Wealth Is Built On Facts, Not Feelings

Summary

The Ramsey Show – Wealth Is Built On Facts, Not Feelings

Date: July 15, 2026
Host: Dave Ramsey
Co-Hosts: Jade Washington, Joshua Ramsey
Theme: Building Wealth with Fact-Based Decisions, Not Emotions

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Dave Ramsey and his co-hosts take live calls from listeners with a variety of financial challenges. Throughout, they reinforce the core Ramsey principles: building wealth by sticking to the baby steps, making decisions based on facts not emotions, and understanding that wealth is a result of discipline, intentional planning, and changing financial behaviors—not luck or feelings. The show covers paying off debts, conflicts with financial advisors, managing inheritances, investment strategies, home buying/selling choices, the dangers of credit cards, and more.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Danger of Emotion-Driven Financial Decisions

• Dave highlights how emotional attachments to money, investments, or savings often lead to poor decisions.
• Wealth, he emphasizes, is built by following solid, fact-based plans—not by chasing feelings of security or “sophisticated” advice from conflicted professionals.

Notable Quote:

"Wealth is built on facts, not feelings. Your feelings can still be stuck back there when you were broke."
— Dave Ramsey (29:51)

(See: [29:24]–[31:22] for full exchange on facts vs. feelings)

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2. Calls & Case Studies

A. Inheritance, Leverage, and Bad Advice

Caller: Tyler from Dallas, TX

• $1.4M inheritance, $550k in stocks, $400k loan (S-Block secured), real estate portfolio
• He hesitates to use stock or T-bill funds to pay off debt due to advisor’s advice.

Advice:

• Sell T-bill and necessary stocks to clear the loan; fire the financial advisor who benefits from keeping the assets under management.
• Wealth isn’t built by leveraging for “better returns” while holding onto debt—those are feelings, not facts.

Notable Quotes:

“Your financial advisor is a moron.”
– Dave Ramsey (04:16)
"That's not paying off a debt. It's moving the debt... This idiot called that 'sophisticated.' It's not."
– Dave Ramsey (05:11)

Timestamps: [00:49]–[09:02]

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B. Living on a Tight Budget with Low Income

Caller: Jonathan from Shreveport, LA

• Delivery driver, $3,000 personal loan, struggling to make ends meet.

Advice:

• Prioritize increasing income (keep current job, add side hustle before quitting), downgrade car, seek a clear vision for the future.

Notable Quotes:

“You need a vision for your future...or you'll be in the exact same position in five years.”
– Joshua Ramsey (15:51)

Timestamps: [10:05]–[16:46]

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C. Car Love & “Stupid Car Questions”

Caller: Dwayne, Dallas, TX

• Owns three cars (all paid for), wonders about continued investment in an old Toyota Corolla.

Advice:

• As long as repair costs don’t exceed car value, keep enjoying it. The bigger lesson: spend on what brings value, but don’t let feelings mask facts about depreciation and cost.

Timestamps: [16:47]–[20:00]

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D. Too Much 401(k) Investing

Caller: Andrew from Salt Lake City, UT

• Rapid wealth accumulation: Near $1M portfolio at 44, saving 25%+ income to retirement.

Advice:

• Cap retirement contributions at 15% and direct the rest to paying off the mortgage. Enjoy life and practice “spending” money intentionally after developing a frugal mindset.

Notable Quote:

“Paying off the house early is as important to building your net worth as pouring money into your 401k.”
– Dave Ramsey (22:46)

Discussion of post-debt lifestyle, "turning off gazelle intensity," shifting to enjoying money: [27:48]–[31:22]

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E. Sudden Commercial Real Estate Windfall

Caller: Daniel, Fort Smith, AR

• Offered transfer of a large strip mall with low rents and one fire-damaged unit.

Advice:

• Get a seasoned commercial broker (CCIM), learn the ropes fast, don’t borrow for repairs—cash flow improvements from the property. Remain wary of offers that seem “too good to be true,” and always validate numbers.

Timestamps: [34:19]–[41:56]

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F. Inheritance for Children

Caller: Lisa, Ft. Collins, CO

• Sons (10, 7, 4) unexpectedly inherited $400k via life insurance.

Advice:

• Manage funds in UTMA (custodial) accounts until age 18, invest in mutual funds, focus on instilling character and work ethic in children to prepare them for a sudden windfall.

Notable Quote:

“Money doesn’t make people evil, it magnifies who they are.”
– Dave Ramsey (62:17)

Timestamps: [53:43]–[63:03]

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G. Sell House to Merge and Clear Debt?

Caller: Shelly, Tampa, FL

• Debating selling current house at a great interest rate to clear $80k of HELOC and credit card debt, but with risk of repeating old habits.

Advice:

• Don’t just sell to solve debt—change spending habits first. Prove new discipline before upgrading/downgrading house.

Quote:

"When people pay off debt in one fell swoop and don’t change their habits, the debt grows back."
– Dave Ramsey (71:00)

Timestamps: [65:42]–[71:00]

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H. Baby Steps and Inheritance

Caller: Cora, Atlanta, GA

• Couple, 23, $10k left in debt, $50k inheritance

Advice:

• Use inheritance to pay off all debt immediately, but only if they commit—permanently—to living debt free to honor the benefactor’s gift.

Quote:

"If you ever borrow money again, you are dishonoring your grandmother."
— Dave Ramsey (109:21)

Timestamps: [106:25]–[110:39]

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I. Helping Parents with Deferred Mortgage (Young Adult’s Role)

Caller: Roman, San Diego, CA

• Wants to coach parents through large deferred mortgage payment due in 10 years.

Advice:

• Suggests parents refinance now to avoid balloon risk later, but notes parental reluctance to take advice from children.

Quote:

"Once someone has powdered your butt, they don’t want your advice on money or sex."
– Dave Ramsey (112:29)

Timestamps: [111:12]–[115:07]

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3. Spending, Saving & Wealth Mindset

• Discussed the “gazelle intensity” needed to break out of debt: making short-term sacrifices for long-term gain.
• Reviewing how to transition from survival mode to living and enjoying wealth after achieving stability.

Quotes:

“Scorched earth. No lifestyle, no enjoyment, no trips, no eating out. We’re cleaning up the freaking mess... The way you get to gazelle intensity is you practice it.”
– Dave Ramsey (28:09, 28:19)

“You have to retrain your body, your mind, your emotions, your spirit that things are different now.”
– Dave Ramsey (29:29)

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4. Dealing with Financial Professionals

• Your advisor, CPA, or lawyer works for you. They don’t tell you what to do—they present ideas for your consideration.

"Your financial advisor, your lawyer, your CPA, your doctor—your professional works for you... I ask you for advice and to teach me something I didn’t know, present to me ideas I hadn't thought of, for me to consider what I'm going to do with my money."
— Dave Ramsey (08:18)

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5. Credit Cards vs. Emergency Funds

• You don’t need credit cards for emergencies—if you have a solid emergency fund and access (via multiple debit accounts if helpful), you’re covered.

Quote:

“If you listen to broke people for your financial advice, you’re going to be broke.”
— Dave Ramsey (80:18)

Timestamps: [76:42]–[80:18]

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• “Money is a great slave. It’s a horrible master.”
  – Dave Ramsey (47:15)
• “If you get a big old pile of money, it just magnifies who you are.”
  – Dave Ramsey (62:17)
• “Most people get ahead during the time others waste.”
  – Henry Ford, quoted by Dave (117:28)
• “You can’t manufacture intensity for someone—it has to come from within.”
  – Joshua Ramsey (100:54)

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Coaching & Practical Wisdom

• Budgeting is essential. Use EveryDollar or similar tools to monitor every transaction and make your money behave.
• Get out of debt first before pursuing big investments, business ventures, or dramatic lifestyle changes.
• Practice saying no and build the discipline to avoid backsliding into debt after windfalls or debt payoffs.
• Work with facts: Rely on concrete numbers, not feelings or hopes about the market or future appreciation.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Tyler’s inheritance & advisor dispute: [00:49]–[09:02]
• Low income prioritization: [10:05]–[16:46]
• Car fanatic caller: [16:47]–[20:00]
• 401(k) overfunding: [21:28]–[31:22]
• Commercial property gift: [34:19]–[41:56]
• Managing kids’ $400k inheritance: [53:43]–[63:03]
• Credit cards vs. emergency funds: [76:42]–[80:18]
• Debt paydown with inheritance: [106:25]–[110:39]
• Young caller wants to coach parents: [111:12]–[115:07]
• Quotes about preparation and mindset: [117:15]–[117:57]

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Closing Takeaways

• Facts trump feelings: Build your wealth with discipline, budgets, and by adhering to solid principles—ignore trendy feelings or “advice” that isn’t in your best interest.
• Change habits, not just balances: Debt freedom and wealth only last if you change your underlying behavior.
• Take advice, don’t abdicate decisions: Ultimately, you are responsible for your own financial life—professionals work for you, but you make the call.

“There’s ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that’s to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.”
– Dave Ramsey (126:31)

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For more, visit ramseysolutions.com or tune in weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET to The Ramsey Show.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey network and the Fairwinds credit union studio, this is the Ramsey show. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Jade Washington. Joshua Ramsey, personality number one best selling author is my co host today. Open phones at 888-255-2225. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. Tyler is in Dallas, Texas. Hey Tyler, what's up?

[Caller]

Hey sir, how are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve, man. How can I help?

[Caller]

Yes, sir.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

So

[Caller]

I have about 408,000 in debts on an S block. So the interest payment a month is, it's, it's only like 1600, just pure interest. And so I just, I'm wondering why, how I should I have some cash in a T bill And I'm just kind of wondering like, should I take some that cash and like knock this, knock some of it out or just kind of whittle away at it, you know.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What was the purpose of the loan? Why'd you take it?

[Caller]

I bought a rental house. So I did a few things with it actually. I bought a rental house which is producing some income. I paid off my wife's car and my truck with the S block because the interest rates on, you know, on the loan that I got for the vehicles was crazy. And so this interest rate was much better.

[Dave Ramsey]

So what's the stock worth?

[Caller]

I have about 550 in stock and

[Dave Ramsey]

sell a bunch of it and pay the loan off.

[Caller]

Well, I see I got an inheritance this year of about 1.4 million in stocks. So.

[Dave Ramsey]

So why are you sitting on a $400,000 loan paying some goober 1600 bucks, sell enough of it and get rid of the loan.

[Caller]

Well, see, I sold, I sold a lot of it. I bought my house, I bought, I moved, I paid my house off when I moved. I owned the house that I moved from. So that's a rental house. And then I got the S block I to buy another rental house. Yes sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you have two rental houses that are paid for and a house that you're living in that's paid for. And you got $550,000 in stock and you got a $400,000 loan. Do I have it right?

[Caller]

Yes, sir. And I got a T bill. I got about 180 and a T bill.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, well sell the T bill and sell enough stock to pay off the loan.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What's wrong with that?

[Caller]

Say that again.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why not just sell enough stuff to pay off the loan?

[Caller]

Why are you going to keep this on stock already this year?

[Dave Ramsey]

But why you want to keep it? You made that decision when you paid off your car and you used all this money. You already made the decision to give up the stock. You just borrowed against it instead of actually doing the deal.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Right. So tell us what you're. What you think you ought to do since. Since we gave you our opinion. What's your opinion?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Well, I want.

[Caller]

I want to pay about. I want to pay about maybe half of it off and then get the. Get the payment down to where my. My income can cover.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why do you want to keep the loan?

[Caller]

Well, my financial advisor was telling me that he thinks it's dumb to sell stock to pay off the cars because, you know, stocks are appreciating.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think your financial advisor is a moron.

[Caller]

Yeah, I mean, I've tried to talk to him and say, hey, I want to.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't need to talk him into anything. He works for me. I got two words for him. You're fired.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. What's your income? When you take in all the rents and what you earn from your job, what do you. What's your income every month and every year?

[Caller]

So I have an LLC that owns the rental properties and that. That brings in about 8,800amonth. And then I pay myself about five grand a month.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

And that's all because I don't have.

[Caller]

I don't have any personal debt. I paid off all my debts that I owed with when I got this money. 40.

[Dave Ramsey]

And what's your career

[Caller]

right now? I'm really just living off the rental income because it's a lot and it covers my bills.

[Dave Ramsey]

The bottom line is this, boss. I would not have done anything that you have done. And so if I did wake up in your shoes today, I would fire my financial advisor and get someone that has a brain and doesn't tell you to borrow money to pay off a debt. That's not paying off a debt. It's moving the debt. You moved debt. And this idiot called that sophisticated. It's not sophisticated. You just moved it. That's all you did. You moved your car debt over onto your stock in an S block. That's all you did. So what I'd do, sell the T bills and I'd sell enough of the stock to pay off the debt, and I'd fire my financial Advisor and be 100% debt free, no interest to anyone, and that's what I would do. I don't think you're gonna do that, though. So I'm not real sure why you called.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, I think he's afraid. I think he likes seeing that chunk of money sitting there and some part of him doesn't think he'd be able to invest his way back to what he had before, which he truly could over time.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, and you know, you're 40, get a job.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. If you get a job, you can do it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Go on $150,000 a year and chunk some money away and make a bigger pile of money than the one you inherited. And so you got three pieces of paid for real estate. Two of them are generating $60,000 a year, which is okay. And you got a little bit of stock left after my plan. And so that money can stay invested in good growth stock mutual funds. And I'm going to liquidate the individual stocks. I'm not letting this stupid financial planner play with them. And I'm going to put them in basic growth stock mutual funds and let it double about every seven years. And it will if you freaking leave it alone. And then just let that ride and then go make a living for yourself. And you know, you do not have enough net worth to retire at 40. You didn't get that much money. And I don't think. But I don't think you're going to do any of this. So I agree. Yeah, it's crazy. So, all right, so here's the thing. Your financial advisor, your lawyer, your cpa, your doctor, your whatever, professional works for you. They don't tell you what to do. You're a grown up boys and girls. And so I've occasionally had attorneys that got confused and thought they were gonna tell me what to do. And, and they got fired. And so my financial advisor tells me what to do. Tells me you have a wrong relationship with your financial advisor. Your real estate agent tells you what you're going to do. No, it's my freaking money. I tell you what to do. I ask you for advice and to teach me something I didn't know. Present to me ideas I hadn't thought of for me to consider what I'm going to do with my money. And this is how you approach dealing with a financial advisor. When your financial advisor tells you what to do, all of a sudden you start worrying about their conflict of interest. Like he doesn't want you to sell his stock because he wants to get paid to manage it. Yeah, hello. Instead of you paying off your stupid car Pay.

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[Dave Ramsey]

Jonathan is in Shreveport. Hi, Jonathan. How are you?

[Caller]

Hi, Dave. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. Sir, how can we help you?

[Caller]

I need some help. I'm about $3,000 in personal loan debt. I'm struggling to, like, sometimes pay all my bills, sometimes get groceries, food

[Co-host Jade Washington]

and.

[Caller]

Yeah, I just. I've been care for every on your show and I just need some help.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. How old are you?

[Caller]

33.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, and what do you earn?

[Caller]

What do you do for a living, Chick Fil? A delivery driver.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, and so what do you make a year? What are you making a month? A year?

[Caller]

A month. Say about 2500amonth.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, you're working. You're working 40 hours?

[Caller]

Close to 40. Yes, sir, about 36. Okay, what.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What caused. What. What caused this situation? Because my guess is just based off of what you. What you're saying is you're 33. You're, you know, struggling to get groceries on the table, driving Chick Fil A. That's probably not how you expected and where you expected to be at 33, am I right?

[Caller]

No, ma'. Am. And I did the personal loans just to keep up.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And what. What. What caused that? Did you have a. A job that you love that you got fired from? Did you have a relationship, employed?

[Caller]

What.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What got us here?

[Caller]

I don't know how to explain it. I'm sorry. I do apologize.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

No, that's okay.

[Caller]

I just got personal loans just to keep up with the bills. And get groceries and all that. Okay. I love Chick Fil A. Don't get me wrong.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, we're not. We're not trashing them. But I think, you know, one thing we can identify immediately in your story is we'd like to get your income up.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Immediately. I want to. I want to start. What else can I do? I mean, 36 hours a week. So that means I could work another 30 hours a week pretty easily. You're only 33. You can work more. And so I'd like for you to go earn another two or three thousand dollars a month with some kind of side hustle and. And start thinking about what you want to be when you're 43 that pays 70 or $80,000 a year. And what are the steps to get there?

[Caller]

Well, I'm about to start a new job in two weeks.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's good information.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What's that?

[Caller]

Hospital. Hospital place here in Longview, Texas, where I live. I'll be a valet driver. I'll be making 16 an hour. It's only part time. For now.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

On top of the Chick Fil a work.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

No, ma'. Am.

[Caller]

I'm gonna leave Chick Fil A.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Okay. And it. And it pays more.

[Caller]

Yes, ma'.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice 2]

Am.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Because of tips?

[Caller]

Yeah. Yes, because.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Just an hour. I can't see how it's gonna be more, but if you. I'm guessing tips.

[Caller]

I was making 16 an hour. I'm making $11 at Chick Fil a.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Got you. Okay. Okay, good.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And you're gonna be doing that for how many hours a week? The new gig.

[Caller]

I don't know. My new schedule right now.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

The only way this is.

[Dave Ramsey]

Stop. You took a job at $16 an hour. It's not a raise unless you're working at least 36 hours. And you don't know if you're going to get 36 hours.

[Caller]

They should be working from 12:12 in the afternoon to 8:00pm at night.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. If. If you do that, how many days a week?

[Caller]

I think they say maybe four or five.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

So what I would do is keep Chick Fil A. Keep. Keep your job at Chick Fil A and say that you need to roll back your hours because this Chick Fil a now becomes your side hustle to this. Ideally. But I would not get rid of Chick Fil A until you see what your hours are going to be as the valet. So that's. Thing one is the 3,000 of personal loan debt. Is that the only debt you have or do you have a car payment? Is there anything else we need to know about.

[Caller]

I do have car payment. I just got a new car.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What'd you pay for the new car?

[Caller]

My monthly bill.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

No, what'd you tell me? The whole amount that you paid for the new car.

[Caller]

2400, 2400 or 24,400 for down payment. The whole car payment is 17,000.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

So you paid 17,000. You got a loan for 17,000 for the car. Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you don't, really rapidly, okay, you bought a car you can't afford. So you need to get your income up rapidly or we're going to have to downgrade out of that car. Okay? You've got to pick up the 40 hours plus another 25 hours somewhere else. And I want you working all the time and get very specific about what you're going to do with your life and how you're going to grow your income. And then when it comes to food and bills, the way you do this is you prioritize. The first thing you buy with your money when you get money is food, period. You have to eat before you do anything else. The second thing you pay for is lights and water and utilities at wherever you're living. The third thing you pay for is your rent, so food and shelter and transportation. And you need to get rid of this car. You've got a car you can't afford. And also that's why you're pinched.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

That's why you're pinched. But the bigger thing here is I think you need a vision for your future. I think that you've just been kind of rolling along and I tried to get to it earlier to ask you, how did we end up here? But I don't think, you know, you need to spend some time thinking about what got you here. And I think it was just lack of a plan, lack of a vision for yourself. So you need to create that because you're going to look up here in five years and you could very well be in the exact same position or worse.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't want you to be a 43 year old. You're 33. I don't want you to be a 43 year old valet. I want you to do something else with your life, honey. So what are you going to do? And you need to be thinking about that. That pays a lot more because this is not going to bode well into your future. Eventually something's going to happen with your health or you're going to stub your toe or something's going to come along and you know, you've got to be Growing yourself and growing what you're going to be. That's where I would head.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Proactive.

[Dave Ramsey]

Dwayne is with us in Dallas. Hi, Dwayne. How are you?

[Caller]

I'm doing good.

[Dave Ramsey]

How are you and Jade doing better than we deserve. What's up?

[Caller]

There you go. Well, I've got possibly one of the silliest car questions you've ever had. Number one.

[Dave Ramsey]

I doubt it, but we'll give it a shot.

[Caller]

Okay. Okay. Well, I've got three vehicles, okay? They're all paid for. Just like Dr. John, I have an allergy to payments. I don't have them. The thing I do have left is a house that's got $34,600 left on it. So that's all I've got. All right, enough of that. What I'm calling you about is I have an infatuation with a really silly car, okay? It's very cheap, it's very easy. It's as simple as I am. I want to keep putting money into it. You know, if it. If it dies, I want to keep putting money into it because I don't want to buy a new car.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Is it a classic car or is it just.

[Caller]

No, no, no. It's a car that nobody even wants.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, why do you want.

[Caller]

It's a Toyota Corolla.

[Dave Ramsey]

I know. Why do you want it? If it's a piece of crap, why are you so proud of it?

[Caller]

No, no, no, it's not a piece of crap. That's what I'm saying. I buy, I will buy these Toyota curls. Most people think they're a piece of crap.

[Dave Ramsey]

Are you single?

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yes.

[Caller]

Yes, I am.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why do you have three cars?

[Caller]

Well, one's a farm truck, F150. And then one's a C5 Corvette that I drive once every once a month. Something like that.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Do you fix the cars? Are you doing. Are you just buying the part and you do the labor? Is that what it is, or you're taking it somewhere to be fixed?

[Caller]

The Corolla. I drive two hours to work. I drive a truck.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

No, no, no. I'm asking, do you do the work on the cars?

[Caller]

No, I do not.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so what's the Corolla worth?

[Caller]

3,500.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, and what are the repairs costing you?

[Caller]

$55 an hour, plus the parts.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's not an answer. What are the repairs costing you in total? Honey, compared to the $3,500 car,

[Caller]

I haven't had to do anything but change tires.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, then you don't have a repair problem. You don't really have a question. It's not a silly question. You don't even have one.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

If you get to the point where you're putting more than 3,500 into these, it's time to get a different car.

[Caller]

Foreign.

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[Dave Ramsey]

Andrew is in Salt Lake City. Hi Andrew, how are you?

[Caller]

I'm doing great, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. I've been a long time listener and I really appreciate it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sure. What's up?

[Caller]

Well, I've got a question. My wife and I were wondering. We had actually a negative net worth just 10 years ago and we have completely changed our life and a good amount of that is due to your teaching and we really appreciate that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Thank you.

[Caller]

The problem, which is not a bad problem that we have now, but we're just trying to figure out are we putting too much into our 401k accounts now? So we're currently putting about 25% of our gross income into our 401k. That would also include our Roth as well. We just thought we were so far behind for so many years that we've really stepped it up to just the maximum that we're able to do. And we're just trying to figure out if we have just too much in there right now.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Is your mortgage paid off?

[Caller]

We're on 4, 5 and 6 and we have about. No, you're not 90,000 left.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, you're not.

[Caller]

Well, you're right, because we're doing more than 15%.

[Dave Ramsey]

Exactly.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And the reason. The reason that we don't. The reason we don't do more than 15% is we put the difference on 6. Pay off the house early.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Paying off the house early is as important to building your net worth as pouring money into your 401k. Both of them are important. That's why we have 15% in baby step 4, 5 is kids college, and 6 is pay off the house early.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

How old are you?

[Caller]

We are 44 and 45.

[Dave Ramsey]

How much is in your nest egg so far?

[Caller]

Just shy of a million dollars.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, shut up.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

How much do you think you need?

[Caller]

We don't know. We're just. We were still.

[Dave Ramsey]

Way to go, man. Way to go. Stinking millionaire 44. Look at you. And then you're. And you're saving, and you're saving like you're scared to death that you're broke. That's funny.

[Caller]

Well, we both came. We both came from.

[Dave Ramsey]

I know where you came from. I'm talking about where you are.

[Caller]

Yes, I appreciate that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Way go. You need to actually look at these numbers and let them settle in on your heart as well as your brain.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, because you're just speeding past it like. Like it's no big deal.

[Dave Ramsey]

You were so desperate to never be back there again that you went all the way over to the other side now. Way to go, man.

[Caller]

Very true.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. No, stop, stop. You need to back down to 15% and you need to get your stinking house paid off. What do you owe on your house?

[Caller]

We owe about 290,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Perfect. And what's your household income?

[Caller]

It's about 320,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. So here's.

[Caller]

Good Lord.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're doing so good, man. Way to go. Oh, man. All right, so it's so much easier to just take a horse that runs this fast and direct it in the right direction than it is to beat one and get it running. You're just incredible, man. Way to go. So. Man, you're incredible. So. All right, so just slow down a little bit. Think about it this way. Okay? If you start chunking on the house with the same. Not the same fervor, you need to lighten up in general and enjoy some of this, but you also need a chunk on the house. Okay. How quick we get the house paid off? Probably four years, something like that. Does that sound right?

[Caller]

Yeah. We've been paying. Just. Starting this year, we've been paying an extra $5,000 a month. And we have about a 48 month plan to get that paid off.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, well, I think I just upped it because I lowered your baby step four back down to where it should be.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. If you put 4,000amonth into retirement, how much could you put on the go aggressively.

[Caller]

How much more could I put on that?

[Dave Ramsey]

You're putting 10%. So you're putting 30,000 bucks too much into retirement right now. I'm going to throw that over on the house. So you're done in 36 months. Are you actually doing anything fun at all?

[Caller]

Well, actually we just got back from a month long cross country road trip with our kids and that was our first.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

We said fun.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. I think you need to take your wife to Rome, man.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

There you go.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow. Yeah, you do. And what are you driving? What kind of car are you driving?

[Caller]

I've got a nice paid off 2021 Ford F150. She has a paid off 2016 Ford Fusion that she just uses to go back and forth to work.

[Dave Ramsey]

You need to get your wife a better car.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Are you both nerds? Are you both nerds or is she a spender?

[Caller]

We're both nerds.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Caller]

I'm a financial nerd and she is a great saver.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. I really don't want a millionaire's wife driving a used Ford Fusion. There's just. I don't want anybody driving a used Ford Fusion. But I really don't want a millionaire's wife driving that. And meanwhile, you're driving an F150, but yeah. Which is a great car, but yeah. So anyway, the good lord. Okay, so what would I do in your shoes? This is so fun. You're doing so good.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

You are.

[Dave Ramsey]

These are minor adjustments and we can have some fun. All right? Number one, I'm going to book a trip to Paris or Rome. Number two, I'm going to upgrade my wife's car. Number three, I'm going to lower your contributions down to 15%. And number four, I'm going to get the house paid off. When the house is paid off, you're going to have so stinking much money. Okay? So you're at the point the house is paid off. You're 48 years old, okay? And your million dollars will have become 2 million by then, okay? And then by the time you are 55 years old, it will be 5 million and the house will be worth a million. So you're going to be 65 with a $20 million net worth if you do simply what I'm telling you to do.

[Caller]

Okay, I can do that.

[Dave Ramsey]

You are kicking butt, and I want you to enjoy some of this money.

[Caller]

Well, we are enjoying.

[Dave Ramsey]

Please don't tell me anybody driving a Ford Fusion has a good life, okay? Just please go buy your wife a car. Seriously. Way to go, man. You're so cool. I love talking to him.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

So let's talk about such a nerd. He was a nerd. Both of them are nerds. Let's talk about this. Cause it's important, and I feel like if we don't, it can give the Ramsey plan a bad name, which is learning how to spin. So the first three baby steps are very intense, right? You're getting $1,000 saved. You're paying off your consumer debt. You're stacking up three to six months of expenses, and that is Gazelle intensity.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you don't. You drive a Ford Fusion, then you

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

drive a Ford Fusion, and everything inside of you is telling you, don't spend extra. Don't spend more. Hold your money. Right?

[Dave Ramsey]

Scorched earth. No lifestyle, no enjoyment. No trips, no eating out. We're cleaning up the freaking mess. Like you said, he started with a negative net worth, Right.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And it has to be that way. And the way that you do that, the way you get to Gazelle Intensity, that we talk about, and one day Dave will explain that on here. The way you do that is you practice it. Like John Deloney would say. You practice what it means to say no. You practice what it means to stick to the budget. You practice that behavior, and you become very, very good at it to the point that you have accomplished baby steps one through three. Then there's a shift that occurs when you get to 4, 5, and 6 where you can pull your pedal. You know, you pull your foot off the gas a little bit, you can start to enjoy life. And I want to point out that. That also you have to practice that behavior. Otherwise, you will not be good at that behavior. You have to trust yourself to know, okay, I know what it feels like to let myself spend a little. I know what it feels like if I'm going off the rails. I know what it feels like if this is out of. You have to practice that same behavior. So you become good at spending and actually enjoying and living your life. And sometimes people just get afraid of it, and so they don't do it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Ah, that's weird.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Well, you.

[Dave Ramsey]

You stay. You keep your emotions back when you were broke.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you have to retrain your body, your mind, your emotions, your spirit that things are different now.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

And it's not that we're gonna get sloppy and immature and impulsive. That got us in the mess in the first place. But now we're not in a mess.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

We're not in a mess.

[Dave Ramsey]

We have a million freaking dollars. We're 44 years old. Plus the net worth in the house. So a million and a half probably in net worth.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Right?

[Dave Ramsey]

And we're making $300,000 a year. Those facts are. You need to tell yourself what are the facts, not what are the feelings.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Cause your feelings can still be stuck. Back there when we were broke, you know. Well, I remember. Yeah, I know. I don't care what you remember. I remember being broke too. I remember on my third date with my wife, I had a 280,000 mile Monte Carlo on the third engine and fourth transmission. I changed them because I'm a redneck. I turned the wrench and I was taking my wife out on the third date, explaining to her Somehow I had $1.12 in my checking. Someday I'm gonna be a millionaire. We crossed a railroad track and the muffler fell off my car. I remember that conversation because it was so ironic. And I rolled up under it, put the muffler back on. We went on the date, but the. You know. And then it came true. I was a millionaire by the time I was 24. And so stupid I had to do it two times because I lost everything. Got the opportunity to start over. So this is the feelings. Don't get stuck in the feelings. What are your facts? Live in the facts.

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[Dave Ramsey]

Well, people are always asking me, Dave, what'd you do to build your real estate portfolio? Since you don't borrow money, how'd you do that? And how do you do your investing? What do you really do? They always want to know what mutual funds and all that. We don't tell you which mutual funds because we want you to think for yourself. We don't want you to do a particular mutual fund just because Dave did it. We want you to actually use your brain and learn how to do your investing. But I am going to open for the third time ever our investing playbook. I'm not gonna get into the details on which mutual funds, but I'm gonna give you some real world examples of stuff I do. George Camel and I started doing this three years ago. This will be the third time we've ever done it. It's called Investing essentials. It's a two night virtual event. It will be September 1st and 2nd. It's the only place you're gonna get my personal playbook. And we're gonna nerd out. George and I are both super nerds and we're gonna nerd out on all the little nitsy nuanced crap. If you don't wanna know 9 million details about investing, don't come to this cause this is gonna be 9 million details about investing. And honestly I think it's a little boring, but it's really, really a lot of meat. A lot of meat. Not even any potatoes, just meat. So we're gonna go into the basics of investing for just a minute just to make sure you've got that foundation. And then we're gonna tear into the stuff that we do. That's pretty high level stuff. And so tickets start at 199. You can get [e-mail] events or you can click the link in the show notes and it'll take you right there either one November or September 1st and 2nd. September 1st and 2nd. Two night virtual event investing essentials. Daniel's in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Hey Daniel, what's up?

[Caller]

Hey. How's it going?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. How can I help?

[Caller]

Well, so I got presented an opportunity within the last two weeks just to start off with. I work in construction and build relationships here and there and do what I can for my customers. About two years ago I got involved with the customer. He's an 80 year old man, older man had a health care not too long ago and well, I thought we were going to talk some numbers on a, on a job he was letting me do. And I get to his office and he basically he gives me, he told me he's going to give me a commercial property. He's going to deed it over, over to me completely for free. And it's a, it's a big commercial property and it's, it's a life changing event for me.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Does he have any sons or daughters or a wife?

[Caller]

Yes, he has three sons. He has three kids. Two sons and a daughter and a wife. Yes. I asked him the same thing, I asked him multiple times the same thing just to make sure we're all clear. All of his kids, from what I can tell, are okay and they're doing good and basically doesn't want to mess with it.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Is that his only piece of wealth or does he have lots?

[Caller]

Lots. Lots and lots.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so he's a multi millionaire and he's giving you a property that's worth what?

[Caller]

Well, he said he bought it for a million 20 years ago and I would. It's 43, it's got, it's 3.23 acres as far as the lot goes. And then there's a 42 to 43,000 square foot building on it. It's a strip mall and it's full of businesses that, you know, pay him rent.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What does he estimate the worth of it is today?

[Caller]

Well, I haven't got that for you. I'm actually going this week sometime to talk to him and his attorney to I guess, figure out more details.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, that's wild. Okay.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So what can I, how can we help you?

[Caller]

I have no idea what to do. I'm terrified.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

How long have you been working with him? How long is your relationship?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Two years.

[Caller]

Last two years and we've gotten pretty close over the last two years and apparently. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sounds like he's giving you a ten million dollar property or so.

[Caller]

Right. Okay. He did have a health scare not too long ago and I think that's why he's kind of, he's wanting to get stuff out of his hair, less stress in his life.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, there's a lot of ways to do that, but this is an interesting one. Okay. Yeah. I just, I want you to learn as fast as you can learn because you're getting ready to become the landlord of a commercial property. And so you need a good real estate agent that is a commercial broker in your corner to teach you how to manage that property. And how to manage that type of tenant and how to refill when one of them, you know, when one of the leases expires and they move out or when they quit paying and you have to throw them out and you put a new tenant in. How do you do that? You don't have any idea. This is your first ride on this truck, right? So you're getting ready to be a big time commercial landlord. And you're gonna have to have some people in your corner to teach you how to do it. Not do it for you, but do it with you. And so you want to somebody that's got in the commercial world. There's a designation in the commercial real estate world called the ccim and that's a commercial, that's a real estate agent who has studied how to value and how to manage commercial real estate. And it's, it's like a, it's like getting your cpa but in commercial real estate. Does that make sense? So if you find somebody. I have a lady that works for me that has a CCIM and she works for me and manages our, our real estate. We've got a bunch of commercial real estate and I've got a degree in real estate, which is the equivalent of that too. So. But you've got to learn the nuances of stuff like the cam, common area maintenance fees is what that's called the cam. You've got to learn the per square foot, who's paying, what are these triple net leases. And you just, you, there's some things to learn here and you're going to be taking a crash course on it. And ask him if he has a recommendation for someone to mentor you on handling all of this. Does he want to do it while he has his health?

[Caller]

He said, he said I could come to him for any help he needs. And I do have some help in my corner too with some other friends of mine. One other little detail forgot to mention. I guess it's a big detail. There's a, one of the tenants had a business there and it burned down. And so that would be my responsibility. And one of my biggest concerns right now is like, I don't, I don't have a lot of money to my name. I don't necessarily make a lot of money. And my concern is getting a loan to fix this place. Am I going to be able to afford it with the income that the, that the strip mall is bringing? Or do I, am I going to have to dip into my own finances?

[Dave Ramsey]

Is it part of the strip mall that caught on fire?

[Caller]

Yes, but it's the only business that is out of business right now due to the fire. Everyone else is still up and running.

[Dave Ramsey]

So it just, it didn't, it didn't burn the structure. It just gutted the interior a little bit.

[Caller]

Structural damage inside that part of the area, but not unsafe for everyone else to be concerned.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I take it the property has no debt?

[Caller]

Yes, correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

Then it ought to be cash flowing like a bandit. You ought to be able to stack the cash out of the rents fast enough to do these repairs. You don't take anything out of it. You just use all the cash to pour back into the property.

[Caller]

Okay, that's kind of because I didn't know if I needed to go to

[Dave Ramsey]

a bank, I wouldn't, I would see if I would. I would cash flow the repairs.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't know. I mean if this thing's. It should be generating. Yeah, you should be generating some pretty serious money per month.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And it sounds like you'll find out that information when you have that first meeting.

[Caller]

Yeah, I have a good idea right now. And it's around 6,000amonth.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's not right. That's not right.

[Caller]

That's. From what I understand how many businesses are. Has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, probably 7 or 8. And there's probably three or four vacant spots in the. Within the strip mall.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Hmm.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's wrong.

[Caller]

I think he's very, very cheap on a lot of his rent.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's beyond cheap. That should be one tenant. I was gonna guess 50,000amonth.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you're telling me 6,000amonth? Something's wrong. Something's really, really wrong. So you need to get in there and find out what's going on. 6,000amonth. Yeah. So good news is, you know people in the construction business and I think. But cash flow the work, honey. Don't take out a loan and otherwise just let that tenant go on his way and, and then you cash flow it when you can cash flow it. But yeah, you've got tenant improvements you're going to be doing on those empty spots. I don't know. I don't know if you're gonna be able to handle this or not.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What do you think causes an 80 year old guy to just hand over 10 million?

[Dave Ramsey]

It's very strange. It's very strange. I thought the property was worth more than it is. Maybe. I can't tell what's going on.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, me neither.

[Dave Ramsey]

Once I got that last piece of information, my head went on tilt.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Why don't you get more information and call us back.

[Dave Ramsey]

Fun if you want to. Yeah. But you need to get some independent people outside of his circle a CCIM to look at this with you. And they're going to talk to you about borrowing money. I'm not. But other than that, they'll know what's going on. Let me tell you something I see happen way too often. People fall behind on their bills and they wait. They hope it will work itself out. It won't. That's why I recommend Guardian Litigation Group. Here's the deal. If you've missed payments, collectors are calling or if you're getting letters threatening legal action, that's not something to ignore. That's the moment to deal with it. Because when you do nothing, it escalates. They can take you to court and if you don't respond, they can win by default. And that gets expensive fast. Guardian Litigation isn't a call center. They're an actual law firm. From day one, you're assigned an attorney to represent you. So if things do escalate, you're not scrambling and you're not hit with surprise legal fees. Guardian Litigation only gets paid when the debt is negotiated and you accept the settlement offer. This isn't about shortcuts. It's about dealing with the problem before it gets worse. Go to guardianlit.com Ramsey today. That's guardianlit.com Ramsey today. Attorney Advertising results may vary and no

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

specific outcome is guaranteed.

[Dave Ramsey]

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. In the Fair Winds Credit Union studio. Jade Washall Ramsey personality number one best selling author is my co host today. Jason is in Philadelphia. Hi Jason. What's up?

[Caller]

Hello. How are you doing? Dave? So, long story short, I'm 38 years old. I'm a heavy equipment operator for a union in New Jersey. And unfortunately I've made very, not even bad but horrible financial decisions throughout my life. I am ready to make a complete change because of my financial situation. It has caused me to lose a fiance recently.

[Dave Ramsey]

Whoa.

[Caller]

I am a father to a five year old and yeah, I just need a battle plan. I do have something that presented itself recently. I also do plumbing on the side and I have an opportunity, but it might be a big risk.

[Dave Ramsey]

What are you making as a heavy equipment operator? You ought to be making bank.

[Caller]

Yeah, I make pretty good. It depends if you work overtime or not. But for example, last year I think I made 115.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Is keeping a job the problem? What's been the problem?

[Caller]

So the problem is, you know, I went through a divorce. I have child support I have daycare payments. I have, you know, a car payment that is astronomical that I can't even get out of because I'm under, you know, 10 to $11,000 underwater on it.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

We'll help with that.

[Caller]

Yeah, I'm totally, like probably 65 to $70,000 in debt.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so let me ask you this. I love the way you opened the conversation. It's like, help me. I'm ready to change. That's my favorite kind of person. Cause I've been there myself. The person that's sick and tired of being sick and tired, they're ready to do something. I don't have to talk them into it. They're gonna do something. Cause things have to change. And that means your mind is in a perfect place on this. Congratulations. I'm sorry you had to go through all this crap to get there. But that's normal human stuff, right? I had to go broke to get there. So I understand. So and so really, it sounds like though, that, yeah, you made a couple bonehead moves, but more than anything, you just hadn't paid attention. You made decent to great money and you just hadn't paid attention and it just all kind of frittered away and you don't even know where all of it went. Is that right?

[Caller]

Yes, yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, I thought so. Cause that's fairly normal in your situation. So thank you for saying that. So here's what's weird. 90% of solving where you are and turning you into a millionaire is to start paying attention. And you're ready to do that if you have a game plan. Anything that interrupts that game plan is off limits. But when you don't have a game plan, everything that's stupid looks smart. So when you say, I have got to go from where I am to a millionaire status, I need a million dollar Net Worth. I'm 33 or I'm 38. I want to be there by the time I'm 48 or by the time I'm 50. And I think you can do that probably. All right. But you're going to have to actually pay freaking attention to every single financial transaction and make every one of those dollars you worked so hard for behave, okay? Because they've not been behaving.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

No.

[Dave Ramsey]

Money is a great slave. It is a horrible master. It will do what you tell it to do. And if you tell it to do nothing, it runs wild. And so that. That's what's been going on. All right, now. So you got a stupid car. Tell me about the car. How much do you owe on it?

[Caller]

So I owe about right around 30,000 on it. I pay like 900amonth. Not including.

[Dave Ramsey]

You owe 30. And it's worth. You think it's worth around 20?

[Caller]

Yeah, it's a 2. It's a 21 GMC.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why do you think it's worth 20?

[Caller]

I just did, like, you know, looked it up and I went to dealerships before to see what they would give me, and it was around 20 to 21,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Dealerships give you wholesale. They resell the car and make a profit over that. Which means you could put it on Craigslist and probably sell it for 25.

[Caller]

Correct. I just don't have the excess to.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, we're gonna figure that out. Who do you owe the 32?

[Caller]

I guess the TD bank or whatever it is. The Auto.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, I mean, what's the name of the organization that you send payments to, honey?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah, the TD Auto Finance.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. All right. So. So it's a high interest rate.

[Caller]

Yeah, 11.9%.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. You got screwed twice. Okay. And. Wow. And so your credit's probably ripped up, isn't it?

[Caller]

My credit is pretty bad. Like I said, I have about 70,000 in debt, 30 from the truck. I have 6,000 in credit cards. I have 20,000 in student loans that I got 10 to 15 years ago and never paid for them. You know, I actually just got done about a year or two ago paying back taxes that I owed. So I just been in a.

[Dave Ramsey]

So what we're going to do now is we're going to take all the overtime we can take and we're gonna get on an every dollar budget. We're gonna sign you up, we're gonna give you the premium version, and we're gonna be on beans and rice. Rice and beans. You now have no life. You're not gonna be seeing the inside of a restaurant unless it's your extra job and you're not going on vacation. I want you to work like a maniac, and I want you to stack five or six grand as fast as you can stack it and get this car sold.

[Caller]

Yeah. So right now I do have about $5,000 in the bank.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sell the car.

[Caller]

I do have a set. I do have a second job that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sell the car might have a big

[Caller]

opportunity on, but it would. It would be a huge risk.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't. I don't need. I don't need any risks right now. I need money.

[Caller]

Well, it would be money and it'd be potential for me to make a lot more money.

[Dave Ramsey]

Really. More than you're making is 150 a year or 115 a year as a heavy equipment operator.

[Caller]

So, yeah, it would give me an opportunity to learn more about the plumbing and then honestly open my own plumbing business.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What's the. How long does it take for this to unfold?

[Caller]

Well, I do the plumbing now. I am. Like I said, I am in the union. So I could shelf my book and go to work for this company full time. I could work either six or seven days, whatever, but I would have to work six days to make the same amount of money that I would make working just the 40 hours.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't need to start a business right now. Right now I need to stack money. So I want you to get the car, I want you to get a little bit more money, maybe six or $7,000. And I want you get this car sold. I want you to work all the overtime you can work at something, I don't care what. But you need $150,000 income in the next 12 months. And no, we don't need to go into business. And no, we don't need to do all this opportunity bull crap. You need to get your mess cleaned up and then we'll talk about doing that.

[Caller]

Okay?

[Dave Ramsey]

But you got about 12 months of just tearing the head off this thing, man. Because here's the thing. You sell the car, then 26,000 and get you a junker car to drive back and forth to work to run the heavy equipment. And you don't need a car today because you're not going on any dates. You're broke. Okay? And you're not going to do nothing. You're just going to work all the time for one year and you'll be 100% debt free. How would it feel to have no payments and be in control of your money?

[Caller]

It would feel incredible.

[Dave Ramsey]

As soon as you do that, you're ready to talk about doing the plumbing gig,

[Caller]

okay?

[Dave Ramsey]

But you gotta get. You can't be doing two things at once. You need to focus on the cleanup here. And learning to tell your money what to do is the key to that. It cleans it up for you. So hang on, Christian will pick up. We're gonna get you signed up for financial peace. But don't be chasing something that's gonna get you out. The secret sauce for your success is not plumbing. The secret sauce for your success is the guy in your mirror. He's the stud, whether he's doing equipment operating or whether he's doing plumbing. But you go make some money and make your money behave and clean this mess up.

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[Dave Ramsey]

Lisa is in Fort Collins, Colorado. Hi, Lisa. How are you?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Hi, Dave. Hi, Dave.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, what's up?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

So this is a situation I never thought I would be calling you guys on. My husband and I have been a long time follower and we're on baby step four, five and six. This morning my husband got a phone call from somebody representing a life insurance policy and our three sons inherited $400,000 this morning. And since it's not my if it was our money, my husband and I would have a plan and we'd be paying off our mortgage. And, you know, we kind of know what to do with it, but we're

[Caller]

not sure what to do with it when it's given to your children.

[Dave Ramsey]

So they were named the beneficiary on someone's policy that passed away? Obviously, yes. Who?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

It was a crazy, crazy blessing. It was. My husband and I rented our first home when we were married. We rented from a lady and we just became friends, but we were kind of friends at arm's length. And she originally said that she wanted to bless our boys with the house that we had rented for three years and that she wanted them to have it. And so we, you know, we talked to her and we promised to be good stewards of it and gave, you

[Caller]

know, the boys information for her to

[Co-host Jade Washington]

be able to do that. But the call that my husband got this morning wasn't about the ownership of that house that we had rented. It was about life insurance cash payouts.

[Caller]

Wow. That holded about 400,000.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

How old are your boys?

[Caller]

Yeah, they're 10, 7, and 4. Wow.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And it's equally split amongst them?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Well, there's actually one account that is

[Caller]

all three of them.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

And then there's one account that is

[Caller]

just two of them because the third one wasn't born yet.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice 2]

Wow.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. I would just sit down with a smart. I would sit down with a smartvestor pro and I would just open some mutual funds in their name. That simple.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay. And my husband wanted me to ask about a UTMA account.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, that's it. That's going to be uniform transfer to minors act only. There's no transfer here. It's just she's transferred the money to them. But these are minor accounts and you're the custodian, meaning you're in charge of the money until they turn 18 and the, you know, and just invest it in good mutual funds like you would for yourself. And then that's gonna set them up beautifully. They're gonna have a lot of money, you know, by the time they're in their 20s. And so then the thing that goes with that is the problem that this sets up is that this is their money at 18 years old. And so if they're doing drugs, they're going to be well financed drug users.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's a problem.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Is there any way to move it into a trust?

[Dave Ramsey]

Nope, not yours. You don't have a choice. I mean, you could get sued if you do by the kid later because your job is to manage it for them as their parent. And if you use it personally or you somehow trap the money, that could really come back on you. I wouldn't do that. But what it does do is it kind of highlights what happened with me and Sharon as well with our three. Was it highlighted we didn't get an inheritance like this, but we were making a lot of money as the kids were growing in this business. And so it highlighted that this money's gonna screw up their lives. Oh, wait. No, it's not. It's gonna reveal that we were horrible parents or it's gonna reveal that we did a good job parenting one of the two. And so we started raising our children not to be good children, but to be good adults. And so I'm gonna teach the little Turk characters how to work. I'm gonna teach them how to save. I'm gonna teach Them how to spend. I'm gonna teach them how to live on less than they make. And then I'm gonna gently start revealing the fact that there's some money there for them. As they move into their teen years. I would not just surprise them on their 18th birthday, they might lose their minds. And so I would gradually unfold how investing works, how investing works, and then go, ann, you've got some investments that have been done for you, and you can talk about it vaguely and then later on talk about it in more specifics to where it becomes just a part of the rhythm of their life. But do not allow them to be entitled brats that don't work. This is not that much money.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay, what about, like, through their childhood? Is there any time that you would

[Caller]

use that money for expenses before they turn 18?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, I mean, I might. I might buy them a car with it or. What we did was we matched what they saved because we wanted them to build some, have some skin in the game on the car. We had 401, Dave. So, yeah, whatever they save, we'll match it. And I'll just match it out of this account. I wouldn't match it out of your pocket.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What about college?

[Dave Ramsey]

You could use it for college. You know, you can use it for college. Say college is taken care of. But the sticky thing is it's technically their money at 18. And so they could choose not to spend it on college. They can choose to do something stupid like going to student loan debt and keep the money in the account because some bonehead financial advisor told them to do that or something like that. Right. So instead of just paying for things. But if you can make it through to where these become good adults that know how to work, save, spend wisely, be generous, that are grown up, become good young adults, then this money's gonna be a massive blessing. If you don't, then it's gonna reveal whatever shortfall is in their young character. So it just. It made me and Sharon get very, very serious about growing kids with character, not kids that are characters. And so, you know, and we just went at it. And so the book that Rachel and I did together was her first best seller, was called Smart Money, Smart Kids. I'll send you a copy of it on how to raise smart money kids. Cause you need to now. And that's a little bit scary.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

That sounds a little scary. I could. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, and it's kind of like we had this money coming into the Ramsey's. Cause we're at bestselling books and we had all this stuff going on, you know, 25 years ago when Rachel was little and niece and Daniel and you know, and on top of that, we had even worse. Cause we had some notoriety, some in air quotes, fame. Right. And so we had to also teach the kids, you know, no, you can't use your dad's popularity with your teacher to get a grade. You know, Rachel might have done that once, but just once. Yeah.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Do you know who I am?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes. Do you not know who my father is? I mean, what kind of grotesque human being says something like that? That's the most gross thing could ever come out of somebody's mouth. And so we had to. You're not allowed to play the Dave card. Your life will come to an end. We will take you out. You know, you're not gonna do that. Cause you got to learn to do stuff on your own.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Absolutely.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, and besides that, everybody that knows something about Dave Ramsey, not all of them like Dave Ramsey. So you got that other problem, right? Yeah. I mean, so you might work against you. You don't have to run into that too. So anyway, all of that to the side. You know, we just. We faced all of this head on. But the good news was that it just made us more cognizant that, you know, we had to be very intentional about installing character.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. Cause the fear isn't in the money or the dollar amount. It's in the person who has it. Cause you run into people all the time who are almost afraid. Afraid of success, afraid of having a lot of money. I mean, the way I grew up, it was like, oh, no, you don't want millions that'll wreck you.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, when I'm with wealthy people and we're talking generosity or we're talking about other things, one of the number one questions they ask me is, how do I not ruin my kids with money? And I'm like, money's not going to ruin your kids. It just exposes that you did.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, money doesn't do anything. Money just magnifies. Money does not make people evil. It just magnifies. It just. It reveals people. It doesn't make people generous. It just reveals that someone is a generous person. So whatever. If you get a big old pile of money, it just magnifies who you are. And so that goes into this discussion because this isn't a lot of money. Today it's 100 something thousand a piece. But by the time those kids get there, it's going to be several hundred thousand.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And it really doesn't even have to be a large sum of money, whatever you're thinking of as a large sum to magnify. I mean, if you start out broke, but if you learn to manage your money when you're broke, when you get a little bit of money, even if you just start making $100,000 a year, you'll learn. You'll know how to manage your money. If you were a good manager when you were broke, you'll be an even better manager when you got something.

[Dave Ramsey]

Exactly. Good stuff. Good stuff.

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[Dave Ramsey]

If you want to work the Ramsey plan and you want to work the baby steps and go from debt to millionaire, become a baby Steps millionaire. The fastest, most efficient way to do it is following the baby steps with a detailed monthly game plan called a budget. Everydollar does that, and it gives you personalized coaching and a personalized plan to fit your situation. And it's going to help you turn up the heat on this. You can download the EveryDollar budgeting app and do the whole Ramsey plan for free in the App Store or Google Play every dollar. Shelly is in Tampa. Hi Shelly. How are you?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Hi. Fine. Thank you so much. For I'm super excited to talk to you, both of you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, we're honored to talk to you. How can we help?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Thank you. Thank you very much. I'll try to get you all the info. So I'm wanting to move, but we bought a house around 2020. We got a great deal on it. So we have about 300,000 left on that mortgage. We have a HELOC plus credit card debt and basically we could get it all paid for if we sell our house and list it for about 585 right now, which is where the market is in our neighborhood. And then that would obviously, like I said, clear our heloc, all of our credit card debt. So the next home we'd be buying would be we'd go with 20% down. But the problem is my husband's not on board because our mortgage right now is 2.0, I think two and a half. And the new mortgage would obviously be higher, like I think six and a half and he is not on board. But of course I see it as being debt free, which I feel like I'm going to sleep better at night with.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's your household income?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

About 145total.

[Dave Ramsey]

And how much credit card debt do you have?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I'm giving you ish numbers, but I think about 40 ish thousand.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right, and how much do you owe on the home equity loan?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I think about the same.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, and how much do you owe on your car? How much do you owe on your cars?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Free and clear? Two cars are paid for.

[Dave Ramsey]

What are they worth?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I have no idea. But I would probably hand mine down to my 16 year old daughter. She's getting ready to get her license so I probably hand it down to her. I've had it for eight, seven, eight years.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

If you didn't have 80,000 in debt, would you be talking about selling your house right now? And if so, why?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay, that is a great question. Because right now we live in a really young family neighborhood. It's really fun and social, which was great when my daughters were younger, but now they're older, I kind of want to pull my backyard. I kind of want more. I don't know, you know, they're getting older, they can drive to their friend's house and it's not as important to be in such a, you know, young neighborhood. So I do feel like I'm wanting something smaller like ranch with a basement and not right now, it's a two story. So I.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

So you're wanting to downsize?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I would say downsize but upsizing quality. Yes. Like more custom home, but at the same time, it would.

[Caller]

We have to do a little bit

[Co-host Jade Washington]

of work in it, but not a ton. The house I'm particularly looking at, we just need new paint and maybe buff the floor.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so one more time. One more time. Let's be very clear. If you did not have $40,000 and $80,000 in debt, would you be talking about selling this house today?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I would. I would say yes. Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

You would want to sell it anyway?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I would.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Okay. Let me tell you my other concern, and I'm not saying this is true. It's just a concern I have.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What you're talking about doing with this other house, maybe doing some work on the other house. I would be afraid, I'm not sure, you know, how you ended up in 80,000 of debt. And I would be concerned that you could sell this house, move to another house, and before you know it, you're taking out another HELOC and doing some projects on some credit cards and doing the like all over again. Why will it be different?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Well, I do know how we kind of got in credit card debt about three years ago. My husband's in between jobs, and it happened to be right at Christmas time. Both of my girls are involved in travel, sports, and it was just.

[Dave Ramsey]

You spent 30. You spent $40,000 on Christmas and travel, sports. No. You didn't.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

No, no, no. I'm just saying I feel like it's. It's gone nowhere, though, because the interest rate is. I feel like we're getting nowhere fast.

[Caller]

Here's where I'm gonna stop.

[Dave Ramsey]

Bull crap.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

I'm gonna stop you right there because here's what I wanted to hear. And I'm gonna tell you the difference. What I wanted you to say is, Jade, the reason it'll be different is because now we have savings. Now we understand that when things come up, we know how to pay cash for them. We've drawn a line in the sand. We just don't do debt anymore. That's what I was hoping for you to say. But instead you said, well, the reason it happened was. And you gave me a long list of excuses. I hear me. I love the idea of paying off debt. I love the idea of getting the house that you want. But from based off of what I've heard, and I know this is a short call, I'm not convinced that you wouldn't turn around and do the same behaviors again.

[Dave Ramsey]

So if I woke up in your shoes based on that, I agree with her by the way, if I woke up in her shoes, I would side with your husband and say, let's get on a tight budget. We make $145,000 a year, and let's not blame travel, sports, or anything else. Let's get this debt paid off. And if you pay off the credit cards and cut them up and learn to live on a budget and learn to save money, then we'll talk about selling the house after the credit cards are gone. But right now, you're just moving from one thing to another thing to another thing. And the problem is, we know that when people pay off debt in one fell swoop and they don't change their habits, the debt grows back. And there's nothing in this conversation that indicates any change in habits. Nothing.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Nothing.

[Dave Ramsey]

Nothing in your verbiage, Nothing in your sentence structure. Nothing in the words you're using. All of it. It all says you're gonna do it again. So I want you guys to prove to yourselves that you're gonna live on way less than 145,000 and get these credit cards paid off, and you're gonna cut them up and never use a credit card again, no matter what happens. And don't talk to me about travel, sports when your husband's laid off from work. And financing that with a credit card, that's like dumb. Don't do that. That's a dumb move right there.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And that's the type of stuff you learn when you take the time to pay off your debt, is you learn how to say no.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, no way. No possible way we're doing that. So that's the process. Abby is in Atlanta. Hi, Abby. How are you?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I'm good. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

So me and my husband, we just completed $55,000 of student loan debt.

[Caller]

Wow.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yes, we're very thankful for that. And we're expecting baby number two in October. I am wanting. He's wanting to go on to baby step number three. I am wanting to put that money towards a car, a more reliable family car, because we currently have one.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Okay, so you're pregnant right now. Yes.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

With baby number two, that would be two under two.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And so you have one. You're a one car family.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Well, kinda. His car. You cannot fit a car seat in at all. It was.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's different than what you said earlier. Okay.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay. I'm in one family car.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you have. He has a car. What is his car worth?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

What? We have looked up that anywhere like 1 to 3,000. Not very much.

[Dave Ramsey]

Gotcha. And what is the car you're driving? It doesn't hold two car seats.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

No. So we travel a lot for his work. A lot as a family. I'm a stay at home mom. So we travel a lot with him. And this is like right now it's.

[Dave Ramsey]

He's gonna take a newborn on the road to work.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I mean next summer. We travel during the summer with him.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What type of work is it? Is he a pastor? What does he do?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

He coaches.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Oh, okay. Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

So a year from now.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so we got a year to talk about this.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yes. But my concern is I'm a very cautious person, so I like to have.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

What are you driving right now?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

A paid off Ford Escape. Both our cars are paid off.

[Dave Ramsey]

And how old is the Ford escape?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Is either 2018, we bought it from a family member, or 2019.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's it worth?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Not very. Probably like five. It's very high mileage.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And you only have a thousand dollars saved. You haven't started saving towards the three to six months yet.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

So we have. So let me put out the list of what we have. So right now we have roughly saved about like 12,000. 12 to 15,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, set your emergency fund at three months worth. And above of that, save for a car and move up in car with cash. Yeah, but that's what you would do after baby step three. But set your emergency fund at three months. Yeah, you probably do need to move up in car and pay cash for the move up above your three months of emergency fund.

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[Caller]

Foreign.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

All right, today's question comes from Abigail in Washington, D.C. she says, I'm debt free thanks to your principles, but I get a lot of flack from family and friends about not having a credit card for emergencies. Would you recommend having two different debit accounts so that one can serve as an emergency fund? I really don't want to get a credit card, but at the same time, I get nervous about only having one avenue to access my funds. So I hear two questions here. The second one I'll say for later. First off, yeah, if you have an emergency fund, I would keep that in a separate account. I would put it in a high yield savings account, not just a regular checking account. I'd have a regular checking account for your day to day and then I would have a high yield savings account for your emergency fund. And I'll just go a step further. I like to keep mine at a separate institution. I like an online one. I just like that. I like the degrees of separation. It helps for my personality.

[Dave Ramsey]

And a lot of people are using Fair One's Credit Union's bundle right now.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

There you go.

[Dave Ramsey]

High Yield savings. And you can put a debit card there.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, I like that.

[Dave Ramsey]

It doesn't hurt to have two checking accounts with two debit cards. Even with two banks, it doesn't hurt. Or both with one bank is fine. Because if you walk up and there's something wrong with your debit card, just like if there's something wrong with your credit card. Let me give you an example. With either card, they will shut them down. If something triggers the algorithm and they think there's theft going on, they think there's fraud, like your number's gotten stolen. Right. They'll shut either one of them down. And you can get in a pinch if you only have one thing. Yes, I have a debit card on my personal account and a debit card on my business account in my pocket. So if I get to a hotel to check in and there's something screwed up with one of the cards or something. I just use the other one.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

I've got that, too. Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I've actually got then a third one with a different bank on another personal account. So I've got three in my wallet. That's the only thing's in my wallet. Other than my driver's license and my handgun carry permit, that's the only plastic there is.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, okay, that's a good point. When I think about it, I have the same. I have the same, but because my

[Dave Ramsey]

experience has been that the algorithm will screw you up. I mean, like, if we're traveling, sometimes the thing activates because it thinks that, you know, Dave's not really in Mexico.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And somebody in Mexico stole his number. Right. So it shuts it down. So not on. We've even gotten where we now contact the local. Our banker and say, we're going to such and such country. So it doesn't activate it. We put a travel warning on the account so the algorithm doesn't kick. But. But in case it does, having another one. And it's not really for emergencies, though. It's really for the stupid card not working.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, that's. And I'm trying to understand, is she talking about. It sounds like she's.

[Dave Ramsey]

It sounds like she's trying to please her family and friends, which you need to stop doing.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Well, it's an emergency fund conversation. And they're thinking, well, the only way you can be prepared for an emergency is if you have a credit card.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's just. That's bull.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

That.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's the. That's the line of somebody that's gonna be middle class their whole life.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

You're not lying. Yeah, because what happens if you have. I mean, if you have 15 or $30,000 saved, what can really pop up that you can't pay cash for? Not much. I mean, even if your roof springs a leak, if you have 30,000, you're in there.

[Dave Ramsey]

Now, you don't need a credit card for emergencies, but you might need a second debit card to be able to access your money in case one of your debit cards doesn't work.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. And I think that's the case.

[Dave Ramsey]

And then the second thing you need to do is you probably need to purchase some earplugs to wear while you're around these idiot friends and family.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

That's right. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you listen to broke people for your financial advice, you're going to be broke. I mean, it's like asking fat people about physical fitness. It's just. Don't do it. I mean, don't you know? No. No. Thank you. All right. Up comes Frank in Baltimore. Hey, Frank. What's up?

[Caller]

Hi, Dave. I know there's very short time for citations, but I love and appreciate what you've been doing for people for these years.

[Dave Ramsey]

Thank you.

[Caller]

And you provided an incredible service to people and that's so cool.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

You.

[Caller]

You single handedly encouraged, inspired me and showed me the path to buy my first house.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow. Good for you.

[Caller]

So that I'll. I'll be grateful until the day I die.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, thank you.

[Caller]

I just wanted to make sure I said that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Thank you.

[Caller]

And I'm embarrassed. I'm almost embarrassed to ask you this question, but I'm going to be retiring hopefully within three to six years from the police department. I'll keep my second job, which is Port Security. But the question is this house. I have no one to leave it to. I lost my brother recently. I have no other family, no wife, no kids. So somebody said to me the other day, what are you doing? Just do a reverse mortgage on your home. Take those funds that you would pay for your house and put that in a high yield savings and let that grow until you retire and then you'll have that income for your retirement.

[Dave Ramsey]

Whoever that is is telling you that doesn't know what they're talking about. About.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because the interest rate on your reverse mortgage is higher than high yield savings account, you'll lose money on this transaction.

[Caller]

Oh, it does.

[Dave Ramsey]

It won't work. So what they're talking about. Interest rates on reverse mortgages are ridiculously high. The fees are ridiculously high, and the foreclosure rate on homes with reverse mortgages is five fold. A regular mortgage five times more often. So we never recommend a reverse mortgage. But it sounds like you've got enough money. Don't you have a pile of money?

[Caller]

Well, I didn't take savings seriously until I was.

[Dave Ramsey]

How much do you have? What's your nest egg?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

So

[Caller]

you're gonna be very saddened by this. I have a deferred comp with about 40,000 in it. I have a.

[Dave Ramsey]

Are you getting pension from Port Authority? You're getting a pension from Port Authority or the police department?

[Caller]

Yeah, police department. The pension will be about 16, 1800amonth. I won't be getting a full pension. And. And then Social Security, if I were to take it today, would be somewhere around 2500. If I wait for the full 60 when I'm 67, it'd be about 3200. And I have some jewelry and watches that are worth probably 40,000. My debt is the house, 130 on the house and I owe 23 and a half on my truck. And credit card debt is around 3700.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Well, you said you've got six years before you retire, right? So you've got some time to get this mess cleaned up.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, you need to get the truck paid off, get the credit cards all paid off so that you can live on the pension and the Social Security. And that's going to make a lot more sense. And you owe enough on the house, you can only take out a reverse mortgage up to 65% of the value. And so you already owe 130 on it, so you're not going to get much out of it if you did do it. So I think someone's trying to talk about something in a vague sense that they heard on the Internet and it doesn't really work. And so I think you need to go back to the baby steps and just work those straight through like Jade was suggesting.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, I agree. You've got time, you've got six years. If you put pedal to the metal, we didn't get how much you earned, but if you put pedal to the metal, you get out of this truck and get it paid off, you pay off the 30,000 in credit card. And all the while, once you're done, if you can do that quickly, say in the next year, 18 months, then you're investing for the next five years

[Dave Ramsey]

and investing in five years and being serious about it, following the steps, you can build up a nice nest egg. And then as far as who to leave the house to, we've actually had two calls today with semi distant strangers leaving people substantial money. The lady that left the money to the life insurance to the little boys and the guy, the 80 year old's giving him a strip mall, you know, and so it may be that you just look around for some young couple that you want to be a blessing to when you pass or something like that and give yourself some meaning for having done all of this. You sound like a great person. So I'd probably be trying to figure out a generosity play in this. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fair Wind Credit Union studio. Rachel is in Cleveland, Ohio. Hi, Rachel, how are you?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Good, how are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

So I am 33 years old. I've been married for a year and we just actually had our first son almost three months ago. He'll be three months on Thursday. But I've always had a dream pretty much Since I was, like, in my early 20s, I've always been super obsessed with houses and home decor and design. I've always had a dream of, like. Like, flipping a house, but it's always felt like I know it's bigger than just, like, going out and buying a house and flipping it and then selling it and it being super easy. So just kind of been trying to figure out, like, how do I go about doing this and whether or not it's like one of those crazy dreams you just need to kind of forget about, or if it's something to go after. My husband's kind of like, if this is something you want to do, then, like, let's see a plan, like, get something on paper of how, like, financially we're going to do this and, like, let's go from there. So I'm kind of, like, curious just from your perspective. Like, any tips? Because I feel like if I don't do it now, I'm probably will just, like, never do it because we want more kids and whatnot.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's a dumb reason to do it. Like, I'll never do it if I don't do it now. That tells me you're getting ready to do something dumb. Don't do something dumb. I want you to flip a house, but I don't want you to do it in some crazy manner because you feel like some clock is ticking that doesn't exist.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah, your life is. Your life is not over just because you have kids. You have less time, but your life is not over.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah. And it's not like that. I mean, I said that I want to do it before I'm 40.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, I don't care.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I had to pick a time.

[Dave Ramsey]

I want to. I want to do it. I want to do it when it's smart to do it. I love the idea of flipping houses.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

I used to do it for a living, and I made really good money doing it. And I went completely bankrupt doing it because I borrowed too much money. So I've done about 2,000 real estate transactions in my life, so I actually do know how to do it. And I would suggest that you do. Save up your money and do a flip, and I can give you some guidance on how to do that. Okay. But don't use any of the things that you just outlined as reasons for doing it. It just sounds like a fun idea. I want to save up some money, and I want to do it when I can do it with wisdom. Now, number one, you have to pay cash,

[Co-host Jade Washington]

and that's the Thing. We have a lot. We have really good savings. We both do really well.

[Dave Ramsey]

What is really good savings?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Well, I think it's. I guess I should say I think it's good. But we have $160,000 in savings.

[Dave Ramsey]

You have how much?

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

160.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

160,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

So if you picked out a house to buy for $100,000 to flip and you pay cash for it, that's step one. Okay. And you leave the rest of your savings alone. So set yourself a budget with that. The second thing then is the money on a flip is nothing is done like it's done on television. The stuff you see on television, the fix this house up crap. And this little couple's doing a house and they do a renovation, and they. That's a bunch of crap. Okay? That's not. There is no reality in reality tv. All right? So the way you really make money on a deal is you're going to buy the house at 70, maybe 75% of value, minus repairs. If you don't, you're going to lose money on it.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because when you put a house for sale at 100% of value, someone will make you an offer at 95% of value that you're going to want to take, and you're going to pay a real estate commission, you're going to pay some closing costs, and you're going to walk out of there with about 88% of fair market value at the closing. And if you have 86% of value in it, you didn't make any money on the flip. So you need to be down in the 70s, probably around 70%, minus repairs. So let's just use $100,000 house as an example. That's hard to find, but makes the math easier. So that means if you bought $100,000 house in value, you're going to buy it for 70,000. If it needs 10,000 in repairs, you're going to buy it For 60,000 or you're not going to buy it.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I know that almost seems like.

[Dave Ramsey]

Welcome to. Welcome to reality.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I know we bought our first house last year, and so we actually have been able to save up this 160,000 a year because we did use, like, a big chunk of our savings at that time to buy.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, if you want to do a flip as a romance move, I can't help you. If you want to do a flip as a business, I just gave you the formula.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What about the work? Are you thinking that you're doing the work, or are you thinking about hiring Someone to do the work.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

See, I would want to hire someone. And I'm actually meeting with a gal who. She actually flipped our house. Our house was a flip, a remodel. And so I'm meeting with her tomorrow to kind of also pick her brain because yeah, I. It's. It's almost like it feels like we would need more like money too. Because especially like you said, like, finding house with a hundred thousand dollars is very.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think you. I think you buy a nice little $150,000 house and you buy it for a hundred and you put a hundred thousand cash and you do a little bit of work to it and you flip it and you make 10 or 15, 20 grand on it. And that means you did a good deal.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

You make it sound so easy. And I think what. I get so nervous and my husband is like, that's like our savings for like our kids.

[Dave Ramsey]

And like, I want you to be nervous. Nervous is good. The first time you drive a $10,000 car. It's good to be nervous if you don't know how to drive a car because you'll wreck it otherwise. It's good.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I know. And that's why I haven't done it forever. Is always felt scary.

[Dave Ramsey]

The hardest part of the whole thing, Rachel, is buying the deal.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're gonna look at 50 to 100 deals before you actually buy one.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're gonna get sick of looking at houses, but if you pay too much, you're gonna take your money and turn it into less money, not more money.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah. I think I need to also make sure I'm looking at the. Like you were saying, like the cost of what looking at. I definitely, I mean, I stalk realtor.com for fun every day, but I definitely don't look at $150,000 houses. So I think I need to.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's all you got. You don't have that much money.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice 2]

I know.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And probably need to be looking at them in person. No.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, yeah. You could stalk them and then you go look and then if you see one that's a possibility, go look at it in person. And what you want to buy is not something that has structural damage or some kind of historic rehab. You want something that needs just carpet and paint.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Right. You need some new bushes, contractors, so you don't get screwed. It's just. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

The less work, the more, the less work you do, the higher the probability you're gonna make money.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

So what you're saying, it's like taking the first step.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Find a deal and Because I want to help her out. Because the money is not made on making tons and tons of changes to the house. The money's made on buying it at a deal at a deal. And then the rest of the.

[Dave Ramsey]

All money in real estate is made at the buy.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. So she's not making structural changes. She's not gutting stuff. She's doing the bare minimum to get

[Caller]

in and get out.

[Dave Ramsey]

Anybody that does any kind of thing on a television show, whatever they did, do the opposite.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because that's bull crap.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

It's like, I'm gonna paint it, I'm gonna change out the carpet and I

[Dave Ramsey]

want to be, I want this to be so freaking boring. Yeah, yeah, it's, there's no, like, woohoo. I got to be a decorator. No, don't, don't be doing that crap, okay? Run a coat of paint through it, clean it up, change out the dishwasher, mow the grass, tear out the bushes, you know, put thing on the, Seal the driveway, put the thing on the market, make some money.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Flipping a house is different than being an interior designer.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's. And it's different than being on a reality TV show. All right, let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates. But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart decisions. Ramsey trusted agents aren't just experts who guide you through buying or selling. They're people you can trust to have your back. From the first call to closing day. Find a Ramsey trusted agent near [e-mail] agent. That's ramseysolutions.com agent. Speaking of real estate, if you put your house on the market with a real estate agent that doesn't know what they're doing, or you buy a home with a real estate agent that doesn't know what they're doing because they're brand new or they don't sell. But two houses a year, you could lose tens of thousands of dollars. We had a call like last week, week before last, a guy called in his mother in law sold her house for 330,000 and the appraisal came back at 375. And I'm like. He's like, what do we do? And I'm like, I think you sold your house too cheap. I signed a contract. I mean, you have a contract, you get sued if you violate a contract. And so, so why is that? Well, the real estate agent priced it wrong.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Wow.

[Dave Ramsey]

Didn't know what they were doing. Brand new. So you want a real estate agent that's high octane, high protein. That is an actual professional that moves a lot of houses. They've done a lot of transactions. They know what they're doing. They're not gonna make a tens of thousands of dollars mistake. We vet the real estate agents that we endorse very carefully to be high octane, high protein that follow the Ramsey way of doing things. And they're called Ramsey trusted agents. If you want to find a Ramsey trusted agent, you can do that for [e-mail] agent or click the link in the description or if you're listening on the podcast or on YouTube. Roy is in San Antonio. Hi, Roy, how are you?

[Caller]

Hey, Dave, what's up? I just had a quick question. So I've known about you for a while. I got out of debt myself. A lot of my friends know me. I talk about getting out of debt, not doing credit cards, not taking loans, a lot. I started dating a woman about six months ago. She seen my lifestyle and slowly I've gotten her on board. She shared with me how much debt she has. And when she looked at my life, I am able to live a little bit better. And she wants to live that same kind of life. So my question is, how do I approach the gazelle intensity to her without scaring her off? I think that's the only thing that she never saw that part of me. A lot of people did it where I wasn't eating out and I was working my butt off and everything that you teach in that sense.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

So you want to explain to her that the only way for her to get what you have is for her to be gazelle intense. But you think that if you tell her that. Well, let's. Let's start by explaining gazelle intensity, because I feel like that's a deep cut. If you're listening for the first time, Dave, that's. That's your.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, it just. It comes from Proverbs and it says to deliver if you found yourself in debt, to deliver yourself like the gazelle, from the hand of the hunter. And the primary predator of the gazelle is the cheetah, which is the fastest mammal on dry land. Zero to 68 miles an hour in four leaps. And yet the cheetah does not kill the gazelle, but one in 19 chases because the gazelle is trying to stay alive and the cheetah is just trying to have lunch. And so even though the gazelle is not faster. It has a desire to stay alive and running for its life. And that's gazelle intensity. That's why we use that phrase. And so, you know, if you're going to run, if you're going to get out of debt, you have to run for your life. And that's what Roy did, and that's what he's trying to get her to do now. The reason Roy did it, the reason I did it, the reason you and Sam did it, the reason we ran with great intensity, an intensity that the culture does not understand. They think you've lost your life. No, they don't understand it is because we believed it would work and we believed nothing else would work.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. We knew what was at stake.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. And so we didn't want to be lunch. We wanted to avoid death. And so, you know, we've been screwed by the banks, we've been screwed by the car companies, we've been screwed by the credit cards, We've been screwed by the student loans. And we're like, we don't want to be screwed anymore. We're going to get away from this system that is broken and that is set out to take down the consumer. And so we ran like our hair was on fire to get away from it and sacrificed deeply because we wanted to be out of debt so badly so that we could live the good life that Roy is living. So I guess the way you describe it to her is you say, if you really want out, if you really want to go from where you are to the good life, I can show you how. But the sad news is it's going to be painful.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And you can't manufacture the intensity for her, by the way, I'm just letting you know. Yeah, you. There's something that has to be inside of her. You can tell her all about it, but there's. For everybody, there's a catalyst. There's a moment that happens. You can call it an I've had it moment. There's that moment that you say, and I'm sure you said it too, Roy, never again. And my guess is she's probably going to have to have that moment for herself, and that's when it's going to click in.

[Dave Ramsey]

But it can be manufactured. You can just look at your situation and go, I don't want this. I want that. And so I'm going to be willing to pay the price. That's an I've had it moment. It doesn't have to be bankruptcy. It doesn't have to be huge amounts of Debt, it just has to be. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. So, I mean, you can hire a personal trainer and the only thing they're going to show you is how to be in pain. You know, they're not going to show you anything else because there's no other methodology that works. 100% of muscle growth is happened by fibers being torn down called pain. Lactic acid and fiber tear. That's where muscle growth comes from. And so you just don't get muscle without lactic acid and fiber. And that's painful and sweaty. And guess what? Getting out of debt is painful and sweaty. But it builds muscles, it builds financial muscles. And so, you know, I just talked to her about that. And if she's not mature enough to have a conversation about, you know, a personal trainer is not a pleasant thing, but the result is pleasant. The process is unpleasant to get to the pleasant result, then this is not a woman. This is a little girl.

[Caller]

Well, she's had her moment. Probably about two months ago, she lost her job for four days and she ended up getting it back. But that four days was brutal for her. And I told her that, you know, normally you're supposed to have a three to six month emergency client. And I was like, girl, like it was four days and you thought that you were going to be homeless. And I think that that was her point where she realized that she needed a change. And I've always told her, like, imagine your life without a car payment and credit cards.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, well, what does she say then?

[Caller]

She says that she thinks about it nearly every night. And I was like, I used to be like that too. I remember those days and now I live those days. And it's great, you know, I can show you how. $1,500.

[Dave Ramsey]

I can show you how. But it's going to be unpleasant. I mean, because it is unpleasant, isn't it?

[Caller]

Yeah, yeah. No, it was. Yeah. You know, we do our little.

[Dave Ramsey]

But the only thing is, it's worth it.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

It is worth it.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's the only thing. It's worth it to be able to script down on the stage and scream, I'm debt free. It's an unpleasant process to get there. But no one has ever told me they wish they didn't do it once they win.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. And, and by the way, we, A lot of people can learn from what your girlfriend is going through. If you're listening, all you have to do is stop. And I remember in the Total Money Makeover, I had the workbook edition, it had you go through. There's a pages and pages of questions and workbook you filled in. But one of the questions that I remember was a catalyst for Sam and I is what basically what would happen if you didn't get your next check? And that's the question that if you ask yourself, what happens if I don't get my check on the 15th? What happens if I don't get my check on the 30th? That right there will reveal a lot. Would you have to use a credit card? Would you have to borrow money from friends or family? Would you be late on rent or your mortgage?

[Dave Ramsey]

He said homeless. He said she was worried about being homeless for four days.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

And that's the truth for so many Americans.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're walking along the edge of the cliff. Get back from the edge. And the way you get back from the edge is unpleasant, but it's worth it. So I think that's how you talk to her about it like a grown up. It's like if I sit down with a personal trainer and they go, this is going to be easy. There's no pain involved. I have a personal trainer that's a liar.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Give me my money back.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Because I know it's not going to work. You know, you know, you go into PT and they go, you're going to feel no pain in physical therapy after this operation, all I'm going to have scar tissue then because you're not going to survive. Stretch where we need to stretch, right?

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[Dave Ramsey]

Foreign. Is in Atlanta. Hi, Cora. Welcome to the Ramsey show.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Hi, Mr. Dave. Thank you so much.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sure, thank you. How can we help?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Okay, so me and my husband are 23 years old, and we make about $70,000 a year. And we're currently on baby step number two. We've paid off $12,000 in debt, and we have about 10 more to go, and we're supposed to pay it off by, like, January, I think, according to our EveryDollar app. Like, January. Not this year, but next year.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

10,000?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yes. 10,000? Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why would it take 18 months to pay off $10,000?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I guess because we're not hitting it hard enough, I guess.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, how much have you paid off so far? 10,000 so far, right?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

We paid 12.

[Dave Ramsey]

And how long did that take you?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

That took us about 13 months, but we just also had a baby, so we kind of went stork mode.

[Dave Ramsey]

So y' all don't make a lot of money?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

No, we do not.

[Dave Ramsey]

What do you make?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

We make about $70,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, you told me that. That's right.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

We're comfortable.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, you told me that. I'm sorry. Huh. I would have thought you'd have paid off $10,000 in, like, six months. Making 70.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yeah. Especially if you pick up extra work. Especially your husband.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Well, we originally were not in debt when we got married, but we had some medical debt hit, so we, like, had that happen, and then we got pregnant. So it's just kind of been like, a little bit of one thing after the other, but we're trying to hit it as far as we can.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Okay.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

What's your question?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I was just wondering, since this past year, you know, with paying off debt and everything, but I think I know the answer now, but we. I do have some inheritance money that has just been, like, left alone for some years now. And I just wanted to know, is it smart to maybe pay off the rest of our debt so we can move to baby step number three?

[Dave Ramsey]

How much do you have in inheritance money?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

50,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Write a check today and be debt free.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Oh, I just didn't want to rush through it and, like, not learn the learning lessons.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, I'm not worried about that. Write a check today and be debt free and then learn your lesson.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Oh, okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

But don't ever go back in debt again.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Oh, no, we.

[Dave Ramsey]

So who left you this? Who left you the 50,000?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Well, my grandma left me 15, and then I put it in investment.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. So here's the way I would think about it if I were you. If you ever borrow money again, you are dishonoring your grandmother.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I know. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you have to be on a budget. You have to build your emergency fund, and no whining. And no excuses and no reasons for going into debt.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

We needed a car. When you save up and pay for it. We wanted to go on vacation. I've always dreamed of doing.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice 2]

Wah.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, no. Okay. That's dishonoring to your grandmother. You're gonna pay cash for it. Like a grown up person that has a baby. Like a huge adult. Okay. If you can't commit to that emotionally, both you and your husband look at each other in the eye and pinky swear and spit shake.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

We.

[Dave Ramsey]

We cut up all the credit cards. We never.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

We don't have any credit cards.

[Dave Ramsey]

Borrow money again for anything. If you're willing to say that, then I would write a check today out of the inheritance and be debt free.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Oh, my goodness. Wow. This is so exciting. Yeah, We. We don't. But all of our debt is medical debt, so we. We do not do that. We did not want to go into debt.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so now you have an emergency fund for medical debt.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yes. Let's start saving that up. Because if it was from the baby, we want to make sure that we don't get ourselves in that situation again. Coming up.

[Dave Ramsey]

Ever. We have an emergency fund for medical. We have a budget. We live on less than we make. We save up and pay for Christmas and cars. We save up our trips. We don't go into debt. We don't go into debt. We have money for surprises called emergencies. We don't go into debt. If you get this drilled into your head, then you can be very wealthy someday because you're starting young at 23. That's the wisdom of this. Roman's in San Diego. Hi, Roman. How are you?

[Caller]

Hey, Dave. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Caller]

First of all, it's really nice to be talking to you. I've been listening to you for maybe since I was 16. I'm 22 years old right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow.

[Caller]

My question is less about myself, and it's more about how I can help my parents and give back to them. They put me through college, they got me my first car, all that good stuff. Same with the rest of my siblings. And I was recently made aware that we actually have about. Or I guess they actually have about $40,000 worth of deferred payments on the mortgage for the house that I grew up in.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why?

[Caller]

And I guess I think they had some sort of modification back in the. I honestly don't know the details about it, but it was decades ago, and I just want to help them with that.

[Dave Ramsey]

That how? You're 22.

[Caller]

I think I want to place like I want to act maybe as like a financial coach, maybe like walk them through how, how they can take care of it. What I don't want them to do is to have to refinance because it's doing 10 years. So my, my initial thought process was to open a high yield savings account, but then I'm thinking, you know, it's

[Dave Ramsey]

10 years, why are they going to listen to a 22 year old son?

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Did they?

[Caller]

No, but I just want to take the initiative to be able to help them with something since.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

How did you find out about it?

[Caller]

I don't remember the exact details, but it came across maybe last year.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, well, number one, Roman, I appreciate your heart and thank you for being a young man who cares about his parents. It's very unusual for parents to be willing to take the advice of their 22 year old son on financial matters. It's called the powdered butt syndrome. Once someone has powdered your butt, they don't want your advice on money or sex. And that's generally it. So until they get very old and you become very rich and you're 55 and they're 80 and they're broke and you're a multimillionaire, then they might take your advice. But probably not today. If they would take your advice, what I would tell them to do is the opposite of what you were thinking. And that is I would go refinance that mortgage right now. If their credit is good today and they're able to refinance today, even if it's a higher interest rate, I would refinance now. Instead of waiting on this balloon to come bearing down on them like a train through a tunnel. Those things come and they come at you, you fast and then all of a sudden it's the day that your dad loses his job, is the day he thought he was going to refinance or do whatever on his payments. So if I have a bunch of deferred payments on some kind of a modification thing from 2008 or whatever it was, and that stuff's laying around hovering like a monster in the closet, I'm going to put him out of his misery and go get a 15 year fixed rate loan and you know, about five and a half percent right now, five and three quarter percent and I'm going to get rid of the balloon, period. That's simple. And then if you want to work your work the baby steps, you can work towards getting your house paid off. And that's what they should do. But I Don't know. It'll be a very unusual day that they're going to do what you tell them to do.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Especially if you're not a homeowner, then it's just everything that you say to them is just going to sound like a theory that you heard somewhere versus something. You really know what you're talking about.

[Dave Ramsey]

I do appreciate your caring for them, but I don't think you're going to be able to coach them. I'll be shocked if you can. You know, it's. You know, not many people in our families come to us for financial advice.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Right. Yeah. And the hard part is when you know you can help. You just have to kind of be quiet and just let it play out.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yep. They're not gonna. They're not gonna do it, so. But if they're smart, if they call me on the radio, what I would. I mean, on the podcast, I would. The radio. Either one. I would tell them, refinance it right now. Oh, the interest rate's higher. I don't care. I get rid of. This represents extreme risk and stress.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Oh, my goodness. Goodness to know that.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's Monster in the closet.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I'm afraid to open the close.

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[Dave Ramsey]

Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 15:22. Plans fail for lack of counsel. But with many advisors, they. They succeed. Henry Ford said, most people get ahead during the time that others waste.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Wow. That's a good one.

[Dave Ramsey]

Used to work with a guy. He said, work while other people sleep.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Pray while other people sleep.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

It's a good word.

[Dave Ramsey]

Read while other people sleep. Yeah.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Or while other people watch tv.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, oh. Throw a brick through your tv. What was the Ziggler said? He said, rich people have big libraries, poor people have big TVs.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

That's good. I have both. What does that say?

[Dave Ramsey]

I actually do, too. So there you go. All right. Mary is in San Antonio, Texas. Hi, Mary, how are you?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Hi. I'm doing well. Thank you for taking my call.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sure. What's up?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Hey, I just have a question. I think I just wanted a second and third opinion about the possibility of me taking a different job with a different company. I do. My line of work is something that I've heard you on the, on the show say negative things about, but I am. No, no, no, not that bad. Okay. I'm a property manager for homeowners associations and I currently work for a company and I have a total of nine communities in my portfolio. And a few months ago, I put my, you know, updated resume up on, you know, a website and an acquisitions team member from a different company contacted me late last week. And I've had a total of two interviews with them and I'm going to

[Caller]

have a third tomorrow.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

And they are really excited about my experience and what I've done to educate myself and get certain designations in my line of work. But I just, you know, it's going to be a significant increase for myself. I am on baby step number two. I have stopped investing in my Roth IRA in order to pay off debt. I had a total of $58,000 of consumer.

[Dave Ramsey]

So what do you, what do you make today?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

I make a little about 67,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

What would you be making at the new gig?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

The new gig would be between 80 to 85,000. That's what the team has. Acquisitions.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you'd be doing the same type of work?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yes, but I think it'd be easier.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why would you not make your plan? What's the downside?

[Co-host Jade Washington]

The downside is I currently work from home and there's a lot more flexibility. But again, I am a, you know, divorced now for about four years. That's why I have the debt. And I'm an empty nester. My two children are grown and I would have the time and the ability to do that. I don't have to take care of anyone anymore. Besides.

[Dave Ramsey]

So what's the problem with going to the office? No problem with going to office.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Nervousness? No, no, not at all. Actually, I'm kind of looking forward to the possibility talking to other adult humans again.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

You know, this is just a change. You're just, you're just processing a change.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah, I'm processing the change. The flexibility. I get to help my mom out by taking her to doctor's appointments here and there. You know, just that. But I, I, I've worked hard to educate myself and be better at what I do. And I just think that most places

[Dave Ramsey]

like you're talking about going to work for have a certain amount of flexibility for executives. The leadership team at Ramsey, if they want to take an hour and go take their mom to a doctor, we don't have a big deal about that.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah, I agree. I think that tomorrow with my last interview that I'm going to talk to them about those types of things. I'm going to be completely open and honest since they're the ones who contacted me. Right. I wasn't out there looking for a job, but since this opportunity came up, I thought, gosh, the difference in the income would help me. My goal, my. I'm on track to pay off all my debt by this year in December.

[Dave Ramsey]

Let's pretend you were debt free and had a million dollars in the bank. You still should look at this deal.

[Caller]

Oh, I would.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Yeah, I definitely would.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

So is the only downside you have to take your mom to the doctor here and there, Is that the only thing that you can.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Just the flexibility of that. The current employer currently offers me that. Not. That doesn't mean that the next employer wouldn't do that. But another thing that I like about what they've spoken to me about is that they have. They like to promote from within, and I'm ready for that. The current company that I'm with doesn't feel. I've been with them for four years

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

and you've made your choice.

[Dave Ramsey]

You've already made your decision.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

You haven't made any case for staying.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

You.

[Dave Ramsey]

There's no reason to stay.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

You're right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. If they offer you, you're right. Good job. Unless you sense some kind of a toxic environment or something like that would be the only reason you wouldn't take it. You don't want to, you know, go from this. But honestly, people that work in an office with other people produce a lot more and have more opportunities for promotion than someone that's working from home. Yeah, it's one of the huge downsides, the unintended consequences of working from home. The people that work from home don't get promoted nearly as often. And so, yeah, I think you ought to look at it. It sounds like it. And by the way, I'm not against property managers and HOA professional managers. I'm against Barney Fife, who lives in the neighborhood and hasn't got a life. And he runs around with his one bullet trying to bother everybody in the neighborhood.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Have you been to my neighborhood?

[Dave Ramsey]

About every bush that he doesn't like or something. That's the guy that drives me nuts who needs to Get a life. And has no power anywhere else in his life, including in his own home. So he has to go out and exert himself through the neighborhood. Neighborhood. These are the people I don't care for. All right, Chris is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Chris. What's up?

[Caller]

Hey, Dave. Big fan of the show. Just want to call in. My scenario is probably a little different than most, but I'm 52 years old and grew up very poor, had tremendous success. I'm just had my best friend at 55 passed away of a heart attack.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

I'm sorry.

[Caller]

And I'm in that position where I'm like, with what I have, do I retire now or do I make a play for something else? Because I'm ocd, I can't sit around the house. I have to be doing something non stop. And it's like, how much money do I need to live the life that I want to live when I'm done? You know, I want to take X amount of vacations with my wife because she stayed at home for 30 years while I worked 75 hours a week. And so just want to kind of see what the next play is for me and get your thoughts about timing for me, I guess.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's the size of your current nest egg, net worth?

[Caller]

I would say my company and my house and my land, probably around 10 million.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

Okay, and did you say you're 54 or 52?

[Caller]

52 to.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. And, and so you don't. I mean, can you begin to move away from the company? You want to exit strategy on that? Is that what you want?

[Caller]

I mean, I'm obviously still making good money with the company and I have people that have been with me for 20 years, but it's like I spent a lot of, you know, both my daughters obviously are graduated college.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's the, what's the end game with your company when you're 80? Where's this company?

[Caller]

I mean, I mean, it still will be going. I mean, I'm a partner in a car dealership.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. So other partners will be running it or their kids or your kids or own it or whatever.

[Caller]

It's just me and one other partner.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so what happens to your share when you're 80? What's your exit strategy? Does it go to heirs or does it sell out to the partner?

[Caller]

I have a living trust. I have it all set up. And I have. It's an S corp and it's set up for my percentage than the trust.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. All right. So the only thing I could do other than that is to say, as a partner, sit down, talk to your partners and say, we've both done very well. Can we restructure the operations of this to give us both more freedom? But you're not, you don't sound like you're asking for an exit, a complete exit. You just want some more flexibility. Back to our last caller. But yeah, I mean, I want to take six weeks off and travel with my wife.

[Co-host Joshua Ramsey]

You've earned it.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I want to build a leadership team to do that. And that's kind of the stage I'm at. I'm 65, Sharon, and I take three week trips and four week trips and that kind of thing, or just leave for that period of time, whatever. But Ramsey is set up to run where I don't have to be in every part of the day to day anymore. And the operations are set up and, and certainly the on air portion, Jade and Rachel, and they do a better job than I do. So that's where you are. I think you just reset your ops on that. I don't hear anything here that's painful that you have to exit from. I like it. Good plan. Well done, sir.

[Co-host Jade Washington]

Very well done.

[Dave Ramsey]

Very well done. That puts this hour of the Ramsey show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of peace, Christ Jesus.