The Ramsey Show - App - Are You Ready to Change Your Life? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: December 27, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Ken Coleman discuss your questions on money, work, and relationships. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods, moving, and storage studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work that they actually love, and create real, amazing relationships. Open phones this hour. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, host of The Ken Coleman

Show, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. And Ken, I'm convinced America should be very afraid right now. Returning to the phone screening chair after several years in management and leadership is the famous Laura Johnson. Yes. When she started, she was Laura Mays.

We used to call her the amazing one, and then we learned better. But cold, cold. Right out of the gate, she just got back in the control room. The abuse. The abuse begins quickly. It's a management tool here at Ramsey. Abuse. So fun to see her over there

uh you know she also she sat across the you know across the glass from me here and like this couldn't talk back which was wonderful um for like 13 years yeah and then moved into uh producing and leading the production teams here at Ramsey and all this and today uh because we're in a holiday week uh we're shorthanded and and she's stepped back into her old talents. Yeah, and she used to oversee me on the video channel when I first started here. I was not a personality. That was a chore. And boy, she just gave me all kinds of grief.

She would say things in my ear while I was live on the air, and so she's awesome. It's good to see her smiling face. She's the OG, the original right there, LJ the OG. So it's good to have her in there. I did ask her. You sound kind of hip when you're doing that. Well, I'm trying hard, and every teenager that's listening is rolling their eyes. You're seriously a boomer.

But I asked her how many people had to not be available for us to get you today, and it was a lot. We had to go way down the list yeah yeah yeah so digging out the bottom yeah laura johnson screening phones today associate producer for the day uh so she's working for all the people that work for her today and uh that's how it works here at ramsey we do what it takes to get her done open phones 888-825-5225. Thomas is in Florida. Hey, Thomas, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, I'm glad to be here.

Good. How can we help? Well, I'm a very goal-driven person. Recently, I've been wondering, should I try and work towards my passion of being a storyboard writer, or should I listen to Michael Rowe's advice and find a trade job to help me become a little bit more profitable than focus on my passions? Well, that's a good setup. I've heard a lot of people have approached me on that and what Mike says, and I don't want

you to confuse what he's saying. I think this is probably a both and. What is it going to take for you to be a successful storyboard writer? That comes down to skills and experience. So what does that journey look like? Can you do that full-time? If you cannot support yourself doing that full-time, then maybe a trade or any other job that I would call a day job that allows me to take care of business and then train, get some experience on the side, build the relationships, and get to a place where I can step from one to the other. And I think the way you said that in that second classification is probably the way to do it. But it doesn't have to be a trade. Thomas, wait a minute. Let me ask you something.

I mean, we use storyboard in all our productions and things we do here. I'm kind of doubting, since I know a little bit about the business, that there's full-time work for a storyboard writer in Sarasota Springs, Florida. If you're in L.A., Atlanta, Nashville, where there's a lot of film production and a lot of video production of things, am I missing something? Is Sarasota Springs the center of video and I don't know it? No, sir. But I was just thinking about maybe moving somewhere where the work would be more available. Yeah, you can get there. The question is, what does that look like? What's a successful storyboard writer making? Do you know?

No, sir. You've got to know. We can't just kind of go, well, I'd like to do this. I'd like to dunk a basketball on a 10-foot rim. It's not happening. No, not without a trampoline. So how realistic is it? So here's the first thing you've got to do.

What does a career path look like in that space? And to Dave's point, is that a full-time gig? If it's not, is it? So here's the first thing you've got to do. What does a career path look like in that space? And to Dave's point, is that a full-time gig? If it's not, is it a subsidiary of a writing position? You've got to figure that out. I think you're a content and creative guy, first and foremost. I'm afraid you're niching this out too far. I mean, you've gone this down to the very nuanced job that a handful of people in the world have. Um,

and so, uh, I mean, content creation is in essence what storyboarding is. That's right. And you know, you're, you're, you're,

you're helping the production team create a narrative and a flow, uh, through what they're getting ready to put on film or tape, whatever we want to call it. None of it above digits but anyway the uh uh so i'm if we were doing that at ramsey we would be hiring a creative who also did yeah a content person who also did um as a matter of fact that's what how we do it we don't have anybody here that does that.

So I'm kind of going to – how old are you? I am 20 years old. How did you decide that storyboard writing was your thing? Because I usually enjoy coming up with expanding through storylines and coming up with creative way creative original ideas and so forth and i was figuring i could bring the light stay right there what you just said to us content guy so thomas what you just said to us that is a 50 000 foot view of a job description so you start with that now the research process is what are all the different ways that professionally I can do this work? What are the pathways to all of those positions?

Then we ask, well, then what am I going to have to do to get the experience and the qualifications to eventually get there? Now we have real answers. And again, you're 20. I appreciate the call. But you don't know what you don't know. And we've got to go get answers to those type of things. Then the question is, all right, what is the best financial path for me to get there? And if picking up a trade, and again, the trades that we think of blue-collar work,

but in today's world, you can go to a coding camp, and you can get an IT trade that pays you very, very well, that will give you stability and the opportunity to acquire these skills on the side. Because in the world that we live in, and let's just call it the content world, whether you're a broadcaster, speaker, author, it doesn't matter. That is a much tougher path, and it takes a little bit longer, and it is based on experience, experience, experience. And many times experience doesn't pay. And so you've got to be patient. And this is a long haul potentially if you want to be in that content space.

Yeah. I think you could very well end up spending a lot of your life doing storyboarding at some point. But it's kind of like you called up and said, I not only want to be an actor, I want to be an actor in commercials. I don't only want to be an actor in commercials. I want to be an actor only on car insurance commercials. Right. And so I'm going to tell you, pan back a little bit, and let's broaden the horizon that still encompasses your passion area,

and let the storyboarding be a nuance within it, and I think it'll help you get there. It's a neat call. Thank you, sir. We appreciate you. We're honored with your question. Thank you. This is honored with your question. Thank you. This is the Ramsey Show. Ken Coleman, number one best-selling author, host of The Ken Coleman Show,

where we talk about career and job, is my co-host today. Open phone is at 888-825-5225. Nikki is in Wichita, Kansas. Hi, Nikki. What's up? Hi, Dave. Not a lot. How are you today?

Better than I deserve. How can we help? Good. I'm calling because my husband and I, we own two houses. Well, right now we have a mortgage on one, and one is supposed to be our rental property. We haven't been able to rent it yet, but it's the house that we lived in when we got married four years ago. And he's always had a dream to rent this property,

and he just really wants to rent it, and I have a lot of conflict. So we've been trying to follow your steps since we got married, since before we got married, and he's the one who introduced me to you. And so we paid off all of our debt after we got married and we are still debt-free, pray God. Um, but, um, I know that I've listened on your show before and we've been partially through Financial Peace University and we've gotten some advice from some of

our church friends and renting this house doesn't seem like the right thing to do right now. And I really don't know what to do. It's caused a lot of conflict. It's like the main conflict in our marriage. And I'm just calling you to see what you would advise me to do okay um well uh i hear him whining in the background it was always always my dream, and you're a dream killer.

That's what I'm hearing. Because the way you were shamed into your sentence structure, I heard shame coming out. I know it's always his dream, and I don't want to kill his dream, which means he's been telling you that you're a dream killer. And let me just tell you, when you kill somebody's nightmare, you're not a dream killer. You're a nightmare killer. And, you know you kill somebody's nightmare you're not a dream killer you're a nightmare killer and you know if somebody's doing something stupid and you tell them not to do it you're not a dream killer that's an act of love and so your disagreement

is based in love here it's not based in the fact that um little boy can't get what he wants um so let's not start there at all i'm not gonna i'm not gonna dignify that with an answer but um but what what let's just back up a minute i think the two of you need to sit down with a marriage counselor and pan back because basically he signed you up for a way of handling money that was proven that would be the shortest distance to wealth and generosity and then once he signed you up for that he changed horses and decided i'm going to live my dream i want a rental house with dad and um so he's the one that changed the deal here so somebody has to kind of help you guys navigate through the mediation of him changing the

direction because you didn't change anything he said hey let's do this dave ramsey stuff and then he goes well i don't really want to do it anymore am i missing something no i don't think so okay and you sound awfully tired fatigued and beat down by a stupid rental house discussion it's just a house okay um i i will mention also that it's been in his family so he has had his family let him know that um they would rather him not sell it well then they ought to buy it. Yeah, I agree. You know?

Okay, there's so many guilt trips. I mean, you guys are a good travel agent for guilt trips around there. Him, his family, it's like a modus operandi. So the two of you need to decide what is best for the two of you if it includes keeping this house and paying it off very very quickly that's okay if it includes keeping this house and staying deeply in debt because my family shamed me into it and my husband shamed me into it this is toxic as crud this house is paid off um we completely own this house we don't owe any money the one you're talking about renting right right you got debt on the other house yes the house that we live

in we bought in 2020 oh and you but you bought you borrowed money on it because you didn't sell the other one right yeah so that so effectively you borrowed money to keep the other one yeah yeah what will the other one sell for um the rental yes uh well it's appraised at 4545,000. $45,000? Yeah. Well, this is a fine piece of property. It's really small. It's like a little one-bedroom, one-bathroom house.

Most people call me with car payments bigger than this. And y'all are arguing about a dump of a house oh lord what's the rent on that i can't imagine it's rid of it it's a piece of trash there's no question listen 20 years from now are you gonna be glad you own this as an investment no it's not gonna get better it already sucks no i don't want this piece of real estate no no no no no no no no if you want to keep it as a is there land with it no there's not there's not any land on the value no it's a tiny it's it's a tiny house on a big lot yeah Yeah. And it's very, very old and very dumpy. Yeah. Yeah.

It's $45,000, girl. This tells us everything we need to know. Okay. So here's the deal. I don't care. But here's the thing. The question you all have to ask yourself as a couple, other people outside your marriage do not get a vote

in this including me you call me for my advice i'll give you my advice but i don't even get a vote okay you guys got to decide what you're going to do and the question you need to do is the two of you as a husband and wife need to pan back and say 10 years from now 20 years from now which of these decisions are we going to be glad we did i can promise you having owned over 2 000 pieces of real estate in my life, that dealing with the tenant you're going to deal with in a $45,000 house for the next 20 years is not going to add value to your life. This is going to be a total pain in the butt and all for nothing financially.

The only possible reason to consider keeping this house is it's been in the family and uh it's a 45 000 keepsake but even then it's it's listen this is this is one of those things he needs to let go of and so yeah you need to you need to sit down the marriage counselor because the pain in your voice has nothing to do with this property it has to do with his family injecting themselves into your all's life it has to do with your husband changing horses in the middle of the dadgum stream and saying well you know i'm but yeah i take the 45 000 pay it down on your mortgage and then start working to get your mortgage off that's what dave and sharon ramsey would do even if the little house had been in her family or my family and even if our little families didn't like it, we would still go check it out. If you want to keep it, it's only 45 grand. Run yourself down to the credit union,

write me a check. I'll hand you the deed. Yeah. And I think the marriage counseling is the key here. This thing has become way bigger than it needs to be. It's just not worth it. It's not causing a ton of financial stress other than the upkeep so i think there's two sides to this i think dave you're absolutely right but i also don't think it needs to cause this much stress for her either it's not like it's burdening them you sound exhausted it does it seems like this thing has gotten huge and it's a little teeny tiny house that quite frankly they don't know anything on i would do the same thing and i'd take the 45 now like today i'd take it yeah and put it on the house i'd take 35 just get rid of the problem it's it's not a blessing

it's a curse yeah yeah and so it's it's gonna be a long yeah there's a reason you can't rent it hello so yeah i i think there's the the fatigue is not about the house it's not about the finances it's about your husband changing horses in the middle of the stream saying we were going to do this now i decided i want to and it's about all this interference and argument over really nothing it's not worth it. This is The Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, host of The Ken Coleman Show, is my co-host today. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Jennifer and Travis are with us. Hey, guys, how are you?

Dave, better than we deserve. I love it, brother. How much have you all paid off? $425,000 in 12 years, but we got Gazelle Intense in 30 months. We paid off $280,000. Whoa! Okay. And your range of income in that 30 months we paid off $280,000. Whoa! Okay and your range of income in that 30 months?

That 30 months $154,000 to $220,000. Cool and where do y'all live? Denver, Colorado. Cool what do you do for a living? I'm a restaurant consultant and I'm a registered nurse in leadership. Okay and so you can work all you want to work for sure. Right now for sure. Oh my goodness wow. So what kind of debt was the $425,000? So we paid off our house, which was the $280,000. Look at it, weird people. And then before that, it was student loans, two cars. We had solar panels, credit cards. You were just kind of normal.

Yeah, kind of normal. Okay, so tell me your story. What woke you up and then what got you so intense 30 months ago? So what woke us up 30 months ago is we finally got to baby step six. Oh, okay. We became gazelle intense at that point, a little backwards, but we really wanted to pay our house off by the time we hit 40.

Okay. And so we, you know, looked, what does that look like? What do we need to do to get there? And we became pretty gazelle intense. That's so weird. Have I paid for a house by the time you're 40? Yes. None of your friends do.

Right. Yeah. So what caused that goal a house by the time you're 40? Yes. None of your friends do. Right. Yeah. So what caused that goal to happen? What made you do that? We just wanted to be weird. We wanted to be debt free. We wanted to leave a legacy and just see what God will do in our lives. And, you know, we wanted to give to the kingdom on a bigger level.

Amen. Wow. So when you decide in Baby Steps 6, so you've been walking the steps, and then you get gazelle. Yeah. So I'm really curious. I want you to unpack that for our listeners and viewers. What did that look like? What were the habits that changed, the lifestyle changes to do what you just pulled off?

Yeah. So first it started with, you know, creating a budget. And then it became living very minimally and deciding what is it we really need. And Travis learned to fix everything around the house and cars just off of YouTube. And we didn't eat out. We ate dinners at home and had fun with the kids at home with games. Did you get into this at all at Baby Step 6 and then go, wait a second, this is crazy. We're living like, what's going on?

Why are we doing this? Or did you just have maniacal focus the whole time? You know, it really seemed like it took forever to get past baby step three and then once we got past that and got retirement set up college set up it's like wow we're almost there at the finish line let's get this done yeah yeah so seeing the finish line turns you loose really that's pretty interesting yeah it just so what's the house worth? So $800,000. Wow. How much is in your retirement accounts? A little over, I think, $150,000.

Okay. So you're at Baby Steps Millionaire status then, or really close. Yes, really close. Way to go, guys. Congratulations. Yes. So proud of y'all. Thank you. Very neat.

How does it feel to be completely free and 40? Surreal. It feels, yeah, awesome, surreal. It's crazy to be here. The journey's finally finished. Baby step six. Wow. That part of the journey is, yeah, you still got to go ahead and become wealthy and go

ahead and be outrageously generous, like you said, giving to the kingdom and put you in a position to do that. You're making serious money and not a payment in the world. Right. What's your first big financial thing you're going to do now that you're 40 with no house payment no payment of any kind well now we're starting to redo our house um so we've really held off on that as well um so now we're kind of remodeling upgrading the house what are you going to do what are you doing to it? Oh, everything. Painting, kitchen upgrades.

Kitchen, yeah. So the question is, Travis, are you doing it? Are you going to pay somebody now? I'm still doing it. Look at you. We're still doing it. We're still doing it. I'm very jealous. I have to confess that you can watch YouTube

and do something productive at home. I'm worthless to Stacy. It's unfortunate. You are definitely. He's done some worthless to Stacey. It's unfortunate. You are definitely. He's done some crazy things on YouTube. That's incredible. Good for you. Wow.

What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? So really it's living like no one else today. You've got to create a budget. You've got to get control over your money and just really believe in yourself in the process and you know keep coming back even if you get derailed because life's going to happen and cross the finish line you'll do it eventually what caught you off guard about this process what was the surprise in the whole thing i actually with my job i actually got furloughed so being able to look and say we had the money set aside to be able to

support ourselves through that process but we actually were living so minimally and we actually didn't have to dive into that money at all yeah which is like that eye opener like we're doing something right when we can just say we're living at the right level to be able to keep driving yeah and then they brought you all back yeah that was pandemic stuff i guess right yeah that was that was when we were prepared uh covet hit we already had baby step three we were living minimally to pay off the house so it didn't have a devastating effect on us financially thankfully um dave i want to ask a question i haven't asked in debt-free screamers on this uh. Dave, I want to ask a question. I haven't asked in Debt Free Screamers on this, and I don't want to minimize the effects of inflation. I don't want

to in any way be insensitive to the fact that goods and services cost more. But knowing what you all know, how does inflation, when you hear things of inflation, you actually see the cost, how does it affect someone like you guys? So it doesn't affect us as much as somebody else who is you know living paycheck to paycheck because we do have that extra cushion to get us through that yeah yeah cool good for you guys well done well done well we've got a copy of the total money makeover for you in the live and bundle, and that will give you something to give away and encourage somebody else on this journey. The Baby Steps Millionaire book, our latest number one bestseller, and that's the next chapter in your story.

You're there almost. Be there. May get there by the time you get home. You never know. And Financial Peace University membership for a year. If you haven't been through it, go through it. It's got all the new videos in it. Or give it away.

And, again, encourage someone else on their journey all right let's bring the kiddos up and tell us their names and ages all right we've got blake he's nine and then ava she is seven oh cute very good very good well done guys very proud of y'all. You're rock stars. Well done. Good stuff. Thank you. Jennifer, Travis, Blake, and Ava from Colorado. $425,000 paid off. House and everything! 12 years, but most of it done in the last 30 months, making $154,000 to $220,000.

Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free scream three two one we're debt-free yeah this is how it's done right here you have to decide something different has to happen otherwise you're going to be just like everyone else out there you know it's amazing in america how many people are just alike got the same car payments still got sally may in the spare bedroom she's hanging out still after 15 or 12 years never going to get the house paid off always going to have a mortgage just trying

to figure out a way to get by and have some kind of joy for the weekend. Yeah. And that's most people. Don't be normal. No. These people I'm talking to right here, they're weird. That's right. They paid a price to win.

They took a moment and said, I've had it. I'm not living like this anymore. It changes everything. It really does. When you see the smiles and the weight lifted and you see two little ones who have an unbelievable uncapped future because of the discipline that their mom and dad decided to exhibit and they're going to learn from this later on they've already seen it they've seen it modeled and this is what it's about i love that you said they paid the price you know everybody else is miserable everybody

else is unhappy looking for something trying to make it to the weekend and drink their face off on Friday night. And Financial Peace and peace beyond financial peace is waiting for you if you're just willing to do the work. It's what it takes. This is The Ramsey Show. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Ken Coleman Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Cindy's in Baton Rouge. Hi, Cindy.

How are you? Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? My husband and I have $460,000 in a money market type account, and then we have $135,000 in cash. And we're to the point of saying, what do we do with this?

We're not making any profit on most of that money. And we took the $460,000 out of equities and securities because we were losing a lot of money in that. And that money had come from a home that we sold, and because we got an interest rate of 2.5 on a new home, we went with the 2.5 and put the 460 into securities and equities and didn't want to lose it beyond what we put in there, so we put it in a money market. What do you owe on your home? $366K.

Okay. 366k okay um from 30 years of coaching people how to become wealthy and from doing a study of 10 000 millionaires these are the two sources for my data that tells me the shortest distance between where you are and wealth is two things. One is a consistently funded 401k Roth IRA in good growth stock mutual funds over a long period of time that becomes some money and a paid-for house. Our last debt-free scream was a $600,000 paid-for house and $800,000 in their 401k or reverse, I forget which, but it was $1.4 million net worth. And it was just a few moments ago while you were on hold, you heard it. Yes. Okay.

So that is the typical path that we see that is the most often used by people who become millionaires. Now, where does that take us in your situation? It says I would pay off my house today. Because here's what you ended up doing. It wasn't the start of your plan, but the net result of your plan is you borrowed money at 2.35% and invested it at a half a percent. Right? Yes, sir. I know that wasn't what you set out to do but

that's where you ended up isn't it it is i pay off my house today today by close of business today write a check okay okay and now you don't have any house payment anymore how's that feel awesome because i want to retire yeah and now you got two hundred thousand dollars in cash that we got to do something better than a stupid money market account with you need an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses for your short-term emergencies and um i mean you know let's call that 50 grand at your house for the fun of it. You've still got $150,000 that you need to do something with other than a stupid butt savings account. Now, if you put it into some kind of a mix with a stockbroker

and you were losing money, I get that. If you put it into good mutual funds and the overall economy slowed down like it is right now and the value went down, then you didn't have somebody good in your corner to coach you and say, hey, the only person gets hurt on a roller coaster is those that jump off in the middle of the ride, which is exactly what you did. Now, were you invested in single stocks? No.

You were mutual funds. Very diversified. In mutual funds. Some of them were mutual funds okay well what i would do is sit down with a good investment broker and here's what you're looking for this time um and uh you're looking for someone with the heart of a teacher that teaches you the history of the mutual fund that you're putting the money into. Okay, I'll give you an example. I own one that's over 80 years old. In the 80 years it's been open,

fewer than 15 of those 80 years has have been a down year. So if we happen to have a down year, and I know that, I know that, not my broker knows that, but I know that, then I'm not freaking out. It's kind of like the house that you own in Baton Rouge.

If it went down in value this year, you wouldn't freak out because, generally speaking, homes in the neighborhood you live in for the past 40 years have gone up in value. Agreed? Agreed. So you wouldn't freak out on one down year and bail out. That's just like that mutual fund I'm describing. I'm not going to freak out in one down year and bail out. But that's all knowledge on your part rather than depending on someone else to tell you what to do and then you get scared because you watch the news. And you never take financial advice from the news.

If the commercial breaks where you're watching TV are walk-in bathtubs, gold commercials, and reverse mortgages and snuggies, that tells you you don't want to take financial advice there. That's just a bad plan. And so here's me looking at you, Fox. But anyway, yeah, so there you go. But the Fox business, right? But I love them.

They're wonderful. But the commercials are comical. Saturday Night Live is comical. I'm trying so hard. I can't hold it in. You're not you not say walking bathtubs are a bad idea just the investment advice i'm just saying if this is where you get your investment advice i know what you're saying when the commercial breaks or walk-in bathtubs and snuggies then you know you're not getting good this is this is a bad place oh that was perfect i'm sorry that just got me that was like the church giggle

i couldn't hold it well i mean we've all sat and watched them at the commercial i know exactly i know exactly what you're talking about yeah the and and we're on there giving financial advice so what do we know but anyway the uh uh but you know you really need to sit with a good broker who has the heart of a teacher go Go to RamseySolutions.com. Click on SmartVestor. Sit down with them. Interview them. And what you're looking for here is a type of wisdom, not intellect.

There's a difference. There's a lot of very, very intellectual ignoramuses out there. And that's not in the world in general. That's not what you're looking for. You're looking for you're looking for common sense wisdom that says i bought a mutual fund that for 80 years has only had less than 15 down years so we're having a down year i don't need to panic and that you learn that you internalize that you emotionally swallow that and then it becomes part of your plan and so in that

situation then you invest in good mutual funds and your 401Ks and your Roth IRAs and those kinds of things, and you get your house paid for. And that's what I'm going to do with your $150,000, unless you've got other debts, and then I'm going to clean that up too. So I want you debt-free 100% and investing in good growth stock mutual funds. That is the shortest, that have long track records, that are comfortable

to you and that you understand what's going on you didn't do it because i said do it or because some goob at a financial office said do it it's because you learned and your knowledge allows you to sleep at night you know ken that's the difference between tossing and turning at night when the stock market's down yeah is whether you made the decision based on knowledge you had or knowledge someone else had. Well, it's true. I mean, for years, before I even started working with you, this idea, the rollercoaster analogy that you've given, it's really true. When you look at the data, if you look over the last 30 years, you just got to stay calm and ride this thing out. I just don't freak out when I see the stock market dip you know i say hey we keep investing that's an opportunity it's

going to come back and and you're right knowledge uh is what gives us tremendous confidence and confidence the peace yeah and once you really understand that folks about the stock market then when it goes down you kind of go like it's on sale yeah we're getting bargain it's a bargain time yeah this is a time to buy well we don't really do that either because i'm not going to tell you to time the market i'm just going to tell you steady invest steady invest that's all i have done i have been tempted at times when the market is down to time it yeah i really really wish in 2008 when the stock market was crashing and the world's coming to an end and it went from 13 000 to 6 500 i really wish i'd put an

extra million dollars in yeah because i mean the dow's sitting at what six x of that that million wow today would be worth six million wow because the dow's you know 30 000 over 30 000 right so um yeah there you go i mean that's five's 5X. 5X of that. It'd be worth $5 million. Now, ultimately, I did have money in there, and it's worth 5X. But if you could have timed the market and bought at the lowest possible time we've seen in decades, then that would have been the time to do it. But who knew when the bottom was? If I had bought at $6,500, it would have gone to $6,000.

Well, there's a chance, yeah. Then I'd have been pissed I missed the bottom. Not that I was going to lose money, but because I missed the bottom. So don't try to time the market. People trying to time the market don't win. They really don't. And jumping in and out based on what you hear on the news, based on whether or not Russia invades Ukraine, is really a bad idea.

You've got to have a long-term scope on this stuff and ride it out. And that includes having your house paid off, Cindy. So thank you for calling. We appreciate you being in our audience. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey folks, Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? It's your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows from The Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts.