groups driving it.
Chart 5: 2025 distribution of clusters within each region
What does this mean for financial stability?
Understanding who is borrowing, where, and how much, is central to assessing mortgage market patterns. This approach complements existing frameworks by letting borrower segments emerge from the data rather than imposing predefined categories. Simple splits by income or region can indicate that leverage is rising; they cannot tell you that higher leverage and income are increasingly clustering together, or that first-time buyers are concentrating in more stretched segments, or that regions with similar average ratios hold very different borrower mixes beneath. These combinations matter. Surfacing them early, before they appear in aggregate statistics, strengthens the toolkit and data available for safeguarding financial stability in one of the UK’s most systemically important markets.
Joe Grimshaw works in the Bank’s Macro-Financial Risks Division.
If you want to get in touch, please email us at bankunderground@bankofengland.co.uk or leave a comment below.
Comments will only appear once approved by a moderator, and are only published where a full name is supplied. Bank Underground is a blog for Bank of England staff to share views that challenge – or support – prevailing policy orthodoxies. The views expressed here are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the Bank of England, or its policy committees.
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Every 529 plan has an account owner and a beneficiary. Most families spend a lot of time thinking about the beneficiary and almost none thinking about what happens if the owner dies.
The short answer: if the account owner named a successor owner, the account transfers to that person outside of probate, usually with nothing more than a death certificate and a form. If they didn’t, what happens next depends on the plan’s rules and state law — and the account could end up in probate.
Here’s how it works, what it means for taxes, and what happens if the beneficiary dies instead.
Table of Contents
Account Owner vs. Beneficiary
What Happens When The Account Owner Dies
Tax Impact of the Death of the 529 Plan Account Owner
Impact of the Death of the Beneficiary of a 529 Plan
Account Owner vs. Beneficiary
529 plans have two distinct roles: an account owner and a beneficiary. Typically, a parent or grandparent is the account owner and a child is the beneficiary, though an account owner can also name themselves as beneficiary.
The beneficiary may be a spouse, child, grandchild, sibling, or another relative.
The account owner controls the account: they choose the investments, take distributions, and can change the beneficiary. The beneficiary has no control, even after turning 18. For a deeper dive on who can own an account and what that control means, see our full guide to 529 plan ownership rules.
What Happens When The Account Owner Dies
The rules for death of the account owner are specified by the 529 plan and state law. Many 529 plans allow the account owner to specify one or more successor owners when setting up the account. A secondary successor owner is sometimes called a contingent owner. The successor owners can also be specified later.
It’s a good idea to set up multiple successor owners. Many account owners specify their spouse as the successor owner. But what happens if the account owner and their spouse pass away at the same time?
Specifying the successor owner and contingent owner lets the account owner choose who becomes responsible for the account upon their death.
No Successor Owner Is Specified
Without a designated successor, the outcome varies by plan and state:
The surviving spouse may automatically become the account owner
The beneficiary may become the account owner (more on this below)
The executor of the estate may name a new account owner or request a distribution
The account may pass through probate, with the new owner determined by the will (or state intestacy law if there is no will)
It is possible to name the beneficiary as the successor account owner. Some 529 plans require the successor owner to be at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. If the successor owner is under age 18, the account may be transferred to the beneficiary’s surviving parent, if any, or other legal guardian.
To transfer the account upon death of the account owner, a copy of the death certificate will be required.
The Successor Owner Gets Full Control
Whoever becomes the new account owner gains all the powers of the original owner. They can change the investments, take distributions (including non-qualified distributions payable to themselves) and even change the beneficiary to a different family member. There is no legal requirement that they use the money for the original beneficiary’s education.
That makes the choice of successor owner critical. Pick someone you trust to carry out your intentions for the beneficiary.
Tax Impact of the Death of the 529 Plan Account Owner
When the owner of a 529 plan dies, the assets of the 529 plan are not considered assets of the decedent’s taxable estate, with an important exception.
Contributions to a 529 plan are considered to be a completed gift and are immediately removed from the donor’s estate for federal estate tax purposes. [26 USC 529(c)(2)(A)] The treatment may, however, be different for state estate and inheritance taxes.
Five-year gift-tax averaging, also known as superfunding, lets a donor make a lump-sum contribution and have it treated as occurring proportionately over a five-year period. [26 USC 529(c)(2)(B)] If the donor dies within the five-year period, the portion of the contribution corresponding to the years after the year of death will be included in the donor’s taxable estate. [26 USC 529(c)(4)(C)]
Impact of the Death of the Beneficiary of a 529 Plan
If the beneficiary dies, the account owner keeps the account and has two main options: change the beneficiary to a member of the deceased beneficiary’s family, or take a distribution.
Normally, the earnings portion of a non-qualified distribution is subject to ordinary income tax plus a 10% penalty. But the penalty is waived for distributions made on or after the beneficiary’s death. The earnings portion is still taxable income to whoever receives the distribution — the penalty waiver doesn’t make it tax-free.
Changing the beneficiary to another qualifying family member avoids taxes entirely and keeps the money growing for education (here are the rules for 529 plan rollovers and transfers). And if the funds ultimately go unused, remember that up to $35,000 (lifetime) can be moved into the beneficiary’s Roth IRA under the 529-to-Roth IRA rollover rules, provided the account has been open at least 15 years and the other SECURE 2.0 requirements are met.
We cover all the options for leftover 529 funds here.
Action Plan: Protect Your 529 Plan Now
Log in to your 529 plan and check whether you’ve named a successor owner. Most people never did.
Name a primary and backup successor owner if your plan allows it.
Tell your successor the account exists and where to find it — an account nobody knows about helps nobody.
If you’ve superfunded, make sure your estate plan accounts for the five-year averaging add-back rule.
Coordinate with your will or trust. A few plans allow a trust to own the account, which adds another layer of control. If you’re thinking multi-generationally, see how a Dynasty 529 plan can fund education for generations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to a 529 plan when the account owner dies?
If the owner named a successor owner, the account transfers to that person outside of probate — the plan typically just requires a death certificate and a transfer form. If no successor was named, the outcome depends on the plan’s rules and state law: the account may pass to the surviving spouse or the beneficiary, or it may go through probate as part of the estate.
Who takes over a 529 plan if no successor owner was named?
It varies by plan. Some plans automatically transfer ownership to the surviving spouse or the beneficiary. Otherwise, the executor of the estate typically requests the transfer, and the new owner is determined by the will or by state intestacy law. Contact the plan administrator directly — each plan has its own procedure.
Does a 529 plan go through probate when the owner dies?
Not if a successor owner was named — the account transfers directly, like a beneficiary designation on an IRA or life insurance policy. Without a successor owner, the account may become part of the probate estate, which can delay access to the funds.
Is a 529 plan included in the deceased owner’s estate for tax purposes?
Generally no. Contributions are treated as completed gifts, so the account isn’t part of the owner’s federal taxable estate. There are two exceptions to watch: superfunded contributions where the owner dies during the five-year averaging period (the remaining years are added back), and state-level rules that may differ from federal treatment.
What happens to a 529 plan if the beneficiary dies?
The account owner keeps control and can either name a new beneficiary from the deceased beneficiary’s family or take a distribution. The usual 10% penalty on the earnings portion of a non-qualified distribution is waived for distributions taken on or after the beneficiary’s death, though the earnings are still subject to ordinary income tax.
What happens to a 529 plan when the owner dies in New York?
The mechanics are the same as anywhere else — New York’s 529 plans allow you to name a successor account owner, and the account transfers outside of probate if you did. For taxes, New York generally follows the federal treatment, so 529 assets aren’t included in the taxable estate. But note that New York has its own estate tax with a much lower exclusion than the federal exemption ($7,350,000 for deaths in 2026) and adds back certain taxable gifts made within three years of death, which can matter for large estates. Consult an estate planning attorney if your estate is near the New York threshold.
Editor: Colin Graves
Reviewed by: Robert Farrington
The post What Happens To A 529 Plan If The Account Owner Dies? appeared first on The College Investor.
Update 7/15/26: Damn, looks like Polymarket is clawback these promotions and withdrawing funds from accounts. RIP.
Update 7/10/26:
The Offer
Currently there are a number of Polymarket deals that can be done via promo codes/links.
New users:
Existing users:
Our Verdict
Polymarket is a cryptocurrency based prediction market. This is basically just gambling with a different name so don’t sign up if you’re susceptible to that sort of thing. Removed iOS only as it’s available on Android as well. Existing codes don’t seem to work on Android.
F.A.Q’s
Can I immediately withdraw the funds?
No, you need to wait a few days for the $20 initial deposit to settle. It also looks like you need to make a prediction with the $50 bonus.
What’s the best way to use the $50 to minimize loses?
If you’re in two player mode you can just take two sides of the same market if there are two options and you’ll just lose whatever the spread is. If you’re in one player mode there is some discussion here.
What are the tax implications?
Polymarket sends a 1099 on winnings, not sure how it’s treated if you make a technical lose on the prediction.
Are there any other codes?
If you know of them, share them below. Some other unverified codes are: CUSE, OREGON, MASS, and CLEVE
Is there something similar for Kalshi?
Currently we don’t have a page for Kalshi, you can try: SYRACUSE, SILIVE, OREGONLIVE1, MASSLIVE1, CLEVELAND (deposit $10, get $10 bonus) and let us know if those work. We will start using the prediction market tag going forward.
Codes aren’t working for me?
If you’re on Android then existing codes won’t work. If you’re using iOS try clicking the links provided rather than using the codes.
How do I add more promo codes?
Once you’ve signed up using the code for new users, click the links for each other code.
See something that should be added to the F.A.Q? Let us know below.
IBM(IBM 2.70%) shares fell by roughly 25% on the back of some alarming news.
*Stock prices used were the afternoon prices of July 13, 2026. The video was published on July 15, 2026.
Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends International Business Machines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Parkev Tatevosian is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through his link, he will earn some extra money that supports his channel. His opinions remain his own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.
Just as mortgage rates threatened to reach their highest point since the Iranian conflict began, they were granted a reprieve.
This time, it was a cooler-than-expected CPI report that saved the day.
Prices actually fell 0.4% month-to-month in June, which was the best reading since April 2020.
While it was mostly tied to lower energy prices, core CPI that excludes food and energy was also better than expected.
Together, this could mean the Fed can take a longer wait-and-see approach and mortgage rates might avoid a dreaded 7-handle.
Another Day, Another Twist for Mortgage Rates
It’s been a rocky road for mortgage rates since late February, with lots of ups and downs and uncertainty about their near-term direction.
The main culprit has been the conflict with Iran, which has led to a spike in energy prices and resurging inflation.
But the June CPI report released today showed a surprising drop in consumer prices, led by a pullback in energy prices.
If the energy spike does prove to be transitory, perhaps inflation isn’t as bad as feared.
Prices were down 0.4% during the month, the biggest drop since April 2020, pushing CPI down to 3.5% year-over-year from 4.2% previously.
The consensus was a 3.8% annual increase so it was a beat there and a beat on the 0.4% price drop, which was only expected to be a 0.2% drop.
It wasn’t just energy leading the way though. Core CPI, which excludes energy and food prices, was unexpectedly flat in June, below its forecast to rise 0.2%.
That pushed Core CPI down to 2.6% YoY, below the previous reading of 2.9% and the median forecast of 2.9%.
Long story short, it was a surprisingly good report that could ease pressure on the Fed to hike rates in order to control inflation.
Does This Give the Fed More Time to Wait and See?
One takeaway from this report is that the Fed can now be more patient.
In other words, they won’t need to hike right away because of surging inflation.
Instead, they can say Hey, things are looking better, the oil surge has cooled off, let’s see how this goes.
Had prices kept rising, they may have had to act, aka hike, quickly to avoid further price pressures.
While the Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates, expectations of future hikes and cuts can play a big role.
If there’s the threat of hikes, mortgage rates may rise ahead of such a decision.
The opposite is also true, which is why mortgage rates fell a ton leading up to the first rate cut back in September 2024.
So if you want lower mortgage rates, hope the data continues to come in cold to give the Fed more excuses not to hike.
Simply staying put could be enough to see 30-year fixed rates ease and fall back toward those nice sub-6% levels from the end of February.
Avoiding a Return to 7% Mortgage Rates
This report could prove to be key to keeping mortgage rates below the psychologically damaging 7% level.
Had it come in hot, pressure would have ratcheted up on bond yields, which were already above 4.60% yesterday on renewed tensions in the Middle East.
With the 30-year fixed matching its war-time high of 6.75%, a new high could have materialized had this report not surprised on the downside.
Perhaps we’d be at 6.875% today had we gotten a hot report, with a 7-handle a possibility next. Instead, disaster was averted and mortgage rates will see some relief today.
Still, the bigger picture remains murky. If this proves to be a one-off and inflation climbs higher next month and beyond, mortgage rates could test new highs.
So be grateful for this CPI report, but know it’s just one report and we’ll need to see a trend to ensure we’re out of the woods.
Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 20 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.
Two years ago, Darrick Ramsey and Alexis Jordan were given a challenge: Turn $1 into $100 in a week using all of the resources at their disposal.
Jordan surpassed the goal by providing cleaning work for local small businesses and creating an in-demand snack.
Ramsey offered pressure washing and car detailing services and ended up making $2,065 in a week.
When Darrick Ramsey first held the single dollar bill he’d been given, anxiety hit him hard. “I was very nervous, like I was anxious,” he recalls in an interview with Entrepreneur.
Alexis Jordan had a similar reaction: “For me, I was very nervous,” she says.
In February 2024, a documentary film team tasked these two students, along with about two dozen of their then-high school classmates, with an unusual challenge: Turn $1 into $100 in a week using all of the resources at their disposal. They started the challenge terrified of failing, then used their businesses, networks and hard work to turn $1 into far more than $100 in a week. A documentary film released last month called Learn to Earn: A Student’s Journey From $1 to $100 chronicled their experiences.
Both Ramsey and Jordan initially grappled not just with the math, but with the reality of trying to build something in “this economy,” as Jordan put it, where “what can you get for $1?” is a genuine question. The time frame added pressure: They had roughly a week, layered on top of school, sports and other commitments, to turn $1 into $100. “We had other stuff to do, so it was very time-consuming,” Jordan says.
How Jordan flipped $1: services and Kool-Aid pickles
Once the shock of the $1 challenge wore off, Jordan went directly to the community she knew best. “My strategy was, where do people give the most money?” she says. “So for me, I was raised in a church; my church is like a big family. So I said, let me go to my number one supporters.” With that single dollar and her existing relationships, she offered labor and creativity instead of products she couldn’t afford to buy.
“Usually what I did was I cleaned their yards, I cleaned the church,” she says, describing how she exchanged services for donations and payments.
Then she layered on a homemade snack that became an unexpected hit: Kool-Aid pickles.
“It’s weird,” she says. “But a lot of people bought them. Everybody bought them, like everybody was going crazy over them.”
She explained the process simply: “You get the pickle jar, you pour out the pickle juice and then you just mix Kool-Aid packets and sugar with it, and then pour it back and let it ferment in the refrigerator for like a day or two, and then after that you put them in a Ziploc bag and you just sell them.”
With cleaning work for local small businesses and a snack that turned heads, she surpassed the $100 target.
Where she is now
More than two years later, Jordan, 19, runs a business called Blended Threads LLC, which centers on childhood diabetes, a condition she was diagnosed with in fourth grade.
She wrote a children’s book, Why Did Diabetes Pick Me, chronicling her struggles and how she overcame them. She is now working on a second book, this time a chapter book. She’s also a keynote speaker, turning her lived experience with juvenile diabetes into education and advocacy.
“I wanted to broadcast and bring awareness to it, because you rarely hear anybody talk about childhood diabetes or juvenile diabetes,” she says, adding that people in her community were “shocked” to learn more and “glad” she published the book.
Alexis Jordan
For Ramsey, the turning point came when he realized that the $1 was less important than the relationships he already had. He was part of the CEO program at his high school, and the program had taken students to tour businesses in the community.
“We had a journal, and I wrote down each business owner, their name and their contact,” he says. When the $1-to-$100 challenge arrived, he asked himself: Why can’t I just reach back out to these guys to see if they can help me?
He recorded a simple one-minute video for those contacts: “I tried to keep it real short and simple, explaining, hey, my name is Darrick Ramsey. I talked to you in the CEO program before. I’m just wondering if you had any advice or if I can pressure wash your car or detail it for you,” he says.
He had bought the power washer before the challenge with money from an hourly job.
The response was overwhelming. “I kind of overbooked myself with all the people that we had met and all the people they know,” he says. “I really got to see the community coming together. It was just great.”
He focused first on pressure washing and later added car detailing as demand grew. “It got to the point where I had to pressure wash in the cold, had to pressure wash in the rain; we had the car detail in the freezing cold, like cars were icing over as we were washing them,” he says, describing one of the busiest weeks of his life. By the end of the challenge, he’d far exceeded the target, earning $2,065.
Where he is now
Ramsey, 20, was born in Decatur, Alabama, and moved between Chicago, Atlanta and Alabama before settling back in Decatur. He struggled “academically, financially” in school, which shaped his purpose now: “I feel like one of my life’s purposes has been trying to help the youth with what they do best, and keep excelling,” he says. He is a physical education teacher and mentor who “goes all over Decatur city schools” to connect with kids, pulling them aside to talk through “behavior issues and really just stuff I was struggling with.”
His business, PeerPressure, was born out of personal grief and bad influences in middle and early high school. After a close friend died the summer before ninth grade, he says, “I was peer-pressured into doing a lot of things that I really felt like I wouldn’t have done if I wasn’t around those bad friends.”
In his sophomore year, with the help of teachers, he turned that story into a brand. PeerPressure now offers pressure washing, mobile car detailing, house washing and automotive light work, built over “about four years” and expanded through work with “many business owners within our community and outside of our community,” he says.
Darrick Ramsey
His biggest challenge was internal
Ramsey says that he was his own “biggest enemy” solely because he didn’t really believe in community or family at the time. Academic and financial struggles left him feeling isolated and under pressure, which “created a lot of self-doubt” during that week.
Reaching out to people changed that perception. “They started showing me that I wasn’t alone,” he says. “Then I started to see a bigger vision.”
The lesson has stayed with him. He endured years of “long nights, a lot of crying, a lot of work.” Those years helped him define his purpose: “If I can change somebody’s life through teaching and mentoring, then I feel like I’ve fulfilled my purpose,” he says.
This article is part of our ongoing Young Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of being a young business owner.
Key Takeaways
Two years ago, Darrick Ramsey and Alexis Jordan were given a challenge: Turn $1 into $100 in a week using all of the resources at their disposal.
Jordan surpassed the goal by providing cleaning work for local small businesses and creating an in-demand snack.
Ramsey offered pressure washing and car detailing services and ended up making $2,065 in a week.
When Darrick Ramsey first held the single dollar bill he’d been given, anxiety hit him hard. “I was very nervous, like I was anxious,” he recalls in an interview with Entrepreneur.
Alexis Jordan had a similar reaction: “For me, I was very nervous,” she says.
In February 2024, a documentary film team tasked these two students, along with about two dozen of their then-high school classmates, with an unusual challenge: Turn $1 into $100 in a week using all of the resources at their disposal. They started the challenge terrified of failing, then used their businesses, networks and hard work to turn $1 into far more than $100 in a week. A documentary film released last month called Learn to Earn: A Student’s Journey From $1 to $100 chronicled their experiences.
Leverage was always the love language for real estate investors. It was the principle on which the BRRRR strategy was based, and fortunes were made.
However, since the dramatic rise in interest rates post-COVID-19 pandemic, the golden strategy has started to lose some of its shine. Now, even the most happy-go-lucky investors are wondering if they should batten down the hatches and pay off their debts rather than risk another purchase.
A Numbers Game
Ultimately, real estate is all about the numbers: cash flow, liquidity, and risk tolerance. In the current climate of 6.5% interest rates, very few properties cash flow with a standard 20% down payment. If you’re lucky, you’ll break even.
Of course, rents differ, and there are ways to accelerate or increase rent depending on how labor-intensive you want to get with property management. Renting by the room, short-term rentals, and corporate rentals are just some of the ways to boost rents.
Assuming you are OK with making no money because you want to acquire properties, pay down the mortgage over time, put yourself in an advantageous position to refinance if/when rates drop, build equity, and eventually enjoy cash flow, buying and holding might be appealing.
What Is Your Liquidity Situation?
The next important question is: How liquid are you? If you are not cash flowing enough to cover maintenance, vacancies, and any cash flow negative items, you’ll need deep pockets to offset the costs. The more properties you have, the deeper your pockets will need to be.
You might get to a point where you are spending more money on maintenance without realizing much of an equity gain and seeing no cash flow. You will then have to ask yourself if this is really worth it. It might be better to use your liquidity and/or money from your job to pay off your investment property, stop the bleeding, realize 100% of the cash flow, and save your money before buying another investment.
The Lock-In Effect
According to Forbes, at a 6% interest rate (80% of homeowners have this or lower) on a 30-year fixed mortgage for $250,000, the principal and interest payment is just under $1,500 a month. Over the full term of the loan, you will pay $289,595 in interest.
If you liquidated some stocks or happened to have $250,000 lying around, rather than being break-even or cash-negative, you would now be $1,500 better off each month (minus taxes and insurance). By paying off your home in full, you have the entire value of your equity to redeploy into the market once rates drop and cash flow increases.
Taxes and Insurance
If your rate of return from a rental at a 6% interest rate exceeds your mortgage payment and you have some liquidity, you might want to hold on to the property before prices go up, as long as you are comfortable weathering the financial storm of maintenance and vacancies.
Another factor to consider is taxes and insurance. Both have been soaring in recent years, so a $250K property in one part of the country might be break-even, but in another, it might be considerably cash flow negative. In that case, simply paying off the mortgage and throwing the cash flow at the carrying costs might be the best move.
Your W-2 Income
The income from your W2 job is also a determining factor. If you have enough money to pay off your mortgage, sitting on the sidelines but dislike the idea of not being liquid, applying chunks of your W-2 income to the principal paydown would allow more conservatively minded investors to stay liquid to invest in a down payment when rates are more favorable while still paying off their mortgage and potentially increasing cash flow.
The Stock Market
According to Forbes:
“Using a 10% return rate as an estimate, if you invested your extra $250per month in an S&P 500 index fund, you could grow it to $137,651 over 21 years. Taking this path would give you roughly $37,900 more than if you had applied the same $250 monthly toward your mortgage principal to pay off your mortgage over the same period.”
There have been some outrageous stock market successes in recent years that have far outstripped anything a real estate investor could have achieved.
The most obvious example is Nvidia, which has powered the AI revolution through its groundbreaking GPUs. Its stock has increased by a stunning 1,390% over the last five years, which means that if you invested the money you were considering paying off your mortgage in Nvidia stock, you would be in a position to buy as many luxury homes for cash around the world as you wished.
The Solidity of Real Estate
Investing in stocks comes with inherent risks—notably, a lack of control. There is no way to know whether a stock will go up or down, which is why many real estate investors shy away from it, preferring the tangibles of real estate: tenant paydown, depreciation, appreciation, rent increases, and the ability to force equity and increase cash flow.
However, it also takes a certain mindset to be a real estate investor, especially if you own only a handful of rentals and don’t have a big nest egg. You need to be comfortable handling maintenance issues, vacancies, and tenant disputes when they arise, even if you have a property manager.
All Roads Lead to the Owner
Ultimately, all roads lead to the owner because you will be the one paying for it. When rates are low and cash flow is high, more investors have the temperament to invest; however, when rates are high and margins are low, the natural instinct is to pay down debt to alleviate stress.
According to Forbes, here’s a look at various scenarios where paying off your mortgage makes sense and others where investing makes more sense.
Paying off your mortgage
You have a high mortgage rate.
You want to save on interest rates.
You can manage without the mortgage interest tax deduction.
You want to eliminate a significant debt amount.
You want the security of outright owning your home.
Investing
You have a desirably low mortgage rate.
You need to catch up on retirement savings.
You expect to stay in your home for a short period of time.
You prioritize easy liquidity over the hurdles of tapping your home equity.
You are comfortable with risk.
Final Thoughts
Paying off your mortgage versus investing doesn’t have to be an either/or scenario. Depending on how much cash you have, you can both pay off some of your mortgage and invest. There’s never a bad time to pay down some or all of your mortgage, especially if you are close to retirement age and want to be debt-free.
However, investing in real estate in the current interest-rate environment requires careful consideration, taking into account all the points we’ve discussed. A savvy approach could be to use the money you’re thinking about investing in another property, with a mortgage, and instead buy an ADU or convert a part of your existing rental to increase its cash flow and thus accelerate your ability to pay it off without the risk of leveraging to buy another home.
U.S. Bank says its partnership with Kroger is ending, and Kroger cardholders will be converted to the U.S. Bank Smartly™ Visa Signature® Card between August and October 2026. The replacement card has no annual fee and earns an unlimited 2% cash back on all eligible purchases.
As an appreciation bonus, converted cardholders will earn an additional 1% back at grocery stores, gas stations and EV charging stations for 12 months, bringing the total return in those categories to 3% during the first year. Existing balances, credit limits and rewards will transfer automatically, but cardholders will receive a new account number and expiration date.
One Kroger-specific perk will disappear. The additional 5 cents per gallon at Kroger Fuel Centers ends once the new Smartly Card is activated.
Existing Boost memberships will remain valid through their current expiration dates. Check your expiration date online or call 1-800-576-4377 for more information.
