Cut Debt out of Your Life! (Literally)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ramsey Show – "Cut Debt out of Your Life! (Literally)"

Release Date: February 25, 2025

Host: Ramsey Network (George Camel and Dr. John Deloney)

In the episode titled "Cut Debt out of Your Life! (Literally)", hosts George Camel and Dr. John Deloney delve deep into various listeners' financial struggles related to debt and provide actionable advice to help them regain control over their financial lives. The episode is rich with real-life scenarios, expert insights, and encouraging words aimed at empowering listeners to eliminate debt and build wealth.

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1. Sarah from Dallas, Texas: Navigating Financial Infidelity and Divorce [00:43 – 04:06]

Situation: Sarah is potentially separated from her husband, who is the sole breadwinner. She raises their children but is excluded from all financial matters, including bank accounts and credit cards. Her husband dismisses her concerns as mere upbringing habits and refuses to involve her in financial decisions.

Key Insights:

• Financial Infidelity: Dr. John identifies Sarah's situation as financial infidelity, where one spouse hides financial information from the other.
• Legal Recourse: They discuss the importance of seeking legal assistance, especially in Texas, where divorce can lead to a comprehensive forensic investigation into both spouses' finances.
• Empowerment: Emphasis is placed on Sarah's worth and the necessity to take action for her and her children's future.

Notable Quotes:

• Dr. John Deloney [02:03]: "Now you have a choice to make. And I wish it wasn't this complicated. I mean, I wish it wasn't this simple, but it truly is."
• Dr. John Deloney [04:06]: "You're worth more than the life you're living right now."

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2. Caller from New York City: Engagement Ring Spending Dilemma [09:33 – 18:52]

Situation: A listener with an annual income of approximately $200,000 is contemplating spending $20,000 to $25,000 on an engagement ring. He seeks advice on whether this extravagant expenditure is justifiable.

Key Insights:

• Opportunity Cost: George emphasizes the importance of considering what $25,000 could grow into over time versus the immediate pleasure of an expensive ring.
• Relationship over Materialism: Data suggests that a more modest ring does not negatively impact the quality of marriage, and extravagant spending may set unnecessary financial burdens.
• Personal Fulfillment: Dr. John shares personal anecdotes to illustrate the emotional and practical downsides of spending excessively on a ring.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [10:20]: "Spend as little as possible that will still make her feel loved."
• Dr. John Deloney [12:43]: "The insurance is another piece of the pistol."

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3. Maria from Orlando: Successfully Paying Off Credit Cards [23:40 – 26:30]

Situation: Maria is on Baby Step Two of Ramsey’s plan and has paid off seven out of nine credit cards, totaling around $25,000. She questions whether to cut up the remaining cards or let the banks close them.

Key Insights:

• Eliminating Temptation: George encourages immediate action to destroy the physical reminders of debt to reinforce financial discipline.
• Credit Score Impact: Dr. John reassures Maria that cutting up credit cards will not crash her credit score, debunking common myths about credit card cancellation.
• Commitment: Maria's promise to send a photo of her cut-up cards serves as a testament to her commitment to financial freedom.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [24:48]: "Burning the ships physically saying, I'm done."
• Dr. John Deloney [25:31]: "Your credit score is going to Crash. It's going to go to zero."

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4. Brian from Syracuse, New York: Selecting a Financial Advisor [26:42 – 30:17]

Situation: Brian is in Baby Steps Four to Six and seeks guidance on choosing a financial advisor. He inquires about essential qualifying questions to ask potential advisors and how to evaluate their suitability.

Key Insights:

• Qualifying Questions: George suggests asking about the advisor’s operating philosophy, services offered, communication frequency, and compensation structure.
• Personal Connection: Emphasizes the importance of "vibes" and trust between the client and advisor.
• Avoiding Sales Pitches: Advises steering clear of advisors who push products not aligned with Ramsey’s principles, such as whole life insurance or unnecessary annuities.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [27:06]: "Do we vibe? Do we have some chemistry here?"
• Dr. John Deloney [29:12]: "Investing includes risk, including possible loss of principal."

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5. Lucia from New Jersey: Refinancing and Credit Score Concerns [31:18 – 34:05]

Situation: Lucia is faced with her sister going through a divorce and needing to refinance her home to remove her ex-husband from the mortgage. Lucia’s sister requests to be added as an authorized user on Lucia’s credit card to boost her credit score, without actually using the card.

Key Insights:

• Red Flags: Both hosts strongly advise against adding someone to a credit card to manipulate credit scores, highlighting the risks involved.
• Natural Credit Building: Emphasizes that Lucia’s sister can improve her credit score through responsible financial behavior without tying her to Lucia’s credit.
• Protecting Friendships: Advises maintaining clear financial boundaries to preserve personal relationships.

Notable Quotes:

• Dr. John Deloney [31:56]: "All I see is all red flags."
• George Camel [32:41]: "No, I would not add her. This is not going to be a blessing to either of you."

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6. Cherokee from Las Vegas: Supporting a Partner with Brain Cancer [34:05 – 40:53]

Situation: Cherokee’s boyfriend has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is undergoing treatment. Cherokee is the primary earner and is struggling to keep up with bills, including car payments, while balancing a demanding job.

Key Insights:

• Self-Priority: Dr. John emphasizes the importance of Cherokee prioritizing her own financial stability and well-being before trying to support her boyfriend.
• Family Involvement: Suggests involving his family for support rather than bearing the burden alone.
• Financial Boundaries: Advises against intertwining finances in a way that jeopardizes Cherokee’s own financial health.

Notable Quotes:

• Dr. John Deloney [35:32]: "You've got to take care of yourself."
• George Camel [38:41]: "He can't split bills with you right now."

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7. Payton from Atlanta, Georgia: Managing Inheritance and Birth Family Obligations [42:21 – 50:33]

Situation: Payton, who was adopted at birth, is inheriting up to $750,000 from her adoptive grandfather. Simultaneously, her birth family has resurfaced, creating emotional and financial dilemmas about supporting her birth siblings.

Key Insights:

• No Obligation to Owe: George and Dr. John stress that Payton doesn’t owe financial support to her birth family, urging her to make independent, thoughtful decisions.
• Direct Support Methods: Advises providing support in specific, controlled ways (e.g., paying directly for college or daycare) rather than giving unrestricted funds.
• Emotional Boundaries: Highlights the importance of setting emotional and financial boundaries to prevent resentment and ensure responsible use of inheritance.

Notable Quotes:

• Dr. John Deloney [44:22]: "Why do you feel guilty?"
• George Camel [47:19]: "They're not your real family. You're gonna hear all that stuff, dude."

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8. Francois from Los Angeles, California: Struggling with Business and High Rent [68:54 – 85:00]

Situation: Francois owns a marine repair shop in San Pedro, California. Despite seven years of operation and substantial experience, his business is teetering on bankruptcy due to skyrocketing rent and difficulty finding reliable employees. His take-home pay has plummeted to $11,000 for the year, causing immense stress.

Key Insights:

• Business Sustainability: Dr. John and George recommend selling the current property to eliminate high rent burdens and prevent further financial decline.
• Avoiding Overextension: Emphasize the perils of managing a long-distance rental property, especially when already burdened with debt and operational challenges.
• Health and Well-being: Highlight the critical need for Francois to prioritize his mental and physical health over a failing business.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [65:21]: "I would sell the house to pay off the remaining mortgage and the $80k in debt."
• Dr. John Deloney [72:19]: "You're killing yourself, dude. You're dying."

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9. Jenna from Rockford, Illinois: Husband’s Job Loss Post Mortgage Payoff [79:57 – 82:32]

Situation: Jenna and her husband paid off their mortgage at the end of the year, only for him to be laid off shortly after. With him working until June and a six-month fully funded emergency fund, Jenna seeks advice on whether to continue maximizing their 401(k) and HSA contributions or redirect funds towards additional savings.

Key Insights:

• Budget Adjustment: George advises tightening the budget and maintaining essential investments while preparing for the upcoming job loss.
• Maintaining Investments: Recommended keeping 401(k) contributions if the emergency fund can cover immediate expenses, ensuring continued investment without overextending.
• Optimistic Planning: Encourages maintaining hope and leveraging severance packages and good financial planning to navigate the transition period.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [81:07]: "I would tighten up the budget. I would not be, you know, living luxurious."
• Dr. John Deloney [82:19]: "There's a lot of blessings here that you guys are in the financial spot you're in."

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10. Final Segment: Listener Follow-Up and Key Takeaways [74:00 – 85:25]

Situation: Towards the end of the episode, the hosts revisit a previous caller, Maria from Orlando, who successfully cut up her credit cards. They celebrate her achievement, reinforcing the importance of taking decisive actions to eliminate debt.

Key Insights:

• Community Support: The episode underscores the value of the Ramsey Show community in providing support and accountability to listeners.
• Establishing Financial Freedom: Encourages listeners to share their successes and continue pursuing financial independence through the show's principles.

Notable Quotes:

• George Camel [75:12]: "That represents freedom. You're breaking free from broke."
• Dr. John Deloney [75:53]: "You're not the silliest, dumbest mistakes you've ever made. You're way, way more than that."

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Conclusion

In this episode, "Cut Debt out of Your Life! (Literally)", George Camel and Dr. John Deloney provide comprehensive financial advice to listeners grappling with various forms of debt and financial instability. From personal debt issues and relationship-based financial conflicts to business struggles and inheritance dilemmas, the hosts offer empathetic and practical solutions grounded in Ramsey's proven financial principles. Notably, they emphasize the importance of taking control, setting boundaries, and making informed decisions to achieve lasting financial freedom.

Listeners are encouraged to take actionable steps, seek professional advice when necessary, and remain committed to their financial goals despite the challenges they may face.

Transcript

[Caller]

Foreign.

[George Camel]

From Ramsey Network. This is the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create amazing relationships. I'm George Campbell, joined by my friend Dr. John Deloney, number one best selling author. And we're here to help you take the right next step for your life and your money. Give us a call, 825-5225. Sarah's up first in Dallas, Texas. How can we help? Sarah, hi, how are you? We're doing great. What's going on?

[Caller]

Great. Well, so I am married, possibly separated from my spouse. I stay at home and he is a breadwinner. I've raised her children and I am not allowed to see any of our financial information, bank accounts, credit cards, passwords, nothing like that.

[George Camel]

Yikes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

What do you mean you're not allowed?

[Caller]

I know. He just says that's how I was raised. I make the money. And he does have a lot of. He does very well.

[George Camel]

I don't care if he makes a dollar or a million. It has no bearing on your involvement in knowing what's going on financially in the family.

[Caller]

I know, and he just says I won't. He owns commercial real estate. And so he tells me it's too much for you to handle. Stay in your length.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So we call that financial infidelity.

[Caller]

That's what I've told him and he just shakes his head at me. My therapist has said the same thing and he just says that's how I am, that's how my parents were and I'm not changing.

[Dr. John Deloney]

All right, then here's the thing. Most people don't get that clear of a response. Now you have a choice to make. And I wish it wasn't this complicated. I mean, I wish it wasn't this simple, but it truly is.

[George Camel]

He's told you he's not changing.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. And by the way, if you file for divorce and they do a forensic investigation into his all of his slash yalls because you're from Texas Yalls money, it's all going to be put on the table so he can be a grown up adult and be an actual married man who loves and honors his wife and his kids and like share the family finances together. Or he can put it all on the table with the help of an attorney and a forensic accountant that he's going to pay for.

[Caller]

So this is what has happened is we, this is very different from what I'm being told is we did come up with a post nuptial agreement about two years ago. And in his mind it was if we separate, you will get this amount of money now. Stop talking about it. Stop questioning me. And so he says that if I go and investigate with this forever forensic accountant, that he will take that money away and he will try to take my children more.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, hon, you need to go talk to somebody today.

[Caller]

I've, I've spoken to an attorney and what they've said to me is this is quite a good post nuptial agreement. I would be very comfortable, honestly, for the rest of my life. He has a lot of money in cryptocurrency that I know he's hiding, and I know that's really tough to investigate.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I don't, I don't understand what you're asking. If you have an exit strategy that's going to take care of you for the rest of your life and take care of you and your kids. I don't know. I don't know what you're asking.

[Caller]

So should I just take the post nuptial agreement and let.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I can't give you that. That's between you and your lawyer. I can't. I mean, I'm not looking at it. I don't have it. I don't know what you're dealing with at home. I just know you're in a very abusive situation and it's hard to see the forest from the trees. And I'm telling you that you're worth more than the life you're living right now.

[Caller]

And everybody thinks he's the sweetest guy.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

[Caller]

I also have a disability that I'm unable to work. So I'm just real fearful that I don't know. He just.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Listen, what you're doing is you're. You have a lot of what ifs and a lot of oh, this is. And that's. And then in 10 years and in 15 years, I want you to go sit down with an attorney, not him. Haw. And don't send the post up to a friend of yours who happens to have a law degree. Hire a lawyer and go sit down and talk and say, I need to know what rights. What, what rights I have. Here's my disability. Here's my situation with my kids. I know my husband's hiding money. Here's how, here's the post, the postnup. And the attorney's job, because you're hiring them, is to advocate for you. And sometimes their advocate, like them being an advocate is, hey, this is the best deal I've ever seen on paper. Take it and run. Sometimes they say we're gonna dig in and we're gonna burn everything to the ground because this is a terrible deal. But that's their job, is to fight for.

[Caller]

You think they can find cryptocurrency? Because I know that's so shady. It's such a weird.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Dude, You're. You're like, you're. You're. You're stepping over a hundred dollar bills to pick up nickels right now. Like, you're. You're worried about the. The. How the. The. The thread count on the beach towel you're gonna wrap yourself up with if you swim to shore. Like, let's get to shore first.

[Caller]

What about him hiding? I know he hides money with his business partners. They, like, swap hundreds of thousands of dollars and put it in each other's accounts.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And like I say, that's. I mean, what do you want me to tell you?

[Caller]

I don't.

[George Camel]

I think this is you starting to realize how angry and resentful you are, living this life this whole time while he hid everything. But the truth is like John saying, it has no bearing. You have your agreement on what it says will happen, and that's what will happen if you take the agreement. And so he may have hidden money offshore. I have no idea. But it doesn't matter right now. This is about you and your kids and your health and your safety.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And if he's got a bunch of. A couple of business partners. Partners. And they're all laundering money and being shady and shifty, and they get a knock on the door from a federal investigator or from forensics accountants, and they get served for all of their last seven years of financial transactions and every electronic transaction they have made, every electronic communication they've made, every email, every text, every signal, every WhatsApp, everything. And by the way, it's all discoverable, then maybe they pucker up real quick and tell him that, change his tune. Here's the thing. You won't know any of that. Just sitting in your house and spinning and spinning and looping and looping and looping. And that's what you've been doing for a long time, right?

[Caller]

Yeah, about five years now.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. Let's stop. Let's take action. Either make peace with this is my life and this is what we get, and he treats me fine. I just don't know how the money works. And maybe he does. I'm confident he doesn't treat you fine. Because this isn't the behavior of somebody that treats their Wife. Fine. Um.

[Caller]

Or he thinks he's amazing to me and he does everything else nicely, but that. And then when I ask him, he gets real defensive.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, so here's the deal. The ball is in your court, and you wondering about what? About this. And what about this? What about this? That's just a way to numb yourself from the reality that you are holding the next move you make. And if that next move is nothing, then set the ball down and just decide. I'm not going to ask questions about that. It is what it is what it is.

[Caller]

Well, we're getting divorced. I mean, it's happening because I. He doesn't want to hear me complain about it anymore.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Have you already filed or has he filed?

[Caller]

No, but he's moved. He's moved out. And just the next step.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, if you're going to file, then go hire an attorney. Do not get a friend who has a buddy who's got a sister who went to law school. Hire an attorney, a good one, in your community. And for someone who will fight and advocate for you, and they sit down and lay it all out on the table, right? But here's the thing. For. For you and for everybody listening, it's the. And I get it. It's fear, it's scary, and, like, freeze is one of the ways our bodies, like, try to keep us safe. I totally get it. But there comes a moment when I'm going to stop living like this. And the only way I can do it. I can't think my way out of this mess. I got to act. I got to go do. Michael Easter wrote a great article recently. Just go do something, right? And in your case, call an attorney who's ready to go to war for you. And sometimes in war, they say, hey, we need to retreat. Let's just take what we got and let's move. That might be the right case, but you won't know until you make that call.

[George Camel]

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[Caller]

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[George Camel]

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[Caller]

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[George Camel]

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[Caller]

Fieldofgreens.Com Ramsey promo code Ramsey.

[George Camel]

Fieldofgreens.com Ramsey welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel, here with Dr. John DeLoney, and we're going out To George in New York City. What's going on, George? How can we help? Are you with us?

[Caller]

How's it going?

[George Camel]

Good, how are you?

[Caller]

So I'm calling to ask and get your opinion on how much you should be spending on engagement ring. I've saved up about 20 to $25,000.

[Dr. John Deloney]

God Almighty, that's too much.

[Caller]

You think so?

[George Camel]

You must really love her.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Are you loaded?

[Caller]

I make around $200,000 a year. I'm 29 years old. I have no doubt.

[George Camel]

Wow. Way to go. All right, well, I'll tell you the general parameter, and it's, you know, my hot take is spend as little as possible that will still make her feel loved. I don't. There's no data that shows that a nicer ring bodes for a better marriage. In fact, there's. The data shows the opposite.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Opposite. Yeah.

[George Camel]

But generally at Ramsey, we would say, hey, one month salary is plenty, which is a little bit. You've saved even more than that. So. So are you making what, 15,000amonth?

[Caller]

Yeah, roughly.

[George Camel]

Okay, so I'd set a budget. If that's 15,000. Hey, you. Do you. You're debt free. You can pay cash, right? We're not going into debt for this. And go, here's what I'm going to find. The nicest ring I can for 15 grand. Is she involved in the wedding, in the ring shopping?

[Caller]

Yeah, I mean, she's been loosely involved. I mean, the big question is also do I get real or lab grown? And you know, the reason I'm like calling this or doing this call is I'm not supposed to think what others think. But I'd definitely be going against the grain with people in my circle not getting, what do you call it, a real diamond. That being said, you know, and I think she means that she said she's okay with the lab grown. And it doesn't take a fool to put, you know, $25,000 in a future value calculation and see that it would be a million dollars in 40 years.

[George Camel]

When we're sure looking at the opportunity cost of this ring. And the other piece is, you know, you got to pay for an expensive wedding. Now you buy a $25,000 ring, you got to have a $250,000 wedding to match. And now we need a million dollar home because now we got to keep up a certain lifestyle for the people in our circle.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And you said it. I don't know why you need a pony. This sounds like what you need.

[George Camel]

But you see where we're going with this? There's a piece of this where you have to detach from what your friends think. And if your friends care that deeply about what kind of ring you got for the woman in your life, you need better friends.

[Dr. John Deloney]

God. Dude. I know.

[Caller]

Yeah, totally.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Where. Where did you get this? Like, maybe I'm crazy. My wife would leave me if I had bought her a $25,000 engagement ring because she would have said, you are not somebody that I can trust to be a good steward of our finances moving forward. Like, tell me about $25,000 for an engagement ring.

[George Camel]

Where did that number come from for you guys?

[Caller]

I mean, it's something that I came up with. I have about $500,000 worth of assets. Like, it's something that I could do and still very comfortably have an emergency fund.

[Dr. John Deloney]

What are your assets?

[Caller]

About $50,000 in cash or cash equivalents. And then about $200,000 in like 401k IRAs funds. And then the rest is like brokerage accounts and mostly ETFs. Like, boo.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. You can do what you want, brother.

[George Camel]

Are you guys planning on buying a home together one day?

[Caller]

Yeah, absolutely. And that's obviously something that factors into this decision as well. It just seems like, why have this?

[George Camel]

That's a down payment for some people.

[Caller]

Yeah, 100%.

[George Camel]

What is the conversation been like with her? Because I feel like she may have expectations at this point based on what has been said.

[Caller]

I mean, I've said, like, we should seriously consider the lab grown option. And she said she's, you know, basically hinted that that would be okay. I just, I think it's me internally. I obviously don't want to disappoint anyone.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. What is it? A. I mean, I'm sorry for. Keep pressing. This is just new territory for me. Okay. Why? Do you feel like you're going to be a disappointment?

[Caller]

No, no, no. That disappointment, like, I. I love her very much. I want to give her everything that she deserves and. And I want her to be happy with it. I also worry about, like, diamond prices are going down significantly. Like, I buy this thing, it's not going to, like, not that I'm ever going to sell it, but like, I would hate to buy it in 10 years from now. It's like everyone's buying lab grown ones anyway.

[George Camel]

Who's going to know if it's lab grown or moissanite or made of, you know, ring pop? Who's going to know other than you two?

[Caller]

Exactly.

[George Camel]

I'd go, hey, let's shop. What kind of rings do you like? And then we go, okay, hey, that one's out of the budget.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Because I can also imagine, again, this is just me. I would not feel comfortable carrying around a $25,000 appendage, a piece of jewelry that I can lose, that I can trip and fall, that I can break, that I can scratch. Like, I would feel so paranoid all the time. I would never be comfortable in my own skin. I'm assuming she doesn't have that challenge.

[Caller]

I mean, I. I don't. I don't think she would, but obviously I would. I'd be freaking out.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, man.

[Caller]

Obviously. The insurance. The insurance is another piece of the pistol.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, geez.

[George Camel]

That's a lot. It's between you two at this point. I don't think she's a vain person who wants a 25, 000 ring. Nothing indicates that. But I do think your friend circle has too much influence in your life and your impending marriage.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And so does your Instagram feed. I. I just think you need to get some other perspectives and voices in your life. But. But bigger than that. Dude, knock your lights out. You want to buy some expensive jewelry? You got the cash? I want to see your cash position improve because this takes half of your.

[George Camel]

Cash, and it's what, 5% of your entire net worth you're going to spend on. On a ring.

[Dr. John Deloney]

On a ring. So I want you to have some more cash, which means pull something. But, dude, you do you. Boo.

[George Camel]

Whoo.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

Thanks for the call, George. There's no easy answer there. It's largely dependent on the couple. And again, we're not here to tell you what you can't do with your cash, but just two knuckleheads opinions who have been married a good while now. I'm. John's. Going on how many years for you, John?

[Dr. John Deloney]

23, 24, something like that. A long time. Long, long time.

[George Camel]

I'm at 7. And I can tell you, the ring has never come up in conversation.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I can tell you. Can I tell you this? I actually brought it up recently. I told my wife, hey, the ring I bought her was when I was a school teacher, and I would like to upgrade. Upgrade it. That's. That's the word the kids use. And she said, I. I'm gonna ask you, please don't do that. Like, I don't want to deal with it. I don't want to carry around something fancy. I love this thing. It means what it means to me. And I. I don't. I'd rather spend our money elsewhere. And obviously, I married somebody who's Practical and pragmatic, but also. Yeah, it. It became kind of what this last call was about. I wanted to buy a new ring for me. Right. I want her to look nice, whatever, but I mostly want to buy it so that I can be like, look, I got my wife an upgraded ring and this. You know what I mean? And that's a different. Different ball game.

[George Camel]

Yeah. I mean, personally, I would just rather spend 5,000 on the ring and go on a really nice honeymoon and cash flow the wedding and have some down payment money. That feels like a better. You're setting yourself for. Up for a better marriage versus having something flashy to go. He loves me this much.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Crazy.

[George Camel]

That's a tough one. That's a tough one. This may be antiquated. I know we have some recently engaged ladies in the booth right now who may have a differing opinion, but I just.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Kelly, can you just. Thumbs up or thumbs down? Are we crazy?

[George Camel]

Are we crazy? Well, she's the thing. I know she's got that real dime. She said she wanted the real thing. We're talking to the wrong lady.

[Dr. John Deloney]

$20,000, though. Too much?

[George Camel]

No, there's a limit. There's a limit emotionally, financially, and Here he makes $200,000, but in New York City, that might be a down payment. Yeah, if you're lucky. And so there's just. There's a piece of me where you got to look at the opportunity cost. And I know life is more than opportunity cost, but we have very clear data that the marriage isn't better because you spent more on the ring. And so therefore, I go, what's the point of the ring? What was the original. Why did we come up with this idea? Oh, that's right. It was like De Beers and K Jewelers decided you. Oh, yeah. Three months salary on a ring. That's what you should be spending.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, then Jared was out in the back, like, smoking a cigarette, and he's.

[George Camel]

Like, wait, wait, wait.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Hold on.

[George Camel]

Hold my beer.

[Dr. John Deloney]

One year of yours. I don't know what Jared was doing.

[George Camel]

But, like, I just gotten out of control. And then the whole label. I want the real blood diamond, John. It's the real thing.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Symbol that says now and forever. I'll be right here till death do his part.

[George Camel]

That's it, man. It's nothing more than that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's what it means.

[George Camel]

It's not like there's more forever if you get a bigger diamond.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Right. It's just forever or you love me more. 20.

[George Camel]

Yikes. This is the Ramsey Show.

[Caller]

There's a time in your life and in the baby steps for renting. But you don't want to do it forever because when you rent, you're still paying for a mortgage, just somebody else's. Plus, rent means instability in your budget because it always goes up, never down.

[George Camel]

So when you're ready to buy, make.

[Caller]

Sure you work with a mortgage partner. You can rely on Churchill Mortgage. Churchill is Ramsey trusted to help you make the move from renting to home ownership. Wisely. Churchill understands that when you buy a home the Ramsey way, your mortgage payment will be a consistent, manageable part of your monthly budget. Plus, when your home is paid off, that was your largest expense. Now it's extra money in your pocket and an asset towards turning you into a baby steps millionaire. So get started on the American dream of home ownership [e-mail] that's churchillmortgage.com this.

[George Camel]

Is a paid advertisement in MLS ID 1591 in mlsconsumeraccess.org equal housing lender, 1749.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Mallory Lane, Suite 100, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Hey, check this out. Investing can be overwhelming and confusing and it's not something you can get in a 60 second social media post. If you're unsure of where to start or afraid to make a mistake, our Investing Essentials virtual event is going to teach you everything you need to know about how to get started and how to maximize your investments. Hear what we're saying, get off the news clips that are throwing all these sound bites at you and get off TikTok and Instagram for your long term investment strategies. Actually sit with somebody who's been investing for a long time and who was going to open up their playbook. It's happening March 4th and March 5th. Tickets start at $199. It's hosted by Dave Ramsey and George Camel. 199 bucks sounds like a lot. If you end up making a few tweaks and you end up with millions of dollars over the next 10, 15, 20, 30 years, that will be a drop in the bucket. Money well spent. It's also the only place that Dave's going to get personal with his playbook on real estate investing, explaining how he's made hundreds of millions of dollars in property investments. And by the way, this isn't one of those scams where you leverage this and you flip the tax and slap it up, flip it and reverse it. This is an actual guy who owns hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate. He Owns it. He doesn't have some bank that's leveraged to another bank. And a partridge in a pear tree. He's going to teach you how he did it. You can invest with confidence and start building wealth. Get your tickets [e-mail] events or click the link in the show notes if you're listening on podcast or watching on the Tubes.

[George Camel]

Well said. I'm pumped for this. I'm lucky I get to just hang out next to Dave as he does this. So I would pay good money for. Imagine that, five hours with Dave over two nights. Would you pay him1.99 to sit with Dave and ask him all of your investing questions? And that's the cool part. You can actually submit your questions if you're part of the event. Email them in. We'll take them as they come in live. And it's going to be a really good time. Dave's going to unpack it with formulas and how he analyzes every investment with real examples from his portfolio.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, and he doesn't like it when I say it like this, but he's the reverse of almost anyone I've ever met. And that is the only other people I've ever met like him are. Are kind of like professional fighters who are super gentle and kind because they can beat up everybody. And so they're so kind, they have nothing to prove. And so when you meet them and you're like, oh, you're a fight. Like, ah, no, no, no, no. Like, it's. They're very dismissive like that. Dave is like that in on the radio. He's like, oh, shucks, right? He's goodwill hunting. He's a math savant who pulls these things together and has formulas and equations. It's when he started doing quadratic algebra and he's like, all right, we're gonna go into the board. I was like, you lost me, brother. But he. There's a method to this madness. And it's not just an angry guy popping off. It's a guy who's done the math, and more importantly, he's lost it all. And even more importantly, he's actually done the work to own hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate. He owns it outright. He's not leveraged up to his eyeballs like most people in his situation are. And he's able to teach. Here's why I'm doing what I'm doing. And most people are like, oh, yeah, but what? All right, here you go. Bluff called. Here's all the math. Here's my portfolio. Here's how and why I do this. Here's my ratios. And it's 199 bucks. It's a, it's a, it's a ticket to the. The mind behind the madness.

[George Camel]

Well said. Ramseysolutions.com events. Don't miss investing essentials. It's happening next week. All right, Maria's in Orlando up next. You're welcome. That singing is free.

[Dr. John Deloney]

What's up, Maria?

[Caller]

Hi, guys. So I just have a quick question. I am on baby step two and as of yesterday, I've paid off seven out of my nine credit cards.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Way to go.

[Caller]

Yes. Thank you. I'm so excited. It's about 25, $26,000 that I've already paid off. Congratulations and thank you. And my question is when I first started, and this was probably about five months ago, I put them in a drawer in the very, very back in a box to not see them because I was scared of cutting them up. But now I'm like, okay, they're paid off. Do I just cut them off and let the banks close them? Because two of them that I paid off within like the first month, I had not used them. I just had a balance. They showed up as closed about three days ago and I didn't even notice that they were closed. Do I just. My plan was to cut them up and call the banks and be like, hey, close my account or do I just cut them up and then just.

[George Camel]

Cut them up right now? Do you have them on you?

[Caller]

I don't. I'm on my way home. I'm going to be there like 15 minutes.

[George Camel]

Can you promise America that you're going to cut them up and that you're going to DM me a photo of the cut up cards as soon as you do it? Okay.

[Caller]

Yes, I promise.

[George Camel]

We have proof now that you said you would and you're a woman of your word. So, yes, cut up the cards. It has no bearing on the account. It's just you burning the ships physically saying, I'm done. I'm done letting my life be run by lenders and the sick games they play to get me into the points and rotating cash back with 25% APR. You're done with that. You're too smart and successful to deal with credit cards.

[Caller]

Yes, I definitely agree. So do I still call the bank and tell them to close the account.

[George Camel]

Or let them close the. Close all of the accounts.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And listen, everybody's going to tell you about this.

[George Camel]

Your credit score is.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Credit score is going to Crash. It's going to go to zero. Oh, my gosh. Do you know what we're saying? It's all coming down.

[Caller]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

They're all going to tell you that you want to have a fun game. It's called Guess Georgia's credit score. Ready to go.

[George Camel]

Oh, this is fun.

[Caller]

It's a zero.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yes.

[George Camel]

As close to zero as you can get. It's just indeterminable.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

So it's not that I have a bad score. It just doesn't exist. I disappeared in the eyes of the credit bureaus because I paid off everything, closed all the accounts, including the mortgage. And so when you do that, you'll have no score. And what you'll find is everyone made up some crazy story about how hard life would be without a credit card and how dangerous you are for using your own money through a debit card and how you'll never be able to rent a car again and buy an airline ticket in a hotel. And then I just did it. And I went, oh, they didn't even batten. I was hoping to put up more of a fight at the counter. And they just went, oh, yeah, yeah, your debit card's fine. That works. We'll take your money.

[Caller]

Okay. All right, well, I will be getting home in 15 minutes and taking care of business, and I will DM y'all the pictures. Perfect.

[George Camel]

Perfect. Can't wait to see it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Taking care of business. That was fun.

[George Camel]

I feel like we got one win in today, John. That's good.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I feel great.

[George Camel]

I needed that. All right, let's go out to Brian, see if we can help him in Syracuse, New York. What's going on, Brian?

[Caller]

Hey, guys, thanks for your time today. So my question is about selecting a SmartVestor Pro.

[George Camel]

So I went on your website recently.

[Caller]

And had quite the candidate pool reach out to me. So I know they should have the heart of a teacher, that their values should align with my values and goals. I know the four buckets I should be investing in, but outside of that, what qualifying questions should I be asking and what does that conversation look like?

[George Camel]

Great questions here. So you're in baby step four.

[Caller]

Yeah, four or five and six. Yep. And for some more background, I've been contributing to a 401k for well over a decade, but now it's time for a 529. And when I went to set it up, it wasn't as clear as those four buckets, you know, the growth, growth and income aggressive growth international. So that's where I was like, you know what Maybe I'm a little over my head, or maybe it's time to pay someone to help me manage these because I'm a bit of a tight wad, but if they can help me and it makes life a little easier, that's kind of where I want to go next.

[George Camel]

Absolutely. Well, you're asking great questions. I'm proud of you for where you're at and reaching out to a pro, knowing, hey, I want to know that I'm doing the right thing instead of just hoping and guessing. And a good financial advisor will actually teach you and help you understand and leave the ball in your court to make the decisions, and they are truly there as the guide. You're the hero when it comes to your investing journey. And so ask them, hey, how do you operate? What's your investing philosophy? What kind of services do you offer, you know, beyond just helping me choose a few funds? How, like, what is this relationship going to be like? How are we going to communicate? How often? How do you get paid? That's an important one to know.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Can I ask you another quick, weird question? Like, don't hang out with you, don't want to call you.

[George Camel]

Do we vibe? Do we have some chemistry here? That's an important part of it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

If you don't like him, don't worry.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Like my, my smart master pro. I, I, I, he, he was a close friend of mine before. In fact, I didn't even know he was in the program. I didn't know he was a part of it. And, but he knows me well enough. We make jokes. He'll send me an email or a text message and say, hey, you're about to get an email. Just don't open it. Because he knows that I overreact and I panic and I get all like, so, like. But that's a level of like, I want that guy to be. I don't know if it would be my friend. I want to keep it a professional relationship. But is this somebody that I like and somebody that I innately trust? Right. I think that's just really important. They're taking care of an important part of your family's future.

[George Camel]

That's totally, it's part art, part science. Do we vibe and do I understand everything laid out here in the relationship?

[Dr. John Deloney]

There you go.

[Caller]

I love it. Is there any, anything that I should avoid?

[George Camel]

I mean, you want to avoid anyone who's selling you crappy products. And so if you jump on a ramseysolutions.com and click on trusted Pros, I guarantee you they're not going to be pitching you on whole life and annuities for a young guy. And so that's one thing to look out for. Are they really just an insurance salesman, you know, wolf in sheep's clothing or they actually financial advisor who's licensed to sell me investments. Who has the best my my best interest at heart. That's the key man. Great questions. Ramsey solutions.com click on trusted pros. This is the Ramsey show as an investor and a person of faith. When your mutual funds and ETFs put your money into the dark side, you.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Might feel a disturbance.

[George Camel]

Well, good news. Timothy Plan offers investments for people who want to be intentional about where their money goes. As the pioneering force in biblically responsible investing, Timothy Plan entered the investment space to offer clean alternatives to secular funds that invest in stuff you'd never willingly expose your family to. And for more than 30 years, Timothy Plan has offered mutual funds and ETFs that won't contradict your values or sabotage your faith. So if you're serious about investing with.

[Dr. John Deloney]

A clear conscience, Timothy Plan could be.

[George Camel]

Just what you're searching for. Contact your financial advisor today to see if Timothy Plan is right for you or visit timothyplan.com for more information. Investing includes risk, including possible loss of principal. Before investing, carefully consider a fund's investment objective, risks, charges and expenses contained in the Prospectus. [e-mail] Read carefully before investing. Mutual funds distributed by Timothy Partners Limited and ETFs distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Our question of the day is brought to you by WireFi. When the payment on your defaulted private student loan is as much as some mortgages, it's hard to get ahead. And that's when y refi can help refinancing to a low fixed rate loan built just for you. You can find out [e-mail] Ramsey that's the letter y r e f y.com Ramsey may not be available in all states. Our question comes from Lucia in New Jersey. What is the question? John? Man, it's okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I was distracted there for a second.

[George Camel]

It was a soft toss.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, it felt like you threw it pretty hard. The Ramsey Show Question of the Day. Here we go. Brought to you from Lucia in New Jersey. My sister's going through a divorce and has to refinance her home to remove her ex husband from the mortgage. She asked if I would add her as an authorized user on my credit card, but not to give her a card so she won't be able to use it. She says it would just help her credit score so that she can get a better rate when she refinances. I've never done this, so I'm not sure if it will affect my credit score, which is in the 800s. Do you see any red flags with this plan?

[George Camel]

Too many to count.

[Dr. John Deloney]

All I see is all red flags.

[George Camel]

No, I would not add her. This is not going to be a blessing to either of you. I hate that she's going through this. It's going to be tough. But here's the good news. As her credit score improves as she makes mortgage payments and stays out of debt and stays on time with all of her payments, her credit score will naturally improve and she can refinance to a better rate down the road. But I would not add her as an authorized user. Her credit history will become part of your credit history and affect both of you. And if you make any poor decisions, God forbid, then that will also affect her negatively. And so I would say, listen, I love you a lot. I cannot bring you into my financial world and tether you to it. There's risk for both of us, and I'm not comfortable doing that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And let me put this out there. I know this is. It's one of those things where you say something like this and those who don't need to hear it take it to heart. And those who do need to hear it won't hear you anyway. If you need help financially from a friend, say I need some money. Like, that's the. That's the cleanest, clearest way to say I need some help. But asking them to co sign to as to Here we be an authorized user on a credit card, but you, you keep the card you don't like. Now you're asking me to be your babysitter, to be your mom, to also be your financial advisor. And when you need a card and I won't give it to you, then you. I get to be your punching bag. Like you are choosing to disrupt the friendship and kind of blow it up. I'd rather a friend come to me and say, hey, I'm in a pickle, I need X amount of dollars, than to come up with some scheme as to like, this is how work and won't affect you, but it'll help me. It just causes problems down the road.

[George Camel]

Yeah. And the other part of this is you might actually be hurting her by artificially propping her up and keeping her in this house that she really can't afford.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right.

[George Camel]

The answer might be she needs to sell the house because it's too much for her to take on on her own. And that's not a fun thing to do. But it might be the truth she needs to hear and so you can be a support for her without attaching her to your financial world and dragging each other down. Great question, though. Cherokee's up next in Vegas. What's going on, Cherokee?

[Caller]

Hi. Hello. How are you doing?

[George Camel]

We're doing well. How can we help?

[Caller]

So I have a quick question before I get dig myself into a deep hole. My boyfriend was diagnosed with brain cancer. Diagnosed as he's going. Thank you. So he's going through radiation and chemotherapy right now. So I'm the one that's really bringing in money right now. And he was surviving off of unemployment for a while. Whenever he went into surgery, that stopped around December, January, end of December, early January. But now I'm getting a little behind on bills. I'm behind on my car payment, and I'm kind of struggling to get another job because I work 8:30 to 5:30 and most people want me to work about two to three days, but at least a day during the week. And I'm really struggling to find hours that are overnight. So I was wondering if you guys had like any insight on something I can do.

[Dr. John Deloney]

This is going to be me being really callous. Okay.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You've got to take care of yourself.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And you have to make sure your four walls, your bills, your heat, your water, your transportation, clothes on your back. You got to make sure those things are steady before you have any business jumping in and helping somebody else. And I know that's hard to hear what I, I'm, I'm, I'm concerned on multiple levels. So when he got sick, did he not have a job, didn't have health insurance or anything like that? And that's not a judgment question. There's millions of Americans stuck there.

[Caller]

He did have a job. He was going to work, everything was fine. And then Right. Whenever he got the news, he tried to go about it in a holistic way, but it just, it didn't work out. So he had to go through the surgery. And then they kind of just dropped the chemo and radiation on him because he's been through this before, but he didn't have to go through that. But since he's older, that's the route that they decided to take.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So who's paying for this? Is he insured?

[Caller]

Yes, he is insured. Under his mom's insurance.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Under his mom's insurance.

[George Camel]

How old is he?

[Caller]

Yeah, he's 26.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So he's only. He's insured for until he turns 27. Right.

[Caller]

Well, that was. They did drop him from the insurance but his mob works with like a private business owner so they were able to get him back on there. So her boss has him on there because they know the situation that's going on.

[George Camel]

Who else is is in his community right now other than you? Does he have family around?

[Caller]

Yeah, he has. His mom and dad are still together.

[George Camel]

You can't be his full time caretaker.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Through this and his full time go to work funder. You have here's thing. You have. No, I think I sound awful. Okay. I'm just being as direct as I can because I love you. You have. You're dumping money into this situation with like you don't know the medical history. All you know is what he tells you. You don't know where this thing heads. I'd much rather see his family circle up and support him and love him through this. And you be the person that you can't. The. The girlfriend. The one who loves him. The one who.

[George Camel]

Emotional support.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Exactly.

[George Camel]

Financial.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But you are playing all the parts of his life and that's a tough, tough thing for you. And you can't even pay your own bills.

[Caller]

Yeah, it is getting pretty tough. So that was my next kind of what I was thinking along the lines of because his disability does come in in April so that will help a lot. But our release is up in July and I'm trying to figure out what my next step should be because our apartment is too much and I feel like I make an okay amount and I'm trying to figure out. I don't know what my next step.

[George Camel]

I think he needs to move back home and get some care from the. And you go out on your own.

[Caller]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It's just too big for one person who's got to work one to two jobs just to pay the rent on their apartment.

[George Camel]

He can't. He can't split bills with you right now. He's not in a place to do that.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

So you've got two people who are leading from a place of weakness and you can't carry the weight for him.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. He doesn't need to feel bad. He's got brain cancer. He needs to go get well. And I get. That's easy for me to say. Of course he's gonna feel bad. Any. Any self respecting romantic partner would feel bad. But like he needs to heal.

[Caller]

Yeah. And that's that's what I told him. And I think that's why we're kind of like, you know, we don't really know what to do. And his parents have, like, been hoping that. It's kind of been a strain on everybody since.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yes.

[Caller]

You know, we're in a separate house from his parents.

[George Camel]

So you're going to be no help when you get evicted and your car gets repossessed and you can't even go to work. You're going to create even more problems if you continue this.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

So you need to make sure that you're well and he needs to focus on him and get his family involved and you can be a supportive girlfriend on the sidelines. But I would. I would not intermingle our finances at all.

[Dr. John Deloney]

What's his medical prognosis?

[Caller]

He has an astro glaucoma, I believe. Okay. There's another singular name that he had four years. He had another one four years ago, but I think the one that he has now is an astro glaucoma. So it's not.

[Dr. John Deloney]

What's the prognosis? Yeah, that's. That's a whole different kind of.

[George Camel]

How is it looking?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Cancer.

[George Camel]

The doctor said anything?

[Caller]

Oh, they said that he's doing really good, you know, with his radiation. It's starting to get to him, but he's almost done. But he will be on chemo. But everything is looking up so far.

[George Camel]

Okay, that's good news.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I. Listen, I. I honor you for loving him and trying to take care of. I love that, Love that. But man, if you go underwater, everybody drowns. So. He needs to go back home with his family. He's not your husband. He needs to go back home with his family and get back on his feet there. And y'all can decide what the long term relationship is going to be between you two moving forward.

[Caller]

You shouldn't own a gun you're not willing to shoot in moments of self defense.

[George Camel]

A Burna launcher lets you protect yourself in a non lethal way. That's exactly why burner launchers were created.

[Caller]

Everyone from parents and nurses to pastors.

[George Camel]

And even special forces veterans rely on burner to protect themselves and their families. I own several burners myself. They look like guns, but they're not. They shoot a.68 caliber round, kinetic or chemical irritant projectile that can disable a threat from up to 60ft away. And they're powered by compressed CO2 cartridges, so they're classified with paintball and airsoft guns. But they're more powerful than those for increased protection. Not to mention, burner launchers are legal in all 50 states with no permits required. And because they're not firearms, they can be shipped directly to your door. Plus, Ramsay fans can get 10% off an exclusive bundle which includes a burner pistol, CO2 cartridges and ammo. And other burner products like safety alarms, defense sprays and body armor are also 10% off for our listeners. Just go to Burna.com Dave to learn more. That's B Y R N A.com Dave from Ramsey Network, this is THE Ramsey show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create amazing relationships. I'm George Camel here with Dr. John DeLoney, host of the Dr. John DeLoney Show. And we're taking your calls at 888-255-2225. Peyton will kick us off this hour in Atlanta, Georgia. How can we help? Payton?

[Caller]

Hey, good to talk to you guys. How's it going?

[George Camel]

Great. How are you?

[Caller]

Good. Good. So a little bit of background here. So I'm 27 and over the last few years have begun to come into an inheritance at the same time that my birth family has resurfaced. It's become a little bit tricky as a result there just because, you know, I was, I always knew I was dealt an amazing hand. But, you know, kind of seeing, you know, what could have been has been pretty emotionally jarring. So I'm wondering, you know, number one, you know, what's the responsible way to handle this? Because I don't think doing nothing is an option, but at the same time, want to make sure that I kind of do justice to my grandfather and my parents who have kind of changed my life and my family's life, putting me in this situation.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So tell me a little bit more. When you say your birth, birth family, are you adopted?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. And so your adoptive grandfather, he's the one who's leaving you the inheritance.

[Caller]

So I was adopted at birth to a family. So they're who I consider, you know, my family because I grew up with them. So that side of the family is where the inheritance is coming from. Birth family is, you know, found out I was the oldest of a sister who's 19 and pregnant and two other male siblings and then my birth mom, of course.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Gotcha. And how much money are we talking here?

[Caller]

So my grandpa was smart, so he stepped it in around like, you know, metrics like graduation date and, you know, age and a couple of things. So it's up to 750,000 now. It'll likely cross over a million in the next few years.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So it's pretty significant. Tell me why you feel or where the feelings are coming from that you have some sort of allegiance or you owe or you need to put some money on the table for your, your birth siblings.

[Caller]

I think it's, you know, that, that old adage, right. You know, to, to whom much is given, much is expected.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, that's not. That adage doesn't apply here at all. Not even class. That's, that's what a guilty person tells themselves.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Why do you feel guilty?

[Caller]

I mean, I think especially, you know, being the oldest sibling, you know, kind of seeing. I think my sister, you know, probably has the, you know, the drive to kind of get her life on track. So it's, it's, you know, wanting to support, you know, I saw my, my parents and my grandfather do, you know, good, good things with kind of the situation that they, they created and put themselves in. So I'm kind of navigating, you know, I know I could make a difference, you know, and, you know, it wouldn't necessarily change my day to day. So it just hasn't seemed reasonable at this point to do, to do nothing. But then there's also been some stuff initially that I tried to, tried to give that didn't necessarily go where I wanted it to in terms of my mom kind of birth mom kind of repurposing some of that in a way that was less than ideal and it didn't actually get to my sister, so.

[George Camel]

Well, that's the thing is you have no control of this money once it's given. Zero.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And bro, you, you are, you are setting yourself up for a catastrophic world of hurt. I, I 1000% agree with you. If I, I'm just trying to put myself in your shoes. If I found out I had a whole other family and I got adopted by a family who was so great and they took me in and they, like you said, like, I had an amazing life and I won the lottery and my other brothers and sisters were adopted out and they did not get the, get the shake that I got. I would feel a sense of I owe or obligation. And I need you to hear me say you don't owe anybody anything. You can choose to give. And those are two very different motivations. If you think you owe, you are constantly going to be. It's a bottomless pit. It's a hole that can never be filled. If you, if you say, hey, I like, I won the lottery with my adoptive family. I got so such amazing life and I Want to do that for other people, then that's when you can sit down with your sister. And very similar to how your grandpa did it, who's very wise. Hey, sister, when you're ready, I'm going to pay for college tuition, but I'm going to pay directly to the school. When you're ready, I will cover three years of daycare for your kids so you can get ahead financially. But I'm going to pay directly. I'm not going to give that money to anybody. You can love them deeply and support them and also recognize that they're terrible money managers. All three of those things can be true at the same time.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Here's what I don't want you to do. I don't want you to give your mom $25,000 when she doesn't have the skills to handle $25,000, because then you're going to end up resenting her, and that's not fair to her. You get what I'm saying?

[Caller]

Yeah, I hadn't thought of it that way, but that. That does make a lot of sense.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You'll hand her, like, a live snake. She'll get bit, and then, you know, I mean, like, you gave her the snake. Like, I. I wouldn't do that. And you're gonna have to weather people coming out of the woodwork for your money.

[George Camel]

You're about to be bank of Peyton once they find out that you're just giving away money like a game show. And they're going to be coming back.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And Peyton will bail us out. And how dare you. And, oh, you got this.

[George Camel]

And we did it last time. Why not now? Why are you so stingy now?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Can't believe you. You don't even remember you're raising. You don't even remember where you come from. Right. They're not your real family. You're gonna hear all that stuff, dude.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

Have they asked for money, or is this just your own survivor's guilt talking?

[Caller]

So that's the thing. My mom, when she was. When I. Before I found out she was doing things I didn't want with it, she would make up excuses. But my sister has always pushed it away. You know, she's on her own. She's got, you know, a newborn, obviously very young, and. And that's kind of where, you know, you. That almost makes you want to give more. Right? Because there she has similar thing of, like, you know, you don't owe me anything. I just want to have, you know, the relationship.

[George Camel]

She's a single mom.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

And what needs does she have right now that you feel like you could help with?

[Caller]

The kid has special needs, so I know that that's like, they're. They're below poverty line, so it's. It's a. It's such a stark contrast.

[George Camel]

So is that child care? What would you exactly help with versus just writing a check?

[Caller]

That's what I was thinking.

[George Camel]

A grocery gift card. What would you. What would you want to do?

[Caller]

I think childcare would be the most impactful thing because it would free her up to kind of take the steps necessary to stabilize her life, whether that be education or.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Can she do that living in. In your. In your birth mom's home?

[Caller]

So they live in a different state than I do currently?

[Dr. John Deloney]

No. No. But can your sister thrive under your mom's roof?

[Caller]

Oh, no. They. They have a very toxic relationship.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So maybe offering an apartment, like, down the street from. I don't know how much money you want to put on the table here, and I don't know what you do for a living. I'd want you to make sure you invest this thing so you're taking care of yourself and your future family long term. But I'm with George. I think you. I think you. If you throw a checkbook at a problem, often everybody loses. Right. It becomes full of waste, and it becomes full of, well, what about this? And I feel like this. When you spend money to solve a particular problem, you get. You get different kind of results.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I will pay for you to move, and I will pay for one year of an apartment right down the street from me. And that's going to cost $25,000. I'll put that on the table if you want to get out of mom's house. Now we're talking, right?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And that's a finite cost. And she doesn't have to feel guilty for just being on the take forever and. But it's an actual problem being solved right now.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

The more specific you get, the better and you can remain in control. If you do what John said and go, I'm going to give directly to the need versus just throwing a check at it. But you're a. You're a noble guy and.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

I got nothing but respect for you, man. Good luck.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, anybody. Anything you get to give. And that's a totally different spirit.

[George Camel]

You know, one of the first things.

[Caller]

I discovered working in the financial world.

[George Camel]

Is how absolutely devastating it is when the breadwinner of a family dies and there's too little life insurance or none at all. Grieving families are suddenly left behind, scrambling to pay bills and trying to make ends meet.

[Caller]

I also discovered that there are a.

[George Camel]

Lot of rip offs in the life.

[Caller]

Insurance world like that whole life crap.

[George Camel]

Posing as an investment opportunity. What you need is level term life insurance, usually 10 to 12 times your income, which is the smartest, most affordable way to protect your family. The key is finding an independent broker who represents a ton of companies and works for you, not for the insurance company. This is exactly what my friend Jeff Zander and his team at Zander Insurance are all about. They shop the term life companies to find you the best options and they've been around for over 95 years so you know they'll be there when you need them. Zander is the real deal and that's why they've handled all my personal insurance for over 25 years.

[Caller]

I trust them and you can too.

[George Camel]

Visit Zander.com for instant online quotes or for a more personal touch. Give them a call at 800-356-4282. Running a business is freaking hard.

[Caller]

It's easy to get caught up in.

[George Camel]

The daily challenges and fears that keep you stuck.

[Caller]

That's why I want you to reserve.

[George Camel]

Your copy of our new book, Build.

[Caller]

A business you Love where we share.

[George Camel]

The proven system that helped us break through those challenges and build Ramsey Solutions. From a card table in my living room to a $250 million company in the process. When you pre order today, you're going to get more than $350 in bonuses for free, including an enhanced audiobook experience.

[Caller]

Early access to the build a business you love ebook, and instant access to our hiring playbook so you can start.

[George Camel]

Transforming your business right now. Build a business you love. The essential guide for every business owner.

[Caller]

Like you that wants to grow yourself, lead your team and scale your business.

[George Camel]

To reserve your copy, go to ramseysolutions.com store ramseysolutions.com store welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Do not miss the upcoming money and relationships tour. It's Dave Ramsey and Dr. John DeLoney like you have never seen them before.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Go to the road, baby. Hey, we're bringing the Ramsey show and the Dr. John DeLoney Show. We're crashing them together, which means bringing.

[George Camel]

Them live, unfiltered, unscripted and packed with wisdom and laughter.

[Dr. John Deloney]

All the stuff you think, I wonder if that gets. If they edit that out, the answer is yes. And that's going to be live. And that also makes me nervous. There's lots of phones out there in the audience.

[George Camel]

They choose the content of the night before the event.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, we're talking, we might do live, we might do Q and A's, we might do all kind of stuff. But yeah, there's going to be audience participation into how this thing goes. And so it's going to be a blast. It's just, it's as off the rails as our shows can get sometimes. That's going to be the live event with us bringing these, these, the Ramsey show and my show live.

[George Camel]

They're headed to a town near you. Louisville on April 21, Durham April 23, Atlanta April 25, Phoenix on May 5. Fort Worth, May 7 in Kansas City on May 9. Get your tickets Ramsey solutions.com tour and if you're tuning in on YouTube or podcast, just click the link in the show notes. Be sure to say hi. I wish I could go. They don't fight me. You know, I'd love to drive out to maybe me and Rachel will crash in Atlanta.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That would be a blast.

[George Camel]

Show up.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That would be actually fun.

[George Camel]

All right, Skyler is in Fort Worth. Up next. What's going on? Skyler?

[Caller]

Hey, how are you guys doing?

[George Camel]

Great. How can we help?

[Caller]

So I back in college, I had made some poor choices, ended up moving in with my parents and starting over as a single mom. Well, recently we moved to Texas from California. And my parents, now that I'm in a better financial situation, my parents want me to put a mother in law suite in the back of their property. And I thought it was a good idea at first until I found you guys. I'm only in baby step two and I am having a hard time trying to communicate to my parents that I don't want to go into more debt.

[George Camel]

So they want you to pay for the building of this in law suite so that you can live in it?

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Camel]

What's it going to cost?

[Caller]

So we've looked at different things. It's the we were going to go with a container home style, which would be at the end of it like 170. We live out in the countryside, so we'd have to get septic. I'd have to get the power line pole.

[George Camel]

Why don't you just leave? Can you just go live on your own and rent an apartment somewhere?

[Caller]

So I ended up doing, I ended up getting an apartment I can't move into March 19th. I don't know. I'm scared to tell my parents and I'm because they think I'm going to put the house on the back because. And they want to make a plan to get me to get $20,000 because my dad's initial plan was to have me take out a personal loan for 20,000. Not touch it for a year, then use that to put down for the house and then have the house overestimated. 20,000 to pay off the.

[George Camel]

So are they using you as part of their financial schemes?

[Caller]

Sounds like it, yeah.

[George Camel]

Okay. You just need to go. I don't understand. I mean, you need to say, hey, mom, dad, it's been great. Thank you so much for letting me crash. Me and Baby are gonna go get our own place. You said you're in a better place financially. Can you afford to rent your own place?

[Caller]

Yeah. So the apartment I did find, I can't afford it. They just. I can't afford the apartment. I just can't afford childcare. They helped me with childcare and this was a way to.

[George Camel]

That's what I was wondering. Are they watching Baby all day?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Yeah. So he's five now. So he goes to school, but they watch him in the morning. Because I leave at 5:30 in the morning sometimes, depending on how the volume is, because I work for. I deliver mail. I sometimes don't get home till like 8 o'clock.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Are they gonna cut you off because of this?

[Caller]

Skyler, I have no idea.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, here's what.

[Caller]

Terrified. Because I made some really bad choices and I'm so scared.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. And I don't want to kick you while you're down, but it wasn't smart to sign a lease. Have you already signed a lease?

[Caller]

No, I did not sign the lease.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, you didn't? Okay. Thank God. All right. The earlier you learn this, the. The better off your life is going to be. That doesn't mean your life's going to be easy and conflict free. But that means you're going to have this elusive thing that everybody wants and nobody has. It's called peace. Okay. The only way through these challenging conversations, these hard moments, is right through the middle of it.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Most of the time. How old are you?

[Caller]

I'm 28.

[Dr. John Deloney]

28. Okay. Most of the time, if this is your first time to actually. I don't say stand up, but actually say, hey, I don't want to do that. And by the way, you get a pass. You can say, I can't afford to do this and I'm not going to do this. I'm not taking out any more debt. It's not a matter of. You're a millionaire. You have to say, hey, I don't want to do this. But I would. I would recommend writing down what you want to say and then having an in person meeting with your mom and your dad and read it to them.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And I want you to stop leading conversations. The first introduction to me and George was I made some mistakes when I was a kid. You've got to stop leading with that. You're more than that. Okay. Do you believe me?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. You're more than some college mistakes. We all made them. Right. And tell me about this little one you have.

[Caller]

Well, he's five.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Is he amazing?

[Caller]

He's like the best. He is like a carbon copy of me, I swear.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, God help everybody. Just kidding. Okay, so can we stop calling him a mistake?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Wouldn't have drawn it up that way. And you've been through hell and back. 18 to 19 to 20 to how ever old you are right now. But dude, you got a rad little five year old. Okay, let's stop leading with there's something wrong with me. And let's lead with hey mom and dad, I, I, I don't want to go into debt and, and put on an apartment on the back of your house. I'm so grateful for your hospitality.

[George Camel]

If that's the only option, then I'm out.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. Have they always been there for you?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, then I think that's what you lead with. You guys have always been there for me and I have to, I have to stand up on my own. But I still can't do it fully without you. I still need help. And if y'all choose to not have child care, I'll figure something out. But just know I have to stand out on my own.

[Caller]

Okay?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. And you got to go through the middle. There's no hack to that. Okay. There's not like a secret.

[George Camel]

What are you making delivering mail?

[Caller]

My salary is 65, 739.

[George Camel]

65,000 a year.

[Caller]

Yes.

[George Camel]

And you said your hours, they range from 5:30 in the morning to 8 at night depending.

[Caller]

Yeah. So I have to leave the house at 5:30 because we leave about 20 minutes away. My start time is at 6:15.

[George Camel]

So do you even see your son.

[Caller]

For like a few hours on at the end of the day if I get done in time because most of the time I'm usually done about, about 4:00. But when the days are really heavy, I don't get done until like close to 8.

[George Camel]

I'm wondering what does child care cost around you? If you were to put him in.

[Caller]

Daycare, I would have to get a nanny because there is no daycare.

[George Camel]

Okay. But soon. This is the temporary Problem. Soon he'll be old enough. He'll be in school. This will all be behind us, right?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

Okay. Well, just know this is not forever. This is a season. And it's going to be hard and it's going to be uncomfortable, but you're going to be on the other side, More mature, more independent. Standing on our own two feet.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Do you still want to stay living with your parents? If they didn't have this backyard idea.

[Caller]

Yeah, I would have.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay.

[Caller]

It's just. It's something that I can remember, especially my dad talking about wanting since I was little.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So this is kind of his way to get that. Because here's the thing. Sometimes. And again, I'm overly sentimental. Sometimes our parents are doing the best they can to love us. And they'll come up with all kind of crazy schemes to try to keep us safe. And sometimes when we struggle and stumble and fall, when we're 18 or 21 or 23, they look in the mirror and they blame themselves. And so you know your dad more than I do. And it's easy for me to sit over here and say, maybe he thinks this is the best way out. And the greatest gift you could give him is to say, no, no, no, no. I'm gonna get my own place. I'm gonna start branching out.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And I still love you. I still need your help. I still want your influence on my kid's life. But I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna borrow any more money. I'm tired of being in a hole. And if he honors that. Cool. If he says, then how dare you. Whatever. Then you've got your very clear message that it's time to go. And maybe rural, you know, wherever you happen to be. Rural Central Texas isn't the place to be. And it's easy to talk yourself into a trap that. I'll never make more money than this. It's all I've got. It's all I'm worth. And that's not true. None of those things are true. Okay? Hey.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You're not the silliest, dumbest mistakes you've ever made. You're way, way more than that. Okay.

[Caller]

Okay. Thank you.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Appreciate your call.

[George Camel]

Can we send her something, John? Yeah, let's get in one of your books.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Everything but Building an unanxious life. Fpu every dollar caboodle.

[George Camel]

I think that'll. That's a good start. And she'll let us know if she needs anything else. We're here for you, Scott. Hang on the line, we'll pick up and get you those resources. This is the Ramsey Show. Have you gotten one of those texts recently claiming to be the USPS with some sketchy link to update your address? It's annoying and a little terrifying, and you probably think to yourself, I should do something about this. But where do you even start? Well, as your nerdy friend who does the research for you, I found the solution. They're called Delete Me. And here's the reason they come in the clutch. The Internet is packed with data brokers, which are these shady companies whose sole purpose is to collect your personal info and sell it for a profit. Enter DeleteMe. DeleteMe swoops in, finds your info on these sites and removes it on your behalf. They even send you a report with all the details. And so far, for me personally, they have reviewed 27,000 listings, removed my info from 240 data brokers, and save me 66 hours in the process. I trust Delete me to help protect my family. And I trust them to help you, too. You're going to get fewer spam texts, fewer phishing emails, and fewer creepy robocalls. And Delete Me also makes a great gift for other people in your life that you care about. Individual plans start at just $9 a month. So take an easy step to protect yourself and your loved ones today. And as a Ramsey fan, you'll get an extra 20% off any of their plans. @joindeleteme.com that's joindeleteme.com Ramsey. Okay, picture this. You sit down to do your taxes, but instead of stressing out, you're actually ahead of the game and filing with an affordable software that makes your computer shoot confetti when you're done. Okay, not that last part, but Ramsey SmartTax does make filing easy and doesn't make your bank account cry. Ramsey SmartTax is a hundred percent accurate software that's honest about its pricing and is backed by a company who's been in the business for over 50 years. So go to ramseysolutions.com smarttax to take advantage of early bird pricing and stress free filing. That's ramseysolutions.com smarttax. James is up next in Dallas, Texas. James, welcome to the Ramsey Show.

[Caller]

Hey guys. Thanks. Really appreciate y'all having me on.

[George Camel]

Absolutely. How can we help?

[Caller]

So my question is, let me give you a little background. We, me and my wife just paid off about 550k in debt with. Whoa.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Congratulations.

[Caller]

Yeah, thank you. It actually all worked out really Great. I think God had his hands in there mixing some things up and opening some doors for us. So we're relocating. The reason I went to sales, we're relocating to Austin. Opened up a chick fil a out there. We have about 80k left in debt other than our house that we live in currently. And it's about two and a half hours away from Austin where we're relocating to. My question is, do we sell the house to pay off the remaining mortgage and then the 80k in debt because we have a little bit of equity, or do we continue to rent it out? Because I feel like we don't have too much longer to go on that mortgage if we kind of just throw money at it once we get there. What are your thoughts on that?

[George Camel]

Well, I'll tell you. Regardless of if you have consumer debt, regardless of if you have the mortgage still left on it, I would tell you to sell it.

[Caller]

Okay.

[George Camel]

I would not keep it as a rental and live two and a half hours away and be a long distance landlord. And the easy way to look at this is this way. If you lived in Austin, would you buy an investment property in Dallas, Texas?

[Caller]

No. No.

[George Camel]

And so I would sell it and be done with it. And guess what, it's also going to leapfrog you through the baby steps, get rid of this debt, put you in a stronger place financially and give you less headache and more peace.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's, that's what we were leaning towards. We just didn't know, you know, with it being so close, do we, do we be long distance tenants or is that too much risk to hold?

[Dr. John Deloney]

So it's not too. I don't know. I don't know if it's too much risk. You're about to run a chick fil a like, I mean, you, you manage a thousand employees and all kinds. I don't think it's the risk thing. I think it's just like the hassle factor. Yeah, it's just an absurd way to live your life. Right. It's just chaos. And I would ask for what? Right, like for what kind of how it's been.

[George Camel]

And if you want to buy real estate down the road in the future, you want to pay cash for an investment property near you, go for it. You'll be able to do that. What kind of money will you guys be making?

[Caller]

About 200k and that's with my wife and I included.

[George Camel]

Awesome. Are you going to be owner, operator?

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, not currently.

[Caller]

That is the goal. So two or three years from now, we will we're going to try to pursue relocating back closer to family, where we are now, and buying a Chick Fil A nearby.

[George Camel]

Awesome.

[Caller]

I'm thinking that it's looking like we should be able to do that. Of course, it's not guaranteed. Yeah.

[George Camel]

I just didn't know a Chick Fil A is like. I mean, it is. It's Fort Knox to try to get a Chick Fil A. I didn't. You can't just go buy one up.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, no, but he's part of the Navy seals. You're part of the gang that gets married every six months or two years or five years. Right. That's opens them up.

[Caller]

They say it's harder to get into a Chick Fil A than is to, you know, get into Harvard is what they say in the Chick Fil A world.

[George Camel]

So I believe it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. I just thought of four jokes that I didn't make. By the way, I want everyone in America to know I'm risening up here.

[George Camel]

That's called maturity.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I'm maturing right before your eyes. But. But yeah, dude. And here's the other thing. Is there a possibility that you rent for a year in Austin before you settle out everything?

[Caller]

Yes, that's what, that's our idea. We're going to go scope out the area rent, save up some cash so that we do have enough down payment when we decide if we're going to either stay there or relocate back. That's kind of up in the air. But renting is our main priority going down there.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Wait, hold on. So you might go down to Austin for a year, open this place up six months and I know you never know how long these deployments are going to be, but then it'll definitely be two years minimum.

[Caller]

We have another store opening up about that will turn us into a multi restaurant. The operator will be a multi restaurant operator. And so I'll be over both of those.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, great.

[Caller]

And we're trying to for sure be there two years, three to five is when I will most likely try to apply, depending on how ready we feel.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, I would sell the. I'd sell the house. Yeah.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Because who. Dude, think about, think about it this way. That's another president presidential election from now. Who knows, man?

[Caller]

Yes. Who knows?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Right. So I, I would, I would cross that bridge when we get there.

[George Camel]

Absolutely.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It's amazing.

[George Camel]

And once you guys are in a better financial spot, be sure to send John and I some sandwiches. We'd appreciate it.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

There's this elusive. We gotta get just, you know, the card I need, James. You know the card I need.

[George Camel]

There's a special card. I know.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Special card. Hook a brother up.

[George Camel]

All right, Francois in Los Angeles. Up next, how can we help Francois?

[Caller]

Hey, how's it going?

[George Camel]

Great. What's going on?

[Caller]

Well, I. I live here. Dave will be very happy. I have zero car payments in the family. I've never paid for a car except cash. So everything we own is owned. If I can't put the cash down, I don't drive it home.

[George Camel]

Wonderful. It's a great way to live.

[Caller]

Yeah. Yeah. So I have a small, very small business compared to some of the guys that call in. I have a marine repair shop here in San Pedro, California. I've been open for seven years. Pretty much started it from scratch. I'm 50 years old, so I have about 25 years experience. And the business grew very quickly for the first three, four years. We're born again Christians. We don't rip people off and mess around with their money. And I've been renting for the last few years. Two years ago, we moved into a big property because my landlady sold, and it's literally the only property we could find. And it, it has been very hard on us because the rent tripled. The gross at the time was around 150. And that was just me on my own. And we have a serious amount of demand. I went through eight people last year at my shop. He came in and tried to fit in. And from drinking problems to just incredibly bad at trying to do the job or just late or not on time, it's impossible to find skilled, responsible labor. And I am in a position where we've been verging on bankruptcy the last two years because I've been trying to build the business up and train people who have just turned out to be pretty awful.

[George Camel]

So what is the business making today as it stands with the work that you can take on?

[Caller]

I'm stagnant. I think I am floating between around 130 to 150,000 a year, which is about as much as I can cope with mentally and physically doing this alone.

[George Camel]

So you're maxed out on your own at that level?

[Caller]

Burnt out, maxed out. If I had one extra pair of hands, I could probably almost double that.

[George Camel]

Okay, and what's your rent now?

[Caller]

My reign currently is about 5600. Yeah, it's high. I mean, I have literally. So initially when we moved in, the Property was about 3, 4 times the size of my previous. And I thought, okay, there's always A demand for storage. So we'll try storage. And that literally did not happen. I don't know why. Then I tried boat rentals. We invested in some boats to get into the boat rental thing and it's just been very slow. I'm currently sitting here with about 100, $120,000 worth of invent that we've been trying to sell. But the economy has just been so poor. So we're asset poor. The rent's been killing me. It's been very hard to find qualified. Not even. I don't care about certification. I just need someone that can a pitch up on time and do the job.

[George Camel]

Just a warm body at this point would do.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Hey Francois, what was your take home pay last year?

[Caller]

Oh, I don't even want to know. I did my tax return for 2023, which was the worst. And I'm not going to lie, it was $11,000.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, don't, don' lie. Dude, there's no shame here. We're just like three dudes just sitting around having nachos.

[Caller]

Shocking.

[George Camel]

So after all expenses, you are making like $5 an hour somewhere around there.

[Caller]

Yeah, it was brutal. Brutal.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Can you sell this thing and. And go get a job? Job?

[Caller]

You're.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You're killing yourself, dude. You're dying.

[Caller]

I know, I know, I know.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And I know this is a dream and I know you have to. Yeah, you have to grieve it and you have to be sad about it, but dude, you are dying.

[Caller]

I've thought about it. I've. I've constantly contacted some brokers because we only have five star reviews. I'm one. Let me just put it this way. I'm one of two shops in this town. The other shop, the guy is a total crook.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But listen, but listen, Francois, this is not an indictment of you or your character or your business.

[Caller]

No, no, I get it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You're a good man. It didn't work. It's not working. And your soul, like you having a stroke for $11,000. If it's 11 million, I might trade my brain for $11 million.

[Caller]

But, well, that was the thing is like the last year I probably did better than that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, but, but even 10,000 or 25,000, that's still half what you can go make at Starbucks. You know what I mean?

[George Camel]

Between the California tax and the soul tax, you need to get out of this thing.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, just get out and exhale. Get a fresh start. And then go do something that's going to bring your family some income, but also some peace, man.

[George Camel]

And you got 25 years experience. I think anyone would be lucky to have you. And so I'd be looking around your industry to see who's hot hiring and what value you could bring to them. This is the Ramsey Show. Hey, guys, I've got a big announcement. George Camel and I are bringing back Investing Essentials, our two night virtual event.

[Caller]

Deep diving into investing and real estate.

[George Camel]

Learn step by step how to get the most out of your 401k mutual funds and real estate investments. Because there's no better time to get the clarity you need to invest with confidence. Watch live on March 4th and 5th. Get tickets today at ramseysolutions.com events. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Reminder that this is the last segment for this hour. Unless you jump over to the Ramsey network app. It's the only place to get full episodes of the Ramsey Show. You can download it for free using the link in the show notes or just search Ramsey Network in your app store. If you're on radio, stay tuned. The show will continue as promised. Well, John, sometimes on the show we don't know if the callers actually follow through with what we told them to do or what they said they were going to do. And so we had a caller earlier named Maria who was asking, hey, should I cut up my credit cards? I'm working on paying off these debts. I got most of them paid off. Is it going to affect me if I cut them up? We said, no, go ahead and cut them up. Do it now. She said, well, I'm on my way home. I don't have the cards with me, but I will. And I said, promise? Send me a DM with a video of you cutting them up. And she delivered.

[Dr. John Deloney]

She slid in to George's DMS head first.

[George Camel]

That's the kind of DM I want to see. Just cut up credit cards. So here we go. We have the clip that she sent in. Let's play it if you're watching.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, yeah.

[George Camel]

Oh, beautiful. The Capital One amex. This is what I want to see. American. There was like seven cards. Can we play that again? I think there's like seven or eight cards in this pile.

[Dr. John Deloney]

There's a huge pile. Remember she said she had nine or something like that?

[George Camel]

Oh, my goodness, that's. So there's no sight more beautiful than just a pile of credit cards.

[Dr. John Deloney]

There you go.

[George Camel]

That represents freedom. You're breaking free from broke. You're bucking the system. We love to see it. So thank you for that, Maria. All right, switching gears, John, one of the top Things that you talk about is wills and insurance.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I do talk about wills a lot.

[George Camel]

That's just. And that's just off air, just behind the scenes when we.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I'm paranoid about insurance, and I just can't wrap my head around people who don't have a will, which is 70 something percent of Americans, which. Which is staggering to me.

[George Camel]

And so I want to cover some top myths about whales and insurance real quick just to clear the air, help people understand the importance of this, and it is crucial for effective estate planning. And no, you will not die sooner by talking about this stuff.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I'm going to be your hype man. And.

[George Camel]

Oh, good.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I've always wanted one of those on the background. Some of these are, if I was.

[George Camel]

A rapper, you'd be on stage with me, hyping me up.

[Dr. John Deloney]

You'd be like, who's that guy? That'll be me.

[George Camel]

Myth number one, young or single individuals don't need a will. Here's the reality. Regardless of age or marital status, if you're an adult with any assets at all, a bank account, property, a pet, a will ensures that your wishes are honored after your passing. That's all it does. Without a will, it's a mess. The distribution of your belongings is determined by the state, AKA the government, which may not align with your preferences. They're not great at divvying this stuff out, dealing with it in a timely manner. So if you want it done the way you want it done, get a will in place. It's super easy to do. Myth number two, creating a will is super expensive reality. Attorney fees for drafting a will can range from 300 bucks to a thousand bucks. And there's way more affordable options now with online services like Mama Bear Legal Forms. They've been a great partner with us. It's who I have my will through. And they offer legit wills that are done by lawyers at a fraction of the cost. Another myth, John. Identity theft isn't a significant concern. Identity theft is a crime. According to Dwight Schrute. According to Dwight Schrues, yeah, it's a growing issue. Get this. In 2023 alone, 15 million Americans experienced identity theft. And that resulted in a total loss of $23 billion. That's a 13 increase from the previous year. And I think that number is going to keep going up over time as we deal with more digital life, the digital world with crypto and AI and you have your info in 19 more accounts. And so you got to get identity theft protection. And that's the next myth. People Think that's unaffordable? Individual plans typically cost between 10 bucks and 40 bucks a month. Family plans range from 13 to 60 bucks monthly. Listen, your subscriptions add up to more than what it would cost to get this protection. So get that in place. And finally, the last myth. If you can rebuild your home with cash, homeowner's insurance isn't necessary. Yikes. Even if you have sufficient savings to rebuild after a disaster, which, by the way, 99.9% of people don't, purchasing homeowners insurance is very wise. It's going to protect your savings. It mitigates financial risk, allows you to preserve wealth for other purposes. Dave Ramsey has homeowners insurance on his property and every single investment property he owns. Because for the buy, for the price you pay for that premium, it is totally worth the insurance company taking that risk instead of you. So there you go. If you're unsure you have the right protection in place, we have a free coverage checkup that makes this super easy. Go to ramseysolutions.com checkup or click the link in the show notes if you're listening on podcast or YouTube. Well worth your while to get that covered. Checkup ramseysolutions.com checkup and, dude, I always.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Feel like, especially when you and I are on together, George, the Instagram, YouTubey influencer world is so full of people who are just not telling the truth. Shysters, just liars. Just complete liars. So here's the deal. Just for people at home. George and I both have a will. We both have identity theft protection, and we both have homeowners insurance because we're not insane. Let me say it that way. I don't. I don't like. I. I just. I can't. This is stuff that we do in our own home. So we're not trying to sell you of something. We're just telling you, dude, this gives us peace for our wives and for our kids. And God bless you. Get a will, people, and get identity theft protection. And please, please cover your biggest asset with homeowners insurance.

[George Camel]

Beautifully said. Ramseysolutions.com checkup is the place to go. Get it done. Do not delay. Jenna is up next in Rockford, Illinois. What's going on? Jenna, hi.

[Caller]

Thanks for taking my call.

[George Camel]

Sure.

[Caller]

So my husband and I, we paid off our mortgage at the end of the year. Yeah. And then a week later, he found out he was getting laid off.

[George Camel]

Oh, my goodness.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

Good timing, I guess.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Can we cheer for a second?

[Caller]

Yeah, we can cheer. Yes, absolutely.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I mean, it's heartbreaking. And so we'll, we'll weep with you, but we'll also cheer. You don't have a house payment.

[Caller]

Yeah. So he will be working until June.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That was so disingenuous. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm talking over you. Go ahead.

[Caller]

No, that's okay. So he'll be working until June and then he'll be dining. So we have been job hunting and that's a fun area to get into again. But we have a 401 and HSA that we're maxing out. And I'm wondering, should we pull back on that and start kind of saving up some more money on the side? We do have a six month emergency fund, fully funded. We also have like a family vacation we were hoping to go on in the fall. But should these things be like, like, should we just stop doing that? Should we pull back?

[George Camel]

I would say you don't need to pause investing right now. You have a six month emergency fund. And then if you have vacation funds, other sinking funds that are for more fun stuff, I would just hold on that until we know that he has stable income beyond June.

[Caller]

Okay.

[George Camel]

And then once he has that job lined up and he gets that paycheck, let's push play, let's restart the sinking funds, let's take the vacation. But for right now, I don't. It's not an emergency situation where you need to just pause everything you're doing, don't invest a dime and just stack up cash because you have a six month Runway beyond June where your expenses are going to be covered plus the vacation funds.

[Caller]

Okay. So do we just kind of keep living normally as if he's going to get a job and that we have.

[George Camel]

I would tighten up the budget. I would not be, you know, living luxurious. Luxuriously during this time. I would look at the budget and say we're going to live on a bare bones budget.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It.

[George Camel]

We're going to keep investing, but we're going to cut things where we can. We're not going to eat out as much. We're going to just live like we know this job is going to end because it will. And I hope that by June he's got something lined up. That's some pretty incredible Runway you guys have. Like this is. There's a lot of blessings here that you guys are in the financial spot you're in, that the job wasn't an immediate loss, that he's getting paid through June, right?

[Caller]

Yeah. Yeah. And on top of it, we're hoping for his severance and good. So we're hopeful and we're so, so thankful for this opportunity.

[George Camel]

Yeah. What kind of work was he doing?

[Caller]

He's an it so.

[George Camel]

Okay, great.

[Caller]

Surely he'll be able to find something. It's a little bit dry out there right now. We've been looking, we've have a few headhunters that have been helping us, but it's been, what, almost two months of looking, and it's been a little bit scary to see that there's not as much out there as we thought there was.

[George Camel]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Can I, can I ask a question of George, Jenna, on your behalf?

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

All right, George, for those of us who run a little bit hotter when it comes to being anxious, what are your thoughts about taking the money I was putting in my 401 in my HSA and maybe just socking it away in a high yield savings account until this thing clears and then once I can make a, a lump contribution if we find another job in five months. But again, I don't know how much money that's actually going to be practically. But if it ends up being a 25 or $30,000 that I would have invested out and I've got it and I have to have it, is that, is that bad for form?

[George Camel]

No, it's not bad form the HSA. You could do that with the 401k. You're not going to be able to just lump some back in because it has to come from those paychecks each time. So you could ratchet up your 401k investing to make up for it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah.

[George Camel]

So if you wanted to take down the HSA for now, you could do that. And again, there's going to be severance. They have the vacation money on top of the six months. That probably is looking like closer to 12 months.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's fair.

[George Camel]

I feel pretty good about it, especially the fact they have no mortgage payment. So that's where I'm like, they have more wiggle room than they think. Now, there you go. That puts this hour of the Ramsey show in the books. Yeah, you weren't talking.

[Dr. John Deloney]

The right questions are the key to unlock personal and professional potential.

[George Camel]

That means if you're not where you.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Want to be, you are not asking the right questions. I'm Ken Coleman and this is what my new show, Front Row Seat is all about. Over my career, I've had the distinct privilege to interview successful people from, from all walks of life and to coach over 10,000 professionals who wanted more. What sets successful people apart is a.

[George Camel]

Never ending desire to learn and grow.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Each week I'll be joined by industry leaders and world class experts to have a conversation about how to get better.

[George Camel]

Move up and lead well in work and life.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But the best part of this show is you get to be a part of the conversation. Live in Studio will have a group of professionals just like like you, who have the power to ask questions and.

[George Camel]

Steer the discussion in real time.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It's an opportunity to get real answers to real questions like how to make the right decisions, have hard conversations, live a balanced life, and discover your next steps to growth.

[George Camel]

Join us every Tuesday for conversations that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Are guaranteed to surprise, challenge and inspire you. Check out front row seat wherever you get your podcasts.