Quit Letting Broke People Give You Financial Advice!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ramsey Show – "Quit Letting Broke People Give You Financial Advice!"

Episode Details:

• Title: Quit Letting Broke People Give You Financial Advice!
• Host: Dave Ramsey and Dr. John Deloney
• Co-Host: Jade Washaw
• Release Date: February 27, 2025

---

Introduction

In this engaging episode of The Ramsey Show, host Dave Ramsey, alongside Dr. John Deloney and co-host Jade Washaw, delves into critical financial dilemmas faced by listeners. The focus is on empowering individuals to take control of their finances, steering clear of misguided advice from those who may not have their best interests at heart.

---

Listener Questions and Expert Advice

1. Inheritance Conflicts: Laurie from Salt Lake City [01:12 - 09:00]

Situation: Laurie shares her concerns about her father’s estate plan, where her brother is reportedly being left "next to nothing." Her father has set up a trust with different allocations for each child, but the specifics aren't fully disclosed.

Key Points & Insights:

• Trust Setup: Laurie’s father plans to leave her $10,000 monthly for 25 years while her sister receives a lump sum due to her fiscal responsibility.
• Family Dynamics: Laurie believes her father’s actions stem from past relationship struggles rather than manipulation.
• Dave’s Guidance: Ramsey emphasizes that no one is entitled to an inheritance and advises that her father should communicate his plans directly to avoid misunderstandings and resentment.
• Dr. John’s Perspective: Highlights the potential for future conflicts and the burden it places on Laurie.

Notable Quote:

Dave Ramsey [04:23]: "No one is entitled to an inheritance. Your dad can do with it what he wants to do with it."

---

2. Managing Student Debt and Car Loans: Michael from Toronto [10:20 - 18:00]

Situation: Eighteen-year-old Michael faces a $40,000 car loan with high-interest rates affecting his mother’s credit. He's considering switching to a lower-interest vehicle but is overwhelmed by his debt situation.

Key Points & Insights:

• Debt Overview: Michael has a significant negative equity of $12,000 on his current car.
• Income Challenges: With a fluctuating income from retail and side businesses, Michael struggles to cover his car payments and credit card debt.
• Ramsey’s Advice: Encourages Michael to aggressively reduce his car debt, suggesting selling the vehicle and opting for a more affordable option to regain financial stability.
• Practical Steps: Ramsey advises disputing fraudulent credit entries and emphasizes the importance of living within one's means.

Notable Quote:

Dave Ramsey [13:17]: "If you make a thousand dollars a month and you spend a thousand a month on your car, you don't have money to put gas in it and you're not in money to eat."

---

3. Leaving Inheritance Without Spoiling Children: Mark from Orlando [43:00 - 51:00]

Situation: Mark and his wife, a Christian family with four young daughters, are contemplating the appropriate amount to leave as an inheritance without fostering dependency or materialism in their children.

Key Points & Insights:

• Biblical Perspective: Ramsey affirms that the Bible supports leaving an inheritance, highlighting that wealth magnifies one’s character.
• Principles Over Amounts: Emphasizes that inheritance is about principles—ensuring children are qualified stewards rather than the monetary value.
• Trust Structures: Suggests setting up trusts that require children to meet certain criteria before accessing funds, ensuring responsible management.
• Character Development: Wealth can either amplify positive traits like generosity or negative ones like temper issues.

Notable Quote:

Dave Ramsey [44:34]: "You are not obligated, biblically or otherwise, to leave the money to your children... what wealth does is it magnifies the character of the person."

---

4. Addressing Unwanted Financial Advice and Personal Finance Missteps: Madeline from Indianapolis [75:44 - 84:03]

Situation: 23-year-old Madeline, living with her boyfriend and dealing with joint debts, seeks advice on moving out and managing their financial situation while considering unconventional living arrangements, such as breeding donkeys.

Key Points & Insights:

• Debt Management: Both Madeline and her boyfriend carry significant debts from vehicles and credit cards related to his contracting business.
• Living Arrangements: They are considering moving into a cabin requiring $15,000 in renovations, which Ramsey critiques as financially irresponsible.
• Ramsey’s Firm Stance: Strongly advises prioritizing debt elimination and stable living conditions over problematic and unnecessary expenditures.
• Behavioral Focus: Emphasizes that financial success is rooted in disciplined behavior rather than appeasing external pressures or unconventional hobbies.

Notable Quote:

Dave Ramsey [77:26]: "I would suggest you all get married this weekend and move out next weekend."

---

5. Retirement Funds for Home Repairs: Guido from Albany, New York [70:49 - 83:27]

Situation: Retired Guido seeks advice on utilizing his retirement funds to address significant home repairs without incurring additional debt or excessive taxes.

Key Points & Insights:

• Financial Overview: Guido has $800,000 in retirement accounts and needs $100,000 for urgent home repairs due to mold and water damage.
• Tax Implications: Pulling from retirement funds would incur a 30% tax, making it a costly option.
• Ramsey’s Solution: Advises using personal savings rather than tapping into retirement funds, emphasizing avoiding debt.
• Strategic Planning: Encourages Guido to assess the necessity and prioritize expenditures without jeopardizing financial stability.

Notable Quote:

Dave Ramsey [81:53]: "It's been going on a while... so you got left to get rid of this mess."

---

Key Discussions and Insights

• Avoiding Poor Financial Advice: The episode underscores the importance of relying on informed and evidence-based financial advice rather than well-meaning but financially inexperienced individuals.

• Debt Management Strategies: Emphasizes the effectiveness of the debt snowball method over the debt avalanche, highlighting behavioral psychology's role in financial success.

• Inheritance Planning: Discusses the balance between providing for children and fostering financial independence and responsibility.

• Responsible Financial Behavior: Consistently advocates for living within one’s means, prioritizing debt elimination, and making strategic financial decisions to ensure long-term stability.

---

Conclusion

In "Quit Letting Broke People Give You Financial Advice!", The Ramsey Show delivers pragmatic and straightforward financial guidance tailored to listeners' diverse situations. Dave Ramsey and his team stress the significance of disciplined financial management, making informed decisions, and focusing on personal responsibility to overcome monetary challenges. The episode reinforces the show's core message: anyone can build wealth and take control of their financial future with the right strategies and mindset.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Dave Ramsey [04:23]: "No one is entitled to an inheritance. Your dad can do with it what he wants to do with it."

• Dave Ramsey [13:17]: "If you make a thousand dollars a month and you spend a thousand a month on your car, you don't have money to put gas in it and you're not in money to eat."

• Dave Ramsey [44:34]: "You are not obligated, biblically or otherwise, to leave the money to your children... what wealth does is it magnifies the character of the person."

• Dave Ramsey [77:26]: "I would suggest you all get married this weekend and move out next weekend."

• Dave Ramsey [81:53]: "It's been going on a while... so you got left to get rid of this mess."

---

Note: This summary omits advertisements, promotional content, and non-essential segments to focus solely on the valuable financial discussions and listener interactions.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey guys. Dave Ramsey here. Me and Dr. John Deloney are coming to a city near you on the Money and Relationships tour. It's happening soon, so don't wait. Get your [e-mail] tour live from headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show. Where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create actual amazing relationships. Jade Washaw, number one best selling author Ramsey personality is my co host. Today as we take your questions about your life and your money. We're going to talk about you. Right in front of you, honey. That's how we do it. And hey, the phone number is free. And some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it. It's triple 882-55-5225. Jump in and we will talk. Laurie is in Salt Lake City. Hey Laurie. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

[Laurie]

Thank you, Dave.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, what's up?

[Laurie]

Well, my dad is going to leave my brother next to nothing when he dies. And he's not telling him.

[Dr. John Deloney]

How do you know? What did he tell you?

[Laurie]

He told me that he set up a trust with a fiduciary and that he was going to leave different amounts to us three children in different ways. And then he told me he had set up some other things in the trust to protect it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, so you said that the brothers left out, but you, you just said he's going to leave something to the three of you. Is it a different amount of money or. Yeah, tell us more.

[Laurie]

Yes, he. He's going to. Told me he was going to leave him 10,000.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And what did the other kids get?

[Laurie]

I'm not sure because he hadn't said. But my sister, he didn't tell me how much. He just told me that he was going to give her a large lump sum because she's the most fiscally prepared for the future. Most fiscally responsible, makes the most handles her money the best.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. What about you?

[Laurie]

Me? Yeah, he. So he set up monthly payments basically for 25 years.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, how much?

[Laurie]

3,500 per month.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

How old are you?

[Laurie]

I'm 58.

[Dave Ramsey]

58?

[Laurie]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, this sounds like your dad is pretty controlling. It's a little bit gamesmanship, manipulative, the way he's handling all this. Does that sound right?

[Laurie]

No, I would not describe him that way at all.

[Dave Ramsey]

Then why isn't he just telling your brother?

[Laurie]

I think. I think it's because he has experienced a serious lack of respect. And things have happened in the past that have hurt an already struggling relationship, but struggled a lot. Pretty much. From the very beginning. And he just.

[Dave Ramsey]

How old is your want to do it?

[Laurie]

He's a year older.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. All right. Well, I. Wow.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But it's not like a number.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay? Number one, there is no one. No one is entitled to an inheritance. Your dad. It's your dad's money. He can do with it what he wants to do with it. Okay. Even if someone else thinks it's weird, it's his money, and he can do with it what he wants to. He's trying to not stir up a problem with your brother, it sounds like. Where there's already problems. And this would just throw gas on the fire is what you're telling me, Right? Okay.

[Laurie]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

So. And he didn't tell you? I think he put you in an awkward position by you not having the information and not telling the brother. But I don't think he thought about that.

[Laurie]

No, he knows because I brought it up. I told him that he was putting me in a really awkward position.

[Dave Ramsey]

But you're not asked to administer it. You have a fiduciary. There's a trustee. So you're not. There's no way you get blamed because you're not in the line of fire. You're not having to administer this to your brother. The trustee will.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Does the other. Does your other sister know that these are the plans as well?

[Laurie]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So maybe the converse. Because here's where I'm getting at. I agree with what Dave said, but it's almost like he's not dealing with the problem now. But the problem will be yours when dad passes away. Because your brother. I don't know what kind of guy your brother is, but I would not want to if I were you. I would not want to be in this situation where someone could feel resentment towards me for something that someone else didn't deal with. And now you're in the situation to have to say, well, I don't know why he did this. And that weight can be on you. That's the part of this that I don't like. If I were sitting in your shoes.

[Laurie]

I brought that up to him. And he said he was concerned for my safety. So he set up in the trust. As soon as he dies, I can either stay in the house for three months or I can move immediately and his trust will pay to get me out. Because he was concerned about.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm sorry, whose house are you?

[Laurie]

I live with my father. I had to move in with him five years ago to help him because he needs a living caretaker. I work full time, but I moved across the country to help him five years ago. And I've tried. I did have a place on my own, but I was traveling 30 minutes one way to help him on a daily basis.

[Dave Ramsey]

Would the narrative not be that your brother says, hey, because you were living with dad, you talked him into this.

[Laurie]

Yes, that's going to be the narrative.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But what about this? What threw me on what you said is the safety. He's. He said if he's afraid for your safety, what kind of guy is your brother that he would say that?

[Laurie]

He. He's never been violent to me or to my dad or to my family members, but he's had violent interactions with other people on the other side of his family. And I have actually had to ask my brother to leave my dad's house at one point because he was verbally abusing him when I first came down here to help or came up here to help my dad.

[Dave Ramsey]

How old is your dad? You said he's 80.

[Laurie]

He's 83.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right. Your dad is not handling this well. He owes you in return for your care of him. Even though it's not going to be pretty, he owes that. It lands on him, and he needs to tell your brother while he's alive. And if I'm you, I'm going to demand that, because this is going to land on you because of proximity. It's going to look like you talked him into doing all this.

[Laurie]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

And so your dad is being a coward and he's letting this land on you. And I know he doesn't want to face it, and he could just send him a letter. He doesn't have to say, here's what I'm doing. I'm giving sister number one lump sum because she's responsible. I'm giving sister number two that takes care of me monthly because she's not as responsible. And since you and I don't have a quality relationship, I'm only leaving you this. And he needs to just send him a note that says that. And I love you, but you and I, as you know, have struggled for many years, and I don't. And I am not going to bless that with my estate. So you need to know that in the front end. And this is my decision. Your sisters have had no input on this. I decided this with my lawyer, and this is what's happening. And let him take the brunt of this so that the narrative is not reset in the vacuum, because that's what's going to happen. Yeah. You're that piece of you living with him and taking care of him changes the conversation. Before, I was a little bit like, eh, whatever. But now with you living there, it's gonna look like you spent five years manipulating the old man into getting money and cutting a brother out after you had to throw him out for being verbally abusive. It's gonna look like it's gonna land on you. There's no question about it. And your dad needs to take care of that. That's unfair to you. If I was the old man involved, I'd be stepping up. This is the Ramsey Show.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Foreign.

[Jade Washaw]

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. You've probably heard people talk about different kinds of flags in friendships and romantic relationships. Red flags, green flags, beige flags. Listen, it can be helpful to look for patterns or unsafe behaviors in potential relationships. But all those labels can distract from what's really important. You, your values, and whether you and your potential partner are willing to wake up every day and choose to honor each other's values. And look, I know it can be tough sometimes to even know what's important to you in a relationship. Therapy can help you figure out what your values actually are and decide your boundaries and your non negotiables. And if you're thinking about starting therapy, try BetterHelp. BetterHelp is 100% online therapy that works with your schedule. To get started, just fill out a short online survey to get matched with a licensed therapist. If it's not the right fit, you can switch therapists at any time for no extra cost. So whether you're dating, married, building a friendship, or working on yourself, do it with help from Better help. Visit betterhelp.com ramseyradio to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H E L p.com ramseyradio.

[Dave Ramsey]

Jade Washall, Ramsey personality, is my co host today. Thank you for joining us. Michael is in Toronto. Hey, Michael. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

[Michael]

Hey. Thank you.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's up?

[Michael]

So I'm currently 18 and by the time I graduate, I'm probably looking at 100 to $120,000 loan that I'm sitting at. And my current car is under my mom's name with her interest rates on it and her credit got ruined by my dad leaving. And I'm looking to switch the car with way less percentage of interest but I have to max out my credit cards for the interest for the down payments to put on it and I don't know what to do if it's even worth it or not.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's your car? What do you owe on the car.

[Michael]

I'm sitting. So I bought the car at 30,000. I'm looking at 41,000 right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you're a college student, first year. Yes. With a $40,000 freaking car. What are you doing with a $40,000 car? You're a college student.

[Michael]

I had a $70,000 car and another 60,000. I sold it, I made profit, but my mom's credit got ruined and they gave me a 12% interest on it. And I didn't realize till yesterday when I checked, and I only had it for five months.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't think this is your mom's fault. You bought a $30,000 car and you're in a $40,000 car and you're in college. You beat, you get a $4,000 car.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Do you make any money? What's your income?

[Michael]

So I'm sitting at 1,000 to 1,500 from my work at retail. And I had side businesses before and I had like about $70,000. I blew it all, and now I make maybe 500 to $1,000 for my side businesses a month.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, do you have any money saved?

[Michael]

Nothing. I'm in depth for credit cards.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, so the car, you owe 41, 000 on it. If you sold it private sale, what's it worth?

[Michael]

Or your mom's right now with a trade in. They're giving me 28, 7.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, my gosh.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's a trade in.

[Michael]

$12,000 negative equity on it.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, but let's look at. That's your homework is to look at the Kelly blue book value. If you did private sale, because you're going to get more for it.

[Michael]

I did. It's 30,500.

[Dr. John Deloney]

30,500. Okay. If I were in your shoes, I can't.

[Michael]

There's a lien on the car that I can't pay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, I mean, you make a thousand dollars a month, your car payments More than that, isn't it?

[Michael]

My car payments comes exactly to a thousand.

[Dave Ramsey]

So how are you paying it?

[Michael]

Credit cards, basically everything I got. No, no, I can't put on credit. It's debit, basically every.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, if you. If you make a thousand dollars a month and you spend a thousand a month on your car, you don't have money to put gas in it and you're in money to eat.

[Michael]

So I eat out a lot. I don't know how. And no, I make like 1500. I can. On a good month, I make 2000. On slow months in retail, I make 1500.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, so you got 500 to spare. You eat a little bit, you pay your insurance, you get gas, you've got nothing left.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, let me. Let me stop a second, because I did a drive. I did a drive by on something a minute ago. I want to know more about. You had $70,000 in savings. You said from a side hustle that you blew. Did I hear you say that?

[Michael]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Tell me about that side hustle. Where did all that wonderful money come from?

[Michael]

It came from. I used to sell screen protectors and cases during COVID when I was 14. And Amazon.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. So no Covid, no business. Gotcha. Okay.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right.

[Michael]

And I gave most of it to my mom after the separation, and she's sitting at least at 300 to $400,000 herself.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. You're 18. Your mother is not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to love her and cheer for her, but she's not your financial responsibility. So this has got to stop. And unless you can create a huge income, you need to get rid of this car and get a $2,000 car.

[Michael]

I tried doing that, but I have to. So the loan I would put.

[Dave Ramsey]

I would put the 5,000. I'd put the $10,000 on a credit card. I'd rather you have $10,000 on a credit CARD than 41,000 on a car.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Amen.

[Michael]

I can't. I can't put it on a credit card.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why?

[Michael]

I have maybe 3,500 left on a credit that I can spend.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Okay. Who do you owe the 41,000 to?

[Michael]

To a bank.

[Dave Ramsey]

Go down, talk to the bank about signing a note for the difference.

[Michael]

Do that.

[Guido]

Right.

[Michael]

And then what about on the new car? So that's the thing that doesn't make sense to me on the new car that I looked at that I'm gonna get, see monthly payments instead of 96 month loan.

[Dave Ramsey]

I didn't say anything about monthly payments. I said get a $2,000 car.

[Michael]

We tried when we went to the bank.

[Dave Ramsey]

I didn't want you to go to the bank. I want you to come up with $2,000 and go buy a car.

[Michael]

Just buy a car?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Are you. Are you in school full time?

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Are you on campus? You're at home or at home?

[Michael]

Like, where do I live? At home.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay. How close are you to campus? What I'm getting at is you might go through two months where you don't have a vehicle and you make it work. And instead of using that thousand dollars a month to pay for a car note, you use it to save up and get yourself a Little beater car is what we're saying.

[Dave Ramsey]

One of your buddies take you to.

[Michael]

Class away from campus.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, all right. Okay, here's the thing. We keep throwing suggestions out, and the only answer you've got is, it doesn't work. So let me tell you what doesn't work. Your life. The way you have it set up right now, your situation sucks beyond belief. The decisions you have made are beyond suicidal financially. So you've got to throw a stick of dynamite in the middle of this freaking mess you've created, and it's going to be really uncomfortable. But you know what's going to be more uncomfortable? Sit there in this pile of stuff, and you're gonna smell like this stuff as long as you sit there in it, coming up with excuses to sit there in it. So you have got to get rid of this mess. You've got to create a big. You may need to quit school. You need to go get some dadgum money and start cleaning up this mess. So I want you working, like, 80, 90 hours a week, going to school on caffeine and doing what normal people do when they get in this instead of telling me, oh, my mom got screwed over by my dad when he left. I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean you buy a $70,000 car while you're in college and downgrade it to a $41,000 car and act like that's smart. Nowhere in this conversation is smart. Smart didn't come up today, okay?

[Dr. John Deloney]

No, it didn't.

[Dave Ramsey]

It didn't even show up here. So, dude, you have got to get rid of the car, and you've got to figure this out some way or another. Now, we're giving you lots of suggestions, okay? Take. Get. Get a buddy to take that's in the neighborhood to take you to college, quit college for a year and take you a gap year and go clean this mess up while you work like a freaking maniac. But you are, man. You. You. You cannot. There's nothing in this. The math works. Sixth graders could tell you this. Math doesn't work. This is a mass. And so, no, you can't keep this car. And no, you can't keep this life the way it is. It designed right now. That's why you called.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And you can't get another car.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I'm not gonna argue with you about it anymore. I'm through talking to you about it. So you go fix this. We gave you some suggestions, but part of fixing it is you've got to decide that where I live, the land I live in right now is the land of stupid. And I want to leave. That's, that's the first decision you gotta make. And we hadn't even been able to get that far with you. So that's where you got to go, man. That's where you got to go. Open phones here at Triple 882-55-5225. Now, Jade, let's just review the policies on this show.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Review it.

[Dave Ramsey]

We love you. All of you. If you've done something stupid, we love you anyway. We've done something stupid. I have a PhD in dumb. Jade and Sam cleaned up $465,000 worth of stupid in their life. So no one's sitting here high and mighty talk. So we love you. We love you so much. We're going to tell you the truth. We're going to start gentle and we're going to start by trying to help you move along. But if you want to argue with us while we're trying to help you, it's going to get nasty fast because we love you. I'm going to smack you upside your stupid head until you listen to the stuff that will make your life better. Now I will start with a gentle handshake and say, honey, this is the best way to do it. Well, Dave, I listen to you all the time, but I'm not selling the car. Well, you're an idiot. You got to sell the car. That's what, that's how it's going to sound around here, honey. Okay? So we're going to serve you when you call here. You're not entertainment value for us. You're a calling for us. You're a crusade for us. We want you to win. And we're going to do everything in our power, starting at first gently and turning up the heat by degrees during the time we're on the phone together until we have contact. This is the Ramsey Show. You know, one of the first things I discovered working in the financial world 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. I also discovered that there are a lot of rip offs in the life insurance world like that whole life crap 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. I trust them, and you can, too. Visit Zander.com for instant online quotes or for a more personal touch, give them a call at 800-356-4282. Owning your own business is awesome. Owning your own business is freaking hard. It's hard. Part of the problem is you have a jerk for a boss. When you own your own business, your boss will work you into the dirt. They will work you like a rented mule. It's hard, y'all, and it's why most businesses don't make it. It's hard, and it's really hard when you don't have a clear path and you don't know how to go to the next stage. You don't know what to do. Man. I remember I've been doing this for almost 40 years. This thing called Ramsey. It started on a card table in my living room. And the number of stupid things I have done will fill three buildings. We have survived my stupid. I can bail my stupid. It's everywhere. And I've done enough smart to offset it. And y'all know me for everything that was smart. But I'm telling you, man, I can just tell you I could write two books on my stupid. Instead, what I did was we wrote a new book called Build a Business yous Love instead of one that beats you to death. And the new book, Build a Business yous Love, is our entree leadership system that identifies the clear path to growing and getting a business that you love instead of one that beats the snot out of you because it'll just beat you to death. And it's wonderful. We love it. Those of us that are entrepreneurs, we like the fight. We're ready to double up our fist and hit something. We get it. But it's tough. And nobody tells you this stuff, man. Well, I can tell you because I've been there, done that, and we've coached over 10,000 small businesses. There are five distinct stages of business, and there are six things that drive the business towards growth and to propel you through those five stages. We're in the final stage of the five stages at Ramsey, the legacy stage, where you work on succession and the next generation and so on. The beginner stage is the treadmill stage where you just run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. And get nowhere. You just run your d. And how do you get off that treadmill? Well, there's some specific things you need to do. We're going to show you. This is the baby steps for small business system. It's a clear path and knowing exactly where to go. Not based on some research project, but based on 30 years of doing it and on coaching small businesses with this exact system, 10,000 of them build a business you love. It comes out April 15th. It's on pre sale right now. I'm really excited about this project. It's really good and yeah, I mean it's really good. And you pre order the book for $29.99. We're gonna give you $350 worth of stuff if you buy it now to bribe you to get you to buy the book early. Cause it helps our marketing. So shut up. Instant access to the entree leadership hiring playbook. Yep, that's in there. That's a big video that you're gonna be get to watch right now. Hiring and firing. Number one pain point of business people is the humans that we love and the humans that we run to kill. Sometimes they're called our team and we love them. And man, sometimes it's almost like having disruptive children. Early access to the ebook, the enhanced audiobook, all of that's going to be there. It's $350 worth of stuff. 29.99 ramseysolutions.com store click the link in the description. If you're a tuber or a podcaster, then we'll try to help you out. Andrew's in Louisville, Kentucky. Hi Andrew. What's up in your world?

[Michael]

Not much. How are you doing?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. How can we help?

[Michael]

Yes. So when I was 18, I'm 20 now. When I was 18, I went to get my first credit card from the bank and they made aware to me credit cards out in my dad's name. He made me a co signer and they were destroying my credit. I think my credit card was like 500. So I made that clear to them or aware to them. My parents, they apologized, they took them off and then I've been real busy. I got married, had a baby and just kind of haven't been too worried about my credit. I decided to look at my credit today and realize that the one card they said they took me off of.

[Dave Ramsey]

They did it.

[Michael]

It was an AMEX Delta card. And it's maxed out at $1,000, $1,000 limit. It's maxed out at like 1300.

[Dave Ramsey]

So they're.

[Michael]

They're over their limit on it. And it's been destroying my credit. So I wanted to see if you thought it was wrong of me to market as fraud or what, what route you would take in this. Can you get it all off my credit history?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, it is fraud. Let's be clear about that. Yeah, it is.

[Dave Ramsey]

You did not sign it.

[Michael]

No.

[Dave Ramsey]

If someone else signed your name, that's called identity theft. It's criminal fraud. If the criminal happens to be your parents, that's also an issue. But it's criminal fraud. So it is fraud. Jade's right. So mechanically, American Express is probably one of the worst companies on the planet regarding this stuff. They are nasty. So those of you that have an AMEX card at work, they will try to hold you liable if your company goes broke and you're only a user and you signed nothing obligating you to that debt. Your company runs up $11 million on an AmEx card. And you are. You're an employee user of an Amex, A company AMEX card. You're going to get screwed like you've never been screwed in your life. This company is horrendous. They are nasty. Can you tell I like them? Now, the first thing I would do is I would go ahead and challenge this entry and say, this is identity theft. Remove this from my bureau. Now, what happens is the credit card companies download to the credit bureaus en masse, massive computer files. Once a quarter, they do a dump, okay? And so the credit card or the number one, if you dispute this based on fraud, they will contact Amex and ask Amex if it is fraud. AMEX will not respond. Because they just don't bother, okay? And then it will be taken off of your credit bureau report. And then two quarters from now, it will be dumped on there again in the next dump. And you get to do it again and again and again until you cut this dandelion off at the roots, which is your parents. So you need to get back on the phone with them and say, dad, this is now harming our relationship because I have a baby over here that needs a future. And you all not taking care of this when you fraudulently used my name has to stop and I'm giving you 48 hours or I'm filing a police report. If you don't get my name off this freaking credit card. Now. You can be nicer than that if you want, but that's the essence of the conversation, right? Okay. Because your dad and mom are not only disorganized and sloppy, they're horrible human beings for doing this to their own kid.

[Michael]

Right? Right. So as far as telling them to get my name off of it and then marking this fraud with them taking my name off it like. Well, it's still going to affect my history though, right?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, no, no, it'll. It'll all go off if they remove the entire. They remove the entire account and any mention of it because it's not in your name.

[Michael]

Okay?

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Michael]

All right, so fraud and tell them to get my name off of it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Now. This is not my card. I'm challenging this entry on my bureau. Do it with all three bureaus. Okay? With Equifax, TransUnion, TRW, all three of them. All right? You got to go to them individually and you file. And I recommend sending them a certified letter, return receipt requested, or a FedEx. And in your letter, state, this is fraud. And by the write this down. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices act, federal law. I am demanding that you remove this or prove it to be true within 30 days. They will remove it, but it will be put back on dump with the next computer dump from Amex if your mom and dad don't get your name off of it.

[Michael]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you got to do both.

[Michael]

Okay, so one, one, one more time. What is the name of one of those three agencies you said I have to go to?

[Dave Ramsey]

Pull out. You can pull it up online. It's the three credit car, the three credit bureaus. Equifax, Equifax, trw and I got that. Yeah. Okay. And they just go to them and. Okay, yeah, go to each one of them because they're separate entities and they're probably. You pull up all of them. You can pull it up on something like credit karma, but you get sucked into a whole bunch of marketing junk you don't want to screw with. So I just go straight. I just go straight to the horse's mouth.

[Michael]

Okay, Sounds good.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Alrighty. Dave.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, man, get after it. And listen, follow through on this. You've got to put a bow on it because it's going to keep growing and it's going to get harder and harder and harder to get rid of the longer this goes on. So mom and dad need to take this off by Friday. Friday. And any of you that do this to your children, shame on you, you do not have that right to be a criminal with your own children. This is the Ramsey Show. What does the future hold for business? Ask nine experts and you'll get 10 different answers. Economic growth or a recession? Business taxes will go up or down. AI will help us work or it will replace us all. But there's no such thing as a crystal ball. That's why more than 40,000 businesses have future proofed themselves with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud enterprise resource planning system. Ramsey Solutions uses NetSuite and you should, too. Whether your company's earning millions or even hundreds of millions, NetSuite helps you respond to immediate challenges and seize your biggest opportunities with one unified business management suite. There's only one source of truth for the visibility and control you need to make quick decisions. NetSuite's real time insights and forecasting help you see into the future with actionable data. And when you're closing the books in days, not weeks, you can spend less time looking backward and more time focusing on what's next. And speaking of what's Next, download the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning at netsuite.com Ramsey it's free at netsuite.com Ramsey thank you for joining us, America. Open phones at 888825 5, 225. There are a few things in my life that I've run into that other than things from the Bible that I am 1000% sure work teaching the seven baby steps that we teach here. The first one, save a thousand dollars. The second one is get out of debt. Everything but the house using a debt snowball and gazelle intensity as if you're running from a cheetah. The gazelle runs for its life. That's the intensity you use to get out of debt. You sell so much stuff, the kids think they're next. You don't see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there. And you're not going on vacation because you're a broke person in debt. And you are ears laid back, running headlong straight into this, getting rid of it, baby. And we're going to leave it all on the field. That's baby step number two. And then you go on to building an emergency fund retirement plan. Kids college, pay off the house and become very wealthy. Those are the seven baby steps in essence. And you can find those everywhere. And the total money makeover book is where we outline them. We've sold 12 million copies of that. 10 million people have been through Financial Peace University, where we teach those baby steps and how to implement them. So tens of millions, literally of people, and there's tens of millions of you listening at this moment to this podcast on YouTube and on talk radio. So we know that easily 100 million people have done some stage or some process of the baby steps with varying degrees of success because of varying degrees of commitment and sacrifice, like you do with anything. So it's a proven thing. It's not a theory that comes out of a test tube. The debt snowball is probably what we've become best known for. Now this is where you list all of your debts except your home. Smallest to largest. You pay minimum payments on everything but the little one. You attack the little one with a vengeance. You squeeze every dollar, every drop out of your budget and you throw it at the little one. You work extra, you sell stuff, you clean out a savings account all the way down to $1,000. You stop putting money in your 401k. You get term insurance and cash in your stupid whole life policy. You sell a car if it's too expensive, you do whatever you got to do and you throw every dime at that smallest debt until it's gone. When that one's gone, you take the payment you used to pay there and every dime you can squeeze out of everything else and you put it on number two. And when number two is gone, the payment from number one and number two are freed up, the snowball rolls over again, it picks up more snow and it attacks the third one. And you're doing this with just increasing levels of hope, increasing levels of sacrifice, increasing levels of passion. And every time the snowball rolls over and you get rid of another payment, that's that much more money freed up in your monthly budget to attack the next one down. And it's been unbelievably successful.

[Dr. John Deloney]

But Dave, I gotta be, I'm the person because I know what they say in the comments. I, I, I see what people are asking. And the bigger, the biggest two questions are this, Dave, I've got my debt listed. What if I have a debt that the interest rate is just killing me? Why would I put the lower one first? Why would I list them small to largest if it means me, you know, having to pay this high interest loan for much longer? What about the math, Dave?

[Dave Ramsey]

It's brain chemistry. A dopamine is released when you complete a task. There's a dopamine release and it's called a feedback loop in psychology. And so when you have success at something, you're more likely to repeat the task.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And the faster you have success, and the more often you have success, the more you've got a feedback loop and the more the dopamine release is there in a spiritual realm, we would call this hope. You start to believe it's going to work because it's working. And then you lean in that much more. And you lean in that much more, and you lean in that much more. And that's why this works, because no one sat down at their kitchen table and said, hey, let's go deeply in debt, because that's a good idea. A series of behaviors put you into debt. And you don't fix a behavior problem with a math solution. You fix a behavior problem with a behavior solution. And the feedback loop, this positive feedback. I knocked out one. Yeah, I knocked out another one. Yeah, I knocked out another one. Whoa. And you're down. You're beating on the. You're beating on that student loan. You're beating on that big one. You're beating on that car, and you're. Yeah. And now you're starting to yell at your neighbors, think there's problems over there, you know, because you're getting fired up. Because it's working. And that's the dopamine release. That's hope that you starting to believe. And when I first started, I paid off the little one. I wasn't so sure. And the next one, I'm, well, maybe this will work. And then the next one, yeah, it's going to work. And the third was like. And then your broke friends start making fun of you, and you want to punch them, you know? And so this is. This is. This is why it works. And that's why the debt avalanche does not work.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right. Or consolidation, you know, when people.

[Dave Ramsey]

Exactly. Because you don't change your habits.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

The debt avalanche is where you. It's, you know, you list your. It's mathematically correct. Well, honey, if we were doing math, we wouldn't have credit card debt. It's not a math problem. It's a stupid problem. That's what we have to fix. The stupid, not the math. And so the math is, you know, we're going to list it highest interest rate to smallest interest rate, because this interest rate's killing me. And here's the problem. While that sounds like it's mathematically correct, it's not. Because your math that you're using is very naive, and you left variables out of the math formula. Here's a variable you Left out of your math formula, probability of completion. If your probability of completion is 80 or 90% with a snowball, but the math is running against you net of probability of completion, it's gonna beat the avalanche. Cause the probability completion is close to zero, almost no one finishes that. Cause there's no feedback loop, no dopamine release, no hope release, no sacrifice, sacrifice increase, no getting the spouse on board. Because this crap starting to work. For the first time in my life, I'm telling money what to do instead of it telling me what to do. I am not relinquishing this control ever again. You start getting a little swagger, man, you're ready to go.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's true.

[Dave Ramsey]

And that's why this thing works and why so many millions of people have gotten out of debt using the Ramsey system, which is just freaking common sense. But you know, you people there think your debt avalanche is mathematically superior. No, your math is naive and your formula is incomplete because you don't know what the flip you're doing. So Northwestern University did a study of the debt snowball versus the avalanche. And they concluded because of probability of completion that the snowball was far superior. Because if you quit and you don't get out of debt using the mathematically superior, which is not really mathematically superior, it doesn't work.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you don't get completion, you don't get to the goal. And then Time magazine comes out and does a story on the Northwestern studio Northwestern study. And they go, turns out Dave Ramsey was right. Like we didn't already know that. We've got like millions of proof text here. We've got so much social proof on this. That's unbelievable. We beat your research project into submission, so. Good God, people, this is not that hard. Get your butt out of debt. Your number one wealth building tool is your income. And when you're giving it to stupid bank of America, Lexus motor credit and MasterCard, who's your master of your life? And you wonder why you work so hard and I make $100,000 a year and I got nothing. It's because you're giving it all to these stupid banks. And you've got to get back control of your life. You just, you work too hard to be broke, people. You need to retain control of your life. This is so empowering.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It is. So, Dave, get a little bit more tactical because we know. Okay, we're listening. Small to large. Okay, Dave, I will do the debt snowball method. But what, where do cars fit into that? You're Telling people all the time to sell their car. That's not my smallest debt. Do I do it first? Do I wait until I get to that on the debt snowball? When do I sell my car?

[Dave Ramsey]

The rule is if you can pay the car off and all the other debt within two years, not counting your house and you like the car, keep it in the debt snowball and pay it off. But if the car is keeping you from making it out in two years, if it's one of the reasons, okay. But if you got a $5,000 car and a $200,000 student loan, the car is not your problem.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right. That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

But you got a $70,000 car and a $6,000 student loan. You got issues and you can't make it out in two years. Well, it's the car, stupid. Yeah, you know. So get rid of the dumb car. So can you get rid of the thing? And do you like it? Well, I hate it. Well, get rid of it anyway. Then it's. You get rid of it even if you weren't broke because you don't like the stupid thing. But I love the car and I can pay it off and all of my other debts with the money I have in savings and the money I can earn and using the debt snowball during a two year period of time. Then keep the car. I'm fine with that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah. And the only exception would be the irs. That's the only thing that jumps to the top of the list.

[Dave Ramsey]

Child support, child support, anything like that goes to the front of the list because they're going to come get it anyway.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And child support. You take care of babies before you do any of this. Shut up. But the. You know the IRS is going to get theirs, their pound of flesh. So you need to put them at the front and get rid of them as soon as possible. They have collection abilities nobody else has. This is the Ramsey show.

[Ken Coleman]

You spent years trying to get everything just right for your family. Now you need an easy way to make sure your important financial documents are as organized as the rest of your house. Well, good news. Knockbox, that's N O K box, as in next of kin box is a complete system that helps you be sure that you leave happy memories, not a mess when you pass away. Knockbox is a simple way to organize important paper and digital documents, IDs, tax returns, insurance policies, estate plans, accounts and other personal history in one manageable place. Your family will feel your love in every detail you take care of. So Start taking care of [e-mail] Ramsey a well organized legacy is a gift to your family. That's nokbox.com Ramsey live from the headquarters.

[Dave Ramsey]

Of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Jade Washaw, number one best selling author Ramsey personality is my co host today. Open phones at 888-825-5 225. Mark is in Orlando. Hey Mark. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.

[Mark]

Hi, Jade. Thank you for taking my call.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sure. What's up?

[Mark]

So my wife and I have done a wonderful job at saving and investing. You know, depending upon the age that we retire at, I don't think it's unrealistic that we could end up with a nest egg of between 8 and 12 million dollars.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well done, sir. Touchdown.

[Mark]

Thank you. Thank you. So my question is, we're a Christian family. We have four younger, younger, wonderful daughters between the ages of 7 and 13. And I want to know what you feel is appropriate to leave behind as an inheritance. Excuse me? Because we're conscious of what the Bible says about money and we don't want to spoil our children or teach them to rely on money as opposed to relying on God for their needs, you know, going forward after we pass.

[Dave Ramsey]

Mm. Do you not think it's possible to teach them that and with having built that character that then they're then able to own this wealth like you are able to own this wealth?

[Mark]

Well, I'm, I'm not saying that at all. I just, you know, I never had a nest egg like that passed to me.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, I know.

[Mark]

And so, you know, but do you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Think the only way to learn it is to start out broke?

[Mark]

No, I don't think.

[Dave Ramsey]

And the Bible does not say it's bad to leave an inheritance. As a matter of fact, it says the opposite. A godly man lives in inheritance to his children's children. Is a Bible verse.

[Mark]

Totally agree with you. I just didn't know if there was maybe a line that maybe, you know, you might cross over, like that's too much or something like that.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's not an amount. It's a principle. And so here's the principle. You are not obligated, biblically or otherwise, to leave the money to your children. Okay. But to assume that it's going to damage them. Not true. Okay. So what wealth does do is it magnifies the character of the person, including you, including me, and including your kids and my kids and Jade's kids. Okay. It magnifies the character of the person. So the problems in my character are magnified when I've got wealth because it gives me power. Does that make sense? The good parts of my character are also magnified. So someone that has a problem with their temper when they become wealthy becomes a rageaholic, and don't you know, who I am? Comes out of their mouth and stupid stuff like that. Right. But someone who's generous when they become wealthy, we call them a philanthropist because they change entire communities with their generosity. So whatever it is, good or bad, is magnified. And so the first thing that we taught the Ramsey kids is you're not entitled to anything just because you hit the gene pool lottery, right? Yep. You're not entitled to anything, number one. Number two, in order to be qualified to manage the Ramsey wealth, the next generation, you have to have a spiritual understanding of the wealth, and that is that you don't own it. God owns it. You're just managing it. And once you grasp that, you realize wealth is the reason. You see, the reason is that the Bible has warnings about wealth because it's heavy to carry. It's a lot of responsibility to leave one of your children that becomes an adult 10 or 15 million dollars, probably by then. Each. Okay, yes. And so you leave one of them $10 million. That's a lot of responsibility if their job is to manage it for God, for his glory, which includes taking care of your own household.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Mark, let me ask a question on your behalf, because when I hear your question, I have thoughts of my own, because here's the thing. If you live to be, you know, 80 and your kids are older, when they start receiving this wealth, that in some ways that feels a little bit better. It's like, okay, they've got to experience life. They're not dependent on this money at that point. But what if the worst were to happen and they got this, they got access to this money earlier, Right. Maybe when they're in their early 20s. How, Dave, then would you disperse this amount to where it is helpful to them? It's not too heavy in one at one season, or would you disperse it? What would you do?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, ours was set up until they reached 25 to have some kind of different dispersion, right? So, like when they're minors, it was to be managed. And in order to qualify for a disbursement at 25 in the trust, they would have to have done this, this, and this. Okay. Be walking with God and, you know, actively, so you're not in other Words. We don't want to fund a cocaine habit on the back of a yacht for a reality star. That's not what we want this money to go for. And so if you're going to do that, then you don't qualify anymore into the trust.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Right, but is there a limit that you'd give a 25 year old as a discipline?

[Dave Ramsey]

No, I didn't. I had it at 25. We turned it all over to him. Oh, wow. I mean, we haven't turned it over.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I know, but I'm saying you wouldn't.

[Dave Ramsey]

Mine are now the youngest is 33. But today if I die, it's just dispersed. But if any one of them decides to live a life that disqualifies them as a manager of God's money, then they're not going to be able to get any. They're taken out of the trust immediately. So, and so, because it's not really my money and it's not really their money, we are managing it. One of the beauties of managing it is you get to enjoy some of it, but most of the managing of it is a weight of generosity and a weight of other things. So what I want you to avoid, Mark, is this. There is a thread that runs through some of our Christian churches that says that money is bad. Money is not bad. It's not good or bad, it's amoral. It doesn't have morals. What it does is it exposes the morals and character of the people that it touches. Does that make sense?

[Mark]

Absolutely.

[Dave Ramsey]

So our job as parents is to raise children that become qualified stewards. Meaning. And then I leave it to them and I don't think anything about it because I am well aware that the temple was built by Solomon atop Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. And in today's dollars it would be somewhere around between 10 and $20 billion building. It was not built with Solomon's money. It was built with his dad's money. It was inherited money, David's money. Solomon is David's son. It was inherited money used to build the temple of God. And so we're sure that God uses families that have character generationally to manage his goods. So it's not unchristian to do this. What you don't want to do is leave it to someone who it does harm to because they've got a problem in their life and it expands the problem.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Well, I think too we're used to seeing. It's almost like we're filtering it through. Oh, you see a lottery winner, they win a bunch of money. They have this huge amount of money that comes into their life. Or an athlete who has this huge amount of money come into their life and before you know it they've and.

[Dave Ramsey]

I've sat with those guys in NFL many, many times and what I'm dealing with is a 21 year old who has one skill in all of his life skill, buckets. He has one bucket. He plays football. He does not do anything else. And that is exposed when he gets a $10 million signing bonus and he loses it almost instantaneously. 3.8 years is the average NFL career and most people leave the NFL broke. The exception would be mainly the offensive line because generally those are the smartest guys on the team. This is the Ramsey Show. You shouldn't own a gun you're not willing to shoot in moments of self defense. A burner launcher lets you protect yourself in a non lethal way. That's exactly why burner launchers were created. Everyone from parents and nurses to pastors 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, Ramsey 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 hey guys. Our two night virtual event Investing Essentials is almost here. There's a lot of confusion out there about building wealth, so George Campbell and I are breaking it down and teaching you how to invest with confidence. You'll learn how to maximize your 401k and mutual funds. Plus I'll be sharing my personal playbook for real estate. But hurry, time's running out. Investing Essentials is fourth and fifth. Tickets start at 199. Grab yours [e-mail] events. If you're not a math nerd, if you're a normal person, when you start thinking about Investing. Investing. Sounds intimidating, doesn't it? Hard to figure out. I think I'm going to do this wrong. I'm scared. Well, you know, the same thing's true when you haven't ever driven a car and you're 12 years old. But they teach you to drive a car a little bit at a time. And as your knowledge increases, your competency increases. And we let you leave the parking lot of the church where you were practicing, right. And that's where we taught our kids to drive a car in the parking lot of the Baptist church. Right. And even, even do it, even change gears on a straight shift so that they can actually function in this world. You need to be able to drive. Investing. It's the same thing. So George Campbell and I are going to do a two night event. Two hours plus each night, not the same double. It's two full nights of investing essentials. It's a virtual event. It's next week, March 4th and 5th. Tickets start at 1:99. The first night we're going to cover some basics on investing and then go deep on miscellaneous investing, like for instance, mutual funds and that kind of thing. We're gonna lay some principles in place, teach you so that you feel confident and competent. When the word comes up, you yawn and go forward. Right. Instead of freak out. And the second night, I'm gonna unpack my personal real estate playbook, stuff I've never taught but one other time, and that was at this same event this time last year. And I'm gonna spend about two hours on real estate. I own several hundred million dollars worth of real estate. I've got a degree in finance and real estate, multiple other letters and licenses after my name in that business. I grew up in the real estate business. I love real estate. I'm a real estate nerd. And so those of you that want to learn how to do real estate investing properly, it's going to blow your mind for some of you that have been on TikTok, but I'm going to show you the right way to do it by somebody that really did it, not lives in their mother's basement with an opinion. So have at it. You can join us. So it's March 4th and 5th. You'll want to be through both nights because they tie together. But it is standalone complete information and it's the only place you're ever going to get it. So we'd love to have you. George Camel has really got some amazing stuff he's put together for this. I'm so excited. Get your [e-mail] events or click the link in the show notes on the podcast and the YouTube. Raleigh's with us in Seattle, Washington. Hi, Raleigh, how are you?

[Michael]

I'm doing well, Dave. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Michael]

Good, Good. I am so, so excited to talk to you guys. I recently got married three months ago.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yay.

[Michael]

My beautiful, beautiful wife. And we found out, what, four days ago now that we're expecting our first child.

[Dave Ramsey]

That is awesomeness. Way cool.

[Michael]

We're super excited and.

[Dave Ramsey]

And scared to death too. That's great.

[Michael]

Oh, yeah, it's both crazy emotions right now anyway. And my mother in law loves to listen to your show and I've listened to your show for a couple years now. So that's how she's gonna find out.

[Dr. John Deloney]

We're gonna listen to the show together.

[Michael]

And it'll be awesome.

[Dave Ramsey]

We just did an on air baby announcement to mother in law. That's so cool.

[Michael]

Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

Thank you for that honor. Thank you for that honor.

[Michael]

Yeah, yeah, thanks for letting me. My question involves health insurance. I want to get my life health insurance as soon as I can and I just don't know anything about it. So I wanted to know what you think.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Is it through your employer? Does your employer offer it? Does hers offer it? Or is this you guys just out in the market on your own?

[Michael]

Yep, we're kind of on our own looking for options.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Well, we have an endorsement on Health Trust Financial and they will help you find a person in your area that will sit down with you and go over the options that are available in the marketplace, from Blue Cross Blue Shield to all kinds of other things. And they're going to help you shop around and customize and build a thing just for you. But in the process of that, Raleigh, it's just like anything else we teach here. You don't do what someone says to do. You learn from them and you make the decision. So their job as the health trust rep sits down with you is to teach you and say, okay, here's three options. We think option number three is the best one better than one and two, and here's why. And they teach you and you understand that. And based on that, you pick it. You don't pick it because Dave Ramsey said. Or somebody Dave Ramsey sent says.

[Michael]

Mm.

[Dave Ramsey]

You understand it? Okay, I do.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Now, do the y'all have any money saved?

[Michael]

Yes, we do. Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

How much?

[Michael]

We have about. We have emergency fund and we have about 6,000 in house savings.

[Dave Ramsey]

How much is in your emergency fund?

[Michael]

10,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Is everyone in the home healthy?

[Michael]

Yes, we are. Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

Is anyone overweight or smoke?

[Michael]

Nope.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. You're probably going to want to look at an hsa, a health savings account program. Okay.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's a very high deductible, but a much lower premium.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Pay very little monthly, but when you do have an event, it's a lot more out of pocket. Okay. But if you're not using medical care, that's the reason I ask about health. If you're not using medical care, very often, the HSA is the least expensive way to keep good coverage in place because you're not blowing through the deductible and you're getting the benefit of the lower premium. That's probably what you're gonna find out when they sit down with you. Okay. Now, I do not know she's pregnant. That's a quote, pre existing condition. And I do not know what you're gonna be able to do on labor and delivery for sure. If you can find coverage for normal labor and delivery, it might be expensive since it's after the fact. Okay.

[Michael]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Now, a lot of policies will cover a complication in the birth of a child, but not the actual normal labor and delivery cost.

[Michael]

Okay?

[Dave Ramsey]

So if the child had, God forbid, something like a heart issue or something and they did heart surgery or something like that, a policy might cover that, but it wouldn't cover the normal labor and delivery. So you need to learn about what it does cover and doesn't cover for the infant as you're looking at the stuff. Okay. Now, if it does not cover normal labor and delivery, here's a technique for you, and you're gonna. This is gonna be awesome. So when you go to the hospital to have a baby is the only time people want to go to a hospital. It's good PR for hospitals to deliver babies. They like it because it's the only time, every time other time you're there, you're sick. Right?

[Michael]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

So it's a positive experience. So hospitals love labor and delivery. And so what you can do is schedule an appointment with hospital administrator that your OB is planning to use, go sit down with them and say, our OB suggesting this hospital, we'd like to use it, but it's depending on this conversation. Normal labor and Delivery here is $15,000 or whatever your OB tells you. Okay. And we are willing to prepay in cash for the labor and delivery. This is if your insurance does not cover it. Okay?

[Laurie]

Gotcha.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

But we want a discount if we Prepay in cash. Okay, So A, they get cash they don't have to collect from you. B, it's a positive experience and they want you there. C, you're gonna go to a different hospital if they don't make a deal with you. Okay, you reserve your walkway power and you will probably get your labor and delivery 25 to 50% of face value, meaning they're going to discount at 75%.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you do what I just told you to do. Because they never get this request because almost all labor and delivery is covered by a policy and people, they just get full boat from the insurance company. But if you go in there with cash and say, I don't have insurance coverage for this now, you may be able to get insurance coverage. If you do, just forget this whole conversation. Okay? Yeah, but, but, but if you don't, that's how you handle this. And you can get a serious bargain that's good on labor and delivery. There's hardly anything else you can do that on. But this is a positive experience. They want you there. They want you to come have a positive experience at their hospital so you remember them for later things. It's. It's a PR move. Basically.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I, when I, when I was shopping for insurance back in the day when I was pregnant, I was looking at, like Dave said, I was looking at high deductible plans so I could have the hsa. And I cared about what the out of pocket max is because when you are having a kid, you don't know all that may arise. And so just knowing and having that piece of saying, okay, I know that no matter what, when the rubber meets the road, this is my out of pocket max. My stop loss. That also helped me have some peace about it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Make a choice.

[Dave Ramsey]

Most of your HSAs are going to be in the 10,000 to $20,000 range. That's right out of pocket pocket max. And so that's gonna again, that's your deductible plus.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

But, yeah. And, but your premiums could be as much as 50% off doing that. So anyway, go to Health Trust Financial, you can find them on our website and sit down with the guys and they'll help you out with this. This is the Ramsey show.

[Ken Coleman]

There's a time in your life and did 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. So when you're ready to buy, make 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 partner, 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.

[Dave Ramsey]

Is a paid advertisement in MLS ID 1591 in mlsconsumeraccess.org equal housing lender 1749 Mallory Lane, Suite 100 Brentwood, Tennessee 37027 running a business is freaking hard. It's easy to get caught up in the daily challenges and fears that keep you stuck. That's why I want you to reserve your copy of our new book Build a Business you Love where we share 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 when you pre order today, you're going to get more than $350 in bonuses for free, including an enhanced audiobook experience, early access to the Build a business you love ebook, and instant access to our hiring playbook so you can start transforming your business right now. Build a BUSINESS YOU Love. The essential guide for every business owner like you that wants to grow yourself, lead your team and scale your business. To reserve your copy go to ramseysolutions.com store ramseysolutions.com store Jade Washaw, Ramsey personality is my co host. Today the Ramsey Show Question of the Day is brought to you by why refi? When the payment on your defaulted private student loan is as much as some mortgages, it's hard to get ahead. That's when why refi can help refinancing to a low fixed rate loan built just for you. Find out more@y refi.com that's the letter Y W R Y r e f y.com/Ramsey might not be in all states.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Okay, today's question comes from Ethan in South Carolina. He says, My wife and I are both 28 and just got married. I am an employee benefits consultant and she is a trauma nurse. Together we make about 200,000 before any commissions that I receive. We also are debt free. We have about 150,000 in investments, 30,000 in a money market account and are investing our 15% towards retirement. Very good. If I were your son, how would you recommend buying a house? We have been waiting for interest rates and housing prices to drop, but I always hear there's never a perfect time to buy. Is now the time for us to jump in? Yeah. Ethan, I think you're feeling the way a lot of people are feeling that are in your shoes. Right. They're saying, okay, these interest rates are high. Should I wait? Like, truthfully, I have the money or I could start to save up more money, but I don't know. Is now the right time? And I would say the right time to buy a house is when you can afford it. Like not based on the market, not based on interest rates. Otherwise you're trying to like play a timing game. But if you can afford to save the down payment and you can afford to get a mortgage where the, the payment is no more than 25% of your take home pay all in, then get the house and later on if mortgage rates go down, you can always refinance. Right. Like there's, you have options. You don't have to stay in that high interest rate. So for you guys, I think this is great. You have a great income. It sounds like you've got your three to six months of expenses. You are investing. Yeah. You're doing really, really well. At this point, I would start saving up because it sounds like the 30000 you have in the money market is your emergency fund. And you should not use your emergency fund as a down payment.

[Dave Ramsey]

So I just want to make that150,000 in investments. Unless that's retirement. You can use that.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, that's good. That's a good point, Dave. It doesn't say, but if that150,000 is in like stocks or just kind of like a brokerage sitting there, you could definitely use that. And I would.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, okay. Interest rates are going to do what they're going to do. We don't know. House prices are not coming down. We do know that there's a serious shortage of housing. There are more buyers than sellers and there's no fix on the horizon for that. That's called a supply demand pressure. It's seventh grade economics. When there is a shortage of anything, the price holds steady or goes up, it does not go down and interest rates don't cause it to go down. So interest rates have been up for about 18 months and house prices have not gone down. Okay. So simple. The median house price is exactly what it was 12 months ago. It's 400,000 nationally and it's not going anywhere. So that's what you're seeing. So don't wait on house prices to come down. So marry the house and date the rate. You can refinance your interest rates if they go down or pay them off and have a zero interest rate, that'd be cool. But.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And if you want to get a pulse on what's going on in the market and you want to start learning more and leaning into that, that process and learning, you should visit our real estate home base because you can go on there and I mean, it's just chock full of all the information that you're going to need to kind of see what's going on, learn about areas that you don't feel as complicated, confident in, and ultimately get set up with one of our Ramsey trusted real estate agents that can help you through the entire process. So that's what I would do if I were you in your shoes or if you were my son, which is.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, perspective is the thing. So I'm old. So I've been walking around in the middle of the stock market thing for 40 plus years. I've been walking around this real estate thing for 40 plus years. And let me tell you, I. Every year, I've been on the air for over 30 years talking about this. Every year someone says, oh, the stock market's artificially high. It has to come down. What goes up must come down. Hadn't done it. Went down a little bit here and there, but came back up more than it went down. And can you imagine if you had invested 32 years ago in a growth stock mutual fund, how much that would have gone up?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, man.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, and let me help you with this. 1978, I sold my first house for $42,500 as a real estate broker. I was 18 years old. Can you imagine if you owned that house from 1978 that that guy paid 42,500 for? You understand that's an $800,000 house now, but they, they have to come down. No, they don't. Nope, they don't. And they never have. Yeah, there's no historic data that indicates that. So date the rate, marry the house, get a house bought when you have the money. And if rates come down and you can get a cheaper rate than 5%, which is so freaking high.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I don't know how, I don't know.

[Dave Ramsey]

How you people are surviving.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Talk about the 80s Dave, I love.

[Dave Ramsey]

When you talk about the 80s whining about 5%. But anyway, yeah, it's because it's compared to 3 instead of compared to 12. If it was 12 and it went down to 5, everybody be celebrating. There'd be Mardi Gras on the streets. But instead it went from three to six and down to five and everybody, oh, God, we're dying. Yeah. Okay, so you better get a house because the next round of real estate prospering, these houses are going to shoot up again. So you're ready to get a house, Go get one. Guido's with us in Albany, New York. Hey, Guido. What's up?

[Guido]

Pleasure to speak with you. My situation is wife and I have no debt. I'm retired. I'm 65. She will be 69 next month. She still works in a scientific position. She makes 72k. She gets her full Social Security, which is about 18. Five banks that we don't have. Car payments. She bought a car April of last year. Financed it briefly at one point. I paid it off last month.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, what's your question?

[Guido]

All right. I am constantly barraged by family members trying to find out what my retirement income is.

[Michael]

Like, why.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why is it they think they're business?

[Guido]

That's what I. I don't know.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Is it your kids or just.

[Guido]

No, we have no kids. We have no kids. Brothers, cousins?

[Dr. John Deloney]

Are they vultures?

[Guido]

I guess they are. Neighbors across the street, Friends. It's nobody's business, you know, Strange, I.

[Dave Ramsey]

Never have anybody asked my income.

[Guido]

Is there a way to put this to bed? I mean, I keep hearing I have several cards, some from the 70s, 80s. I'm like you, I like old cars. I like to work on my curse. Some are pretty, some are not. I hear you ought to get rid of all those old cars, go out and lease, lease. Never going to happen. I don't need to impress anyone. The only person I need to impress, I see every time I shave.

[Dave Ramsey]

There you go.

[Guido]

I worked in Europe for a while.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think, Guido, I think that's just what you say. I mean, I just think you say, hey, I appreciate the advice and all, but what I'm doing seems to be working for me. And if that works for you, you can do that for you. And if they ask about your income, I just say, you know, that's personal business. I don't disclose that.

[Michael]

The.

[Guido]

The only debt we have, okay, is the mortgage, which is about 93. We have 10 years to go on a 50 at 2.8% for somebody that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Doesn'T like, talk about your income. You give out your information a lot.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Maybe you're talking about it with them too much.

[Guido]

Guido is an alias, okay?

[Dave Ramsey]

Unsuspected.

[Guido]

Yes, yes. And by the way, I did not spend my formative years in this country. Neither did my wife.

[Dave Ramsey]

But that's okay.

[Guido]

All right.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think the thing is this. I think you've got a wonderful story and a wonderful situation, and people wish they were you.

[Dr. John Deloney]

They want to know how you did it.

[Dave Ramsey]

They want to know how you did it. And you would, you know, I would just say, you know, we don't disclose our personal details. I will tell you that we live on less than we make, and we're very frugal and very careful, and it has paid off for us over the years, and God has blessed us, and we've been able to get some nice things, and it's a blessing to not.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Depend on Social Security.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't disclose my personal income, I don't think to anyone. My wife knows and my tax guy knows. Our CFO here knows. But I don't. And if anybody asks, I would just gently say, none of your business. Or your kids. I don't talk about that kind of stuff.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Would you say it gently, Dave?

[Dave Ramsey]

I would. And then the third time, I'd say, nunya, nunya, Nunya. Dadgum business. This is the Ramsey Show.

[Dr. John Deloney]

People ask me all the time, george, what's your number one money saving hack? I'm glad you asked. Nothing makes me happier than helping another frugal friend. So here's the hack. Get on a budget. Seriously, how are you supposed to save money if you don't know how much you're spending in the first place? And that's what makes the EveryDollar budgeting app a game changer. With EveryDollar, you'll get a clear picture of your spending, and from there, it's easy to see where you can get more intentional cut back and save more money. So how much money are we talking here? Well, the average EveryDollar budgeter frees up $395 in their first budget.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's the hack.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And if you ask me, I think you're way above average and you'll save even more. So what are you doing still listening to me? Go download the EveryDollar app for free and start saving more money right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, this is the last segment that is on podcast and YouTube. You can get the rest of this show on the Ramsey Network app, and that gives you video, audio, and all kinds of searchable stuff. So you can not have to listen through 15 hours to get the call you want. If you want to call on a certain subject, you can just put it in the Ramsey network app. You can email us in the Ramsey network app. It's all completely free. So download and use the Ramsey network app and we'll get you all of this show every day. Madeline is with us in Indianapolis. Hi, Madeline. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

[Madeline]

Hi. Thank you so much. I was actually just calling because I currently live with my boyfriend at his parents house. We've lived here for about two years and we are getting engaged this year and we're running out. Obviously we don't want to be engaged or even married living here. We've been doing the snowball effect for a little bit, but it's still in the process.

[Dave Ramsey]

How old are you?

[Madeline]

I am 23.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. All right. Because your sweet little voice, you sound like you're 12. I wasn't sure. Okay, well, thank you. That's the. Okay, so we don't have debt because we aren't married. Who has debt, you or him?

[Madeline]

I have just debt from my car. It's about for me to completely pay it off. It's about 27,000. He has debt from his vehicle and debt from credit card bills from starting his business.

[Dr. John Deloney]

And are you both working?

[Madeline]

We are, yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

How much do you make?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, what do y'all make?

[Madeline]

I make 30,000. I work at a bank that I'm interviewing to move up, so hopefully making more soon. And it fluctuates with him just because he owns a contracting business. But it's normally, I would say a year like 60 to 70,000.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So why are you guys living?

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, why aren't you married, making $100,000 a year at 23 and pay these debts off?

[Madeline]

We haven't gotten married yet just because everybody around us have told us that we're kind of young, so to Wait.

[Dr. John Deloney]

What?

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, well, you're acting like you're married, so what are we waiting on?

[Dr. John Deloney]

What's the difference in your mind? Because your actions aren't showing difference. Yeah, because your actions aren't showing difference.

[Dave Ramsey]

Everybody around you includes his parents who don't want you all to get married. Huh?

[Madeline]

They've kind of told us to wait a little bit. Just. His brother got married last year, so we were kind of trying to give him his moment and waiting, but he doesn't want to wait any longer and neither do I.

[Dave Ramsey]

So I would suggest you all get married this weekend and move out next weekend.

[Madeline]

We actually have an opportunity to move into a Cabin on his grandpa's land when we. It is $15,000 that we have calculated to renovate it. So we will.

[Jade Washaw]

No, you're broke.

[Dave Ramsey]

You don't need to be renovating someone else's cab.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Why can't you just get an apartment like everybody else?

[Dave Ramsey]

You don't have any money and you're broke.

[Madeline]

We actually have. We have donkeys. So we are not able to move into an apartment because we have donkeys that we have in our backyard.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Why? Where did those come from and what are you using them for?

[Madeline]

We actually breed them to sell the baby donkeys. But we had to get rid of a lot of them because we couldn't afford.

[Dave Ramsey]

I can't believe I'm asking this question. How many donkeys do you have?

[Madeline]

We only have two.

[Dave Ramsey]

And what are they worth? And what are they worth?

[Madeline]

The female is probably worth a thousand and the male is probably. Probably close to 1100.

[Dave Ramsey]

Perfect. Okay, so I'm going to tell you what I would tell my daughter. If she was 23 and she called up and was in this situation, I can't imagine that happening, but let's say she did. Okay. I would say sell two donkeys, get married and move out within the next three weeks into an inexpensive apartment. You have a hundred thousand dollar a year income. Clean up this mess of debt that you have and then start saving to buy a nice property and a piece of ground later and restart your donkey business later. If that's your dream. I suspect your dream is going to change about the time children start coming.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Yeah, 100%.

[Madeline]

Yes. We.

[Dave Ramsey]

We don't revolve our major life decisions around donkeys in the backyard.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That is a good principle of life, Dave.

[Madeline]

Yes.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh, boy.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, this is great. This is so fabulous. Madeline, you're a sweet girl. If. But I think you're listening to everybody else except the two of you. And I think you and your husband and BE need to move out and get you an apartment and get married right now. And then you need to clean up your debt mess. And if the donkeys are keeping you from doing that, then we need to get rid of the donkeys. And that's not a metaphor. That's actual fact.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's a fact.

[Dave Ramsey]

Harrisburg. Hey, William, what's up in Pennsylvania?

[Guido]

Everything doing very well, thank you.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm glad. How can I help, Mr. Ramsey?

[Guido]

First, thank you. I hooked into you about 15 years ago and you changed my life.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, I didn't change it. You did. I'm proud of you.

[Guido]

Well, because of your input.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, thank you.

[Guido]

Sir, I have about a hundred thousand dollars that I need to put into my house because of water abatement and mold.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, it's been going on a while.

[Guido]

We've been in the house for 30 years and I've just been putting it off and putting it off.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, that's what I mean, it's been going on a while.

[Guido]

So I have about 800,000 in retirement. A mixture of Roth IRAs and traditional IRAs.

[Dave Ramsey]

How old are you?

[Guido]

But I am 67 years old, retired.

[Dave Ramsey]

How many bids have you gotten on the work?

[Guido]

Say again?

[Dave Ramsey]

How many bids have you gotten on this work?

[Guido]

About three or four of them.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so you got a good average. You know, the 100,000 is an accurate number. It's not one guy sticking you.

[Michael]

Correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

Good for you. Not your first ride on the cabbage truck. Okay, good. Okay.

[Guido]

Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

So is simple and simple answer to take 100 of your 800 and fix your house.

[Guido]

Okay. Not do a home equity.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, we're not borrowing money when we have 800 grand in the bank.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Guido]

And, and here's the reason I asked. I have a pension and Social Security. That puts me at about 85,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Guido]

So if I. So if I take a hundred thousand out of my retirement, I'm going to have to pay 30% tax on much of that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

[Guido]

Still pay the 30% tax.

[Dave Ramsey]

Absolutely. I'm not going in debt. Not when you're a millionaire and you're a millionaire. No.

[Guido]

I appreciate it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Easy enough. That's easy, man.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's a good question.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well done. Good question, sir. And good answer. Open phones. Triple 882-55-5225. Another way of asking yourself these questions like Williams asking is always reverse engineer it, folks.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's true.

[Dave Ramsey]

And say, if I had 700,000 in my retirement account, would I go borrow 100,000 to have 800? No, I wouldn't. Same thing. The thing that's throwing him is he doesn't want to pay the tax. Well, why do people feel if he has traditionally has required minimum distributions coming up at 72 and a half anyway.

[Dr. John Deloney]

That's right. That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

They're right around the corner. So he's going to have to begin to pull this money down anyway.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I think people think when they roll money into their house, they won't feel it as debt. Like it's almost like in their mind it doesn't count as debt.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Take a HELOC and do this 100,000. So yeah, you're Williams. He's a saver he is. Another way of saying it is he's a cheapskate. He didn't fix a mold issue that got worse while he's sitting on 800 grand. Yeah, yeah, dude, go fix your house.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Type one syndrome.

[Dave Ramsey]

This is really what you've, you've been saving too. Too harshly here, brother. Yeah, that's. It's good. Very, very good.

[Dr. John Deloney]

So, Jade, do you want to talk about the donkeys?

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm. I'm still trying to get my emotions around that one. Yeah, I didn't completely lose it on the air. That's pretty good.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Laughing I was close.

[Dave Ramsey]

I thought you're gonna have to phone a friend and see if George would say to sell the donkeys. George. I forgot. We should have brought in channeled our inner George.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I know where is.

[Dave Ramsey]

So the, the, the horse people were after George. Now the donkey people will be after me. How do you get from making fun of the donkeys and saying sell the donkey. Yeah.

[Dr. John Deloney]

I don't even know how you get into how that becomes your dream in life.

[Dave Ramsey]

What set of parents lets the girlfriend move in with their son and bring the donkeys? That's over the top.

[Dr. John Deloney]

It's over the top, hun.

[Dave Ramsey]

Mom, I'm bringing a girl home and a couple of donkeys.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Great. Here's the room upstairs.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm thinking my mom would have said, you're not my child.

[Dr. John Deloney]

Oh man, we would. I wouldn't have survived.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm bringing the donkeys. Yeah. If we could make up these calls that were this good, we'd make them up, but instead we just take calls from normal people. This is the Ramsey Show.

[Jade Washaw]

The right questions are the key to unlock personal and professional potential. That means if you're not where you want to be, you are not asking the right question 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 all walks of life and to coach over 10,000 professionals who wanted more. What sets successful people apart is a never ending desire to learn and grow. Each week I'll be joined by industry leaders and world class experts to have a conversation about how to get better, move up and lead weight in work and life. But the best part of this show is you get to be a part of the conversation. Live in studio. We'll have a group of professionals just like you who have the power to ask questions and steer the discussion in real time. 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. Join us every Tuesday for conversations that are guaranteed to surprise, challenge and inspire you. Check out front row seat wherever you get your podcasts.