Financial Wisdom Replaces Fear With Peace
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Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love.

and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, host of The Rachel Cruz Show, co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour, and my daughter is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Lisa is in New York. Hi, Lisa. Welcome to The Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. What an honor. And I can't even believe I got through. I will make it quick. I am a divorced, now single woman, was in a relationship with a man for seven years. He needed to borrow money. I know how you feel about that, but I did it anyway because I thought we were going for the long haul.

$200,000 later, he lost all the money. He was doing some crypto something, lost all the money. Um, he has since ended the relationship. So now I am out $200,000, which was basically the majority of what I had. Um, I gave the money with my heart so I can say I'm leaving it in God's hands. If I get the money back, he is making monthly payments, but he's basically just paying me back the interest at this point. Um,

But with the money that I do have left to my name, I'm 55 years old, and I approximately have $95,000 left to my name. I would like to know how can I make that money work better for me so that I'm not working forever and ever and ever, which I may have to be, but I want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing with what I have left. That's a sad story of how we got here.

It is. It is. And I really thought that I was going to be going the long haul, but I still love him. I'm still in contact with him, obviously. He has his own financial problems. Yeah, I think. Yeah. Okay. And I... You kind of got that part figured out, I hope. All right. The good news is he's in the rearview mirror. The bad news is we're $200,000 poorer. The other news is this. Let's just play pretend that none of that happened.

And you were sitting here and you just called me and said, I'm 55. I got $95,000. Am I going to be okay? Answer is, yeah, if you get on a budget, you stay out of debt, you invest in your 401K and plan on working for the next 10, 12 years. Absolutely. You're going to be okay. Right now. But the 95 is not going to make you okay, Lisa. Your work, what do you earn? Between $56,000 and $60,000 a year. I'm a server in a high-end restaurant.

So some days it's great and some days it's bad. It's not a consistent paycheck, but I do love my job. Do they have 401k available to this?

They do, but they don't recommend doing it through our company because they don't match. So I don't. I save my own money. I'm not a spender. I'm very, very reasonable with myself. I own my own car. I have zero debt. Good. Okay. So really what you've got to do is you've got to fund a Roth IRA and you need to be saving. Are you out of debt completely?

No debt, zero debt. Okay, good. Do you have an emergency fund of any kind, three to six months of expenses?

Well, that's my, you know, $100,000 that I have left. Okay, that's not an emergency fund. Where is that money, Lisa, right now, that $95,000? Right now, I have $90,000 in a high-yield savings account, which I was making about $600 a month in interest with all the money that I had, but now I'm down to like $130 a month in interest, which is hideous. And then...

That $14,000 I have in a stock from my ex-husband's work that I just leave. I don't even look at it, and it grows a little bit and does what it does, and I'm just leaving it there. Okay, here's what I want you to do. And I keep the balance. Here's what I want you to do. Yeah, go ahead. I want you to go to RamseySolutions.com and click on SmartVestor Pro and find one in your area that can sit down with you and design your investment plan. Your investment plan needs to sound like this.

Of the $90,000, three to six months of expenses, which is $15,000 for you, needs to go in a high-yield savings.

The rest of this, including cashing out that stupid stock, needs to go in good growth stock mutual funds, and some of it needs to go into a Roth IRA in growth stock mutual funds. Okay? And you need to do a Roth IRA every year, and you probably need to be doing some in this 401K, even though they don't match, because I need you to start investing 15% of your $65,000 or $70,000 a year, and the Roth IRA won't quite get you there. Okay.

Okay. And if you start investing that, you're going to be investing $10,000, $12,000 a year in good mutual funds and a retirement account. In 10 years, you're going to have some money. Okay. So who am I calling? SmartVestorPros.com.

There's a list of them at RamseySolutions.com, and it's the people we recommend in the investment world. You can look at them. They'll sit down with you and have the heart of a teacher. I want you to understand what you're doing. That's why we require them to have the heart of a teacher.

But basically, we're going to put all this money in good mutual funds, most of it in Roth IRAs where we can, and maybe some in a 401k. And you're going to systematically start rebuilding your wealth by steadily investing over the next 10 to 12 years. Okay. And you'll end up further along than you were before you met Crypto Bro, who screwed you over. And don't do that again, by the way. I think she learned her lesson. I hope so.

I hope so. The next time someone comes along and pulls at your heart, tell them to take a walk when it comes to your wallet. I know. And that's where people get in trouble, though, because, I mean, she said it, and it's true. It's like you're in a relationship for years and years and years and years, and you never get married, and it's as much liability. They got a divorce.

No, I think she had an ex-husband. I think this was the guy she was dating. Oh, you know what? That's how I understood it. You might be right. I don't think they were ever married. Oh, that's even worse. Yeah, because she said, I thought we were going the long haul. I think. Either way, Lisa. So he dated you so he could fund his crypto. Not because of. I don't believe that, Lisa. No, I think he dated you because he loved you. Yeah. And then she had money.

That he could use and he and he believed the crypto thing. That's the thing is they just it's the quick cash. It's the it's the Vegas of today. It's like, hey, here's the smart investing. Here's the shortcut. If only it was only as risky as Vegas, that would be nice.

More risky than Vegas. This is like a sure thing you're going to lose it. I know. Yeah. It's just, I mean. Yeah. And Lisa in the single stock, because she was like, I just want to leave that. So I know, but explaining and understanding that that puts you at a level of risk, because if that company for some reason has a downturn, then that $14,000 is going down and you can earn so much more.

From a diversification standpoint, but also from the interest rate, you can earn more diversifying and putting that money in mutual funds, Lisa. So when we were talking about the single stock, and that's what the SmartVestor Pro is going to be able to help you. They can guide you through that and teach you all of that. And so we've just got to get the majority of that $90,000, $95,000 to work for you. It's not working. $130, like you said, is horrendous. And you said that properly.

But guard your heart, kiddo. You don't get a second one of these. You've done your one. You don't get another one. Would you have him still pay her? She said he's kind of just still paying me. Would you just let that? Yeah, I would love him for her to pay her, but my expectation of this is close to zero. I mean, crypto bro's going to pay his debt? Come on. Really? I doubt it. Scott is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, Scott, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thanks so much. How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up?

So my wife and I were, we moved to Charlotte a few months ago in hopes of trying to find a house. And just with mortgage interest rates, we've kind of been priced out of the market around here. And my mom offered me the option to be gifted her house with the caveat that the house is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And my wife and I are trying to

We're trying to figure out, we don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, and we kind of want an objective opinion on, we're trying to balance safety and concerns with where we want to live versus being gifted a house. And I respect both you and Rachel a lot just on money principles and in a lot of other aspects, so getting just an outside perspective would be awesome. I don't think you want to live in Minneapolis the way you framed this sentence.

Well, I moved out of the Twin Cities in 2020 for kind of obvious reasons. And no, it's we don't want to live in Minneapolis. Then don't. But it's the same. But you feel like it's crazy to pass up a house.

It's crazy to have essentially a house that we'd be so close to family. I have two little kids, a two-year-old, and my daughter is going to be born in August. It'd be close to family. It'd be close to everything. Part of the deal is it's a five-bedroom house, split level. My mom would get a room in the basement.

Um, we kind of take care of her until, until she passes. Um, she gets the rest of her life with her grandkids. Um, and we'd get a, you know, a house for half the, half the mortgage. Cause I'd be, I'd have to buy my brother out cause that would be the inheritance. But I, I get the ability to raise my family. What do you, what do you make a year? I make 125. Okay. All right. Well, I, um,

you know, if I were in your shoes, I would not go. For the same reasons that you left are the reasons you don't want to return, and you're creating a family situation that's unusual and potentially strained with a permanent lockdown. You don't have a choice. Once you get into this, you can't get out of it. So 10 years from now, you can't do anything with it. You're screwed until she dies. And so, you know...

Here's another idea. If you want her to live in your basement and your wife wants her to live in her basement, tell her to sell her house in Minneapolis and come buy a house in North Carolina. I thought about that. The problem is because my brother and his family lives in Minnesota, it's

It's hard for her to be impossible really for her to do that. She it's, it's been her home too. So the child at home, I hear what you're saying. I know, but I mean, it's, it's the same. Scott, would y'all move there? Because you, the, what the pros were, there's family and all of that. Would you move there if you weren't, you know, given this deal, would you guys look for houses in Minneapolis in that area? They already left. Well, no, I'm asking. It's a, it's a hypothetical question.

Yeah, no, Minneapolis would not be our choice. Okay, so that helps the answer. I need Scott to answer that. We know that because you left. Yeah, okay. But it's going back. So my thing was, if the deal wasn't there, is there any part of Scott that would want to go back at all? You're a good son, and your mom misses her grandkids, and it tugs at your heart, and that means you're a good guy. But it's a bad idea.

Okay. I appreciate that. Can I just say, too, I really appreciate it. I started Baby Step 2 in 2018 with $220,000 in student loan debt, and in three years, four months, and 21 days, I became debt-free. Wow. And it was all due to your teaching. So I'm honored to speak with you, Dave. You, too. How much do you have saved for a down payment? We have about $70,000 saved. Okay.

Go 20 miles further out of Charlotte than you've been looking, and it's going to start to feel like the boonies because it is. Okay? And you'll find a real estate deal. Okay. Charlotte's a good market, but it's like any typical good, solid, mid-sized city. Charlotte and Nashville are very similar, except Nashville's outgrown it lately. Okay.

But the further you get from downtown, the cheaper the prices are. It's like if you drop a pebble in the middle and the rings that go out,

That's an urban growth theory. As the rings go out away from the city, it gets cheaper unless you run into a mountain or a lake, and then it goes up because of those things. But other than that, it's going to get cheaper the further out of downtown you get, and you'll find something there. You've just been looking in a neighborhood you can't afford, and you make $120,000, you have $70,000 down. Honey, you can buy a house in Charlotte, and it's not the interest rates that are keeping you from doing it. It's just the whole shift in your whole life.

And things shifted on you in the economy while you were making these moves around. And so you're still reeling a little bit from all these moves and all the, you know, you left your home in a violent COVID situation.

rioting situation, which is why you left. And two things really going on there bad in the Twin Cities at that time in 2020. And there's a lot of people left there at that time. And you're looking for freedom and you're looking for safety and security for your kids. And then while you did that, everybody came out of their caves after COVID like a Baptist looking for a casserole and buying houses left and right.

and that they ran the dead gum prices through the roof and then interest rates bumped on top of that and it's kind of going there by a little bit of deer in the headlights. For sure and has been for a while but I think what's hard is his dilemma, what I was hearing him say is are we crazy to pass up this crazy financial opportunity, you know? You're not crazy. And so that's the thing is that when people get presented,

They feel like, oh my gosh, I need to shift my whole life. My gut check is like this. Revolve everything around them. Yeah, because it's such a huge deal. Because to your point, the market, the housing market can feel so impossible. So someone kind of gives you what feels like a get out of jail free card. And you're like, is that crazy that I'm not taking that card? But the way he phrased it is what you were saying too earlier is that

He didn't really want to go, right? I mean, you're just doing it because you feel like there's this asset out there and I'm crazy if I pass it up. And it wasn't a free and clear house either. I mean, the ties to family with your mom in there. A lot of strings. And we hear this a lot even with family members that have a plot of lands. We got this call a few weeks ago. And everyone wants to build on it and everyone chip in. The old family compound nightmare. But what's hard is you're stuck there because if you want to move...

Your family don't want to live, you know, with some stranger in the house. You know, so like, I mean, you do, you get put in these permanent situations because other people build their lives around your decisions. And that's what you discover is there are no forever homes other than heaven. And so locking yourself into something forever, you're going to set yourself up for getting your head taken off. Yeah. And, you know, there are some daughters-in-law want their mother-in-law in the basement, but not many.

As the audience is laughing. Well, I mean, you can love them, but they're easier to love from a distance. I mean, it's just, you need a little boundary here. It's nothing, it's not a lot, it doesn't mean you don't like them, it doesn't mean you don't love them. That's not the point. But, yeah.

Yeah, sharing a space. That's a really good question, and the beautiful part about that question is just his sweetheart. He loves his mom. He loves his brother, and she misses her grandkids. You know she does. Oh, yeah. I can relate. If you guys try to take the grandkids and leave, I'm going with you. And so I'll live in your basement. Here comes Dave. Here comes Dave in the basement. But, yeah, I mean, it's just hard. It's hard when families have been separated by these things.

By this political thing, really, I mean, the number of families that have left California and left the Twin Cities and left New York and have moved to other areas during this time is it's record setting. It's a record migration. Chicago. One of the largest migrations in American history in the last five years.

And so in changing the shifts in population, the shifts in voting blocks, everything is very interesting. And it's very, very real. But in the middle of all that is grandma doesn't get to see her kids, grandkids. And they were down the street. And that just tears your heart out, man. I appreciate his heart being sweet about that. That's that's important. And that can skew you. So it's good to ask in the multitude of counts of their safety. I understand why you'd want to do it, but I wouldn't do it. That's the answer to your question.

The statistics show that half of Americans don't have enough life insurance, or they don't have any at all. I don't understand this, John. Why don't people want to take care of their family? They think they're going to die or something? Well, I used to be one of those guys. I didn't even think about it. And one of my buddies said, hey, the only reason to not have life insurance is if you hate your wife and kids.

And I immediately went and got term life insurance. That's a gut punch. Oh, you're telling me. And for decades, Dave, I've sat across people who've lost a spouse. They've lost somebody important to them. Me too. And they don't know what to do next. Me too. I mean, you're going to have a crisis here.

And, you know, you got two options while you're sitting and talking to a young widow. She's concerned about how she's going to invest all this money properly and not mess this up, or she's concerned how she's going to eat tomorrow. That's exactly right. These are the two options. Take care of your dadgum family, man. Term life insurance can replace income, pay off debts, cover funeral expenses, so your family can actually...

have the opportunity to just be sad. Yeah. To just miss you. That's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's saying I love you to your family. Term Life Insurance. Jeff Zander and the team at Zander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years. They're the only people I trust. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Hey,

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CHM programs start as low as $98 a month, so learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Mason is in Huntsville. Hi, Mason. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. How are y'all doing today? Great. How can we help?

Yes, sir. I've got a quick question. So I've started a business within the last year. I'm coming up on a year in business, and I'm curious if I should open a business credit card or to continue to cash flow my business. I feel like cash flowing a business is almost holding me back from my potential. It's holding you back from going broke. That's your potential. The number one cause of small business failure is cash flow problems. Cash flow problems are caused by business debt.

Mm-hmm. Don't listen. If you love your business, don't borrow into it. Okay. So what are you doing? So I'm running a mobile RV repair business. Okay.

Full-time, or are you working a side job, too? Or is this a side job? This is a side job. I'm 20 years old. I'm in college, and I also work full-time as a software engineer. Great. Good for you. You're a hustler, man. You've got a lot going on. Proud of you. That's good. Okay, so how much volume did you do in your business of mobile RV repair? So in the past year to date, I've done 68,000. Good for you.

And revenue. That's not profit. I know. I know. But yeah. So how much of that would you call profit? So profit, I would say probably about $20,000, give or take. So why did you, how'd you spend $48,000 on a mobile repair? You've been buying tools and trucks?

So, yes, when I started out, I was running my business out of my Tahoe, and then I purchased a company vehicle to run calls on, as well as purchasing all the tools. And a lot of the parts in this industry, unfortunately, cost a lot. So anywhere from $1,100 to $2,100 on just one single part most of the time. Oh, okay. So your cost of the call. I got you. Okay. All right. How'd you learn to do this, Mason?

So I have a really big mentor back home that kind of got me into this. And overall, I've always enjoyed working with my hands. A lot of it is just pretty common sense, honestly. No. It's as common as common sense, which is a guy like you. Way to go, man. I'm proud of you. So here's the deal. Here's the thing I want you to grasp. If you're looking for secret sauce in your business,

His name is Mason. You're the secret sauce. No one else's brain works just like yours. What you're doing here is an anomaly. It is wonderful. You are the key to this, not more tools and trucks.

Your brain works fabulously as an entrepreneur. You're doing a really, really stellar job. The only thing you've got to do is keep from getting caught up in, if I spend more, I'll make more. Not necessarily. Okay. So what would you buy on this credit card? Because you've got the truck and the tools. Primarily parts. So, for example... You want to stock parts. Yes.

Not stocking parts necessarily because I do already have a stock pile of parts, most of the parts I use on an everyday basis. But there's certain things that I don't carry in stock on me that will cost a few thousand dollars. Like recently I had an air conditioner that was $1,900 and an awning that was $1,800, which left me with like $400 in my business account.

Okay, two answers to that. That's a really good example. Thank you. This is very helpful. Dude, you're like 10 years ahead of yourself. I'm so proud. This is amazing. So I really want to encourage you, but I'm begging you to not use a card. Okay, so number one, I want you to start setting back a larger percentage of your profits because now your profits should be greater than they were last year because you're not buying a truck or tools anymore. Quit spending all your money on things

crap in the business and use the crap that you already own to make some money. Okay. Your investment year was last year. Your profit year is this year. Okay. You following me? Yes, sir. If you don't spend it all on more tools and parts this year. So, so be careful with that. If you're doing that, a larger percentage of your 70,000 a year will be profit than it was last year. Agreed? Yeah. Okay. Then we're going to take a sum of that profit and start to build a little pile of cash for buying parts with.

That's fix number one. You're going to be your own line of credit. Okay. Okay. Number two fix is I'm going to change my terms with these customers. Anytime a part that I'm bringing as a young 20-year-old college student to your freaking $300,000 RV, anytime I'm bringing you a part in excess of $1,000, you're advancing that. Okay. Let them pay for it because they're going to pay for it anyway when you build them. Yeah, that's what I was wondering. Yeah.

Okay, yeah, because recently I've only been doing 50%. 50% is fine, but if it's over $1,000, I don't need you to cover my labor. I don't need a deposit on my labor. I'll risk that. But I'm going over here and picking up a $3,000 air conditioner for you, and I'm 20 years old and in college. So you need to pay for the air conditioner, dude. And the guy's going to go, well, sure.

Okay. And just let, you know, I'll listen. Here's the invoice. You just cut me a check for that. And then you use his money to go buy the air conditioner. And then you just charge him for the other stuff. And that's not an unreasonable thing. You don't want nickel and dime among little stuff. But if you, you know, set a limit, anything above two grand, okay.

Or maybe $1,500 or whatever. So that gets rid of the cash flow problem. And if you did have a cash flow issue and you want to dip into it, you can build your own line of credit with your increased profits. Don't fall into the credit card trap, Mason. You're way too bright to do that. You've got way too much potential. This thing's got upside, man. And the way your brain works, you're going to be able to start something in a few years, this or something else, and you're going to go bananas. You're getting some really good business training right there. I love America.

I mean, I'm unemployed. I'm not. I'm fixing RVs out of the back of my Tahoe, and I'm 20, and I made 70 grand while you're sitting on your thumbs talking about how everything's falling apart in Trump world. Give me a break. This is an awesome country. I love the free enterprise system. God, man.

As long as we got kids like that, there's hope, man. Life is good. Michael. Michael is in Palm Springs. Hey, Michael. How are you? Hey, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call. Really appreciate it. Our pleasure.

My wife and I are going through a bit of a financial challenge, really need your advice, long-time listeners, so I kind of have a general idea of what you guys will say already. But I lost my job in August. It was a higher-paying job, and we have a significant amount of consumer debt.

about 120,000 and we're considering selling our home to get out of the consumer debt. And then also the home, we used a family friend to finance it. It's on a private note right now that is interest only. And if we were to sell the house, we would clear all of the debt and then also have about maybe 80 or 90,000 in a savings.

So I wanted to get your advice around that. What were you making before you lost your job? I was making, I was bringing home about $150,000. Doing what? I'm in the financial services industry. And that was August. Correct, yeah. What are you doing now? Why are you not reemployed?

I am. I am. I got rehired at a different firm in January, but it's a different position that makes significantly less. What are you making now? About $65, $70. Why did you do that? It was a bit out of necessity, but because I did lose the job, I couldn't really find another higher-paying position. What were you doing? I'm a branch manager for a retail bank. Okay. All right.

Now? Now I'm just a traditional banker. Oh, I see. So I'm no longer in management, yeah. Okay. Well, if you're going to adjust your life to your new income, then, yeah, this whole deal makes sense. But I'm still wondering, once you make $150,000, you ought to be gravitating back that way and not be settling for $65,000. Maybe banking ain't your thing because that's a big drop. I think you're worth more than you're getting paid. So, you know, is selling the house fixes the temporary? Does it fix the permanent?

That's what you got to ask. Buying or selling real estate right now is a big deal. And between all the clickbait headlines and the confusing data out there, it's tough to know what's actually going on because people try to hype it up one way or the other. The real world is this. The median house price in America today is $431,000. That means half of them are above that and half of them are below that. That's what that statistical measure means. Interesting.

And inventory's up. There are more houses on the market right now, over a million right now, than at any time since 2019. And prices are up. And interest rates are down. They're down under 6%. So it's a good time, actually, to buy, and it's actually a good time to sell. So 15-year fixed is 5.9 right now.

just to give you an idea. And so if you want to know data like that, you know, check out the housing market trends. We help you do this with free tools. Doesn't cost you a thing. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash market, or you can click the link in the show notes and we'll show you the stuff that's going on out there for real. No hype. Josh is in Atlanta. Hi, Josh. How are you? Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Same here, Dave. Same here. So about two years ago, I started my financial journey, and it was partially inspired by you. I came across one of your videos, and I was at a point in my life where I met my wife, and my family really needed me to step up. And my wife has some medical issues, and

She also was touched by tragedy. She had lost a child previously, and it kind of exacerbated some issues and gotten in the way of her job, and she was in recovery. Anyway, long story short on that note, once we got together, I was able to pull us out, and I was able to overcome and become debt-free. Good for you.

Recently, about eight months ago, I found out about a massive windfall that she would be receiving. It was due to a legal settlement. And for the past eight months, I've just been on a journey where I've been dead dedicated to not getting this wrong. And I'm basically at the point nowadays where I had my plan set.

I've been doing nothing but working on it. And I'm kind of circling back to where I started because I'm at a crossroads. I have an appointment with a wealth management firm tomorrow, and I'm looking to get the money on Monday.

And I have my plan in my hands. I have all the voices out there that are telling me all different types of things. And I'm just kind of bringing it back because what you did worked and your overall life philosophy and ideals align with mine. So...

You don't need my money. And I just don't want to get this wrong, Dave. So I'm coming to you just to say, what do I need to know? What don't I know? Because the scary part is I think I kind of have an idea, and that's what scares me. Okay. Thinking that I know what to do. How much is this? It's going to be $4.7 million after tax. Lump sum? Yes, sir. Okay. Yeah, that's enough to scare you, if you're wise.

And you are wise, obviously. So a couple of basics we can cover, and you probably already know these, is the wealthy people that I know, and I know thousands of them, and I've studied them as well. Our firm does research on them, violate the stereotypes that not wealthy people think they do. Not wealthy people think that wealthy people have some kind of trick bag.

You can do a double backflip family partnership limited bull crap. They don't exist. Okay? The secrets of the rich are this. Keep it simple. Very simple. Rule number one. Rule number two. Don't put money in anything unless you understand it. Rule number three. You and your wife meet with the people that are teaching you.

And don't ask your wife what she thinks. Ask her how she feels. Okay. Who can find a virtuous wife for her worth is far above rubies, the heart of her husband. Safely trust her, and he will have no lack of gain. If Sharon has a bad feeling in a meeting, it's the last one. Wow. She doesn't even have to explain it.

It might be he just had bad breath. I don't care. We're not going back in there. Okay? And that has saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars of Dave doing stupid stuff. Okay? I'm serious. Those are three very simple principles. Okay? You don't have to be fancy. You do have to understand it. And your wife and you need to have a peace relationship.

about it. You've had a lot of turmoil, a lot of medical issues, a lot of drama. It's time for some peace. And the finances need to add peace, not anxiety. Okay. And if you feel yourself tightening up in your chest, that's God talking to you. Take a breath, walk out. Don't do it right now. If it's not adding peace, we're not doing it. Josh, I'm curious. You said, I had a plan.

And now I'm thinking about it, but I don't know if it's right. I'm curious, what would you have done with this money if you hadn't called? What was the plan?

So what I came up with, and I'm going to get it wrong because I'm nervous, half because I got that meeting, tomorrow half because I'm on air, but I'll try to get this right. You're good. I was going to establish a trust. I was going to put money into the four types of mutual funds, you know, growth, growth income, growth, aggressive growth, international. A little thing I came up with, Dave, on my own. Yeah.

And then I was going to have an emergency fund, and then I was going to look at getting into some physical real estate. Growing up, my parents had a service industry locksmith, and they based their business off of property managers. And you're going to pay cash? And I know a lot of property managers. I'm going to pay cash, and I'm going to start off small. I'm not going to get greedy. I would do everything you're doing except I don't think you need a trust. Really? No. Okay. A trust does nothing here. You don't have an estate tax problem.

And trusts are mainly for estate tax problems. Okay. But I think everything you're doing there, assuming you can be competent in the real estate part of it, which I think you can. You were getting ready to explain that when I cut you off. But, yeah, I'm with Rachel. I think that's wise. Now, the other thing is, when I hear the phrase wealth management, I get a little bit hair on the back of my neck, okay? So I don't know what you're going into over there tomorrow.

And so just keep it simple, which is what you've done so far. Don't put money in stuff you don't understand, which is what you've done so far. And if they want to change the direction of that, walk. I see. You're capable of doing this. This is not rocket surgery. You can do it. Rocket surgery. Well, it's a combination of brain surgery and rocket science, right?

Yeah, I like it. It's very complicated. Kind of like brain science and rocket surgery. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That's it. I mean, I guess the core of my question to be specific, and I don't want to take up all your time with her.

issues with being in recovery. They're kind of at a sensitive point in time. She kind of needs me for at least 24 months. And so what I'm looking at, I'm weighing the options of can I do the work? I have a fire in my belly, Dave. I'm ready to go to work, but my family may need me. And before I was selling my time for money, I'm a federal security contractor and make about $50,000 a year.

I'm no longer keeping the lights on. I'm keeping my family healthy and guiding us and orientating the ship. Well, I mean, if this generates a 10% rate of return, you're going to have $400,000, $500,000 a year coming in. Yeah. Managing the family office. Yes, yes, sir. So, I mean, if your rental properties are cash flowing to the tune of net, net, net of 10% of everything, and your mutual funds are averaging 10%,

I mean, you're going to be dealing with that, which is more than you've ever money and you've ever made in your life. Do you guys have kids, Josh? Yes, we do. We're blessed with a 14-year-old and an 8-year-old. Okay. Yeah. Is she emotionally capable of attending these meetings? She is emotionally capable of attending these meetings. Our strategy has always been the same, Dave. I'm not wanting to stress her and ask her to make all the financial sophisticated decisions. I just want her feeling on the room. I want her to feel the room.

And I want you to meet with more than just the person you're meeting with tomorrow. Meet with a smart investor pro, too. Get some other people in your corner. Get a second opinion.

All right, Dave, you have some strong opinions. Possibly, yeah. Yeah, I think so. Okay, because you really prefer credit unions over big banks. Well, credit unions, for one thing, are non-profit, which means that the members, the customers, own the credit union. So any profits that the credit union makes goes back into customer pricing. Mm-hmm.

So you get better interest rate on savings, cheaper checking, and so on, that kind of thing. But what's more important than that, though, is the fact that the customer is the owner changes the spirit on the credit union. So I find very few credit unions that aren't very customer-centric. Well, and I think we have found one that is incredible, and that's Fairwinds.

They are an incredible credit union that is really out with the heart to help the customer. They're the right kind of people with the right kind of values. And they've done a really, really good job with customer service. And the deals that they're offering, the Ramsey Tribe is incredible. Yeah, absolutely. And I love it. The things that we teach, they so line up with. And you're right, their customer service is unbelievable. Winston and I just signed up and we got an account. And I'm not kidding. It took less than five minutes.

It was so user-friendly. Like, the step-by-step approach was unbelievable. And then the next day, my phone rings, and it says Fairwinds on my phone. So I answered it and talked to someone there, and they said, yeah, they give calls to every new customer. And so, again, they just really care about your experience. And I...

I so, so appreciate that. Plus, anything that you can do at a traditional branch, you can do with them at fairwinds.org or on their app. And you'll have free access to over 33,000 ATMs. Hey, you guys know how much I hate banks in general. And so for me to do this is a big deal. Talk to our friends at Fairwinds.

and check out the combined checking and savings bundle that they created just for the Ramsey tribe. You guys, it's incredible. Yeah, you guys, it's so easy to join Fairwinds no matter where you live. So go to fairwinds.org slash Ramsey. Larry is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Larry, how are you? Pretty good. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up?

i love to hear it well my question today isn't really about me it's about my parents so both of my parents are completely debt free they've always been really good with their money they have about 110 000 in savings

And they have nothing invested in their 401k, no Roth, no nothing in their retirement. Because I think it's mostly more my dad always doing the stock market as more of a gamble and he fears it. And now that they're in their mid-50s, I just want them to retire at some point. And me being the only child, it's going to be kind of more burden on me when they kind of get older. Because I can't really split money.

You know help between siblings and all that stuff and you know any little extra income probably on their end would help because they can't work forever So I'm just trying to figure out how can I convince my dad to stop being scared of investing? And finally get him to start doing it and trying to convince him. That's not too late Is he asking? No, I brought it up first

And then he kind of asked me, like, you know, why are you kind of worried about me retiring so much? I'm just like, I just want you to retire, have a good life. You see, you know, my grandparents, they're doing well. They haven't worked in about, you know, 10, 15 years or so. They're doing good, and I just want you to have the same thing. But right now, I'm just not really seeing it going that way, you know. How old are you? I am 24. Okay. All right.

I appreciate your heart for them. What you're running into is what's called the powdered butt syndrome. Once someone has powdered your butt, they don't really want your opinion on sex or money. Right. And so it's very difficult for 24-year-olds to advise 55-year-old dads. Oh, yeah. It's just the dynamic of that relationship is very hard. It's very unusual that your dad would go, hey, hey.

Larry, tell me everything you know about investing. You know, it just doesn't really come up that way usually. It's almost like they snicker and roll their eyes when you start talking. That would be more normal anyway. So, you know, the only thing I can do is there's two things that have, three things that have worked. One is I would pray for them and ask God to speak to them.

Right. Right.

Not quite. He has been kind of listening to me somewhat, but I think in my approach to it, maybe because I'm still learning all this stuff. Yeah, it might be. That's fair. But I'm saying, is there a person that's 65 that he looks up to? Probably his parents, which would be my grandparents that I talked about. They might have more say than you would have. Matter of fact, I know they have more say than you would have.

Oh, yeah. If your grandpa sat down and said, hey, if you had parked that $100,000 in an S&P for the last two years, you'd have an extra $50,000 right now that you don't have. That's what it cost him in the last two years. It cost him $50,000 in the last two years. Right. We had a 23% year and a 26% year, 23 and 24. That's what the S&P did.

If he just parked it in a simple standard and poor. So it cost him $50,000. So that's the other thing. Now, the third thing is you can do is don't talk to him about him. Tell him your story. This is what I'm learning. This is what I'm doing. This is what's happening when I got out of debt. This is how I feel different. I feel more hopeful than I did.

And I've learned, here's what I learned about the market. I'm investing in the market, and the reason I am is I looked at it and I realized it's the track record on the stock market, even though the bad news is always on the news, the track record on the stock market is as solid as that house you and mom live in. You didn't get a guarantee on it, and I want to own real estate, and I want to own mutual funds because both of them have a long-term track record of going up.

And neither one of them have a guarantee. And that's what I'm doing, Dad. But you don't have to say, and you should do it too. Don't add that. So you're changing your approach to telling your story. Yeah. I'm curious, Larry, how do you know that they have nothing invested? Are they pretty open with you about where they are? Oh, yeah.

I grew up with my dad. He never told me not to invest in a 401k or nothing like that. But I've always heard him say, Mark, I was just gambling. Might as well just go to a casino. I started learning about S&P 500 and Roths, all that stuff. And he's known about it for a long time. He's been alive long enough. But

He just sees it that there's just no difference. And I think he started listening to me because I did buy him the book Retired Inspired, and I recently gave him two of my copies of Dave Ramsey's books. And he's been skimming through it. I think he's starting to open up. I'm just trying to like – there's just like something I'm not wording right where I think he will do it. Well, the statement that the market is the same risk level as Vegas is an inaccurate statement mathematically. Okay.

I agree. It's just, I mean, it's very simple. The market is more akin to single-family homes than it is Vegas. Right. And so it does go down more than single-family homes when it goes down. Single-family homes seldom go down.

Almost never. But you don't have a guarantee on either. And when you're investing, what you're learning to invest based on is the track record. And when someone makes a statement like, oh, it's the same thing as going to Vegas, that means they just don't understand the track record of the market. And so there's some interesting, I'll tell you one to pull up and look at. And you might even just send him the link over and go, hey, I was studying this. What do you think about it?

There's an interesting chart on American funds. Go to American funds website and it shows what the market has done. And they have a fund called ICA, which is one of the largest and oldest funds investment company of America. And you can look at that or you can look at the S&P. It's the same. It'll do about the same thing. And you can go, okay, looking at the S&P in the last 25 years, there's been three down years. Right. Interesting. That's way different than Vegas. Yeah.

That's the S&P, which is the market. We've had three down years in annualized basis in the last 25 years. That's kind of shockingly stable. Yeah, that is. Yeah. So, I mean, you can pull up stuff like that on the S&P. That old ICA fund is just interesting because they've got a great illustration. Yeah, and just have some patience, Larry. If he's been saying this your whole life, this is going to be an untangling of a mindset that he's had for 20-plus years. Yeah.

Just have some patience. Yeah. You know, it's not going to happen overnight. You got a long project on your hands. When you try to change your parents, it doesn't happen overnight. Trust me. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. I knew this was coming. I'm kidding. I knew I wasn't getting out of this cold unscathed.

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Today's question comes from, is it Michaela in Virginia? What do you think about the recent government proposals to give a baby bonus payment to encourage couples to have kids? I'm going to be honest, I'm not up to date on all of this stuff. But is it, I don't think it's, is it to encourage people to have kids? Or is it like a, hey, here's like an assistance to like a child tax credit opposite? You know what I mean? Like I kind of see it as like a opposite of,

a tax credit, but it's like, here's a, here's a thing. Here's the deal. If the only reason you had a kid is because the government was going to give you money, you got issues. If I could sing, I would sing. And your kid's going to have issues after you had issues. So it's a, it's a bad motivation. How much is it? Do you know? I don't know. I should have known. It doesn't matter. The government needs to stay out of this crap.

Having babies shouldn't be a government operation. I'm just saying. They can screw up Christmas. They don't need to screw that up. So, I mean, no, it's not. No, no. I would go for like child care stuff. How about just everybody live your own life and you don't need the government for your own freaking life? How about you go do something with your own butt? I like child care stuff. Quit waiting around on the government to give me money. I'm not waiting around. Your life is not going to be better because of the government ever.

There's never a time where you went, oh, the government saved my bacon. No, they stole my bacon regularly. That's what they did. So there we go. Yeah. Kevin's in Cleveland. Hi, Kevin. How are you? Not bad. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can I help?

So I'm going to, I'll keep this as brief as I can, but there's a lot to it. So basically about 10 years, my dad died. My sister moved in with my mom. He had her set up. My mom set up to where she could live in her mid nineties without having any, any issues, any change of lifestyle at all with that ranch house and everything. They ended up buying a, a,

A large two-story, five-bedroom, four-bath house where currently they have a mortgage. My mom's savings is gone. She's got early stage dementia. Wait, who? I'm sorry. Kevin, who bought the house? His sister screwed the deal up. My mom. Your mom, but your sister's the one kind of assisting in all of this. Causing it. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. Okay.

Your sister screwed it up. That's what I heard you say. Did you say that? Would you agree with that? I agree with that, yes. Okay. All right. Okay.

Sadly, but so basically neither of neither of them would be able to afford this house on their own at any point. So my mom's monthly income is going solely towards the mortgage. And she's got early stage dementia. Her savings is gone. Been trying to get it.

um me and my brother been trying to get you know things situated and and what we think would be a better uh better better situation but there's backlash from my sister and i think i think i think my uh my mom is convinced by by her um to have it i mean like she um i don't know who has power of attorney i'm

So I'm not sure anyone has power of attorney yet. There's not a medical power of attorney? Well. I don't think she's been diagnosed with any, right? So she was on some medication for it to kind of slow it down. Is there a will and a health care power of attorney? There is a will. There may be a health care, but I was thinking you meant financial. Well, it's the same thing.

I mean, health care can dictate the care, but once someone is declared incompetent due to dementia, then the power of attorney takes over and runs the estate. Who is that? Probably your sister. I know my brother.

Well, my brother was taught. My brother is the oldest out of us, and he was the one that was talking several months ago about going and getting it. And I keep on having to remind him. Last time I was like, hey, did you get that? He's like, oh, no, it slipped my mind. Thanks for reminding me. I'm assuming it still hasn't been done, but I don't know. There's a copy of that stuff somewhere. That's what you're saying, go get? Yeah, I don't know. It's not publicly recorded.

It's the family lawyer or your mother has it in a lockbox or wherever the will is. That's where it is. My understanding is he was going to get going with my mom to get for him to get power of attorney. Oh, too late. She's got early onset dementia. She can't grant it. Oh, if she's been diagnosed as not as being semi mentally competent, she can't start signing documents. Okay. Has she been diagnosed as that or is that your all just your all suspicion?

Well, I know she's been to a doctor. I don't know whether or not she's... She definitely has it because, I mean, you could sit there and talk to her and she'll repeat the same thing over and over again. And you would lose... If she signed over something, you would lose it in court when your sister contested it. And your sister will contest it because what you're going to do with it immediately is sell this stupid house. Yeah. If you got it. But, oh, well. Okay, so what are we going to do? Well, I guess that's a question. At this point, it seems like...

I'm the lone dog, if you will. I mean, I'm the only one that's really willing to do anything about any of this. So I think that I have to kind of look out for myself in this at this point. What have you got in it? Well, I guess that's my question is what if she has to go into long-term care or anything or if there's any debt that before, I mean, what kind of liability do I have? Zero unless you sign for it.

Okay. If you go over at the nursing home and you sign up for it and you say, I'm liable, then you're liable. But if she just goes in on her own, your children, you do not inherit your debts. Okay. And so any, so if this house gets foreclosed on and your sister, your sister may, she probably signed on it. She probably, they probably go after her. But, um,

But, you know, you're not let's say your mom had a credit card. OK. And I owed $50,000 on it and she dies. You're not liable. OK. The estate is if she owns anything. When you die, what you own stands good for what you owe assets minus liabilities. That's the estate. But the end. But the heirs are not liable for anything.

But your sister would be if her name's on the house, if she signs. Yeah, I mean, you're not liable just because you're the kid. Are you worried, Kevin, that she's not going to have money to go into an assisted living even? She's not.

Like, is that part of your question? Yeah, she's that. Yeah, that's that's that's part of my question. My whole question, ideally, I would want. I mean, I've offered to have her live with me. My mom live with and then sell the house and get something where my. Yeah, that's it's my sister and her and her daughter and my mom. And that's in a gigantic house that they can't afford. And it doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, I do. Ideally, I would like.

all that, you know, everybody to have money. Does she have insurance, Kevin, like long-term care or anything? Well, that's another thing I don't, apparently they do, but I couldn't get the specifics on it. And I asked probably a year ago for it. And then when I asked again, I kind of got yelled at and accused of some things. So, yeah.

Well, I don't know that you're going to be able to affect this situation no matter how bad you want to unless prior to her dementia episodes she had signed a power of attorney that in the event that she became incapacitated, this person was assigned. That is a standard package with a will usually.

So if there's a will somewhere, there may be a health care power of attorney and a power of attorney in the event of diminished capacity. That would not be unusual. That's a fairly – like if you go to Mama Bear Legal Forms and you do a will, they're going to have those two things in the package, okay? That's a fairly standard basic will set. Okay.

So if that's laying somewhere, your brother probably has great power here to help your mom and put your sister where she belongs in the street. And so that's where she should be figuring this out instead of being a parasite. I can't stand parasites. Parasites in the family are awful.

They're just awful. Just gross. I get it. So, yeah, take care of your mom, buddy, if you can. But you're not liable. Hey, you guys, if you're looking to save big on groceries without sacrificing quality, you've got to check out Aldi. That's right, Rachel. Because let's be real, I'm bougie, but I'm also frugal. You are bougie, George. Thank you for admitting it. So why pay more for the same stuff just because it has a fancy label? Aldi shoppers save up to 36% on a typical shopping trip over name brand products at other stores.

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Two weekends are on sale now for the Money and Marriage Getaway. You can spend three incredible days in Nashville with your spouse learning the tools to strengthen your connection and deepen your intimacy and more. Dr. John Deloney and our own Rachel Cruz, both of them are our own, I guess, here in November or in February. You can decide. February is over, oddly enough. The marriage weekend is oddly enough over Valentine's Day.

Tickets start at only $4.95 per couple. They sell out.

Every time. There's just a handful left for November if you want to come. It's November 6th through 8th, February 12th through 14th. $7.49 a couple. What did I say? $4.49. Oh, I was about to give them a discount. Well, I know. I thought I just wanted to make sure everyone knows. Dave can't read. Clear it up. Just clear it up. Clear it up. Clear it up before we get out of this. All right. So check it out. RamseySolutions.com slash getaway. Or if you're on YouTube or podcast, it's in the show notes. Christine's in Chicago. Hi, Christine. How are you?

Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can we help? About three and a half years ago, my 15-year-old daughter passed away. Oh, my gosh. What in the world? What happened? You know, she was really struggling with mental health, and she just gave up. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you. Wow. Did you say three and a half years ago?

Yeah, she died in 2022. I can't even imagine. I'm so sorry. Thank you. After she passed, I let go of everything. I was evicted out of the house. I was rented for five years, lost everything, just kind of gave up on everything. My ex-husband, I was staying with him for a little bit, and then I got to the point where...

you know, it's like it came to sink or swim. So I started door dashing, grub-hubbing. I was living in my car for a short time.

And I have a family friend that reached out to me and she was like, come to my home. You know, I'll help you get on your feet, you know, mental health wise and so forth. Well, I just got a job opportunity. I just signed my offer letter. I started a job in two weeks. This is the first full-time job I've had since my daughter passed. I'm going to be making roughly about $64,000 a year. Good for you. I'm in being

Thank you. I'm in debt about 30, and part of that is my car loan. I have one more payment for funeral expense, and the rest is just like, you know, medical bills, no credit cards. I just don't know. I just don't know how to, like, get on my feet. I don't know, do I jump into this job and go run and get an apartment? Do I pay off my car? I feel like I just don't know.

what I should do once I start this job. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. You're crawling out, kiddo. I'm trying. I really am. It's been real hard. It's been real hard. I can tell. I can tell. So how's your emotional state? Are you doing okay? I'm a lot better, a lot better. I would say probably the last year has probably been. So this friend giving you a safe soft spot to land was a godsend. Yes.

Wonderful lady, wonderful lady. So how much longer do you stay there? Should you stay there? Is she expecting you to stay there? You know, with me getting this job, you know, she's motivated me a lot. Everything from getting out of bed to showering to, you know, finding this job that I finally got. You know, she wanted to see me in my own space, but she's not at the same time making me leave anytime soon. I would ask her what the timeline is she thinks is appropriate.

Okay. She has been such a blessing. The last thing you want to do is overstay your welcome. Agreed? Absolutely. I agree. Absolutely. Okay. And so, cause I don't want you thinking three months and her thinking three days. Sure. Sure. Sure. I want us to be aligned and then you know what you've got to deal with because your first job with the new job and with the emotions and everything is to create a sustainable situation. Definitely. Okay. And that's food, shelter,

utilities, and transportation and clothing. That's it. The debt I'm not worried about today, other than you've got to pay the car payment because you've got to keep a repo on it. What do you owe on the car? I owe about $18,000 on it right now. Do you want to keep it and pay it off quick?

Yeah, that was like my, you know, my plan. And that's like the biggest reason why I've always like kind of, I bet, to be honest, I've been teeter-tottering with, you know, it being repossessed, you know, like. How far behind are you? Right now, I'm just shy of two months right now behind on it. All right. Yeah. Job one is get current on the car. Definitely. Okay. Job two is figure out housing and the timeline. Okay.

Okay. So is the timeline three weeks, three months, three days? I don't know. Let's figure that out. Sure. Okay. And so once the car is current, then we're going to establish when we move out, and when we do move out, we're going to establish food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and utilities. Okay. If you keep all that going...

This is your first step to reestablishing your life. Agreed? Foundational. Okay. It's foundational. Absolutely. Okay. Then we can worry about getting out of debt, building wealth, and being outrageously generous.

Okay. Okay. But right now we're worried about eating and car payments and apartment. Christine, have you written down any numbers, done any level of kind of even a mock budget? Have you done any of that? You know, I really haven't. You know, as, you know, as weird as it sounds is that, you know, you know, sometimes just I have to be on a schedule. Otherwise I can't get out of bed. I don't want to shower. You know, so this job is going to be a big deal for me because, you know,

Giving me a routine. Structure. The goal to, you know, keep going. Yeah. Well, and I think for the, I think the first, one of the first steps possibly that could be a gift to you is just to sit down and we're going to give you every dollar premium, our budgeting app.

to kind of just create a mock budget. It doesn't have to be for real. The numbers that you type in don't have to be, you know, locked in stone by any means, but just to say, okay, the apartments around, this is kind of probably like the average rent for a one bedroom. Here's what I think I can find. Okay. I'm just put that down for rent for food. How much will groceries be? And just estimate some of these things. And again, they're not real life because you're not living there right now. But once you kind of start to get these facts, Dr. John Deloney, our friend always says facts are your friends in like, especially kind of a crisis situation. And

And this could ground you. There's a level of anchoring of facts that it's not driven on emotion. It's just this is exactly the reality of my life and what I have to have. And then compare that to what you'll make after taxes, what will hit your account on that first paycheck. And all of that's going to – and the car loan. I mean, all of that. I think it's going to give – it'll give you another plan with your money, just like a plan and a schedule you have for your day. It's just another routine to have in your life.

That's really healthy and it's really good because I think it'll ground you and I really believe it's going to give you some confidence to see, okay, here's the reality of what's about to happen when this first paycheck hits and here's what I'm going to do with it. And again, it may take you a month or two to kind of get caught up with everything. Sure. But I think that's a great first step financially. It takes the trauma and the drama out of your brain and puts it on paper and makes it look like what it is, a non-issue.

Okay. You're going to be okay. Mathematically, you're okay. Okay. You're going to be fine if you just stick with this. How much is your car payment?

It's about $426,000. Mathematically, you're going to be okay. If you're making $65,000, just make sure you load up the W-2 and you don't have hardly any withholding. There's no point in you having a bunch of withholding because you're not going to have hardly any taxes in Chicago. Sure. Okay. So I want most of this money coming home, and we're going to get the car payment current. We're going to get an apartment. We're going to buy food. We're going to buy lights. We're going to buy water.

And we're going to put gas in the car and you probably got some clothes. And, you know, and now we now we're set. Now we can start talking about going from here. But what that what Rachel's right. When you put it down on paper, it looks back at you and it says to you, you're OK. OK, that's what that's what that structure does for your brain. It says you're going to be OK. You're going to be OK because I can see the budget, but I've done 10,000 of them.

Yeah. So I know what your budget is. I can already tell you, but that doesn't help you. When you write it down and you go, this is what an apartment, this is food, this is my $400 car payment, this is life, I can do this. This is going to work. I can do it.

Christine, you're amazing too. It's going to make you smile. I'm so proud of you. You're amazing. Walking through what you've walked through, it's incredible. Absolutely incredible. We are cheering you on. Thank you so much. Hold on the line. Hang on the line. We're going to put one of our Ramsey coaches at our expense. We want to be part of your story.

part of your healing story. And they're going to walk with you and show you just exactly what we're doing here. And we'll get you the every dollar full package and FPU and the whole daily, whatever. We'll get you in everything. You're amazing. Wow. Wow. Tina is in Trenton, New Jersey. Hi, Tina. How are you?

I'm doing well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Okay. A quick question. I am retired, sold the family home, and I've been renting for six years now. So my house money is in the bank. And now I have an opportunity to buy a condo, which is in the mid-200s, which will take...

a good part, 75% of what's in the bank. But the HOA fee and taxes are about $1,400 a month versus rent, which is around $2,000 a month. And I'm just wondering, is that worth it? Like I'll be saving $600 a month in fees for the month. So it's $600 less than my rent. And I'm taking money out of the bank. So your total nest egg is how big?

The total mistake of the cash, the free cash. No, everything. Everything you own. Oh, everything I own would probably be $700,000 and some thousand. Okay, and you're putting $200,000 into a condo. And then the question is the high HOA fees. Well, I kind of got a little sticker shock like you did listening to this. And then I look and I see you live in New Jersey. So you've got ultra-high property tax there, right? Yes.

Yes. So I don't know if this is high or not compared to other condos in the area. If you said, I mean, if you went and bought a $400,000 condo five blocks away, what would be the HOA fee? Again, they would range from $500,000 to $1,000. Okay, so this is unusually high. It's about, yeah, $800,000. Why is it high? Yeah.

It's a condo in a resort town with great amenities. No, no, no, no, no, no. The HOA fee is for running the HOA, which would be doing repairs, maintenance, and taxes, and insurance on exterior structures. Yes.

Okay. If the taxes are the same as the one across town, that's 500, then we don't have a tax issue. Okay. If the insurance is the same as the one across town, that's five or 600, then we don't have an insurance issue, which tells me the thing that the HOA may be run poorly. Ah, okay. Then this is just the HOA. The taxes are, are, would be like, the taxes are separate.

Yes, taxes are 5%. HOA is like 860, correct. Okay. Well, I want to know some history on this HOA if I'm you and figure out if it's being run poorly because there has to be a reason that this is high. Okay. If I don't get a logical reason, like we just put in new parking lots and we're assessing everyone so it's in there, that's a logical reason and then the fee may come down later.

Okay, or there may be something else going on. But if the average in the area is $800 or $900 or $1,000 and this is $1,400, they are devaluing these condos by running them poorly. Oh, I'm sorry. The $1,400 included the taxes. So if you back the tax out, the HOA for this condo is like $860. So it's about the same as others in the area? Yes. Okay. I'm sorry. I completely misunderstood. All right. Then we don't have a problem, do we?

It's comparable. And the question is, and it's less than rent. So is that a reasonable thing? Yes, you own it. Okay. And I suspect it's going to go up in value, is it not? I would hope so. Well, I mean, is the area okay? Or are you moving into a bad neighborhood? It has potential. You sound like someone dating someone. It has potential. I mean, I just feel like I'm going from the safety of...

of savings account was in guaranteed funds to real estate. Buying a piece of real estate for $200,000 and having fees associated with it still around $1,400, if they're market comparable in the area, does not sound like a bad idea as long as you're not buying in a bad neighborhood where you're going to be unsafe or where the property values are going down instead of up because of crime or something else. And so that's the only thing you've got to consider.

But because 200,000 sounds like a very inexpensive condo in Trenton, New Jersey to me. Property values there are pretty high. So but I mean, you look at that and if you feel comfortable with the long term implications of owning this, meaning it's going to go up in value and the HOA fee is comparable to others and the taxes are comparable to others. I like the idea of you owning rather than renting to stabilize your future. Yep. Amen. Good luck, Tina.

You're going to be a condo living lady. There you go. So, Rachel, it's one of the things that, you know, your most expensive line item in your budget, folks, is housing, in almost everyone's budget anyway. And if you rent, it goes up every year for the rest of your life. And so if you retire at 60 or 65 and you say, I'm going to rent until I'm 90, you know, your most expensive line item is going up every year. Yep. And so what you get when you buy...

Even if you had a mortgage payment, a fixed-rate 15-year mortgage payment, even if you had that, when you buy, you have locked in and stabilized the largest line item in your budget. So it's stabilizing your golden years is what we're doing. In her case, she's paying cash, which is awesome. It's even better. Way to go. And...

She's only got to the maintenance issues. Yeah, totally. The HOA is covering her maintenance on the exterior portions anyway. And there's no line item there besides the maintenance and the HOA. She's got this coming out. There's no mortgage. The HOA fee may go up some, and the taxes and insurance probably will go up some as you go along.

Um, and make sure you have your insurance reviewed every year and that you keep the proper amount of coverage, even if it does go up a little. Um, and, um, property taxes. I mean, politicians just can't keep their hands out of our pockets. So you can count on that. And, um,

The maintenance stuff may or may not go up or down. You can run into all kinds of stuff there. But I would rather be in an ownership position because, A, it's going up in value, and, B, I've stabilized that most expensive line item in the budget. And that's why we always tell people, especially when you're heading into your retirement years from 60 and above, that you really need to get into a property. You really need to get it paid off.

Because you're locking in your future. You've got a foundational issue here in your future. It's not as much about the investment as it is the sustainability. That's good. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. Thank you for jumping in, America. John is in Salt Lake. John, I'm short on time. Go straight to your question.

Hey, so I got an infant and a new toddler and a new baby, and we got about $36,000 in debt, and I make about $3,200 a year, and I have no idea. $3,200 a month? $32,000 a year. $32,000 a year. Oh, $1,000. Okay, that's helpful. Okay, good. I don't know what to do with it. I'm just over my head with it. What do you do? What do you do for a living? Yeah.

I'm a scrap iron worker. Okay. And what do you make an hour? So I usually make about $15, but I get some overtime too. Okay. All right. Well, Target's paying 20. Yeah. I've never had a birth certificate or social security number, and that's a whole other deal in itself. Okay. Well, that'd be something to work on, wouldn't it?

Yeah, it's been a long ordeal. Yeah. Expensive one, too. Yeah. I think I'd work on that because it's going to help your employment options because your biggest issue is you have a very low income. Yes. What is the $36,000? I'm not picking on you. That's not a shaming thing. It's a math thing. What's the $36,000 entail, the debt? So we had different...

credit card debts, and then like the majority of it is I had to take a loan from my dad for the first baby, and that was $9,000. It was a complication. We were trying to have an at-home birth, and there had to be a C-section. And so we were able to pay for that through a thing called a STORC program. It was $9,000, and then we just had to borrow that from my dad. We had had it paid down about $4,000 of it.

And then we also had to pay for the surgeon and doctors. And then we had another baby, and there was another complication. I'm sorry, John. It's a hard time. Dude, the answer to the equation is the things you were already working on is you get a more stabilized, more normalized life with a birth certificate, and then you're able to get more normal employment and raise your income considerably, and that's going to help a bunch, honey. And that's what you need to be working towards.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. My friends, listen, I know it feels like the world is falling apart. And I know that we're all under huge pressure to perform and to look like we're keeping it all together at the same time. Here's the statistic that blew my mind. 76% of people globally agree that mental health care can help resolve personal problems, yet 6 out of 10 people still believe that society discourages people for asking for help. Here's the truth.

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With no contracts, absolutely zero nonsense, and a price that's guaranteed forever. Plus, Boost backs it up with a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can try it without feeling trapped. Go to BoostMobile.com slash Ramsey to make the switch today. That's BoostMobile.com slash Ramsey. Wendy is in Cincinnati. Hi, Wendy. How are you? Hi, I'm doing good. Thank you for taking my call. Sure.

Hi, sorry. My question is, so now my husband and I, we are looking into getting a divorce, and I am trying to, he want everything in half, half of everything, but I'm trying to find a way that is more fair for both of us. So back to when we got married. How long have you been married? Ten years. Why are you divorcing?

That's where I'm about to get to is financial infidelity. So, and just a lot beyond that. So 10 years ago when he walked into the, we got married and he was in $300,000 student loan. So we, you know, I kind of came up with a plan to help him pay it off. It's that, you know,

We basically spend nothing, and he has to make another extra $1,000 a month, which is, you know, we're picking up a weekend a month about that. So 10 years ago, he came into the marriage with $300,000 in student loan debt. You guys teamed up and paid it off.

Sorry, I couldn't hear. Ten years ago, you said you got married and he came in with $300,000 in student loan debt and you guys teamed up and got it all paid off.

I wish the team up is the case, but that wasn't really the case. So 10 years ago, I kind of came up with a plan. So he has to pick up another $1,000 a month, and we are going to invest in rental unit, and the rental income basically going to help pay off our expense and pay it off. So what ended up happening is he did not end up doing any of those things.

extra hour which refused to pick up any shift because he said that's not his life passion and the rental income he ended up took it he took it and spent it so what do you what have you been making Wendy what do you make a year I make 140,000 okay and you put up with this crap for 10 years

I would put on for way too long. And the thing that now it gave me a lot of, I just try to always believe that, you know, he just needs some more time. So I ended up working two jobs. I am the one that ended up picking those extra shift to help him pay because every time when it comes to when bills need to be paid, just say he doesn't have the money. Why is he spent excessively? I got really bad news, honey. I'm sorry. The law doesn't care.

In Ohio, when you get a divorce, you're going to split things 50-50. Unless there's something else other than you just earned more and he was lazy, that one doesn't work. That's what the lawyer's going to tell you when you sit with him. But you need to go sit with a lawyer and find out for sure. But I think that's what you're going to hear. Okay. That you put up with this for too long. For way too long. Yeah. For way too long. So what do you guys actually own? Do you actually own anything? No.

money yeah we owe a rental property and also our current home what's it worth so uh the rental property worth 300,000 around there our current home worth about uh 400,000 how much debt on the 700,000 real estate um yeah so everything is paid off oh it's all paid off oh geez oh god and you did all of this with your sweat while he sat at home and because it wasn't his passion to work much do you have kids wendy

Yes, we have a kid, and that's what my, so we moved to the state where his family is. So I really don't have a support network. And when we got married, he agreed that we're only going to live here for a few years, and then we're going to move to where our family came from. You volunteered for all this, okay? You stayed put when you, you had the option to say no on any of this and put it to an end earlier than you did.

So it's now over. I'm sorry. Where are you guys in the divorce process, Wendy? Have you filed? She hadn't even talked to a lawyer yet. Have you? We are just, yeah. At the beginning of it. Yes. I'm sorry, but what you're going to discover is what a friend of mine who does divorce recovery figured out, and that is that divorce turns a marriage into a business transaction and a legal transaction. And the law will state that child support may be some alimony. Maybe you'll get some alimony out of him, but I doubt it.

It doesn't sound like this guy's exactly going to be coming forth with a bunch of money. Maybe you can negotiate a large, you know, let him have the rental and you take the big house or something. You may get a little more than half in a settlement, in a settled deal, if the judge will approve it in Ohio law. I don't know Ohio law, and I'm not an attorney even if I did, so you need to talk to one. But most states don't care about

If the mom was a stay-at-home mom and didn't earn an income for 10 years, she gets half. That's what I was thinking about. If it was flipped. She gets half. And your husband's, you know, not work much while you work all the time. Yeah. He gets half. I mean, you tolerated it. And so I'm not saying you did something wrong. I'm glad you hung on and tried to make it work. But that's where you're stuck with, kiddo. I'm sorry. That's an ouchie. Mm-hmm.

Well, it's one of those things, too. I'm like where things start when it's starting out. All the intentions are good. Right. And then you start to watch it just drift and drift and drift. And until a huge red flag is thrown, it ends up getting here. But but that's the thing, too, is I'm like, if it was if it was opposite, if this was a guy calling and saying his wife was home.

Right. Why does it why does it make us well, if she was at home saying it's not my passion to work much after she had made a commitment with three hundred thousand dollars worth of student loan debt to be committed to work and help get it paid off. Yeah, I'm going to bring down on her just like I'm going to bring down on him. That's fair. Nobody gets out of that one alive. Yeah. Yeah. So that's you know.

You know, this is someone who someone else, his mommy has taken care of him his whole life. Oh, no, I was hearing who he is. So his wife was his new mommy.

And that's what happened. He's a mama's boy. And, oh, yeah, what a mess. Well, the only positive, Wendy, out of all of this is. He's gone. Well, I mean, seriously. I'm like, the attitude and the mood that he probably brings her down day after day. Yeah. And you'll be free from it. And you may make more money, Wendy, being out of this situation. Oh, you definitely will. You definitely will. It is one of those things you just have to. It's easier to swim without an anchor tied around you. Yeah. I mean, it's just way easier. Yeah, you're going to bust out, girl.

It's going to be great. I'm sorry. I hate divorce. But do get a lawyer because I do. I hate people ending marriages, but, you know, it sounds like you got rid of a, yeah. You get a fresh start, kiddo, and with or without some rental property and with or without the details on the house. But, you know, even if you just sell it all and pile it up in one pile and split it down the middle, you're going to be okay. You're going to be fine. You're going to be all right.

And you can live wherever you want to live. You don't have to live there. If you don't want to live near his family, take off. Go back where you were. Go back where you want to be. You get to decide now. And so the future is bright. There were a lot of storms in the past in the rearview mirror, but they're all in the past. Well, soon to be anyway. Ouch. You ever tried to explain this Ramsey stuff to a friend? It's kind of all-encompassing, a little bit hard to just go bleh and put it all out there, right? So we're going to help you with that. We built a Ramsey 101 playlist.

I say we. I had nothing to do with it except I'm on it. But it's an easy-to-share playlist. It covers all the basics for somebody who's just getting started with this whole Ramsey thing, like what are the baby steps or how does that snowball work or how does a budget work or how to build an emergency fund or why do they talk about God, all this stuff. It's all on there.

Click the link at the bottom of the show notes. You open Ramsey 101 playlist on YouTube, text it, DM it, send it to a group chat. Say, hey guys, I think this might help. Don't go, you're stupid, start doing this. That won't help. Don't be condemning with it. Be nice and just go, I hope this helps you. It helped me or I think this is funny. Give it a look, whatever. So if you're listening on the radio, we got a playlist featured at the top of our YouTube channel.

So think of at least one person in your life and share it with them, and it could change everything. We appreciate it. Because, by the way, when you guys share our stuff and you click the share button or you click the follow button or the subscribe button, all those kinds of things, it changes all the algorithm stuff, and it moves our stuff to the front of the line, and people start seeing it because of you. So thank you for sharing. And when you say nice things like five-star reviews and stuff, kind of nice. Thank you. We appreciate it.

All right, Jennifer's in Chicago. What's up, Jennifer? Hi, Dave and Rachel. I'm just so excited to be talking to you today. I literally just found you guys literally 30 days ago. Oh, wow. So I'm really excited. Well, thank you. Welcome. Thank you. I have a question. I got served a lawsuit last night. Ooh. I have...

Credit card debt, that's all in collections for context. I'm 38 years old, and I'm finally awake to my life. I've spent my adult years in and out of psychiatric hospitals trying to, you know, suicide due to my childhood. So now that I've unpacked that and I feel like I'm in a healthier spot, I really just want to be debt-free. And listening to you guys, I feel like this is my first route.

Wow. What do you make? What's your income? $40,000. Good for you. Well, I'm proud of you for getting stable. That's quite a journey. Thank you. Well done. It's been a journey. Okay, how much do you owe on this particular credit card? This one is $1,200. And how long has it been since you paid on it? 2022. Okay. All right. And who was the original bank? Credit One. Okay. Okay.

There's a high likelihood, like almost for sure, that they have sold that debt. They have sold it to a credit bureau or a credit agency. A collection agency. It's a debt buyer. Okay. Debt buyers buy old, bad credit card debt for around a nickel on the dollar. Okay. And so that means they've got somewhere around $75 invested in this. Okay. And...

What they do then is they buy like 8,000 of these accounts and they badger the crap out of people and sue people until they get some money out of some of them. Most of them file bankruptcy and they get nothing, but a few people will pay it and they end up, because they only paid a nickel on the dollar, they end up on average making some money. So this is not personal. This is not personal. This has nothing to do with you. You just got put on a conveyor belt in a factory.

That's what this is. Okay. There's 8,000 that look just like you that they processed last night. You follow me? Yes. I want you to get that. It's scarier than it is. I want you to get that because it's different than you owe your little brother money. Okay. A different set of emotions, but they're going to try to tap into the little brother money emotions when you get on the phone with them because most of them, the function that they use to collect is being a jerk.

So they're going to be jerks. That's what I'm afraid of. No, you can count on it. So just make a game of it. Okay. I'm calling a jerk. Here we go. Ready, set, go. It's not personal. He doesn't know anything about me. He has a crummy job where he abuses people verbally over the phone to try to get money. That's who you're calling. Okay? Okay.

OK, let's kind of have fun with it. And sometimes they even change their name. They make up funny names. Well, and the and the the turnover in that industry is like 30 to 60 days. So the guy you're talking to will probably have a new job in two months anyway. So just remember that. Like this is like, OK, because cleaning a septic tank is more pleasant than doing what he's doing.

Okay, really? Think about it. I mean, what a horrible job. Yeah, absolutely. So this is what you're dealing with. And if you have these pieces of information, then it helps you. So do you have any money? I have about $3,000 in the bank right now. Good. Did they give you a court date when they served you? Yes, they did. When? It is on the 24th. Good. Okay. I don't care if it goes to court and they win.

No big deal. Nothing really changes. They're still trying to collect from someone that they don't get money from. So when you get on the phone, here's a couple of pointers. Number one, this is a game. Don't let this get into your psyche, okay? Okay. Their job is to make you afraid or angry because when your brain does that, you move into fight or flight mode and you lose your critical thinking skills. That's their job, and they're very good at it. Be ready, okay? Okay.

Okay. One of them called from American Express when I was going broke 30 years ago and asked my wife why she would stay with a man that wouldn't pay his bills. And she called me crying and said, I was thinking the same thing. Oh, my God. Right. This is what they do. Okay.

Okay. Bit ready. And so this is a game. By the way, that woman's name was Mrs. Savage. Oh, stop it. Okay. So, I mean, this is how ridiculous this world is. It's ridiculous. So this is what you're entering into. You need to know that because you've got to stay above it, especially with what you've been through, okay? Absolutely. So this is a game, number one. Number two, they didn't pay anything for it. Number three, we're not giving them payments. Say no payments, Dave.

No payments, Dave. No payments. My financial counselor told me I can't give you payments. I'm your counselor, and I just told you you can't.

Okay. Wonderful. Okay. You can bad guy off of me and tell them Dave Ramsey said it. That'll make them real happy. Yeah. And so, all right, this is just fun. Let's have some fun with it. Right. And so no payments. And what we're going to do is I just came out of a mental episode where I've been fighting suicide and I don't have any money. I think I can scrape together $1,000.

$300 if you will accept that as here's the phrase settlement in full. Okay. And somewhere three to 500 bucks, you'll get this done and do not give them any information about you. No contact information, no new job, no bank account, no bank account information. They get no information. We're not going to give them any leverage. This is you're playing with evil.

Don't give evil a foothold. Okay? Okay. And so no information. It's a game. We're going to settle it for a lump sum, no payments. And lastly, do not give them any money until you get it in writing what the agreement is because Jim Bob ain't going to be working there in 30 days.

I'm writing all my notes down. Okay. And that can be via email or mail. Email's fine. It has to be in writing in some way, and then you print the email out, hard copy, and keep it in a file for the rest of your life. Okay. Because you can tell these people are lying if their mouth is moving. Okay. All right? This is what you're dealing with. It's a different culture.

No, I have all my credit card debt is in collections. Can I handle all of it? You can do every one of them that way if you want to. Okay. Or if you've got a small one, just pay it, for God's sake, to get it out of there. How much do you have, Jennifer, in debt total? So I had $10,000 in credit card debt. I actually hired a credit consultation company, and they got $6,000 just wiped away. Okay, good.

So now I'm down to four. Okay. That's great. And you got three. So you can get this clear pretty quick. Because let me tell you, with what you've been through and with you establishing a new life of sustainability, putting this stuff in your rearview mirror as soon as possible and not screwing around with it for six months is a good idea. Is that all the debt you have, Jennifer, is just the credit card debt or student loans or car loans? I have 26 in student loans. Okay. All right.

All right. And you'll have to circle back and pick that up too. But I want to get these, I want to get the, you've got all these, a beehive that got poked and the bees are flying around your head.

Yes. And they're scary and they're bothersome. So let's get rid of them. But you've got to just play this game. It's a part of it. And get it in writing and no electronic access to your personal bank account. You can do a prepaid debit card with the exact amount and send them that. You can do a wire. You can do something. But no, no, no. They do not get your bank account numbers because they'll clean it out. They lie. You can tell they're lying if their mouth is moving. Can you tell I've done this for 30 years?

Hey guys, you know what I love about summer? All the fun yeses. Yes to pool parties. Yes to snow cones. And yes for all the fun in the sun moments that you can have with your family. But summer goes fast and so does summer spending. And if you're not paying attention, you're going to look up from your slushy and wonder, where is all my money going? That's why I love the EveryDollar app. It's so simple. It helps you create a custom budget and give every dollar a job to do. And

And let me tell you, you'll know exactly what is happening with your money and that gives you such freedom and guilt-free spending. So do yourself and your summer a favor. Go download EveryDollar for free in the App Store or Google Play today. These days, the internet is chock full of so-called investing advice from random goobs with zero qualifications.

Listen, folks, you deserve guidance from someone who knows what the flip they're talking about. That's why I recommend the SmartVestor program. SmartVestors can help you find a professional financial advisor who can teach you to make your own best decisions with your own money. Get connected at RamseySolutions.com slash SmartVestor. Again,

Again, ramseysolutions.com slash smartvestor. Ramsey Solutions is a paid, non-client promoter of participating pros. Learn more at ramseysolutions.com slash smartvestor. You spend hours researching before making a major purchase like a home or car, but it's also a good idea to put in the work searching for the right insurance coverage. To protect your biggest assets, I recommend using Ramsey Trusted Pros. Where

Whether you're looking for car, home, or any other type of insurance, Ramsey-trusted providers have been coached and vetted to serve you like we would. Find what you need at ramseysolutions.com slash insurance. If you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck and wondering where your money's going, there's a way to fix that. It's called a plan. In our world, we call the plan a budget.

And in our world, we do it on the world's best budgeting app called EveryDollar.

Matter of fact, it's a full encompassing app that will help you work all the baby steps. It's going to help you do everything, not just budget. You need to check this thing out. Our team is hosting free budget trainings this month on the free EveryDollar app. Have I mentioned that it's free? And you'll learn step-by-step how to stick to a budget using EveryDollar. There's Q&A. Sign up for free at EveryDollar.com slash webinar. Jason is with us in Tampa. Hey, Jason, what's up?

Oh, man, I got the goat on the phone. I can't believe it. Yes, Rachel's here. I like you too, Rachel. Oh, thanks, Jason. I know who you called for, though, and you got him. He's in the seat. He's not in the seat as much anymore, but here he is. What's up? So, Dave, all right, and Rachel, I've got to figure this out. My parents' home was flooded by Hurricane Helene.

last September. So they came to my brother and my sister and myself and said, Hey, we're too old. We can't fix it. If you, if one of you want it, pay the other, each, what other siblings, two siblings, a third of the value that we come up with and we want to be done with it. Oh, we're just going to sell it. What do y'all want to do? Well, I was the only one that wanted it. So we came up with a value and, um,

And I paid my sister and my brother a third of the value that everyone agreed to. Well, actually, they didn't even agree because they thought what my value was too low. So I actually went and got an appraisal done just so there would be no hanky-panky. It actually came in $60,000 less than what my original –

Um, assessment was, and I still agreed to pay 60,000 more than what the actual appraisal, because I wanted this little home. Cause there's just a little beach house that it was just meant something to me. So I wanted it. I paid my sister and my brother, the money, my parents quit claim deeded it to me.

I fixed it all up. It's back to being beautiful, just in time for hurricane season again, but it's back to being beautiful. And now all of a sudden my sister says, oh, this was such an unfair deal. I can't believe we even did this. I'll never feel comfortable with it. Oh, wow. So what do I do? I mean, now it's causing a strain in the family, and I don't know what I did wrong. I thought I did everything right. You didn't have agreement.

That's what I thought. Well, we did. And then now all of a sudden we don't because we did. But that's what I'm like. Well, did they? I mean, it was all verbal, correct? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But they were bitching and moaning on the front end. That's what I said. No one said anything. No, they did. They said it was not enough. And so you went and got an appraisal. They were moaning.

And then my appraisal came in. I know, but they still didn't think it was right. They still didn't think it was right, and you did it anyway. So what should, yeah, what? I would have walked. Yeah, I would have walked. Or I would have had them sign something. Yeah, maybe I should have done some kind of signature on something. Not a legally binding, but just to remind them that, you know, because their memory is bad, apparently. I thought paying $60,000 over. No, not if they thought the amount even was $60,000 was not right.

Was the value lowered because of the damage at all, Jason? Yeah. I'm sorry? And the value was lowered because of the damage. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So you had a number. You put it out there, and they said, that's not fair. And you said, I'll show you. You went and got an appraisal, and the appraisal was $60,000 lower. So you paid them the higher number. But they also thought that number higher wasn't fair. Well, with just the sister, everyone else was paying like this. Well, I mean, still, so what did you expect? I mean...

She already told you she was going to be unhappy. This just came up a couple weeks ago. No, honey. You told me in the original deal that they thought it wasn't enough. So you went and got an appraisal, and you agreed to pay the original amount that they thought wasn't enough. And when you paid it, they still thought it wasn't enough. And now she still thinks it wasn't enough. Well, that's not a shock.

And I guess she's going to have to deal with it. Yeah. She cashed the check, right? I'm sorry? She cashed the check. You bet she did. All right. She sure did. Deal's done.

Yeah, and no one lifted a finger to help me fix it up either. Well, it wasn't their job. They didn't own it. That's your job. Yeah, and that was fine, but yeah, I'm like... You know, I just say, listen, you did a deal. You're like a grown adult woman. Act like it. How old are you guys, Jason?

I'm 50, she's 45, and then my brother's in his 50s. We're all older adults. Well, I think she told you on the front end she was going to be unhappy, and you just didn't want to hear it. Yeah. And now she's coming through with her promise, but that's okay. I mean, she cashed the check, and I just look at her and go, hey, baby, good luck with that.

I said, that's kind of what I've done so far. I mean, anything you can do, you can't make people behave. Yeah. Even if they're in your DNA line, you know. Have you guys sat down and had any level of conversation in person about this?

Well, originally when we first, but not since the last thing or this that I'm talking about, this was this, we talked on the phone about something else. And then this just was brought up and I'm like, where did that come from? That would have been valuable information. If there's any level of you that wants to save the relationship, I would have a conversation in person. Take all your defensiveness about this.

you know swallow a humble pill for a little bit let her kind of get out what she needs to get out and just say okay how do we move forward because i don't want to lose a relationship with my sister right it's family

And for a house to do this, that's not for the future. But again – And there's that part where you cash the check. Yeah, put the olive branch out. And if she won't accept it, that's her choice at that point, right? But I would go and – I'm never going to be okay. Very humble. Very humble though. You have a big personality, Jason. We heard it from the moment you got on. I love it. I think it's wonderful.

But maybe just like take a little bit of a chill as you go in. Like, right? Like, I mean, go in not defensive, not aggressive. Go watch Jefferson Fisher videos. And just, yeah. But honestly, if you really want to repair it, like there's something there. And then beyond that, you've tried. You can't control it. Yeah, you can't control her then. Yeah, you probably don't. I think you need to follow Rachel's advice, not mine. Mine's just smart aleck.

I know. That's the problem. I'm like you, Dave. I know. Y'all both need to listen to me. I think Rachel's right and I'm wrong, really. Oh, man. All right. Rachel, can you call my sister for me? Yes, I will. No, no.

Hey, by the way, that Jefferson Fitcher episode was next to the Trump episode was two of our two of my favorite. Yeah, he's really good. I wasn't kidding. I probably would go watch some of that because that's the type of stuff Rachel's talking about rather than doing Dave thing and just smacking her sideways. Oh, my God. Because that's not going to work because that's all I'm saying. I'm just being a smart. What are the other siblings? I'm just being a smart. Jason, what's your other siblings like you say, brother? Yeah, he's OK. He hasn't had any issues. OK, so it's you three. Yeah.

Yeah, just three of us. Brothers, sisters. I know. I just hate when assets, money, all of that gets in between family. We hear it a lot on the show and it's really sad. It's really sad. So if you want to repair it or maybe she's crazy and you're like, I don't know. I got to put up a boundary. I don't know. I don't know her. But if you want to repair the relationship, that's what I would do. You want to give it a shot. Give it a shot. I think Rachel's right. I'm wrong. Okay. Good. Man. My way's more fun though.

Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 21, 20, precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours all. That's the Bible saying, if you spend everything you make, you're a fool. Hello. Think about it. Michael Douglas said a fool and his money are lucky to get together in the first place. Gary's in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hey, Gary, what's up?

Hey, gang. Thanks for taking my call. So I retired about a year and a half ago. I'm 69, and I've got my assets, no debt, and I'm just wondering if what I have everything invested in is – if I'm doing the right thing.

So my house is worth about $700,000. It'll be paid off by the end of the year. Good. I'm holding off on social when I turn 70 in January with my wife taking advantage of the spousal benefits. So I'm estimating that we'll have about $80,000 a year in Social Security. And the remaining is $2.1 million in three IRAs and...

Another account that's cash and some stock. What are they in hours A's and all invested in? Mutual funds? Yes, yes. Three different mutual funds. They're about $1.7 million. And then the cash and stock is about $430. Of that, about $80,000 is in four or five different stocks and about $300,000 or so in a money market, which is currently drawing around 4%. Okay.

All right. And your question is what, then? You've done really well. Congratulations. Well, am I – could I be doing better than what I'm doing as far as what I'm invested in? Well, I mean, I'm 64. All of mine is in mutual funds and paid for real estate. Okay.

You know, we put it in four types of mutual funds. You've heard that growth, growth and income, aggressive growth and international. I don't play single stocks just because I don't like the risk associated with them. I'd rather have that money diversified in mutual funds. But it's not the end of the world. It's a small percentage of your world. And you've done you've done extremely well. And you sound like you're maybe a little heavy in cash unless you've got something you're wanting to do with that or get ready to buy a car or go on a trip or something.

No, not particularly. No. Okay. I mean, you don't need a $300,000 emergency fund. Yeah. Also, when I start getting our social in January, based upon our expenses, I'm hoping to maybe save about $2,000 a month out of that. Yeah. That would be great. Well, and be sure you're enjoying this and that your generosity goes up because you're a multimillionaire. Congratulations. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm already starting to plan a couple of trips like over to Europe and stuff. Good, good. Yeah, I mean, you've earned it. Well done. And I assume you guys did not inherit this money. It sounds like it's 401Ks, like you saved it, right? Yeah, right.

Right, right. You're not an inherited, you're a baby step millionaire, meaning you did it following the step. Well, my mom did pass away about almost five years ago, and my sister and I finally sold our house, plus the assets I think I ended up getting over the last five years. You cut out getting how much? Did I lose you? Oh, no.

Well, okay. You're in good shape, dude. You've done a good job and you're fine. If you want to fine tune it a little bit and, you know, get a little bit more dialed in with it, that's fine. It sounds like you are not a millionaire that you already were probably before your mom passed. And so you've just added to your wealth, whatever that amount was that cut out. Yeah. And his question I think was, is there anything different he needs to be doing? Because when you retire and you start living off of some of these investments,

Is there a big shift in the strategy of it? A lot of the wealth, a lot of the financial planning community believes in a theory I don't believe in called the asset allocation methodology, which is you move everything towards bonds and money markets as you get older. And I don't. The bond market is as volatile as the stock market and underperforms the stock market. So I'm 64. I'm not moving a thing.

And so I'm just, you know, when you're 64, if you're healthy, you are statistically likely to make it to 90, where the average death age is 76, 78, male, female right now. But you're statistically likely to make it to 90 if you're healthy at 65. So you've still got 30 freaking years to outpace inflation.

And when you dumb down your portfolio in the name of safety, inflation is going to come back and tag you in the back of the head. So I don't need the money. He doesn't need the money. He's going to be living off the social. Yeah, it's a lot. Is that pretty average, 80 grand? That's heavy. Well, it's he and his wife, and they're both 70. Okay, they're doing their 70. They're doing the long term. Yeah. So that's the – yeah, that could be. But, yeah, I –

I don't do that. I'm going to ride it all the way out because here's the thing. If you've got $2.1 million and you're living off $80,000 a year worth of social, you're not really investing this money for you. You're not going to use it. It's laying there, but it's going to be an inheritance. So you're investing it for the next generation, which means you would not shift it and dumb it down in the name of the asset allocation model or theory. And people act like that's a given and it's a law or something. It's not. It's a theory, and I think it's a bad one.

So I don't use it. I am investing all the way through, and he doesn't need to use it. He's fine. He's in good shape. Diane's in Atlanta. Hi, Diane. How can we help?

Hey, guys. So excited. Thank you for taking my call. Absolutely. What's up? I'm in the middle of cooking dinner for two hungry boys, and you may hear them in the background, and I apologize for that. So I really wanted to call because...

Just in a nutshell, I'm a nurse. I went to school. I have my bachelor's of science in nursing. I am not working right now. I'm a stay-at-home mom. My husband is a physician and makes good money. What's good money? $540. Oh, that's good money. Okay, I'm with you. All right, so I'm a little short on time. Ask your question right quick.

Okay, so our oldest has special needs. He is level 3 autism. He's nonverbal. He's 7 years old now, so it's really hard to look far into the future, but the way his development is moving, I mean, he'll be with us. He's going to be our roommate forever.

I just don't know how much we need to be saving for him. You don't. You need to save for you. You need to build wealth, and you need to have in your estate plan a special needs trust that if you and your husband both pass away, that a chunk of money, an inordinate chunk of money, is left in trust, the income of which, invested in mutual funds, the income of which will support him for the rest of his life.

Okay, but your money it's not his you don't put money in his name. No, I don't have any Oh in his name you put it in your name. No, you make five hundred forty thousand dollars a year You go build wealth and some of your wealth is earmarked upon both of your deaths to go into the special needs trust to take care of him okay, so

Okay, so as far as debt and what we make and all that, just... You've got to work the normal stuff. Just work the debt snowball, get out of debt, get your house paid off, go become a multimillionaire making a half a million freaking dollars a year. How much debt do you guys have? We have about... We don't have any student loans. Good. We have probably $70,000 in cars. Well, that was stupid. Yeah, it was very stupid. Let's get it paid off. So we've got...

Well, we got, I kind of got my car as a push present, if you will, in 2021. And then my husband was like, well, I want my new. Okay, poof, pay it off. Poof it off. Come on. You've got to be kidding me.

Oh, my gosh. All right. No, that's no. We're going to work. You need to get this mess cleaned up. OK. And you guys need to get on the baby steps and work just because you need to. The special needs thing is almost a sidebar in the sense of it gives you yet one more motivation to build wealth and get your act together to make sure you have enough to leave in there. If you're broke and have no money right now, you need life insurance earmarked for the special needs trust until you get some wealth built.

But with the kind of money y'all make, you get rid of the stupid car payments and start stacking cash and building you some investments, get your house paid off. There'll be plenty of money to take care of your kid.

And just see your estate planner. Make sure there's a special needs trust set up. Earmark term life insurance until you have some money. And after you have some money, earmark some of the money into that to take care of him. And he'll be fine. Assuming you guys get your act together, he'll be fine. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

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a quick start collection of how to get started walking the Ramsey Plan. Now, this playlist is perfect for that one person in your life who needs help winning with money and just doesn't know where to start. So here's what's inside. What the baby steps are and why they actually work, how the debt snowball helps you pay off debt fast, and how to build wealth and invest for the future, and so much more.

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