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- [00:01]
Caller
You say you'll never join the Navy, that living on a submarine would be too hard. You'd never power a whole ship with nuclear energy, never bring a patient back to life or play the national anthem for a sold out crowd. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Start your journey@navy.com America's Navy forged by the sea.
- [00:35]
Dave Ramsey
Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. 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. George Camel Ramsey personality number one best selling author and co host of the super hit Smart Money Happy hour on the Ramsey Networks. He's my co host today. Phone Number here is, triple 882-55-5225. Mark is in North Carolina. Hey Mark, how are you?
- [01:11]
Caller
I'm doing very well. I hope you are, sir.
- [01:14]
Dave Ramsey
I'm better than I deserve, sir. What's up?
- [01:18]
Caller
I am 65 years old. I have made absolutely horrible decisions with money all my life. I have no nest egg. My wife has maybe 10,000 in a 401k and I've got maybe a couple thousand.
- [01:37]
Dave Ramsey
And.
- [01:39]
Caller
We have started the steps. Just last payday we got our $1,000 emergency fund paid and we also got $200 paid down on our smallest unsecured debt. So now it's only $150 left. I've got two other credit cards and a car loan and a mortgage. Total debt including mortgage is $137,000. The mortgage is a 15 year fixed rate. It's set up to be paid half a payment every two weeks. So in 12 months I've actually paid 13 payments instead of 12. And since my wife, since we don't have anything lined up for retirement, I'm trying to figure out what would be the best way for me to go make sure I get out of all debt with everything I've got. I found out that if I pay just $425 towards my principal each month on my home, I can have it paid off in five years.
- [03:03]
Dave Ramsey
What's the balance on your mortgage?
- [03:06]
Caller
115.
- [03:09]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, well you're scheduled it, how, how long are you into the 15 year?
- [03:19]
Caller
Eight months.
- [03:20]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so it's brand new mortgage. All right, well doing a bi weekly you'll reduce the 15 to about 11 just on the bi weekly thing that you're doing. That has the same effect of paying an extra payment a year as you said because 26 halves is 13 wholes and so you end up with an extra payment a year, and so that's cool. So you've got $22,000 in other debt.
- [03:47]
Caller
Correct.
- [03:48]
Dave Ramsey
Are you both working still?
- [03:50]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [03:51]
Dave Ramsey
I'm sorry.
- [03:53]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [03:53]
Dave Ramsey
What do you make?
- [03:56]
Caller
The two of us together will make about 105,000.
- [04:00]
Dave Ramsey
Good news. Okay.
- [04:02]
Caller
First time we've ever broke 100,000.
- [04:04]
Dave Ramsey
Good for you. Okay, well, what I would do is just leave the bi weekly mortgage alone, let it run, and let's work the baby steps. Your thousand dollars is there. Baby step two is listing your debts, smallest to largest. The 22,000, you need to be done with that under a year.
- [04:23]
Caller
Well, I can have the unsecured debt, which is minus the mortgage, minus the car, done in three months.
- [04:32]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, that's good. So the car is the bulk of the 22 then?
- [04:37]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [04:38]
Dave Ramsey
Okay.
- [04:39]
Caller
It's $15,600.
- [04:41]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, but I'm saying 22,000. $2,000 a month is what you need to be putting on your debt. Or more.
- [04:51]
Caller
I'm sorry, I'm not following.
- [04:52]
Dave Ramsey
$2,000 a month at least needs to be going on your debt. Not counting your house.
- [04:59]
George Campbell
That's 24 grand a year. So David's what, in a year?
- [05:01]
Dave Ramsey
And 24 out of 24,000? Out of 105. You got plenty of room to eat. Okay, so I want you on beans and rice. Rice and beans. In one year you're 66 and you're debt free. Then you build an emergency fund. Debt free except the house. You build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. And then we spend the rest of the time finishing off the house and starting to build a nest egg. So basically, you know, you're like 72 years old, still working, and you'll probably have about 200,000 in your nest egg. The house will be paid for and you'll be debt free. But you're working a while. Okay, you're working a while because you're broke.
- [05:44]
Caller
Yes, I am.
- [05:45]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. Yeah. So that. Just plan on that part. As long as your health allows you to do that, then that's what we're going to do. But yeah, work close. Baby steps. Exactly the way they're laid out. Mark, let me send you a copy of the book, the total money makeover to help you get there. But it sounds like that you're very serious about this and it sounds like you're actually going to do it.
- [06:06]
George Campbell
Yeah. The best time to plant the tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today. And I'm glad you're going. All right. I'M going to start plowing away at this debt. Start investing and you're doing a lot of good things at once right now. But like Dave is saying, when you do it with focused intensity, you're going to get through it faster, make more progress. And then when you do get to building that nest egg, you'll make serious progress fast because you got, when you.
- [06:25]
Dave Ramsey
Don'T have a housing payment, you don't have a car payment, you don't have anything and you start chunking two or three thousand dollars a month away in the nest egg. That's 36, 40,000, $50,000 a year going into that thing. That's how I'm saying you're going to, you're going to be a 200, 250,000 pretty, pretty easily if you follow through. But it's going to be, you're going to be in the early 70s when you get there and, but you're going into, you're going into your retirement years then debt free with a small nest egg. And 200,000 is a small nest egg, but you can get there.
- [06:55]
George Campbell
That's your best fighting chance.
- [06:56]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, you hang on. Kelly will pick up. We'll get you a copy of Total Money Makeover. It shows you it's the baby steps on steroids. It shows you exactly what to do when and through it. Kelly also signed him up for the new Everydollar because that's going to help him, guide him through those stuff. It's going to ping him and tell him to do this and do that, show him what to do and that it's more than just doing a budget now. So good stuff. Very good stuff. George, Those are sobering calls. I'm 65 years old, I have a car payment, I have credit card debt, I have a mortgage and I have no money that will keep you up at night. So if you're 35 and you're listening, that should be a warning shot across your bow. Listening to Mark and what he's facing, you need to determine you don't want to be where he is and so don't show up at the doorstep of 65 broke with a car payment and where that comes from. And Mark, thank God, he's got a very good tone to his voice. He's got a very good.
- [08:05]
George Campbell
He knew his numbers too.
- [08:06]
Dave Ramsey
The sense of he's already changed. He just got, he just needed an implementation plan. He's doing it. So to Mark's credit, way to go, Mark.
- [08:14]
George Campbell
The wake up calls there, that's the hardest part.
- [08:15]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, Touchdown. But gang, you know when people say stuff like, well, you're always going to have a car payment. If people say stuff like that, just go, I can't hang out with you. You're dumb. I'll end up like you. I don't want to be as dumb as you. Well, you have to have a credit card to run up your, you have to have air miles and you need a credit score. Ask Mark about how valuable that is right now. Yeah, dumb as you think, you think that matters. When you're 65 and you got no money, it don't matter. It just shows how stupid those ideas are that people talk about all through the culture. And if you believe those ideas, then you end up, you know, so some of you, this is your, this is your morning shot. It's your, this, this is, you know, God, putting this call right in front of you, begging you to straighten your crap up out there. Come. I've been helping people get margin back in their budget for over 30 years. And switching your phone plan is one of the easiest wins out there, especially with Boost Mobile. Boost gives you unlimited talk, text and data for just $25 a month. And I'm not talking about some promo rate that goes up later. That $25 price is locked in forever. No contracts, no headaches. And with their 30 day money back guarantee, there's no risk. So stop wasting money. Go to boostmobile.com Ramsey today restrictions apply. See boostmobile.com Ramsey for details. Louie is in New Jersey. Hi, Louie, how are you?
- [10:29]
Caller
Hey, what's up, Dave? How you doing?
- [10:31]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. How can we help?
- [10:33]
Caller
Yeah, I got a question. So in years past, I mean, even recently, I've been getting my health insurance through the marketplace and it seemed to make sense. As, you know, we were making less money when we first started our businesses. But now that we're doing better and better as time goes on, the numbers are just basically as if I'm paying for regular plans. So coming up next year, I'll be a family of five and I won't really qualify for a lot of the tax, you know, breaks from it. So I'll be looking at like $1,500 a month in my health insurance, which is, you know, pretty normal. But when I was running some of the numbers, I'm like, does it even make sense to have health insurance? Because I feel like I live in New Jersey, so it's technically, you know, mandatory there. So if not, I'd be paying the shared responsibility penalty. So at my income, I ran the numbers and that would be like 4500 a year now, you know, 1500amonth, $18,000 a year even minus that 4500, I'm still in the green. 13,500, assuming, you know, nothing detrimental happens. But, like, if I told you how many times in the last six years we went to the doctors, I mean, we're pretty natural, like holistic people, and we don't really go to the doctors that often. We don't really take much medicine. Medicine.
- [11:42]
Dave Ramsey
Are you running an hsa?
- [11:45]
Caller
I am not. And I don't know if, like, I was almost thinking of just kind of doing my own, because I don't know if I necessarily qualify for it, because I think you need to be in a high deductible plan.
- [11:54]
Dave Ramsey
Well, that is a high deductible plan. You can move into that and that lowers your cost. And so here's the problem. You can afford to take the risk with what you're outlining. For the small things, it's the $250,000 open heart surgery that'll bankrupt you.
- [12:15]
Caller
Yeah, yeah.
- [12:16]
Dave Ramsey
And so you can't. You can't afford that risk. And that is actually the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the US Is medical bills.
- [12:25]
Caller
His medical bills.
- [12:26]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, it's not, it's not credit cards. They're number two. So you got to have coverage. But what you do need to do is you need to change your coverage because you've covered everything. And so a high deductible plan is what an HSA is based on. And so most of them are, you know, I think mine through my company right now, we run a high deductible as one of our options. It's what I carry on me. And I think it's 5,000 deductibles, or is it 10?
- [12:53]
George Campbell
I think it depends. There's two options for that. I think I run the one that has the highest deductible because it lowers your premium. I think it might be eight grand for family, something like that.
- [13:01]
Dave Ramsey
Take the highest possible deductible, like $8,000. Make sure you have your emergency fund in place. And then. But what you're looking for, and, you know, copay is usually going to still be 80, 20 after the deductible. And so really, the first 25 or $30,000 is all going to be out of your pocket, a lot of it on a big event. But then the HSAs also, the high deductible plans also have a stop loss clause, and that's typically 10,000 to $20,000. Which means once you reach that out of pocket, the plan pays 100%. So you can afford that first amount of risk. And you probably can cut your premiums close to in half by going the way I'm talking about. I don't know for sure, but go shopping, go to Blue Cross Blue Shield, go to Health Trust, our guy on the radio that we endorse here. Let them search for you and find you the best possible deal and they can help you get that lined up. They're Ramsey trusted, they're good guys. I've known them a long time. You know, let them search it out and tell them you're needing as high a deductible as possible. And the copay could even be large as long as the. As long as you got a good stop loss on it. That's your three numbers. The deductible, the copay, and the stop loss. Then the fourth number is the resulting premium. Okay, and so we just need to get your premium down. Now then you are also, in addition to all that, able to invest into a health savings account. And you'll have a maximum that you can do on that. And George, what's that running this year?
- [14:44]
George Campbell
I believe it's close to eight grand for family.
- [14:46]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. So I max mine out every year. And that is tax deductible amount going into your hsa. It's an after hour before tax investment. And here's the weird thing, Louie, with what you're talking about, you got a healthy family. That's what the Ramsey's have been, Knock on wood. And so I've had HSA since they first allowed it under George. Double. That's what the administration that put it in place. I have never touched the savings account.
- [15:17]
Caller
Yeah.
- [15:17]
Dave Ramsey
And I fully funded every year. Now I'm 65 and I can start taking it out like it's a retirement account. And guess what? There's a quarter million dollars in there.
- [15:27]
Caller
Yeah, right.
- [15:28]
Dave Ramsey
That I would have been paying to some stupid insurance company in extra premiums. But I've had low premiums. And I took on the risk, but I didn't take on the risk. I didn't take on the risk for a big thing.
- [15:42]
Caller
Yes. So it's almost the same as like a catastrophic coverage, but more or less.
- [15:47]
Dave Ramsey
That's what we used to call it before HSAs came out. We used to call them catastrophics. Yep.
- [15:52]
Caller
Yeah. Because I'm running these numbers and I'm like, I'm giving these guys way too much money. I don't even use it. I'M like, I could be. And we do very well. You know, I have a great state. I have like 500,000 just, like, liquid at any time if something, God forbid, were to happen.
- [16:05]
George Campbell
It's a small price to pay for peace, Louis. That's the key here.
- [16:08]
Caller
You're not.
- [16:09]
George Campbell
Don't think of that as an investment, because term life is the same way. Well, I'm not even using the thing. Yeah, because you're alive. Be grateful.
- [16:15]
Caller
Yeah.
- [16:15]
George Campbell
And so it's not investment insurance.
- [16:17]
Dave Ramsey
You know, same thing with your homeowners insurance. You know, you don't carry it for. It's defense. It's not offense.
- [16:23]
George Campbell
You're like, well, we haven't had a house fire in six years. Can I drop it? Well, I don't have a crystal ball to tell you nothing's ever going to happen.
- [16:29]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. So Health, HealthTrust, Financial.com.
- [16:33]
Caller
Okay.
- [16:33]
Dave Ramsey
They'll help you shop around. Tell them you talk to us on the air. And they're good guys. I've known. Like I said, I've known them 15 years. And that's why they're Ramsey Trust, is why we do this with them. And they have brokers that will shop different companies and different plans with different companies to find the one that fits your family just right, your family of five. And get it all dialed in here and let's get the premium down. You take the first dollar risk. In the health insurance world, we call it first dollar risk. And so the more of the first few dollars, the more of the first 20 or $30,000 of risk you can take in any insurance, homeowner's insurance, car insurance, health insurance, the more of that risk you take, the lower your premium just goes way down. Because if you. Every time you go to the doctor, you turn in an insurance claim, it costs. You're going to pay a bazillion dollars a month for that premium. But if you. If you got a thing like, I go, I don't even know what. When I have turned in an insurance claim, I just go and pay for it because it's not gonna.
- [17:34]
George Campbell
It's cash flow.
- [17:34]
Dave Ramsey
It's not gonna hit. You know, the only time I would ever keep up with it even is if I thought we were in a situation where we're gonna hit the deductible. And I had to go back and drag the bills together. But any kind of medical thing that Sharon or I do, we just pay for it, let the money grow, because it's not a major thing, you know, and we leave the HSA alone and we, you know, accept the low premium through Ramsey Solutions on my HSA plan. So. And I took my car insurances up to 10 grand. Yeah.
- [18:01]
George Campbell
Because you again, you, you don't need as much transfer of risk here, but you still want to have it to cover the big stuff like car wreck.
- [18:08]
Dave Ramsey
Mainly, mainly liability. But, yeah, but the, but the thing, the still an expensive car. So you know, we'll cover, I'll cover. I don't care. I'll cover 20 grand of it. It's not that big a thing. But, but the, the and then your premiums just plummet. They go way down when you start doing that. But you can't do that till you got a little bit of money. And so you got to have the hsa, the savings account portion built up and an emergency fund built up to cover these higher deductibles. But always be looking at that folks and get out of the first dollar of insurance coverage. I want it to cover everything. No you don't. It's cost too that gum much. Your premiums are going to go through the roof. You don't want that at all. And so it's. The problem with vision and dental is, you know, it's a wash. It's a wash what you pay for it. You could have just gone to the dentist.
- [18:59]
George Campbell
So unless it's offered for free through an employer or something.
- [19:02]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, sure, take that exactly.
- [19:03]
George Campbell
But if you're having to pay out of pocket, and I did find out HSA max for 2025 is 8550.
- [19:08]
Dave Ramsey
Thank you for looking that up.
- [19:09]
George Campbell
It's close.
- [19:10]
Dave Ramsey
Good, good, good. Okay.
- [19:11]
George Campbell
It's a great deal because you get triple tax advantages in that hsa.
- [19:14]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. And if you use it, it's a, you know, it's a tax deductible claim. And so if I, if I did pay out of the hsa, I don't pay taxes on that money. So the government in my case is paying 37%.
- [19:29]
George Campbell
Not a bad deal.
- [19:30]
Dave Ramsey
Of the.
- [19:31]
George Campbell
You want to stick it to the.
- [19:31]
Dave Ramsey
Man, it would have been taxes. Right. And so by the, by being a pre tax plan and a tax deductible plan, then you get that. So it's the best way to go. And these guys at Health Trust are doing a great job. For those of you out there that are facing other health insurance things, smart people don't wait for trouble to show up. They think ahead. It's true with money and it's just as true about protecting your home. That's why I recommend Simplisafe because most security systems only respond after someone's already broken in. But by then, the damage is done. That's not a plan, that's a patch. Simplisafe is different. Their active guard outdoor protection helps stop break ins before they happen. Their AI powered cameras watch for suspicious activity. And if someone's lurking live, Simplisafe agents can talk to the person, turn on spotlights, and even call the police. That's the kind of thinking that prevents crime in real time. Monitoring plans start around a dollar a day for your first month. It's free and there are no contracts, just proactive protection. That's why over 4 million Americans trust Simplisafe and why it's been named best home security system of 2025 by CNET. And right now you'll get 50% off a new system with professional monitoring. Go to simplisafedirect.com that's simplisafedirect.com there's no safe like Simplisafe. This is silly, George. August is national Make a Will month.
- [21:52]
George Campbell
That's dead serious. If anything. Got him. I'll be here all week.
- [22:00]
Dave Ramsey
Top five reasons people don't do a will. And this is not a lie. This is the actual number one. Procrastination. 43% of adults without a will say they just haven't gotten around to it. You're gonna die. You probably ought to work on it. Number two, perfectionism. Writing a will involves a few big decisions. Just do the best you can. You not gonna get it right. And by the way, someone's gonna be unhappy. Just plan on it. It's kind of part of the thing. Thinking you need a certain amount of assets to do a will. No, you need a will. If you're 18 years old, you need a will. If you don't have a bunch of assets, it's not a big deal. But you don't want the government deciding who takes care of your kids. So you need to name a guardian and you need to do that in a will. Hello. Let the government figure out anything. That's a bad idea.
- [22:44]
George Campbell
Track records. Not great there.
- [22:46]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, yeah. Number four, a belief that everything automatically goes to your family. No, it doesn't. Most of it goes to the lawyers if you don't do a will. That's not how that works. And by the way, again, some judge and probate is going to decide this. No, you need to write it out and tell people what it is. Uncertainty about the process. Most people don't know where to start. Well, we can help. Go to Ramsey Solutions.com wills quiz. It's a free quiz. Ramseysolutions.com willsquiz and with that, you'll get 25% off at Mama Bear Legal forms to do a quick online will. If you've got a simple estate, it's an easy way to do it. You can do it in one evening. You'll have it completely knocked out and.
- [23:29]
George Campbell
You'Ll go, why didn't I do that sooner? Gosh, that wasn't even that hard.
- [23:31]
Dave Ramsey
Well, the other stuff is people forget about stuff like, okay, you, you're in a coma. Who gets to make your medical decisions? You need a health care power of attorney. It's part of a standard will kit. One page. But it sure does make everything easier. And you don't have to go before a judge to get permission to treat your husband. Hello.
- [23:53]
George Campbell
Last thing you want during that time.
- [23:55]
Dave Ramsey
Medical power of attorney.
- [23:56]
George Campbell
Financial power of attorney.
- [23:57]
Dave Ramsey
Financial power of attorney. Something happens and you know they need to be able to move some money around so that you can get your bills paid. Hello? So all these things, and again they're not, it's not complicated. You just gotta bother to do it.
- [24:09]
George Campbell
Doesn't increase your chances of dying either. Studies show.
- [24:12]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, and studies show that you're gonna die. That's detail. We know that's happening. So you're not getting out of this alive. Dalen's in San Antonio. Hi Dalen, how are you?
- [24:24]
Caller
I'm doing good, Dave. How are you?
- [24:25]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. How can I help?
- [24:28]
Caller
So my question is kind of a two parter.
- [24:30]
It's.
- [24:30]
It has to do with combining finances with my spouse as well as for our ultimate goal of paying off our house sooner.
- [24:39]
Dave Ramsey
Okay.
- [24:41]
Caller
So I'm guessing, I guess the number one thing is she and I both contribute to paying on things. I pay the mortgage and she pays some of the bills and things like that. But we currently have two separate bank accounts, so I'm not. But we haven't taken the leap of having a joint bank account. But don't really have an answer to that other than I guess just the idea of it feels like it's maybe a lack of, maybe it's a lack of control thing.
- [25:18]
I don't know.
- [25:18]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, well, here's the control factor. When the two of you put all your money in one account and the two of you, before the month begins, sit down with your every dollar budget and the two of you have a vote about where the money's going to go and you lay out where the money's going to go. Before month begins and you both agree to that, then the control is if somebody doesn't do what they agreed, they're a liar, they broke a contract.
- [25:42]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [25:42]
Dave Ramsey
And so you've got pure communication right now. You got half butt communication because you half but know what's going on. But you got pure communication because it's all laid out on the front end and the two of you together. And here's the actual result, okay. When we surveyed the general public, less than 50% of the general public down in the 40 percentile range, combine their assets with their spouse, combine their incomes with their spouse. When we surveyed 10,167 millionaires, 83% combined their income and their assets with their spouse. And so the result is you have a much higher probability of building wealth and accomplishing your financial goals when you're actually working together instead of acting like your roommates.
- [26:34]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [26:34]
Dave Ramsey
That's data. That's not a feeling, it's a fact. So that's important. And the reason is pretty simple because you get much more efficient use of the money pointed toward a shared goal that we both have agreed to, by the way. The quality of the communication increases in your marriage, your relationship increases and the quality of your marriage increases overall because you're forcing each other to agree on our fears and our dreams and we're in alignment on those things. It's a big deal in a Georgia.
- [27:04]
George Campbell
Yeah, well, and the other thing is it hides things that are just going to cause resentment later on down the line or spending issues. So I'd rather get them out on paper now, have some accountability built in and transparency to where my wife, she sees every transaction alert come through our bank. She knows what's going on, I know what's going on. And that has allowed us to exponentially build wealth because none of us are sitting here, you know, whittling away our money that we've worked so hard for.
- [27:27]
Dave Ramsey
It controls how many purses Sharon buys and how many guns I buy.
- [27:32]
Caller
Copy. Yes sir.
- [27:35]
George Campbell
The question is which one costs more?
- [27:37]
Dave Ramsey
Ah, there's a question that's. I'm just telling you.
- [27:40]
George Campbell
I'm curious, Dale.
- [27:41]
Dave Ramsey
A pistol cost two purses. George, I'll just tell you. I know what the trade out.
- [27:44]
George Campbell
That's called Dave math right there. So Dylan, have you guys combined in other ways? Is she on the mortgage? Is she on the deed?
- [27:53]
Caller
Yes sir, she is on the mortgage. Kind of how it's been. Well, so kind of how it's been going. I've been paying, I've been paying the mortgage, and she has been taking care of some utilities. But her main. The main thing is that she's. She does have student loan debt.
- [28:10]
George Campbell
So who makes more money.
- [28:15]
Caller
Currently? I believe I do.
- [28:17]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. Okay, so what do you make?
- [28:20]
Caller
I make about 84,500 a year.
- [28:24]
Dave Ramsey
What do you think she makes?
- [28:26]
Caller
Well, so she. Hers varies, but she's a.
- [28:30]
She's a.
- [28:30]
She's a therapist, and so she makes based upon patients. So it can vary between 800 to 3,500 a paycheck. It just depends.
- [28:39]
Dave Ramsey
But I mean, like, when you're doing your taxes for a year, what's the lady make?
- [28:46]
Caller
I want to say. I want to say, at best, hopefully probably about. Or 84 to 85.
- [28:53]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so you got 150, $160,000 income. That's the point. Okay, and how long y' all been married?
- [29:03]
Caller
Two years in October.
- [29:04]
Dave Ramsey
Who's the more detailed nerd in the bunch, you or her? You.
- [29:10]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [29:11]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, me too. At my house, I'm the nerd at my house. And that makes her. We call them nerds and free spirits. Who's the nerd? Who's the free spirit? My wife is the free spirit. Who's the spender and who's the saver?
- [29:23]
Caller
I'm the saver.
- [29:24]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. And she's the spender. Okay. So she's a free spirit spender, and you're a saving nerd. All right, now here's what's going to end up happening when you combine. She's going to feel controlled at first by this whole process because she likes to be un. She doesn't like being. Having a harness on her. Okay. But she's going to learn that we're not controlling the spending, but instead what we're doing is designating the spending. So she gets to. Basically, my daughter Rachel is like your wife. She's a free spirit spender. Okay? And Rachel, finally, when she and Winston started doing the budget, and they're early in their marriage, she determined that the budget is not a restriction on her spending, it's permission to spend. Because now whatever's in the category that is spending for your wife, she can do without any guilt or worry of retribution from you because you've agreed about it before the month begins, it actually sets her free to do what she does. Now, I'm a nerd spender, so I'm a little different. So I plan out my spending, and that way I know I'm being responsible about it. So that helps. And my wife wants to plan out our saving because She's a saver. So you get to do your saving, you get to do your spending. Everybody gets a vote. All of this is reflected in our plan. And she's going to help you have fun. And you're going to help her retire and not have to eat dog food.
- [30:58]
George Campbell
It's a good team right there.
- [30:59]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. And it's it. You need each other. If two people just alike get married, one of you is unnecessary.
- [31:32]
George Campbell
You've got a job, a dog, maybe a peloton, but no will. Come on, people, it's Make a will month. Time to stop pretending you're immortal and start adulting like a pro. And here's the deal. A will isn't just for boomers with beach houses. It's for anyone who owns stuff or loves their people. And I assume that's you, because when you die without a will, the state gets to decide who gets what. And spoiler alert, the state doesn't know you. And that means your ex roommate could end up with your collection of vinyl and the government might get final say on who raises your kids. That's not okay. And that's why I recommend Mama Bear legal forms. It's the simple lawyer free way to get your will done in 20 minutes. And this August, you get 25% off for make a Will month. That's Mama Bear's biggest sale of the year. So stop with the I'll get to it someday excuses. Just get it done today@mamabearlegalforms.com and use the promo code Ramsey when you check out to get the discount again. That's mama bearlegalforms.com offer ends August 31st at 11:59pm do not let the government raise your kids or fight over your Mandalorian merch. Make a will today. Mama Bear legalforms.com promo code Ramsey.
- [32:47]
Dave Ramsey
David is in Louisville, Kentucky. Hi, David. How can we help?
- [32:51]
Caller
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call.
- [32:53]
Dave Ramsey
Sure.
- [32:55]
Caller
So I'm 29 and my wife is 27. We're both self employed and our only debt is our mortgage and it's about 30% of our gross income. It's. I mean, it's been doable, but it's a little bit tight at certain times, especially after our investing and newborn expenses. So my question is, is it or would it be smart to sell our current home and invest all of that net profit into a Roth retirement and then just start over in a small starter home? So in doing so, we'd have 160,000 in Roth funds at our age and without ever contributing, we'd have about.
- [33:39]
Dave Ramsey
Your phone's breaking up. Honey, your phone's breaking up. I have no idea what you said. You said 100 and something. 100. What'd you say? 100. How much going into, into retirement?
- [33:49]
Caller
We'd have about 165,000 in Roth funds.
- [33:52]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. No, it's not Roth. You can't put it all in a Roth. The only thing you can put in a Roth is a rollover from a retirement. You can't put home equity all in a Roth in one year. You can put $8,000 in in a year, but that's the most you can.
- [34:05]
Caller
We have Roth 401k, so it could do around 20,000 each of us because we're both self employed and including Roth IRAs.
- [34:14]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, you can, yeah, you can move it that way, but you can't just move 150 from your house into a Roth. You have to do through the. Some of those vehicles. Why is your business not growing?
- [34:25]
Caller
I mean, it's growing. We started out about 100 on average.
- [34:32]
Dave Ramsey
Man, your phone sucks. Try again.
- [34:36]
Caller
It's an iPhone 10. So we started out.
- [34:42]
Dave Ramsey
I'm done.
- [34:42]
George Campbell
We tried.
- [34:43]
Dave Ramsey
All right, we tried Open phones at 3882-55225. If your business, sir, is increasing in profitability and increasing in revenue, you can keep the house. And you should keep the house. But I think the problem is not the house and the problem is not the Roth IRAs. The problem is you're not making enough out of your business. So you guys need to make some career decisions. Either this business needs to get up, get running and increase your income using that, or you need to consider if this business is really viable or not. That's what you're looking at. James is in Denver. Hey, James, what's up?
- [35:21]
Caller
Hi. How you doing?
- [35:23]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. How can I help?
- [35:26]
Caller
Well, I was hoping if you can guide me in the right direction. I am contemplating retiring early. And I'm quite young for what I was born and raised to realize that. Retired. I just turned 38 years old.
- [35:40]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. Okay. What do you mean by retire?
- [35:45]
Caller
Not. Not grind a day job every day that I'm worried about.
- [35:52]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so you want to sit on your butt for 40 years?
- [35:59]
Caller
I vet. I sit on my butt. Maybe hike, maybe golf, maybe get outdoor.
- [36:04]
George Campbell
Dave does a lot of that.
- [36:06]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. Still work. Okay. There's two questions here that are built into this issue. Question number one is the philosophy of that and question number two is the math of that. Can you afford to do it? How much money do you have invested and saved.
- [36:29]
Caller
Right now I have about three and a half million in the market.
- [36:33]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, then you can retire.
- [36:35]
Caller
Couple houses and you got enough.
- [36:38]
Dave Ramsey
You've done great. Congratulations. Now, what were you doing for a living?
- [36:42]
Caller
I was doing technology sales and done quite well.
- [36:46]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, you've done fabulous. Congratulations. Very proud of you. That's excellent. So definitely math wise, I mean, I'm sure you can live on 300 grand a year. Hello.
- [36:58]
Caller
Sure.
- [36:59]
Dave Ramsey
I'm sorry?
- [37:01]
Caller
No, I said sure. Absolutely.
- [37:03]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, then, you know, three and a half million at 10% going to produce that. At 8%, it's going to produce that. And that's not counting your rental houses. So yeah, you'd math. So the math question is yes, you can retire. I will tell you having met with wealthy people and people who were successful, as successful or more successful than you at an early age, the ones that attempted to do nothing have not had a high quality life. Golf and hiking just don't do it, man.
- [37:34]
Caller
Yeah, I'm. After a few months of this, I'm starting to get that.
- [37:40]
George Campbell
I can tell you the pattern you've already done goes from.
- [37:43]
Dave Ramsey
Wait a minute, wait a minute. Have you already quit.
- [37:49]
Caller
Job as a, you know.
- [37:53]
Dave Ramsey
Do we have any phones that work on this planet?
- [37:56]
George Campbell
How has technology not improved over the last 30 years that you're doing this, Dave?
- [38:00]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, I don't know. So, okay, anyway, the, the answer to your question is yes, mathematically you can retire and philosophically you can control how much you work and you can increase the number of hikes and the number of rounds of golf. But I tell, I will tell you that you will have a much higher quality life and your wife will be happier with you if you are doing something. Even if you start your own business and you work at five hours a day or four hours a day average, you work it, you know, some days you work at three days a week, some. I've got a friend that has a house in Aspen and he has a house in the mountains in North Carolina. And he goes back and forth between those and he works from his computer running a business, but he doesn't work. But, you know, a couple hours a day, three or four hours a day, but he's still engaged, still being creative, still having strategic thought, still, you know, doing something. And so, you know, in my case, I love what I do. So I have no desire to walk away from it. And I intend to do this until I don't make sense anymore and then they will take me off the air and there's all kinds of plans behind my back to make sure that that happens. But I mean I don't have any reason to not come down here because it's been, I mean I could have quit at 38. I was done financially, financially, the math. So financially I was done at 38, easy probably before that. And so, but this is God's call on my life and so I get great joy. It would be ridiculous to not be engaged and put your hand to a plow that causes things to grow. And so that's what I want for you. You've obviously got high capacity and it would be a shame for the high capacity to be on the end of a fishing pole. And so as your only thing you do with your life. So I just, I don't recommend that for you. And I don't find retirement in the Bible, by the way. I don't think it's evil if you do. I don't think it, I don't think you're doing anything wrong. I don't think it's immoral. But. And it may be that just in biblical times people had to work because they were always hungry. But it could be that. And we may be, you know, have advanced our finances beyond that at this stage. But so I'm not making a. It's not a moral statement. It's a matter of the way we seem to be wired as humans. We do better if we've got our hand to something.
- [40:30]
George Campbell
Exactly. As I've looked into the this is the fire movement. Financially independent, retire early. And this is the exact pattern I've seen. It's short term fun. Woo. I don't work for the man anymore. And that lasts for two weeks or a month. Then it leads into boredom, which leads into depression, which leads into a search for purpose again, which then leads to the thing you should have been doing all along. Yeah, that's what people do. They spin up a new business that fires them up. And I think that's what our friend here needs to do is go find the thing that actually gets him excited to go to work. And then it's a shifting for a.
- [41:01]
Dave Ramsey
Wonderful book I recommend to you called Halftime. And he said we spend the first. Particularly males, not females, don't fall to it as much. But we spend the first half of our lives in acquisition and the second half of our lives doing something with meaning. And so. And if you don't make that transfer, you have a midlife crisis. If all you do is stay. If you're a 60 year old and you're still in acquisition mode, you know, you're going to fall into midlife crisis and so be careful with that. And you know, I just, I. Again, you're right. The fire movement has failed miserably in terms of quality of life. And so this idea that I'm financially independent. Independent from what? You still have human beings you're interacting with and they're out there, they're called life. And you're going to have to still be a nice person and you're still going to have to, you know, do you know. But here's the thing. If you have high capacity, there's stuff God needs you to do on the planet. Do something of size, do something of scale. And I don't care what it is.
- [42:03]
George Campbell
But now you can do it on your terms. And that's the beautiful part.
- [42:06]
Dave Ramsey
Now that's how I would go at it. So cool stuff. Thanks for calling in. I get it. Switching banks is a pain in the. You know what? But if your bank doesn't line up with your money goals, it's time to make the switch to Fair Winds Credit Union. Listen, you guys know how I feel about big banks. They make money when you stay broke. Charging you overdraft fees, pushing credit cards and telling you debt is normal. And that's why I only work with folks who help you, not just profit off of you. Fairwinds is different. They're owned by their members, their non profit and they share our values. They even advertise with billboards saying they want their members to be debt free. So they built the Smart Checking and savings bundle. And just for Ramsey fans, you can open your account online in minutes and here's what you get. Free checking with no minimums and no monthly fees. Savings with a high apy to help you in baby step one and beyond and a mobile app that actually makes sense. Plus you also get access to over 33,000 fee free ATMs and more than 5,000 affiliated branches nationwide. So don't settle for a bank that slows your progress down. Choose one that's built to help you win with money. Go to Fairwinds.org Ramsey and open your Smart Bundle today.
- [44:05]
George Campbell
Fairwinds is federally insured by the ncu.
- [44:23]
Dave Ramsey
Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. George Camel Ramsey, personality number one best selling author, is my co host today and Alex is Alexis Rather is with us in Miami. Hi Alexis, how are you?
- [44:36]
Caller
Hi Dave. I'm amazing. How are you?
- [44:38]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. What's up?
- [44:42]
Caller
I'm calling you today because I love all the advice, financial advice and even kind Of a spiritual advice that you give your listeners. And I've kind of stumbled upon a big chunk of change. And before I make any rash decisions, I'd love to talk to you about it first.
- [45:00]
Dave Ramsey
What kind of stumbling and what kind of chunk of change?
- [45:02]
Caller
Right, right, right, right, exactly. So a few months ago, my husband tried to be a superstar husband. And he bought me a fancy car. It was a 2025 black badge, all black, red interior Rolls Royce. And he bought it for me in hopes that I would be, you know, happen having fun in, like, a mom car. But, you know, I don't want to be, you know, ungrateful. But it's not the color I asked for. It's not the style of car I asked for.
- [45:35]
George Campbell
What were your demands?
- [45:36]
Caller
Originally, I wanted a drop top Bentley.
- [45:40]
Oh.
- [45:40]
I wanted. I wanted to feel the wind in my hair. I wanted to be able to, like, you know, my girls are coming over. We just, like, hop in my car, and then we just skirt off. I don't like having to, like, remove car seats.
- [45:51]
George Campbell
Sometimes I get my wife's Starbucks order wrong. So I totally relate to this.
- [45:55]
Caller
Yeah, I know, I know. I knew you guys would understand.
- [45:57]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah.
- [45:59]
Caller
So anyway.
- [46:02]
Dave Ramsey
Stop, stop, stop. I can't breathe.
- [46:05]
Caller
Okay.
- [46:05]
Dave Ramsey
The household income is what?
- [46:09]
Caller
Well, my husband does crypto, so there's some months where you make millions of dollars, and then some months where we don't make anything. You know, it's just all about how my husband strategizes his time, so. But he does what he can, you know.
- [46:21]
Dave Ramsey
Are you punking us?
- [46:24]
Caller
Oh, my God, no. You can look me up like I'm giving you my birth name and everything. No, I'm not punking you. This is real life.
- [46:31]
Dave Ramsey
You called me about a $600,000 car, and your husband's job is crypto, and these are obviously none of the things we talk about on the show, so we would never recommend any of this. But.
- [46:42]
Caller
No, no, that's why I was hesitant to, you know, be live on air about it. But what I'm saying is, you know, I not in love with this car, and I'm looking to sell it and have an offer for it, and I don't.
- [46:52]
Dave Ramsey
Oh, well, then sell it.
- [46:54]
Caller
Okay. And then what do I do with the money? Just, like, now have money?
- [46:56]
Dave Ramsey
I don't know. Is it not your husband's money, too?
- [46:59]
Caller
No, it is, but, you know, it was a gift to me, so now I'm able to, like, reinvest it or, you know, do something with it that's a little Bit more important than just like have it sitting in my driveway.
- [47:08]
Dave Ramsey
I thought you were going to get a drop top Bentley.
- [47:10]
Caller
I mean, now I don't even care about a fancy car at all. I just would like to do something a little bit more interesting than have it sit in my driveway.
- [47:16]
Dave Ramsey
So you changed your mind.
- [47:19]
Caller
I mean, time has gone by and now I'm like, you know, a little bit more mature and you know, things like that are interesting to me. You know, having, having something like that in my driveway is a liability. And you know, if I, I've been told to put my money in this way and then, you know, I'm being pulled in many directions of what I should do with a.
- [47:35]
George Campbell
Sounds like if you asked your husband, he'd want to invest it in crypto.
- [47:38]
Caller
Yeah, but I don't want to do that.
- [47:39]
Dave Ramsey
Why?
- [47:40]
Caller
I don't understand it. I don't understand it. So I don't want to do it. He can do what he wants. And you know, this is something that was gifted to me and I want to make a little, you know, more thought out decision.
- [47:49]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, well, honey, I mean, you just, you're going to have to pick out something you want to do with it. There's so much broken about this whole process that I don't know where to begin to help you fix it. Number one process should be that two grownups living together don't have, don't buy $600,000 cars without the other one being involved in the decision. For that matter, they don't buy $6,000 cars without the other one being made in the decision. And number two, two grown ups living together share their assets, their liabilities, their incomes, their dreams and their fears. And so it's not like you have your own little private party account over here as a result of selling a 2025 Rolls Royce. So that's, that's not how it should work. So I disagree with your premise. And so I would coach you guys to start working together and, you know, begin to invest in some real investments, not just crypto. And both of you for that matter, and otherwise your life is just going to continue to be extremely volatile. And if volatility is purchasing a 2025 Rolls Royce that is the wrong interior color and then turning around and selling it. If that's volatility, that's, that's volatility. And that's, there's a lot of chaos around this whole process. And none of this to lead to peace in your home, peace in your future, calmness. You guys are just running around 63 different directions. Life in the fast lane should be your theme song.
- [49:30]
George Campbell
So, yeah, we need some shared goals, shared vision. And so far your shared goals have been let's get rich quick and have a bunch of vanity. Which is fun, but you found out very quickly it didn't last the test of time.
- [49:41]
Dave Ramsey
I guess when you're reassessing. I'm not sure how long the timeframe was. It feels like it was two weeks, but that's a fairly quick short period of time to grow up. But it apparently worked. I don't know. So there we go. Hayden is with us in Minnesota. Hi, Hayden. How are you?
- [49:56]
Caller
I'm well. How are you?
- [49:58]
Dave Ramsey
I'm better than I deserve. What's up?
- [50:03]
Caller
So I am 24 and I would like to purchase an engagement ring. Yeah.
- [50:10]
Dave Ramsey
That's awesome. You got some money saved.
- [50:12]
Caller
Thank you.
- [50:14]
Dave Ramsey
I do. When you go pop the question.
- [50:17]
Caller
Hopefully soon, probably within a month or so once I get all this stuff squared away.
- [50:21]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, I gotta have a plan, man. I like it. So what do you make a year?
- [50:27]
Caller
Last year I made 85. And this year will be about 85. 90.
- [50:31]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. And how much you got saved for the ring?
- [50:35]
Caller
In a high yield account? Right now I have about 40.
- [50:39]
Dave Ramsey
Okay.
- [50:39]
Caller
401K from an employer, about 10.
- [50:42]
Dave Ramsey
But I mean in that four is that the 40 is not allocated to the ring.
- [50:46]
Caller
No, no, no.
- [50:47]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. How much you got saved for the ring?
- [50:49]
Caller
Well, so that's where I kind of want to figure out. My question to you is how much I should spend on that ring.
- [50:54]
Dave Ramsey
One month's income.
- [50:57]
Caller
Okay.
- [50:57]
Dave Ramsey
Jewelry store will tell you three months.
- [51:01]
Caller
Do you think so? I would like to. We've had a kind of the goal to go on a vacation. Neither of us have ever been out of the country.
- [51:09]
Dave Ramsey
Be like the honeymoon, right?
- [51:12]
Caller
Kind of, yeah, pretty much. So that encompassing with the ring, would you say that that changes things?
- [51:18]
Dave Ramsey
No, I just. I just. That's different savings. What I would spend on the ring is ten grand or less.
- [51:25]
Caller
Okay.
- [51:25]
Dave Ramsey
And what I'd spend on the trip is what I spent on the trip. And you got the money to do both.
- [51:31]
Caller
Okay.
- [51:32]
Dave Ramsey
All right.
- [51:32]
Caller
So get her something nice.
- [51:33]
Dave Ramsey
There is no correlation between the size of the ring and the probability of the marriage being a success. Except possibly an inverse correlation, meaning the larger the ring, the better the chance it fails. But most high quality marriages are not based on the size of the ring, in other words. So lots of people get married with something out of the bubble gum machine. Sharon Ramsey married me with a.00, whatever chip that you could barely see. And now she wears a headlight, so.
- [52:05]
George Campbell
There'S no decimal points in that one.
- [52:07]
Dave Ramsey
So, you know, she does whatever she wants now. Right. But that's, you know, 43 years of putting up with me. You get a ring. So that's it. And you get a ring. And you know that. So anyway, that the. The starter ring is fine. 10 grand. And you've saved the money to do it. Shop around, learn a little bit about diamonds. They're not. Not an investment. That's the biggest lie ever. I bought a bunch of them. None of them have ever gone up. They don't go up in value. The only value is her smile. That's it. That's the only thing it gives me value. The rest of it's just. It's in the box.
- [52:40]
George Campbell
Figure out her taste, figure out the budget, and then just go for it.
- [52:43]
Dave Ramsey
Diamonds are forever. Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Those are jewelry marketing lines.
- [52:48]
George Campbell
You need better friends. Dave, we got a lot of calls on this show where life happens. One day someone's healthy, they're working, providing for their family, and then a curveball hits.
- [53:16]
Dave Ramsey
You know, we hear it all the time. A car accident, a cancer diagnosis, a heart attack, and suddenly everything changes. Yeah.
- [53:24]
George Campbell
And that's why you've always said that having term life insurance from Zander is essential because it protects your family if the worst happens.
- [53:31]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, that's right. You need 10 to 12 times your income in coverage. No gimmicks, no whole life junk, just straightforward term life protection. But there's another piece that people often overlook, and that's long term disability insurance.
- [53:47]
George Campbell
Yeah, it's important to understand the difference between them. Life insurance steps in when you die. Disability insurance steps in while you're alive but can't work. So it replaces a large part of your income so the bills still get paid while you get back on your feet.
- [54:01]
Dave Ramsey
Now, if your employer gives you free disability insurance, great, take it. If it's discounted there at a better price, take it. But if not, Zander can help you find the right plan. Whether you're single or married. It's not optional. If you're going to be out of work for a while, then you need to make sure the money's still showing up.
- [54:19]
George Campbell
And that's why Zander is our go to. They make it super simple to get the right coverage at the best price. No pressure, no upselling.
- [54:26]
Dave Ramsey
I've trusted Jeff, Zander and Zander insurance for over 25 years and so has my family.
- [54:32]
George Campbell
So don't wait. It's fast, it's easy, and it could make all the difference. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282.
- [54:40]
Dave Ramsey
Protect yourself, protect your income, protect your family. Christopher is in Denver. Hi, Christopher, how are you?
- [55:08]
Caller
Hey, I'm doing well. Glad to be here.
- [55:10]
Dave Ramsey
Good. How can we help?
- [55:12]
Caller
So I'm calling essentially because I quickly accumulated quite a bit of debt in about three months. Why? And at the same time from gambling.
- [55:25]
Dave Ramsey
Oh, have you stopped gambling?
- [55:28]
Caller
I have stopped, yes.
- [55:31]
Dave Ramsey
What were you betting on?
- [55:35]
Caller
Online crypto casinos. Like blackjack? For the most part, yeah.
- [55:39]
Dave Ramsey
And how much debt did you build up?
- [55:42]
Caller
Built up? Close to 40, 37.
- [55:46]
Dave Ramsey
$37,000 in three months from gambling. Okay, right on.
- [55:50]
Caller
Credit cards were about triple that, but yes, all credit cards, yeah.
- [55:54]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, your losses were triple that?
- [55:57]
Caller
Yeah, total, that was 37 was just.
- [55:59]
George Campbell
The debt and the money before.
- [56:03]
Dave Ramsey
And the 60,000 was savings you went through?
- [56:07]
Caller
Yeah, savings portfolio, crypto holdings.
- [56:10]
Dave Ramsey
So I'm curious why it took $100,000 for you to figure out this is a stupid idea.
- [56:15]
Caller
You know, I really thought I was going to get it back, but that's how it goes, man.
- [56:20]
Dave Ramsey
Says every gambling addict. Yeah. So how old are, how old are you?
- [56:26]
Caller
27.
- [56:27]
Dave Ramsey
What's your household income, sir?
- [56:30]
Caller
Well, I'm self employed. I've been running a company for a little over five years, so varies dramatically. But like last year was 88.
- [56:38]
Dave Ramsey
You made $88,000 last year. What do you think you're going to make this year?
- [56:44]
Caller
Probably 115.
- [56:46]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, that's good. Very good. Good for you. Okay. Are you single?
- [56:51]
Caller
I am.
- [56:52]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. And your question is what then, sir?
- [56:56]
Caller
Well, when I went through this partially because of my self employment status, I mean my initial. Once I decided I'd had enough and it was time to quit, my initial thought was I should be consolidating this somehow because the 25, 28%, whatever it is on these cards is unnecessary is what it felt like I should put into a consolidation loan. And I went to do that to probably 14 banks or whatever. I tried everywhere and no one would give it to me, partially because of recent behavior and how quickly it came up and credit utilization.
- [57:28]
Dave Ramsey
You're what's known as a bad credit risk because you've been doing stupid stuff. That makes sense.
- [57:32]
Caller
I wouldn't argue with them.
- [57:34]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, that's what makes that makes sense. Yeah. Okay.
- [57:38]
Caller
So the next place that a lot of them tried to push me was to debt relief programs.
- [57:47]
Dave Ramsey
You're going to the Only way a debt relief program works is if you quit paying everyone and you go into default and then they negotiate lower rates to finally get the credit card company repaid. You don't need to do that. You make 105,000. You're single. You need $37,000. You need to start paying. Paying $3,000, 3,000 to $4,000 a month on these credit cards and make them go away. Interest rate becomes irrelevant when you pay this off in one year.
- [58:14]
Caller
Yeah, that's. That's a good point. Definitely.
- [58:17]
Dave Ramsey
So that's what we're going to do. We're going to work like we. Like our life depended on it. We're not going to do anything except work for the next year. We're not going out to eat, we're not going on vacation, and we're going to clean up these credit cards. List the credit cards smallest to largest, pay minimum payments on everything but the little one. And how many cards are involved?
- [58:39]
Caller
Five, Almost four. I've almost gotten rid of the. The smallest one, but five total.
- [58:44]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so four cards on 37, 000. So you're averaging about eight or 9,000 bucks a piece, right?
- [58:51]
Caller
Yeah, average. I suppose they are.
- [58:53]
Dave Ramsey
Who are they with? Who are they with?
- [58:55]
Caller
Eight. Chase is the biggest one. He's got about 18 on.
- [59:00]
Dave Ramsey
Mm. Okay, call Chase and tell them you talk to your financial advisor who said to close down the account and never do business with Chase again. If they don't lower the interest rate that we're going to move, we're going to move the balance to somebody else to a lower rate. If you don't lower my rate today, they'll drop it.
- [59:24]
Caller
Cool. Okay.
- [59:25]
Dave Ramsey
And do that with every one of them. They'll drop it. That'll help a little. But interest rates, not your problem. It's behavior shift. You're going to go from an intense gambler to an intense debt repayment guy.
- [59:38]
Caller
Yeah.
- [59:38]
George Campbell
Do you have any other debt?
- [59:41]
Caller
I do. I got a car that's about 22 on it and student loans for 16.
- [59:47]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, well, let's put all those on that same list then. Let's just keep going. Going to take two years then.
- [59:53]
Caller
Yeah. To get it all. That would be. Yeah, that'd be great. I think if it was done in two, I'd be a happy guy.
- [59:58]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah.
- [59:58]
George Campbell
Are you done with crypto?
- [60:00]
Caller
Yeah, I've stopped completely since. And I've had other addictive struggles in the past and was able to sort of treat this one the same way that, you know, I've got a good Community around me.
- [60:15]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, well. And in a sense, we're going to use the positive attributes of an addict, which would be focused and singular focus. And we're going to use that on this debt. Get after it, don't look up until it's gone, kill it, and then make it a permanent line in the sand that we never go back for anything. And obviously gambling is not a method of wealth building. We figured that out too, didn't we? Went through 100 grand in just a few months and ending up with a net of $37,000 worth of debt. Hey, I told you. I was on a podcast this morning as a guest and the guy was asking me what was going on with sports betting. I said, I think it. We're seeing it almost every about twice a week. We're seeing a call right now where people's lives have been ruined by Fanduel and ruined by MGM Gold or whatever because they're out of control.
- [61:14]
George Campbell
The advertising is relentless. You can't go anywhere without getting the sponsors.
- [61:17]
Dave Ramsey
The reason is they make so stinking much money. Money. Where do you think they got the money to buy all that advertising? From the losers. That's where they got the money, which is everyone that plays it. Right. And so that's. They end up losing. And it's a. It's mythology, but it's very addictive.
- [61:32]
George Campbell
Well, it's become socialized where it's no big deal because we're all watching the game. I'm not at a casino.
- [61:37]
Dave Ramsey
It's not fun to watch the game unless I got something on it. Yeah, it is. It's a lot more fun.
- [61:41]
George Campbell
And now we've watched.
- [61:41]
Dave Ramsey
By the way, it's a game. I just need to remind you of that.
- [61:45]
George Campbell
I didn't know that. Online crypto casinos. That's the three words that should never go together. That's frightening. That's gotta be some kind of seventh circle of hell. Dante's even shaking in his boots.
- [61:58]
Dave Ramsey
What are your demands? Tristan's in Florida. Hey, Tristan. What's up?
- [62:05]
Caller
Thanks for taking my call.
- [62:07]
Dave Ramsey
Sure. How can we help?
- [62:09]
Caller
I own and operate a photography business. My soon to be wife is planning on resigning from her 9 to 5 job and starting to work with me full time since I'm a one. I've been up to this point a one man show. I have no idea how to structure my finances to pay her to or at least have her income come through the business as well.
- [62:38]
Dave Ramsey
If it's her wife, it doesn't matter, right? You don't even need an Income through the business. The business makes a profit. Y' all take the profit home and eat.
- [62:47]
Caller
Okay, but as far as like whether.
- [62:49]
George Campbell
You get six or she gets four, it's just 10 ending up in that same checking account. Account, right.
- [62:54]
Caller
Correct.
- [62:56]
George Campbell
So you got a business checking account already.
- [62:58]
Caller
Yes. Okay.
- [62:59]
George Campbell
And then you have your personal. And you've been transferring money over to pay yourself.
- [63:04]
Caller
Yeah, exactly. Whenever I need money, I just transfer it over. But I try to keep my expenses very low.
- [63:09]
Dave Ramsey
Same thing.
- [63:11]
Caller
Okay.
- [63:11]
George Campbell
Will she be increasing the revenue of the business?
- [63:14]
Caller
Yeah, yeah.
- [63:15]
Dave Ramsey
That's the whole. I hope so. I hope you all make more. Both of you are working there. Yeah. And so what we need to do, the first step is, is for the them keep everything completely separate. Run the business as if you're running it for someone else. Like George said, a separate checking account. He's exactly right. And then you pay only business expenses with that account. And you only put money into that account that comes from the business.
- [63:40]
Caller
Right.
- [63:40]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. And so the net that's in that account by definition is profit.
- [63:45]
Caller
Okay.
- [63:46]
Dave Ramsey
If revenue goes in, expenses go out, what's left is profit. Right. That's the definition from an accounting standpoint, obviously, you need a good set of books, too. Then I would leave some in the business for retained earnings, the equivalent of an emergency fund in business. We need a little pad in there, and then the rest of it comes home, and that's profit. And you can do that just as a monthly decision how much we're going to bring home out of there. We made this much profit, we're going to leave a little in the business for retained earnings. We're going to bring the rest of it home, and then we can put that in the checking account. You need to hold a fourth of that out for tax, 25% of it out for taxes in a separate account. So you can pay your quarterly estimates and then take the rest of it home. And that's the easiest way to do it. The next step is you could really start making some serious money. You can start paying actual salaries out. But it's not necessary to do that.
- [64:49]
George Campbell
Okay. Rachel, the Internet officially knows too much about all of us.
- [64:52]
Rachel Cruze
So much, George. I mean, our names, our addresses, even our relatives names. And what's crazy is, even if you opt out, data broker websites can still get your info.
- [65:01]
George Campbell
Don't like that. And just a year ago, get this, the average person had about 300 pieces of personal data floating around online. Now it's over 600. It has doubled in a year.
- [65:10]
Rachel Cruze
You guys, that is so concerning. Because that info then can be used in phishing, scams, impersonation, and even harassment. That's why George and I both use and love Delete me.
- [65:20]
George Campbell
Yes. DeleteMe scrubs your personal info from hundreds of these data broker sites, not just once, but all year long. And there's real privacy experts behind the scenes doing this, not bots. So this is digital hygiene. We all need.
- [65:32]
Rachel Cruze
We all need it. And then they will send you a detailed report showing exactly where they found your data and what they removed. And you can even request custom removals if you have something specific you want them to look out for.
- [65:43]
George Campbell
Exactly. And this is not being paranoid. This is staying protected. And so far, Delete Me has removed my info from 240 listings and saved me 94 hours of time it would have taken me to do it.
- [65:53]
Rachel Cruze
I love it. And you guys, in a world where strangers can google your grandma and get enough info to scam her in just two clicks, Delete Me gives you peace of mind.
- [66:02]
George Campbell
Yes. So go to joindeleteme.com Ramsey for 20% off. And that discount brings their annual plans down to about nine bucks a month. So go check it out. Joindeleteme.com Ramsey.
- [66:29]
Dave Ramsey
Well, if you've never been able to visit the lobby of Ramsey Solutions and watch us do this show on the glass, which we do from 1 to 4 Monday through Friday, you're gonna get a special treat. We're gonna take the show on the road and let you come and watch us do a show. And better than that, you will be asking the questions from the audience on the live mic. That's fun. If you ever wanted to see the person who's calling in, you're gonna see them. They're gonna be in the room. Now's your chance. Ramsey show's going on. Tour experience, live Q and A, raw confessions, crowd debates, and a local debt free scream. It's all happening live. The first one will be September 30th in Chicago. Rachel, Ken and George, we'll be doing this show live on stage with an audience of about 300 folks. Tickets are a whole $39. Ooh, super expensive.
- [67:26]
George Campbell
I think the Uber to the venue.
- [67:27]
Dave Ramsey
Is going to cost you more for sure. That's an amazing price in Chicago for sure. So anyway, you get to come and hang out. But the problem with them being $39 is they're gonna be gone in about 20 minutes. So if you want tickets, you probably ought to go buy them.
- [67:41]
George Campbell
Like quick intimate experience. 300 seats in each venue and so they're gonna go fast and it's gonna be a blast to go on the.
- [67:49]
Dave Ramsey
Road and be amongst the people, amongst the folks. Orlando, October 2nd. We're doing two this fall, Chicago and Orlando, September 30th and October 2nd. And in Orlando will be Jade, John and George. You're doing both of them. Them.
- [68:03]
George Campbell
Someone had to chaperone John and so they sent me out there with them.
- [68:06]
Dave Ramsey
Someone had to chaperone Ken on the other one. So there you go. Yeah, we got to take care of, we got to send a grown up. Yep.
- [68:12]
George Campbell
All right, so I'll be headed straight from Chicago to Orlando. It's going to be a fun time. And this is, this is the kind of event that you're. It's going to be hard to experience through radio or video. You, you want to be in the room for this kind of experience and if you haven't experienced it live, now's your chance. Because we've never done something like this.
- [68:29]
Dave Ramsey
Never have first so. Ramsey Show Live Chicago, September 30th. Rachel, Ken, George, J. John and George, Orlando, October 2nd. Click the link in the show notes if you're on the podcast or YouTube any otherwise go to Ramsey Solutions.com events. Jenny's in Idaho. Hi, Jenny, how are you?
- [68:50]
Caller
Hi.
- [68:51]
Hi, Dave.
- [68:52]
I'm good, thank you.
- [68:54]
Dave Ramsey
Cool. How can we help?
- [68:57]
Caller
I'm 61 years old, newly single. I live in Wellington housing. I have 22,000 left over from the sale of my house in Oregon and I don't know what to do.
- [69:20]
Dave Ramsey
Newly single, divorced.
- [69:24]
Caller
Sorry, what did you say?
- [69:25]
Dave Ramsey
You said newly single. Are you divorced?
- [69:29]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [69:30]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. What do you do for a living?
- [69:34]
Caller
I work at a training center. I'm a cashier, but I only get about 25 hours a week.
- [69:42]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so what are we doing to get a better job? That one sucks.
- [69:52]
Caller
There. Because of my bad knees. I, I have a, I have a bunch of stuff in a storage unit that needs to be sold.
- [70:07]
Dave Ramsey
That one. What I asked, I asked what you're doing to get a better job. The job you have sucks.
- [70:12]
Caller
Nothing right now.
- [70:13]
George Campbell
Okay, but you're a cashier and you.
- [70:15]
Dave Ramsey
Can'T stand and you got 20 and you got 25 hours a week. So we need to do. We need a new job.
- [70:21]
Caller
Yes, sir. That's true.
- [70:22]
Dave Ramsey
You're starving to death.
- [70:26]
Caller
Not technically, because I still have the.
- [70:28]
Dave Ramsey
Technically, but I mean finance, mathematically you don't have any money, is my point.
- [70:34]
Caller
That is correct.
- [70:35]
Dave Ramsey
And the reason is, is you don't have much income. So we've got to work on Your career, kiddo.
- [70:41]
Caller
Yeah. And I have no retirement.
- [70:43]
Zero.
- [70:44]
Dave Ramsey
Well, we've got to work on your career, kiddo. You got 22,000 in the bank and you're. You're living in a rental property and you sold your house, you've gone through a divorce, okay? And you're scared, which is understandable, okay?
- [70:57]
Caller
Not to mention stressed.
- [70:58]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, stressed and scared. Now that's fair. Okay? But let's. Let's just pretend for a second. If we could wave A1 and we don't have a wand and we're not going to do it, but let's pretend for a second. Let's say you started making $50,000 a year.
- [71:16]
Caller
I've never made 50,000 a year.
- [71:18]
Dave Ramsey
I said let's pretend.
- [71:21]
Caller
Okay?
- [71:22]
Dave Ramsey
Go with me on the ride, girl. All right, here we go. You're making $50,000 a year. You have $4,000 a month coming in. You're 61, you have $22,000 in the bank. All of a sudden everything changes. My point of this pretend right, is that your problem is an income problem.
- [71:44]
Caller
Yes.
- [71:45]
Dave Ramsey
And so when I fix the income problem in our pretend right or our dream here for a second, all the stress and the fear starts to go away because it's all really revolves and goes back to that one thing. And that's our biggest deal here. So have you got any. You got some bad knees? Okay. Do you have a degree in anything?
- [72:04]
Caller
No, sir.
- [72:05]
Dave Ramsey
What's the most you've ever made?
- [72:10]
Caller
36,000.
- [72:12]
Dave Ramsey
Cool. What were you doing?
- [72:14]
Caller
I was working at a municipal airport as a custodian, working for the city.
- [72:20]
Dave Ramsey
Cool. How long ago was that?
- [72:23]
Caller
Two years. Two and a half years.
- [72:25]
Dave Ramsey
Not bad at all. Okay, well could you still do that kind of work physically?
- [72:31]
Caller
No, sir.
- [72:32]
Dave Ramsey
The knees have gone. Huh?
- [72:34]
Caller
Can. Yep.
- [72:35]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. All right. Because I was about to put you into the maid service business because you can make 25 to $50 an hour cleaning people's houses. But that's probably not going to work here. Okay?
- [72:45]
Caller
No.
- [72:45]
No.
- [72:46]
Dave Ramsey
So this is how I want us to be. This is how I want us to be thinking. I want to be thinking about what we can do that gets Jenny's income rocking. And it might be a self employed thing. It, because that way you can kind of control it rather than just looking for a job. A 61 year old, bad knees looking for a job is tough.
- [73:06]
Caller
Yes.
- [73:06]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. But if we dream up something that you could physically do, that'd be pretty cool. Okay. What, what's, what's another good job you've had in the past.
- [73:19]
Caller
I've been a caregiver.
- [73:22]
Dave Ramsey
Oh, those are great.
- [73:26]
Caller
I can't do caregiving anymore, though, because of my knees in my back. Yeah.
- [73:32]
Dave Ramsey
You could cook.
- [73:34]
Caller
Yes, sir, I can cook.
- [73:36]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, there we go. Let's talk about that a minute. I don't know. I'm just. I'm just dreaming with you here because I do know that 25 hours a week as a cashier is not our plan. It's not going to get us where we need to go. So we. Something's got to change. You agree with me on that?
- [73:51]
Caller
Absolutely.
- [73:51]
Dave Ramsey
All right, kiddo. All right. So I think you can do this. We've just got to start. You know, I want to stick my head up through the fog of the fear and start looking for the sunshine again and start aiming at something. That's where I'm trying to go with this conversation. Okay.
- [74:07]
Caller
Yeah. Yep.
- [74:08]
Dave Ramsey
And because I think. I think you still got stuff you can do. And I don't know exactly what it is, but I'm going to go figure out something that I start making 25, $30 an hour, and I'm able to do 40 or 50 hours a week, and I'm able to do it with your back and your knees, and that's possible. There's things you can do with your mind and with your cooking. It doesn't always have to be manual labor. Right?
- [74:29]
Caller
Right. I love the upcycle. I've got a bunch of furniture that needs to be sold, fixed and sold. Yeah. Yeah.
- [74:39]
Dave Ramsey
You ever been on ebay?
- [74:43]
Caller
I.
- [74:44]
Dave Ramsey
You ever been on Facebook Marketplace?
- [74:46]
Caller
Technically challenged.
- [74:48]
Dave Ramsey
Ever been on Facebook marketplace?
- [74:49]
George Campbell
Could someone help you get a little Facebook marketplace account?
- [74:52]
Dave Ramsey
You need grandkids around.
- [74:53]
George Campbell
Take some iPhone pictures and list it.
- [74:55]
Dave Ramsey
Your grandkids to show you how to set up an ebay store and a Facebook marketplace store. Let's start buying stuff at garage sales and reselling.
- [75:01]
Caller
It would love that, but I already.
- [75:03]
Have enough stuff here to sell.
- [75:05]
Dave Ramsey
Well, go ahead and sell. Let's start with that stuff. You got a good inventory to get started. Let's get a Facebook marketplace up and use that to learn. Sell the crap off. I can get that storage unit cleaned out, and then you can go buy a chair for $2 at a garage sale and sell it for $50 on eBay.
- [75:21]
Caller
Okay.
- [75:22]
Dave Ramsey
And you can make a hundred thousand dollars a year screwing around with that. Well, there's an exciting. I'm. Now I'm excited. Jenny, this is going to be great, but you're gonna have to get somebody to teach you this technical stuff. But hey, I'm. I'm 65 and I've learned enough of it to get through it. I can. I mean, I. There is one guy that works here, the fixer, all the stuff I break, but other than that, I mean, you can learn how to do it. You can do it. Hey, hang on. I'm going to send you a copy of Ken Coleman's book Proximity Principle, which will help you with your career idea. But I think you need to. I think you need to start buying some stuff on ebay and Facebook Marketplace.
- [75:58]
George Campbell
Try that out on the side.
- [76:00]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. There was a guy one year that made. What was it he made? $800,000 only reselling golf clubs. Wow. He would buy used golf clubs at a garage sale, shine them up and resell them on ebay and he made 800k in one year. Our question of the day is sponsored by why refi? You didn't take out private student loans hoping to default. But life happens. Why refi won't shame you? They'll help you explore a real plan to get back on track. Head to yrefi.comramsey to find out more. That's the letter Y r e f y.com Ramsey not available in all states.
- [76:59]
George Campbell
Today's question comes from Spencer in Texas. I have my thousand dollar emergency fund and my three months of expenses already saved. I'm planning to get engaged soon and have a question. Is that money I made and contributed pre marriage our thousand dollars and three months of expenses or should I take out half of what I contributed and put it towards a joint investment account and have her slowly rebuild the other half of the emergency fund? This way it won't feel like she's marrying into financial security and all the sacrifice and dedication I made before we got married.
- [77:29]
Dave Ramsey
A thousand dollars.
- [77:34]
George Campbell
In the three months of expenses on top of that. So he has both. He's got. He's got a fully funded emergency fund. He's saying, should I take out half and make her build it so that she doesn't feel like she's riding a gravy train?
- [77:45]
Dave Ramsey
Let me help you, son. That ain't a gravy train. It's just an umbrella. It's not like you're some prize. Oh my gosh.
- [77:56]
George Campbell
This is wild. No, don't. Do not do that at all. Unless you want to start off your marriage.
- [78:01]
Dave Ramsey
And don't start off your marriage trying to be her parent. Really dumb idea. Yeah. I'm going to make her learn her little lesson, the little lady. Oh my God, you arrogant. No way, dude. She's gonna smack you left way from Sunday. This ain't gonna work.
- [78:17]
George Campbell
It sounds like you're bitter for some reason. Cause you're saying I made all the sacrifice and dedication. I don't know what she's bringing into this. Maybe she's got some debt. Maybe she hasn't been as disciplined with money as you have, but this is a recipe for disaster.
- [78:29]
Dave Ramsey
You got some pre marriage counseling to do, honey. And I hope somebody talks straight to you in that process because the words you're using are not going to help you relationally. You're going to struggle and you're going to struggle fast. If she's got a backbone, that is so. Yeah.
- [78:51]
George Campbell
I'd love to see this conversation play out, though.
- [78:54]
Dave Ramsey
No. Yeah. Just for the entertainment.
- [78:56]
George Campbell
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [78:57]
Dave Ramsey
But not. But not because it's going to be successful. No, successful is, honey, you really hadn't done much yet. So don't be patting yourself on the back so hard you'll twist your elbow. The second thing is, is you don't want to use language on your spouse ever. Especially when you're just about to get married. This sounds like a parent instead of a husband. A husband is a teammate, not a parent. And you're not there to teach her. Teach the little lady lessons. That's not your role. If you think it is, you're about to have a long freaking life. And so y' all got some work. You got some work to do on all this. Yeah.
- [79:32]
George Campbell
I would not get engaged until you're actually comfortable combining your entire life instead of dangling this as some sort of punishment and thing to be earned.
- [79:39]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. How about it's your job to serve your spouse? Oh, that'd be different. Hmm.
- [79:49]
George Campbell
Because if you're going, well, she's got to put in 50%. I got to put in. That's going to be just tit for tat. Scoreboard keeping. That's an exhausting way to live.
- [79:58]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. And your job's to serve each other. So that's how this works. We're there for each other. We're not there to keep score. Scary. Austin. Wichita Tech, Kansas. Hi, Austin. How are you?
- [80:17]
Caller
I'm good. How are you?
- [80:19]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. What's up?
- [80:22]
Caller
So, longtime listener finally jumped on the plan here in the last month or two. Looking in a year should have all my consumer debts paid off and another probably four months after that, have my emergency fund saved up. My question is, when it gets to the part of saving a down payment for a house. We currently own a home, have a mortgage on it. And our five year plan would to be to find something a little bigger. So would you recommend, could we count our equity as part of a down payment and should we still save up a down payment or move on to 4, 5 and 6 and pay extra towards the house or how would you go about that?
- [81:04]
Dave Ramsey
Well, I mean, you're gonna sell the house, right?
- [81:07]
Caller
Correct? Yes.
- [81:08]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. So then you've got the equity in your hand and that is the down payment. So sure, of course that counts to the down payment. And if you want to add, if you want more than the equity to put down on the next house and you have some savings built up too, I guess that would be ideal, wouldn't it?
- [81:24]
Caller
Yes.
- [81:25]
Dave Ramsey
What's the house worth? What equity, how much equity have you got now?
- [81:30]
Caller
So we're, we owe about 94 on it and it's worth around 140. 150.
- [81:35]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so you got like 50 grand. And how long before you do this deal?
- [81:40]
Caller
I mean we're, we're obviously not looking until we get their emergency fund and all that saved up. So it's, it's within the five year plan, but of course it's finding.
- [81:49]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so five years from now maybe you owe 75 and it's worth 200.
- [81:56]
Caller
Yeah.
- [81:57]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. Which would then mean that you. I'm just making the numbers up, but I mean then you'd have like, you know, 125 to put down and you might have saved up some money too.
- [82:07]
Caller
Okay.
- [82:08]
George Campbell
The other way to do it is just use the mortgage as a for savings plan and just start plowing through that mortgage once you guys are debt free with the emergency fund and then you have all the equity, maybe you pay it off before you buy the next one and you sell that one, you got all the cash from the proceeds minus the fees and you roll that into the next one.
- [82:23]
Dave Ramsey
One. That'd be pretty cool.
- [82:26]
Caller
Yeah. Yep, that was, that was definitely an idea. I didn't know if we should go more towards that route or putting it in savings and having it.
- [82:32]
Dave Ramsey
I'd pay the house down. I'm with George.
- [82:34]
George Campbell
That's what I, that's what I did personally. And so that's, you know, I do as I, as I say that's how I like it.
- [82:41]
Dave Ramsey
Aaron's in Davenport, Iowa. Hi, Aaron. What's up?
- [82:45]
Caller
Hey. Me and my family of six are looking to move to the border of South Sudan and Uganda as missionaries in a few months. And we're trying to decide whether we sell the house or rent it.
- [82:58]
Dave Ramsey
How Long will you be there?
- [83:01]
Caller
Indefinitely.
- [83:02]
Dave Ramsey
Sell it.
- [83:05]
Caller
Okay.
- [83:07]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, yeah. And I would put the money in a mutual fund.
- [83:11]
Caller
Yeah. What should we do with the money?
- [83:12]
Dave Ramsey
I'd put it in some good mutual funds and just let it grow. And I assume you've raised support for your missionary endeavor, Right?
- [83:21]
Caller
We're almost finished raising support.
- [83:23]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. So you won't need this money to eat.
- [83:28]
Caller
Correct?
- [83:29]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. So I'm just. I would sell it. I don't want to be managing a rental property from Uganda. No, thank you. That's a bad idea.
- [83:37]
Caller
We did have a friend who was going to, like, manage it for.
- [83:41]
Dave Ramsey
It's really scary.
- [83:43]
Caller
Okay.
- [83:43]
Dave Ramsey
That's how you get the Harley Oil changed in your living room. Yeah.
- [83:47]
Caller
Okay.
- [83:47]
Dave Ramsey
No, no, I. Something where you don't have to think about it because you're. You're entering. With four kids, you're entering a completely different culture. And, you know, you're going to be on the cutting edge doing missionary work, and you need to be completely focused on that. Not worried about the air conditioner that broke back home in Davenport, Iowa. You know, let's just, you know, mutual funds don't. You don't. They don't have any maintenance. And so I'm trying to simplify your life so you can focus on ministry, in other words.
- [84:22]
Caller
Okay, well, thank you. I appreciate that.
- [84:25]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. That's what I would do in your situation. If I were in your situation, that's exactly what I'd do. Sell it. Pop the money in mutual funds. And then when you. If there is a point that this missionary endeavor is over and you come home, you got much more money than you started with because it's all sitting there in that investment building up. You take that big old chunk of money and you buy you a house wherever you're going to land when you come home. Home.
- [84:50]
George Campbell
Think about that. If that money sat there for about seven years, it could double.
- [84:53]
Dave Ramsey
It will double.
- [84:55]
George Campbell
So that's a pretty good deal. Versus.
- [84:57]
Dave Ramsey
Well, unless sat there 14 years, it would double twice.
- [85:00]
George Campbell
I like that plan.
- [85:01]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. And so I don't know how long they're going to be there, but. Yeah, he said indefinitely.
- [85:05]
George Campbell
So forever's a long time.
- [85:07]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. Going with that.
- [85:08]
George Campbell
But to that end, Dave, a lot of people go, well, I'm moving. Should I keep it as a rental?
- [85:12]
Dave Ramsey
No, that's what we're saying.
- [85:13]
George Campbell
A lot of people experience that, especially long distance. They go, well, Dave, it's a good investment.
- [85:17]
Dave Ramsey
No, it's not. Real estate can be a good investment when properly structured and properly managed. But it is a much higher hassle factor than mutual funds. And so no, I, I, you want.
- [85:32]
George Campbell
To be an intentional real estate investor. Not by default.
- [85:35]
Dave Ramsey
Exactly. Exactly. I want to say, okay, I've got, I got this pile of money. I'm getting ready to go on the mission field. Would I go buy a rental house or would I put the money a mutual fund? I'd go put the money in mutual fund. But, and I love real estate, but, but not in that situation, I don't. We've all done dumb things with money. I've done them with zeros on the end. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make with money is not having a plan for it. You got to have a plan, you got to be intentional. And you need to get a budget. You have to tell your money where to go so you're not wondering where it went. Our budgeting app Every Dollar helps you do just that. It's the easiest and fastest way to make a monthly. For every dollar you've got coming in and going out, now's the best time to get started before the ridiculous holiday spending season gets here and sucks you in because you didn't have a plan. Don't let that happen. You're done making that mistake. Go download Every dollar for free in the app store or Google. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. George Camel Ramsey personality number one best selling author is my co host. I'm Dave Ramsey. Sarah is in Phoenix. Hi Sarah, how are you?
- [87:24]
Caller
I am blessed. How are you?
- [87:26]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. How can I help?
- [87:30]
Caller
Well, I'm not sure if I have a husband problem, my kid problem or a selfish problem. I am the breadwinner and my family. I have 19 year old twins who are going to a local community college on a presidential scholarship. I feel like I have failed them because I was never able to save for their college. My daughter wants to become a doctor and she's saving every dime she's making for her dream. And my son's undecided at this point. So they both live at home and I pay all their living expenses. Of course they pay when they go out or whatever. Outside of that, my problem is. Well, besides, I feel like I failed them. My husband and I haven't been on the same page for many years. I know what it takes to earn a dollar and have worked two full time jobs in recent years to get out of debt.
- [88:30]
Dave Ramsey
Did you say two full time jobs?
- [88:32]
Caller
Yes.
- [88:33]
Dave Ramsey
Wow.
- [88:33]
Caller
Yes. Okay. Yeah. We were about a hundred thousand dollars in debt when I got laid off in 2011 due to my Job getting outsourced. I'm in software development. And that's when a lot of jobs were getting outsourced, including mine. So, yeah, we piled up debt with daycare.
- [88:55]
Dave Ramsey
And you worked two jobs and got rid of debt. And so what's your question about him? I don't understand. Understand.
- [88:59]
Caller
Well, so when I was pregnant with my kids, he hurt his back.
- [89:04]
Dave Ramsey
And 19 years ago.
- [89:07]
Caller
19 years ago, yes.
- [89:08]
Dave Ramsey
Okay.
- [89:08]
Caller
And actually, for the first, probably seven years, he literally was in severe pain and has had multiple surgeries on his back. He's been addicted to oxy and all the other pain drugs. His Last surgery was 2017 maybe, in which was a game changer. He is now opiate free. He does smoke weed. I say that sorry to manage the pain, but that's all he really does to manage the pain. And he just. He gets his Social Security and he's happy with that. And how old is he? 65 right now.
- [89:57]
Dave Ramsey
65, yes. Okay. And he's not working. He's not worked in 19 years.
- [90:05]
Caller
Right.
- [90:07]
Dave Ramsey
Wow.
- [90:08]
Caller
Right.
- [90:09]
Dave Ramsey
But since 2017, it was simply just because he didn't want to.
- [90:14]
Caller
Right. And so I'm not denying he doesn't have back pain now. He does.
- [90:21]
Dave Ramsey
And yeah, welcome to being 65.
- [90:24]
Caller
But I have back pain.
- [90:27]
Dave Ramsey
Right. Yeah, exactly. I mean, he's obviously been through a lot and he's clear, but he's clear of the drugs and he's clear of that. So why do you think he has no ambition?
- [90:43]
Caller
Because he gets his Social Security and a small check from his prior employer.
- [90:48]
Dave Ramsey
You know what THC does to the ambition centers, to the brain, don't you?
- [90:52]
Caller
You now what?
- [90:54]
Dave Ramsey
It shuts them down. There's no such thing as an ambitious weed smoker. They're all mellow and. And perpetually hungry.
- [91:07]
Caller
Yep.
- [91:09]
Dave Ramsey
Gaining weight too, huh?
- [91:12]
Caller
No, he's. He's been pretty much the same over the years. Yeah.
- [91:17]
Dave Ramsey
Good. Okay.
- [91:18]
Caller
Yeah, good.
- [91:18]
Dave Ramsey
Because that doesn't help the back, obviously, but yeah, that generally goes with the munchies. So.
- [91:23]
George Campbell
Yeah, so are you. You're clearly building resentment for the last 19 years now because you've been carrying the load, you know, mentally, physically, to take on the work. What is the actual problem at hand we're trying to solve right now? Because it sounds like there's multiple things you feel bad as a mother for not cash flowing your kids dreams. You're angry at him. He doesn't have the ambition. Are you still trying to accomplish a financial goal that you're working so hard for, or is this all you know?
- [91:50]
Caller
Yeah. I want to retire one day. And you know, he just bought a brand new truck.
- [92:00]
George Campbell
With cash.
- [92:02]
Caller
Well, two thirds of a cash. We have a.
- [92:06]
Dave Ramsey
And you went along with that. So you're going. You get what you tolerate. Since 2017, you've tolerated this. And he didn't buy a truck without your knowledge. You went along with it.
- [92:16]
George Campbell
Did you co. Sign for the truck?
- [92:19]
Caller
Yes.
- [92:22]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. So you've got, you got to decide, you know, you can't gripe about this stuff when you freaking participate in it. Okay, so 2017, he's got. His back's okay, the pain is down, he's able to go to work. And you don't push the issue eight years ago, so. And you know, he wants to, but he just bought a new truck. No, he didn't. We just bought a new truck. You went with him. You signed the papers. You can't blame that on him. You did it. So, yeah, you guys need to sit down with a good marriage counselor because you're quickly losing respect with the guy you're going to spend your twilight years with. And so, yeah, you guys need to get aligned on where you're going with your dreams. And you're not. You do have. What you have is a marriage problem. That's what you have. It's not a husband problem. It's a marriage problem. But you get what you tolerate. And so the difference is, at our house, was I doing that? Sharon would have confronted that about 35 seconds after she felt like I should have gotten a job. She, you know, her idea of hard work. She grew up on the farm, and so she would have been going, what do you. What are you. What's your butt doing on the couch while I'm working? This don't play. And I mean, we, we speak hillbilly at our place. It's pretty direct. So, you know, that's not, you know, so that. That's what it is. You've been tolerating this for so long that it's become normalized. And bless his heart, he probably thinks it's all okay. It ain't okay, by the way. I agree with you. But you, you, Your part, that you played in it is by allowing it. So I think the two of you need to sit down with a marriage counselor immediately. This is not going to go well if you don't, because, you know you're going to go into your later years and you're going to get increasingly pissed, and that's not a way to spend your old age. So I, Yeah, that. That's what's going on. Yeah.
- [94:22]
George Campbell
And it sounds like he might. Might have lost some purpose. He might be depressed, and so he got to find his mojo.
- [94:29]
Dave Ramsey
That'll do it.
- [94:30]
George Campbell
That'll suck out all the ambition.
- [94:32]
Dave Ramsey
That'll do it. That was the sound of ambition leaving the room. I heard it. Yeah. So sorry, boys and girls. I know that offends some of you, but. Oh, well, it's. This is actual data. It's not just Dave's moralistic opinion. And, you know, yes, I'm old and yes, pot's been around longer than you, so that's how this works. So, yeah, it's just more normalized these days. When I was a kid, it was like a dangerous drug and we were all going to hell. But now it's like a normal thing. So, you know.
- [95:05]
George Campbell
But it has real effects.
- [95:06]
Dave Ramsey
It does.
- [95:08]
George Campbell
One of those consequences is you're not going to be like, I'm going to go run a marathon now. Let's go.
- [95:12]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, I'm going to tackle the world and open a business, and I'm going to go be Somebody said no weed had ever been.
- [96:01]
Rachel Cruze
Hey, guys. Rachel Cruze here with a big announcement. The Ramsey show live is going on tour. This is your chance to no longer just listen on your daily commute, but be in the room where life change happens. We're removing the wall between caller and audience so you can take part in money, confessions, hot takes, and more. Plus, you'll hear live callers get answers to their pressing questions. I'll be in Chicago on September 30th alongside George Campbell and Ken Coleman. Then George Jade Warshaw and Dr. John DeLoney will be in Orlando on October 2nd. Tickets start at $39 and are limited to just 300 seats in each city. So don't wait, especially if you want one of the 50 VIP tickets that includes a meet and greet, the best seats in the house, and more. It'll be a night full of hope, community, and the kind of energy you can only get in person. Get your tickets today@ramseysolutions.com theramseyshowlive or just click the link in the show notes.
- [97:15]
Dave Ramsey
Jess is in Charlotte. Hi, Jess. How are you?
- [97:18]
Caller
I'm good, Dave. How are you?
- [97:20]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. What's up?
- [97:23]
Caller
Yes, sir. So I'm. I'm kind of in a mess, but I feel like I'm still young and learning. So I have about, you know, 3,000 in credit card debt, and I've. I've sold my car and tried to consolidate some other debt, and I took out A personal loan, but that is at a very high interest rate and it's about 8,000 and then I have at 72 in student loans and.
- [97:49]
Dave Ramsey
72,000.
- [97:51]
Caller
72,000? Yes, sir.
- [97:54]
Dave Ramsey
Okay.
- [97:54]
Caller
Yeah. And I'm pretty much. My current job is current, causing a lot of health issues. And I'm not supposed to have like a second job technically, but I have a small cleaning business that, you know, I do make good money, but I can't do it full time out of fear of, you know, leaving my full time and not.
- [98:14]
Dave Ramsey
Why is your full time causing health issues?
- [98:17]
Caller
It's just a lot of high demand and, and a lot of, you know, trying to get people in trouble behind their backs and things like that.
- [98:25]
Dave Ramsey
And that doesn't cause health issues.
- [98:28]
Caller
It's stressing me a little bit. I even ended up in like the emergency room.
- [98:32]
Dave Ramsey
So you ended up in the emergency room because of anxiety?
- [98:38]
Caller
More like heart like issues. They're thinking it was. They were thinking cardiac. Cardiac. But not. Is stress related?
- [98:45]
Dave Ramsey
More like a panic attack?
- [98:47]
Caller
Yeah, could be. Could be. But you know, I'm only 33, so I shouldn't be going.
- [98:54]
Dave Ramsey
What do you make at the stress job?
- [98:57]
Caller
About 70,000.
- [99:00]
Dave Ramsey
What do you do?
- [99:03]
Caller
I work in like human resources.
- [99:06]
Dave Ramsey
In what?
- [99:07]
Caller
In human resources.
- [99:09]
Dave Ramsey
Human resources, yeah. So you're the office all the stress comes and sits in.
- [99:17]
Caller
Yeah, I guess you can say that.
- [99:20]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. How big a company?
- [99:24]
Caller
It's pretty big. Way over 500 employees. Way over a thousand actually. So it's pretty big.
- [99:30]
Dave Ramsey
His leadership not doing anything about the toxic environment?
- [99:35]
Caller
Not as much as they should. Changes have been made, but it's is difficult and it's going to take some time to get control of it, to be honest, in my opinion.
- [99:46]
Dave Ramsey
Nah. You start firing them, are you in.
- [99:50]
George Campbell
A position to do that?
- [99:52]
Caller
I'm not. It takes, it's.
- [99:55]
Dave Ramsey
I can get control of it in about an hour and a half.
- [100:00]
Caller
I bet. I bet. But it's so much red tape.
- [100:03]
Dave Ramsey
It's only 500 people. That's not red tape. I got 1100 working here.
- [100:08]
Caller
Yeah, well, it's over 500. It's a. It's a huge. It's massive.
- [100:13]
Dave Ramsey
Was it over 10,000 or over 500?
- [100:16]
Caller
It was way. I would say it's over 2,000 people.
- [100:22]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. That's a little different than 500.
- [100:25]
Caller
Yeah.
- [100:25]
Dave Ramsey
I'm so confused. Okay. Okay. So you're in a job that sucks and you can't do anything about it. But it pays good.
- [100:33]
Caller
Yeah.
- [100:34]
Dave Ramsey
So you need a new job, huh?
- [100:36]
Caller
Yeah. And I've been Trying. I'm trying really hard. I am, I'm applying all the time. But I mean, I guess as of right now I'm just, I think the debt is a lot as well. It's just. But I don't know if I can't just quit because that'll make it worse.
- [100:51]
Dave Ramsey
No, you can't quit. You're broke.
- [100:53]
Caller
Yeah.
- [100:54]
Dave Ramsey
But you do need a new job that pays the same amount and doesn't have all the good trash in it.
- [100:59]
Caller
Yeah, absolutely.
- [101:00]
George Campbell
If you didn't call us, what was going to be your next move?
- [101:03]
Caller
Honestly, to pull my retirement from retirement and pay off what I can and then try to scale my cleaning business a lot.
- [101:11]
George Campbell
Glad you called us first.
- [101:12]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. That's borrowing money. You're going to be hit with your tax rate plus 10%. So you're going to be hit with about a 30 or 40% hit. And that's like saying, Dave and George, I want to borrow money at 40% interest to open my cleaning business. No, bad idea. So why do they not allow you to work on the side?
- [101:32]
Caller
It's just in the, in the clause. I think this should be, I think what they're saying, this should be your primary focus and you can't have anything outside of it like a part time job. And then sometimes we have to work overtime. So 8 to 5 could easily go from 8 to 6 or 7.
- [101:54]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. Well, I don't think you've got a methodology to jump straight to the cleaning business because I don't think you can grow your cleaning business big enough that you're comfortable drop walking away from a $70,000 income.
- [102:08]
Caller
Yeah.
- [102:09]
Dave Ramsey
So you've got to walk into another job that does not have the contractual obligation to have no side hustle. And then you, then you take your side hustle and you grow it until it gets big enough that you've got some confidence. Right now it's a dream. It's not really proven.
- [102:26]
Caller
Yeah.
- [102:26]
Dave Ramsey
Because it's a small amount of money. It's nowhere near $70,000.
- [102:30]
Caller
Yeah, absolutely.
- [102:31]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. So you need a new job first that pays you what you make now or more that's not got the horrible environment, government and then, and, and does allow outside work. And then you begin to work on your other stuff. Meantime, you do have 70,000 plus a little bit coming in from your side hustle, your illegal side hustle. And that means you can begin to attack this $3,000 credit card.
- [102:56]
Caller
Okay.
- [102:56]
George Campbell
Which means no more switching around the debt, consolidating the debt. We're just going to Attack the debt. We're going to move through it.
- [103:02]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, you got to bust right straight into it. You do make 70 grand. I mean, hello, girl.
- [103:05]
George Campbell
So you're bringing home four or five grand a month?
- [103:08]
Caller
Yeah, almost. Yeah. Just about how big.
- [103:10]
Dave Ramsey
How big was your tax refund last year?
- [103:14]
Caller
Not much, honestly.
- [103:16]
Dave Ramsey
Good.
- [103:17]
George Campbell
And you're not investing right now at all?
- [103:19]
Caller
I am into my retirement.
- [103:21]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. I would stop your retirement temporarily. And let's attack this debt head on.
- [103:25]
Caller
Okay. And I will see. I'm forced to through my job. We can't not do it because it matches it. So we have to take out a certain amount.
- [103:34]
Dave Ramsey
No, you don't. Not unless you're in a governmental. Not unless you're in a governmental position or working for the railroad.
- [103:42]
Caller
Okay.
- [103:43]
Dave Ramsey
And you're not. Neither one. You should know that you're in hr.
- [103:47]
Caller
I. I know there's no such thing.
- [103:49]
Dave Ramsey
As mandatory retirement in a privately. In a private company.
- [103:53]
Caller
Okay. Okay. I'll definitely look at that. And I guess my. My thing is, I think my biggest one is the consolidation. Debt is right now it's like at 8,000, but the interest rate is crazy.
- [104:04]
Dave Ramsey
The biggest. Cut up his stupid credit card and get it cleared. And then you work on the 8,000. $11,000 cleans up a lot.
- [104:11]
Caller
Okay.
- [104:12]
Dave Ramsey
And 11,000 out of 70, plus cleaning toilets, you can get there pretty quick.
- [104:17]
George Campbell
The interesting.
- [104:18]
Dave Ramsey
If you stay out of restaurants and you don't go on vacation. And I'm going to send you a copy of Ken Coleman's book Proximity Principle, which will help you actually get those applications through. Because just sending an application randomly is of no value.
- [104:33]
Caller
You.
- [104:33]
Dave Ramsey
When you're looking for a job. That's come up several times in the last couple weeks with me here on the air, George, and it seems to be a thing like we had one guy said, I sent out 160,000, 160 applications and no one called back. That's because all you did is fill out applications. We filled under 200 positions at Ramsey last year, and we had 15,000 applications. Do you think we looked at all of those? No, we did not. So how did it get out of the pile? Some way or another, someone differentiated themselves other than just blindly filling out stuff digitally just to throw it against the wall, see if something sticks. And one way is, you know, somebody that works there, and you go, hey, at least give my buddy a look here. He said he or she's good, right? And that's called the Proximity principle. And I'll send you a copy of Ken Coleman's Book. But just sending out applications is a complete waste of calories. Salaries. Don't bother no one. No one's going to call you and go, you know, out of 22,000 people, you're the one. No, that. That doesn't happen because you're not the one.
- [105:39]
George Campbell
Well, all the resumes look the same now because everybody's just using AI to write the resume and then it filters out the AI resumes. And so we're back at square one.
- [105:47]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, that's.
- [105:47]
George Campbell
You got to know someone.
- [105:48]
Dave Ramsey
One of the things we do, AI is used at Ramsey to filter out AI. How fun is that?
- [105:54]
George Campbell
It's come full circle. The robots are fighting the robots.
- [105:57]
Dave Ramsey
Yes. Someone needs to take a beautiful thing. Yeah, that's good. So, yeah, that's what you've got to do. And meantime, I think I'd be having some frank discussions with leadership. If there's so much toxicity and stress sitting in an HR department that, you know that their culture sucks that bad inside the organization, I'd be having some conversations with leadership about how, what do we can do, what we can do to clean this up? Like who needs to be fired. Yeah.
- [106:23]
George Campbell
It should not feel like a reality show over on hr.
- [106:26]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. And I can fix that. Let them. Let them take their crap somewhere else. Sam, if you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck and feeling like you can't get ahead, join one of our free Every dollar trainings. These are trainings that are happening every week this month and they're always hosted by one of the Ramsey personalities. George, when's the next one you're doing?
- [107:42]
George Campbell
I got one tomorrow. So if you're watching this on August 19th, join us on the 20th for the webinar.
- [107:47]
Dave Ramsey
We're going to show you how to stick to a budget and in the process, you're going to find thousands and thousands of dollars of margin. Use every dollar so you can get out of debt and start building wealth. And you can ask us any question during the live Q and A, which is rather entertaining and fun, by the way, did we mention it's free? Go to ramseysolutions.com webinar Lisa's in Vegas. Hi, Lisa. What's up?
- [108:10]
Caller
Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. So we are a one income family and my husband and I, he's a stay at home parent for now while our kids are young. That's a choice that was really important to us. We have a rental property that brings us about $500 a month. And we decided last year to Well, a couple years ago to start a company, the company did okay, but did not work out all the way. And between some investments that didn't work out and company right now we are $75,000 in debt with a HELOC.
- [108:52]
Dave Ramsey
You lost $75,000 on this startup?
- [108:56]
Caller
Yes, it was. Yes. We had several things that didn't work out and we also were not wise with our money.
- [109:03]
Dave Ramsey
Wow, that's an ouchie.
- [109:06]
Caller
Yeah, yeah. And so. And then our car died in November. And because we had this T lock, we couldn't use our regular credit union for a low rate interest loan. And all of our savings had been used up in that. So now we also have a285.5 dollar payment, monthly payment on a car that's worth about 10,000.
- [109:29]
Dave Ramsey
What do you owe on the car?
- [109:32]
Caller
Just about 11. So no. So it's the about 10,000.
- [109:36]
Dave Ramsey
So what can, how much can you get out of the rental property?
- [109:40]
Caller
So the rental property, we. The equity that we could get out of it would be 186 grand.
- [109:48]
Dave Ramsey
Good. Sell it and pay off all your debt.
- [109:51]
Caller
And that's kind of what we wanted to know. We really want to get now.
- [109:55]
Dave Ramsey
When you lost the business, you lost the rental property.
- [109:58]
Caller
Okay, got it.
- [110:00]
Dave Ramsey
That's what happened. You just didn't admit it because you borrowed it.
- [110:04]
Caller
Huh.
- [110:06]
Dave Ramsey
So. Yeah, now you got a high interest car loan. You got to quit borrowing money, girl.
- [110:11]
Caller
Yeah, we're trying. That's.
- [110:12]
Dave Ramsey
No, you're not. You just turn around, bought a car, you're not trying hard. You got to stop borrowing money. It's killing you.
- [110:20]
Caller
No, we just started your program over the last month and we've done everything that you said, so.
- [110:25]
Dave Ramsey
Okay.
- [110:25]
Caller
We're heading that way, so thank you.
- [110:27]
Dave Ramsey
Good. I hope. Please, please. I don't. I mean, I want you to win. I want you to. What do you make?
- [110:33]
Caller
I make about 80 grand.
- [110:34]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, good. And with no, with no car payments and no HELOC payment, can you guys make it?
- [110:41]
Caller
Oh, yeah, absolutely. We're completely fine. But prior than that, we're almost debt free. Other than our mortgage, how much is.
- [110:48]
Dave Ramsey
Owed on the mortgage?
- [110:50]
Caller
So our personal mortgage, we owe 228.
- [110:55]
Dave Ramsey
Cool. Okay, well, I'm gonna fully fund, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pay off all my debt out of the 180. That's going to use up 100 of this or it's going to use up 90 of this. And then I'm going to build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses and, and and that's probably 25 grand here, something like that.
- [111:18]
Caller
Yeah, we're thinking about 30.
- [111:20]
Dave Ramsey
And then I'm gonna, then I'm chunk, put a big chunk on the house and let's start talking about getting this house paid off.
- [111:26]
George Campbell
You'll knock that mortgage down to like one, I mean down to, yeah, 150 and start knocking that out.
- [111:32]
Caller
One of the questions I had also is, well, one of our main goals to getting out of debt is we want to be able to save money for our kids college. And so our oldest is about to turn 10, so we have about eight years.
- [111:45]
Dave Ramsey
But if you want to take five grand each and get the college fund started with your smartvestor pro, that'd be fine.
- [111:51]
Caller
Okay.
- [111:52]
Dave Ramsey
And then let's chunk the rest of it on the house and make sure we're doing our 15% of our household income now into retirement. That's baby step four kids. College is five, six is pay off the house. And so that's what it's going to put you because you're going to be out of debt and have the emergency fund with the sale of the rental. The good news is you had something that bailed you out. The bad news is if you don't learn your lesson next time there's not going to be something to bail you out out. So you really have to draw a line in the sand and say, okay, that 20, 25 year, that was the year we promised. We're never borrowing money again for anything freaking ever, no matter what.
- [112:30]
George Campbell
It's a big shift. If you commit to that, you're going to be just fine. No matter what comes your way.
- [112:35]
Dave Ramsey
Well, stuff comes your way. It's going to be hard. It's not as hard as going into debt and not having a rental property to sell to get out. So you'll be in a pinch, no.
- [112:42]
George Campbell
Payments, with an emergency fund. You'll be in a different position.
- [112:45]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah, you'll be in a sweet land. That's an awesome thing. So absolutely. Cody is with us in Seattle, Washington. Hi Cody, how are you?
- [112:54]
Caller
I'm good. How are you doing today?
- [112:55]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. What's up?
- [112:58]
Caller
Excellent. I have a fun marital debate for you guys to try and sell for me and my wife.
- [113:02]
Dave Ramsey
Okay.
- [113:05]
Caller
We are debating on whether we should pause 401k investing to pay off the house.
- [113:15]
Dave Ramsey
How much is owed on the house?
- [113:18]
Caller
400.
- [113:19]
Dave Ramsey
What percentage of your income are you putting into 401k?
- [113:23]
Caller
15%.
- [113:24]
Dave Ramsey
So you're doing what we teach. Okay.
- [113:27]
Caller
But there is a, there's a slight Catch to that, though. I don't know if this matters or not, but our employers, they don't do matching. They just do profit sharing at 15% percent. That's why I was on the side of let's just do it and pay the house off and be free of this.
- [113:45]
Dave Ramsey
What's your household?
- [113:46]
Caller
10% is 250.
- [113:49]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so it's only $45,000 a year. Yeah, $45,000 a year doesn't solve a $400,000 problem. I mean, if you stop your 401k, you benefit 45. Okay. You owe 400. That's a 10 year plan.
- [114:12]
Caller
Well, we're on, we're currently on track to pay it off. And we're, we're throwing. We just started throwing after we paid all our debts and everything off.
- [114:22]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. How much are you throwing at the house now? How much you throwing at the house?
- [114:25]
Caller
100.
- [114:26]
Dave Ramsey
100K?
- [114:26]
Caller
100K a year.
- [114:27]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, so you'll be done in four years without this. And if you do this, you'll be done in two years?
- [114:33]
Caller
Years, yes.
- [114:35]
Dave Ramsey
That's the only difference? No, not quite. Yeah, it's about, it's about an 18 month difference, actually. It's not a full two years. Okay, and how much is in the 401ks now?
- [114:48]
Caller
700.
- [114:50]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. And how old are you guys?
- [114:54]
Caller
I am 38 and the wife is 35.
- [114:57]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. All right. You've done a great job, by the way. Congratulations. There's not a wrong answer to this. There's no answer in this. That puts your face in the stupid column. I mean, both of these are smart things, both ways. You're going to end up ahead.
- [115:11]
George Campbell
You'll either be a multimillionaire or a multimillionaire. So it's just. That's your call. It's your call.
- [115:18]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. So what we're arguing about is not philosophically stopping a 401k. What we're arguing about is 18 months faster or 20 months or 24 months faster. Faster. That's all we're arguing. Is it two years faster or not?
- [115:32]
George Campbell
Where are you putting the 45k in profit sharing? Because you can't. I mean, you'll max out a retirement plan pretty quick.
- [115:38]
Dave Ramsey
No, it's 45k. He's putting in 15. And then they're throwing 15% in on profit sharing on top of it. That's why the thing's grown so fast. Did I understand that right?
- [115:48]
Caller
Yes, that's correct, Dave.
- [115:49]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. And you get the 15% from the company whether you put in anything or not right.
- [115:54]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [115:54]
Dave Ramsey
Okay. Okay. And you've already got 700 in there, so.
- [115:58]
Caller
Yes, sir.
- [116:03]
Dave Ramsey
It's a technical argument. And truthfully, the, the core answer is it doesn't matter. You're going to be a millionaire multimillionaire or you're going to be a multimillionaire. Like George said, that's the core answer because you've done such a good job on everything else. And so the only argument is 18 months or 24 months, which one do we want to do, do? And I, I, my tendency is just to stick with the baby steps because they worked so well and I would just take a little bit longer and pay off the house and not worry about it.
- [116:35]
George Campbell
And at your age, that level of missing out on investing 20 years from.
- [116:39]
Dave Ramsey
Now, that's a lot.
- [116:40]
George Campbell
That's a lot of money. Yeah, you're leaving on the table by.
- [116:42]
Dave Ramsey
Not investing and make sure all that's Roth so that it's growing tax free from this point forward. But yeah, I'm probably going to just stay right where you are with the 15% and take four years, pay off the house instead of taking two. But it's truthfully, I'm not going to be mad at you either way.
- [117:07]
George Campbell
What's up, guys? George Camel here. If you've been thinking about making a real difference in your community, this is your moment. People are drowning in money stress right now and you can be the one who helps them by leading a Financial Peace University class. It's totally free for you and we hook you up with all the tools and support you need. So if you're ready to help people ditch debt, save money and actually sleep at night, go to fpu.comlead to learn more. That's fpu.com lead.
- [117:50]
Dave Ramsey
Our scripture of the day, Galatians 6, 9. Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Max Dupree said, we cannot become what we want by remaining what we are. Mara is with us in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hi Mara, how you are? How are you?
- [118:09]
Caller
Good. Thank you so much for taking my call.
- [118:12]
Dave Ramsey
Sure. How can we help?
- [118:15]
Caller
So my husband and I are 33 years old and we are on baby steps 4, 5 and 6 through my husband's job, he has some RSUs as part of his compensation and so we are looking at using a large portion of those to start doing some non retirement investing. And I just wanted to get your thoughts on a wealth manager versus a financial advisor. We've only met with a wealth manager so far. And I had a little bit of pause just in how they kind of actively manage your money for you.
- [118:58]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, explain what they were doing.
- [119:02]
Caller
Well, this was just a informal first call with them, but from what I gathered they would have access to our accounts and they would actively be choosing what type of investments.
- [119:18]
Dave Ramsey
No, thank you.
- [119:19]
Caller
I think that's what I thought, knowing that I'm a longtime listener of yours.
- [119:24]
Dave Ramsey
No, thank you. Yeah, it's your job, not theirs. They don't get to mess with my money without my permission.
- [119:33]
Caller
Okay. I did meet with one of your smartvestor pros about five years ago, or we both did. He was a financial planner and it was kind of just a one time touch point where he gave us some recommendations on what to do with our 401ks at that time. But he really didn't try to pursue any type of follow up. So we're looking to have more of a relationship which I have.
- [120:00]
Dave Ramsey
A smart investor pro should be an ongoing relationship that they teach you about investing. They never do a transaction without you first having approved it and you are in charge of your money, but they're there to advise you, to help you and to teach you. And so my smartvestor pro has been a personal friend for 25 years and he'll just call up and go, hey Dave, did you know that such and such is happening with the tax changes? And I went, that's interesting. He goes, you know, you could move that over there. I went, oh, that's a good idea. Okay, thanks for calling me. Yeah, let's do that. And that's how the conversation sounds. But that's after me functioning with him for 25 years. But in no case am I giving them the keys to the car and telling them to drive wherever they want to go.
- [120:46]
Caller
Yeah, okay. I'm trying to just sort out, I think again we met with a financial planner. I think we're looking for more of a financial advisor this time. We're he's like you said, advising us how to do things with money and teaching us.
- [120:59]
George Campbell
Yes, but not a lot of it might be semantics.
- [121:03]
Dave Ramsey
I think your SmartVestor Pro is really what you're looking for. I think in this situation and you just again, you're doing some non retirement investing in some good mutual funds. You're going to pick the mutual funds, you're going to pick the strategy that you're going to use. You're going to want low turnover mutual funds because you're not going to be taxed as you go. Because low turnover means they don't sell the stocks inside of it. It doesn't activate the taxes. And when you do take the money out, if you left it in there at least a year, it's going to be taxed at capital gains rate rather than ordinary income rate. So that's a low turnover ratio. Set of mutual funds is a great way to position this particular portfolio, but you need to go sit with someone and learn all of that and then agree to that. And then they say, okay, here's some examples of some funds that do that. Yeah, let's go with that one. And I don't like that one. And I like the track record on this one one and tell me what I'm missing and they can talk to you, but in no case are they driving the car. This is not Ferris Bueller's Day out with my money. Yeah.
- [122:01]
George Campbell
What that leads to is you call us three years from now and says, my financial advisor did all this crazy stuff with my money and I had no idea. Why weren't you involved?
- [122:09]
Dave Ramsey
Yeah. So that's what, this is the definition of how a SmartVestor Pro works. And that's why we have them and that's why we vetted them to do that. And so, you know, I would just jump online and interview two or three of them in your area and find the one that matches your all style and your personality the best and that you have the most comfort with. Yeah.
- [122:28]
George Campbell
Explain exactly what you're looking for.
- [122:29]
Dave Ramsey
But again, you are making 100% of the decisions with your money. When you don't do that, you're about to get screwed because you've got someone that doesn't have as much money as you making decisions for your money. That's dumb. No, we're not doing that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Please, no, please know. So good question. That's interesting. All right, Jake is with us in Los Angeles. Hi Jake, how are you?
- [122:55]
Caller
Good, how are you, Dave?
- [122:56]
Dave Ramsey
Better than I deserve. What's up?
- [122:59]
Caller
Yeah, thanks for taking my call. So I'm a 25 year old PhD student in Aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California. And my question is, or I guess some quick background is I've been following your advice for about six or seven years now. I finished my undergrad degree in aerospace engineering debt free four years ago ago, and then I got my master's degree in aerospace engineering at USC two years ago debt free as well.
- [123:21]
Dave Ramsey
Wow.
- [123:21]
Caller
When a lot of my friends who didn't get a scholarship finishing, you know, 100,000, $150,000 of debt and they'll be spending, you know, a long time paying that back. But my question is, so I've been in the PhD program for four years. So I got my master's degree two years into that, and I got the master's degree for free because the PhD pays for your master's degree tuition. So I kind of followed your principles and made sure that I didn't go into debt for that.
- [123:44]
Dave Ramsey
Good for you.
- [123:45]
Caller
But my question is, is sorry I.
- [123:48]
Dave Ramsey
Said good for you. Well done.
- [123:51]
Caller
Yeah, thank you.
- [123:51]
George Campbell
Very impressed.
- [123:53]
Caller
Yeah. So I've been in the PhD program for four years. I kind of see. And there's not really an end in sight as far as when am I finished? It might be a year, two years from now. And I'm not necessarily making any more money. And it's a very multifaceted decision. But I'm just kind of curious, you know, from a financial perspective whether I should drop out or not. Because. Because on one hand I do have a full ride scholarship and it can get me the rest of the way through, but I'm not necessarily going to be making any more money. And I'm kind of missing out on opportunity costs of, you know, they pay us about 90,000 free tuition, but that doesn't really do much class in terms, you know, taking more classes doesn't really help past a certain point. But they do pay us about $45,000 for living expenses as part of the scholarship. But if I was in industry, I could have been making 100,000 or 110,000 the last couple of years. And if I stay in the program a couple years longer.
- [124:42]
Dave Ramsey
Why did you, why did you enter the PhD program?
- [124:46]
Caller
Yeah, that's a really good question. So for me, kind of the two careers, long term that I'm kind of bouncing between are the PhD program in the first place was so I could get the free masters and I can kind of decide from there what I wanted to do. So I didn't want to go 100k in debt. I want to go to USC. And then once I got here, I kind of figured out if you want to become an astronaut, which obviously is a very far fetched goal, you kind of need a PhD to do that as a civilian, as a non jet pilot. So that's kind of the reason I kind of continued. And USC obviously is a good school socially and everything to do that. But you probably don't want to hear, but then there's this other side of me which wants to go be an entrepreneur. You don't really need a PhD for that. And financially just, I'm just kind of, you know, throwing away opportunity costs. You know, I could be making a lot more salary and I could be, you know, starting side hustles and stuff like that, which I can't really do right now.
- [125:38]
Dave Ramsey
You got to do dissertation to close it out. And. And what's the shortest possible timeline? Because you said the timeline's a little bit vague. Why?
- [125:49]
Caller
It's different for every PhD. And that's kind of the way some PhDs are very clear cut and some are not super clear cut. I would say the shortest is probably about a year, but two years might be on the table as well.
- [126:06]
Dave Ramsey
Why would it take longer than a year? Year?
- [126:12]
Caller
I would say it just depends on the progress of the research. I made a lot of progress the last year or so, so I'm probably about.
- [126:17]
Dave Ramsey
So you're down to your dissertation, that's it?
- [126:21]
Caller
Yeah, most likely, yeah.
- [126:22]
George Campbell
Have you just lost steam on it? You're just not excited about it anymore?
- [126:25]
Caller
Okay, yeah, not as excited. And I'm also, again, there's just kind of the.
- [126:31]
George Campbell
You're itching for some real world experience.
- [126:34]
Dave Ramsey
I'm not sure. I have a couple friends that have funny stories about their dissertation periods, but the impression I got from them and their stories was that the dissertation is a little bit like writing a book. The first time I wrote a book, I learned this. Well, actually it was about the third time I wrote a book before I finally got this advice from a real publisher that knew what they were doing. He said, you're never going to to get finished. You finally just stop and print it. So you're never going to get finished. You need to finish this. You need to put it on a timeline. And if you can be done in a year, I would stick it out and knock it out.
- [127:12]
George Campbell
You're 25, you're not running out of time.
- [127:14]
Dave Ramsey
I'm going to knock this out in a year. I'm going to finish this. I'm going to limit the amount of research. I'm not going to go down all the rabbit holes. I'm not going to win an award on the dissertation anyway. I just want the PhD. I'm going to finish this. That puts us out 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.
- [127:39]
George Campbell
Up next, we are headed out to Chicago and Orlando for the Ramsey Show. Live. Yep. You heard me right. We are taking this show to you. This is going to be everything you love about the Ramsey show, except you get to be a part of it. Part of what, George? The Ramsey Show Live. Okay, that's what I'm telling them about. Ramsey Show Live in here? Nope, we're doing it on the road. You're going to Chicago with me and Rachel Cruz. September 30th. Are you free? The Windy City. I like it that time of year.
- [128:05]
Dave Ramsey
You know what else I like, George? I like the deep dish.
- [128:08]
George Campbell
Okay, maybe we'll have some deep dish. You mind if I finish the promo? Is that okay with you?
- [128:12]
Dave Ramsey
Oh, yeah. Okay.
- [128:13]
George Campbell
Okay. Appreciate that. Questions and answers, real conversations, and I'm sure a few surprises here and there.
- [128:19]
Caller
George, are you in here talking about TRS Live?
- [128:22]
George Campbell
I am, Jade. I'm trying to talk about it.
- [128:23]
Dave Ramsey
Nice.
- [128:24]
Caller
So that means it's actually happening, right?
- [128:26]
George Campbell
It's happening. If I could tell the people, I think it could actually come to fruition.
- [128:29]
Caller
Listen, just tell me when and where.
- [128:31]
George Campbell
You don't know. Okay. We're going to Orlando. You're going to join Dr. John Deloney and I. October 2nd.
- [128:36]
Caller
Yes.
- [128:37]
Dave Ramsey
Okay, great. I'm going to go pack now. Thanks.
- [128:38]
George Campbell
Please, please do that. Go pack.
- [128:41]
Rachel Cruze
Hey, George, speaking of packing, is this like sweater weather or is it not that cold yet in Chicago?
- [128:48]
George Campbell
What is happening? Can I. Can I please just get to how they buy the tickets?
- [128:53]
Rachel Cruze
Geez, I thought it was a good question.
- [128:55]
George Campbell
Okay, this is not an arena tour. This is a one night only event in Chicago and Orlando. General admission is only 39 bucks. Plus there's a VIP experience if you're bougie like that. But here's the thing. There's only 300 seats available, so get your tickets now at ramseysolutions.com events. Hey, how come you get to go to both cities? I. I just go where they tell me, man.
- [129:15]
Caller
Hey, have.
- [129:15]
George Campbell
Have you been there the entire time? Maybe. Okay. And also, are you reading a children's book?
- [129:23]
Caller
I'm expanding my mind, George.
- [129:25]
George Campbell
That's how we got those PhDs.
- [129:27]
Caller
Yeah, it's probably where you got that jacket.
- [129:30]
George Campbell
Okay, see you on the support for this podcast. And the following message comes from America's Navy. The Navy offers new graduates hands on training and experience in careers like computer science, aviation and medicine. Plus education and sign on bonuses. Parents, help your grads start their career today@navy.com.