The Ramsey Show - App - Avoiding a Toxic Family Housing Situation (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

Dave Ramsey & George Kamel discuss: Investing vs. saving up for a house, Avoiding a toxic family housing situation, When to increase disability coverage, The immorality of student loan forgiveness, How to save for kids college.   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, 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 amazing relationships. George Campbell, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Josh is with us in Columbia, South Carolina. Hi, Josh. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you.

Thank you very much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So I'm 26 years old, and I'm actually about to start a new job in a new city. I've been living in apartments for the last three years I've been working, and I really like the lifestyle. I'm not really in a rush to be in a house, but I do know that I need to start thinking about saving up for a down payment.

So I'm trying to decide exactly how aggressively I should be saving cash versus investing into retirement. Are you out of debt? Yes, sir. Okay, fully funded emergency fund? I just finished baby step three. Okay, so you're there. Are you investing yet? Yep.

Yes, I've been getting my full match with my employer, also maxing my Roth and HSA. And that puts you at 15? So I have a pretty decent head start. Does that put you at 15%? Yeah, a little bit over 15. Okay. I'd scale that back down to 15 and then begin saving up cash for that house and put that in a high-yield savings account somewhere. You don't need to invest it unless this is going to be five plus years out, but it sounds like you're wanting to get in a house sooner put that in a, you know, high yield savings account somewhere. You don't need to invest it unless this is going to be, you know, five plus years out. But it sounds like you're wanting to get in a house sooner than that. What's your game plan on getting in a house? What do you think? So I don't, I'm single right now and I'm not really interested in buying a home, you know, before I'm married. I do have plans to get married in the next, you know,

10 years or so. But like I said, I'm really in no rush. If I could guess right now, I'd say anywhere between five and seven years, I'd like to be really thinking about being in a home. I'm with George, and I would lock it in at 15% of your income into retirement, and I would start saving aggressively above that. And you just pile it up for right now and let's just stack cash because um it it doesn't sound like that you have selected the young lady or she has selected you yet that's right okay it's kind of a vague concept at this point what's your income uh i'm at 110 awesome yeah so point being that um this could flip uh this, this whole environment could change rather quickly.

Right. And that's kind of exactly my thought going into it, which is why part of me wants to, you know, have a little more than just my emergency fund in cash. Yeah. Yeah. I would pile up as much cash above your emergency fund, above your 15% going into retirement as you can you can't really save too much cash in that situation because um you know you you've got it out there somewhere in the future

i'd like to be married if i've met the right person and so forth that's a good good general sentiment but uh you know when you meet the right person you might be married a few months later that could happen and uh so uh you know by the next time i talk to you this time next year you could be married looking for a house i don't know uh that wouldn't be that unusual by the way so i would set a specific goal and not just make it i'm just going to save up money i would say i'm going to aim to save up twenty thousand dollars this year i'm going to say aim to save up twenty thousand the next year five years i'll have a hundred thousand dollars that helps you have a game plan instead of just hoping money gets saved.

Exactly. Yeah, you need to have a set amount that you're going for above the 15% and above the emergency fund. That's exactly what I would do. Hey, good question. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. George is with us in Monroe, Louisiana. Hi, George. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm with us in Monroe, Louisiana. Hi, George.

How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm fine. Thank you very much. Good. How can we help? Well, briefly, I own 25% in a house. I've been living here alone for 16 years.

There's four siblings. I'm one of the four. Two will allow me to buy them out. The fourth one refuses to sell, and she says she's moving in in January. She refuses to work. My question, how can I prevent her from moving in, if possible at all, if I own three-quarters at the time? I don't at this point.

And number two, how can I force her to sell her part to me, or is it possible to do that? I don't know a mechanism that you can force her to sell her part to me, or is it possible to do that? I don't know a mechanism that you can force her to sell. You could take the situation to court and ask the court to solve this. 90% of the time, what's going to happen is they're going to force the sale of the house and split the money. Yeah, I assume that the judge will not force her to sell her part correct correct uh but he would he would he would force the disillusionment of the partnership if any one of the partners wanted it dissolved and the only way to do the only way to liquidate

it is to sell the house and split the money four ways yeah that's it gets kind of complicated my two siblings i i have 50 000 cash to pay them but i've got a 401k with plenty of money but i'm not going to borrow from that nor i'm not going to cash it in so i assume that i would be able to get a bank loan um i don't understand how that works in a sale if i purchased it myself in the sale i'm not sure how that works if it went up for sale due to uh the judge's order a court ordered disillusionment of partnership assets then you could obviously be one of the bidders at that sale and you just go get you can just go get a mortgage and buy the house okay uh well i wouldn't have the cash money but the bank said a mortgage want me okay well the bank would front me the

money for a bit uh for those for a bid on the house right because if it's an auction yeah if it's a cash auction yeah you'd have to have that set up yeah i'll set up okay okay that's what i so what's your next step is uh you don't need to screw around with this one day more uh this is obviously a toxic situation you need to go see an attorney today yeah i just called one today and he's supposed to get back with me on this to see what we can do i want to try to get my other two siblings who are going to say i'll get the paperwork done and also get the paperwork done for the fourth one. She keeps changing her mind back and forth, so at least have it ready.

Yeah, she's a manipulative game player. Yeah, well. This threat to move in is a game. Yeah, yeah, and I probably can't stop her from doing it. Yeah, you can if you file an action that's going to force the sale. Oh, okay. That's the way to do it. Do you think she would be one of the bidders looking to buy it?

No, she ain't got any money. No, she doesn't have any money. She doesn't work. Just very brief. No, she doesn't work. She sold a house in Dallas five years ago for $225,000. She moved here. She told you you need to get a job and pay cash for a house. Well, she said, I don't want to work. She's been living on that $225,000. She moved here. I told her, you need to get a job and pay cash for a

house. Well, she said, I don't want to work. She's been living on that $225,000. Now she's down to $80,000. She started getting worried about it. However, she's going on a $2,000 vacation here in another week. So what I would do is talk to an attorney, and here's the way this is probably going to go down, okay? The attorney's going to tell you that you could file as a part of the lawsuit to keep her from living there until the house is liquidated because it's a toxic situation. Then you can go to her and say, I'm getting ready to file this motion with the court, a forced liquidation of the house that will simultaneously prevent you from moving in. Now, this is going to happen.

You're not moving in, and the house is going to be sold. Would you like me to buy you out instead? And you can force her hand on that. And then she's going to sign the deed, and you're going to hand her a check, and she's going to go away. This is The Ramsey personality is my co-host today so at this very moment every person watching listening to the show has got a different purpose and goal in life maybe you want to find your ideal dream career you want to cut up the credit cards and work your way to building wealth well it starts with you saying enough is enough and we got to do something about this

so this is why we brought back the Ramsey $10 sale on our number one best-selling books. But the sale ends at the end of the month, two days. Not a lot of time left, folks. And you know what else ends in two days, Dave? The Ramsey Cash Giveaway. That's a part of this. So if you want to jumpstart your journey here, you can enter that for your chance to win the grand prize of $3,000. And there's only two days left. Don't miss this. So two days to take advantage of the Ramsey $10 sale. Most of our best-selling books are on sale for $10 each. That's a bargain. So you get 10 of them for $100.

I mean, that's... I'm stocking up for Christmas at this point. No inflation increases. Wow. Look at that. It's not $10.84. It's still $10? There you go.

That's exactly how that works. You know, we should do an inflation-adjusted price, but we didn't, so there you go. Hey, check it all out. And the Ramsey Cash Giveaway Grand Prize of $3,000. Two days left. No purchase necessary for that. You've got to be 18 or older to win. Ramseysolutions.com.

Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why they are the number one online retailer of custom window coverings with free samples, free shipping, and new promos that they run every month. You'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSY to get the best deal. Today's question comes from Jeff in Alaska. He says, I'm currently on baby step three and my gross income is 100K. I have very little debt other than the 125K left on my mortgage. I recently reviewed my union's

insurance plan and realized the disability coverage is lower than it should be. Where in the baby steps should I look at upping this coverage or should I wait until step seven to think about insurance? Well, you're right. The baby steps don't exactly cover insurance. It's a part of protecting what you're building along the way. And Dave, when it comes to disability insurance, especially through your employer, what is the stance on where that would fall? Well, I don't know what their coverage is or why he doesn't think it's enough. Most of it is, you know, 65%, 70% of your pay, which is equivalent to your take-home pay a lot of times. So it's probably not that far off. I don't know why he doesn't feel like he's got adequate coverage through the union.

I don't know what their deal is. But buying supplemental disability is, depending on what you do for a living you know it's not necessarily a good deal so i might just approach this from a different angle and say okay since i don't have coverage it makes me comfortable what i do need to offset that is a big pile of money and so i'd go about getting a big pile of money more than I would worrying about buying supplemental disability insurance. But you're right. No insurance is a baby step. Insurance of any kind is you need to look at what you need and appropriately get that.

You need renter's insurance if you're a renter that covers your contents for fire and theft. You obviously buy a home, you need homeowner's insurance. You buy an automobile, you need automobileowner's insurance. You buy an automobile, you need automobile insurance, obviously. Health insurance. Health insurance, you need day one. That needs to be part of your budget. All of these things are part of your budget. Pretty much all of them except long-term care, which we recommend at 60 plus. Yep. Life insurance. You need, you know, once you have people that are counting on you for your income. Spouse, kids. You have a spouse, you've got kids. You know, all these kinds of things. So, yeah, that's what you're looking at.

And disability insurance, for that matter. But you've got disability insurance. You just don't feel like it's adequately covered. So let's say that it covers 50% of your income, of your take-home pay. And you feel like that's not enough because you know you're accustomed to 70 to 80 percent of your 50 of your gross uh and so well what you do would do is offset that with a little bit higher emergency fund and you know making sure your other long-term investments your retirement investments are full because if you got a half million dollars in you know in your 401k and uh you know

you had a disability event and you only got 50 percent of coverage you're okay you'll be all right financially anyway you'll be okay that's what that's that's what we're concerned about here so you offset that risk with something else like money open phones at 888-825-5225 cj is in chattanooga hi cj welcome to the ramsey show hey how's it going guys better than we deserve what's up doing well my question is should we use the potential student loan reimbursement program to pay off our house i had uh two or three student loans and that we paid off in December 2020. It looks like they may qualify potentially. We'll see how it all pans out. But should I do that? What's left on the mortgage? About $30,000. And how much do you think you would get if you got the forgiveness?

Probably about six or eight. If it's up to 10, we'll have to see exactly what the requirements are for the reimbursement program. So this isn't going to clear the mortgage. You just are saying, should we apply it to the mortgage? Well, we also have about $20,000 in savings that we could use to pay off the house as well. That's not including our emergency fund. Oh, awesome. Why aren't you using the $20,000 today to pay down the mortgage?

I have my first child coming September 23rd. Ah, congrats. Just in case. Thank you, thank you. Smart. Yeah, that makes sense. And I've been kind of tracking this to see what's happening, and it looks like the student loan providers, servicers, are not writing checks. What they're doing is reinstating the balance back to $10,000 and then saying, all right, good luck. Hope the government clears

that balance. So that's what's actually happening right now, as far as I can tell. But he's talking about ones he's already paid off. That's what they're saying. They would cut him a check. So that's what I've been seeing, is if you already paid it off during the pause, they're saying you can get a refund, according to the U.S. Department of Education. But the refund doesn't actually, there's no checks being cut.

Their student loan servicers are saying, your balance is zero. We're going to put it back to 10, and then the government can forgive that 10. Hopefully. Well, that doesn't make sense. I know, but you know. Where'd the money go?

He wouldn't get a check that way. There would be, I don't know how that's going to pan out that's not logical well that's the government i'm sorry i'm sorry i just applied logic to the federal that is a report from someone who contacted their student loan servicer excuse me lord forgive me jesus yeah okay um no i that's not that's not right george something's wrong i hope not well i mean that's not because that way that way the student loan lender would get the money. Yeah, the question is, where is this money, how are people going to get this money back if they've already paid?

And we don't know yet. He's thinking he's getting a check if he applies for it. Have you contacted your student loan servicer? Not yet. They don't know. I mean, nobody knows anything. It's all hearsay at this point. It's all what might happen if this crap goes through

and if it's declared legal instead of being an executive order, which, by the way, there's this thing called the Constitution that's kind of in the way. There's going to be lawsuits stopping this, and I don't know. I'm not worried about it. I wouldn't worry about it, CJ, until it happens, because it might not. And I've already caught enough crap on this subject nationally.

I mean, there's an entire parade of Dave Ramsey haters out there because I told people I think this whole thing is absolutely horrendous and bogus. I'm happy for people who get their loans forgiven, but when you take $300 billion, $300,000 million of other people's debt and put it on the back of the taxpayers it's just immoral as hell and uh while you're continuing to make the loans which is dishonest if you keep making the loans it's intellectually dishonest so i'm i'm sitting here i'll just be very open okay i'm sitting here trying to put cj's shoes on and walk in them and say, what would I do if I was in his shoes? And I'm having trouble doing it. And that's not to slam you, CJ, but I'm having trouble doing it because I think this whole thing is so bogus that to actually receive the check from this as like some kind of government benefit

after I've already paid off my loans, it just makes me want to puke. It makes me want to throw up. I got a little throw up in my mouth right now. And so it just, yeah, it just makes my blood boil. I'd continue on with the baby steps. There's so much wrong with it. And there's a part of me, CJ, that says you already paid off your loan. You ought to just keep moving with your life, dude.

There's a part of me that says that inside. I understand the other side of it. I get it intellectually. I'm just being a bit emotional. George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Lena is with us. Hi Lena, how are you? Hi Dave. Welcome, where do you live? I live in Frederick, Maryland. Oh, welcome to Nashville. Good to have you here. And so how much debt have you paid off? $53,500. All right, and how long did this take you? 28 months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? I started with $76,000 and by the end of last year it was around

$87,000. Good for you. What do you do for a living? So I currently work in management for Southwest Airlines and also part of this journey has been picking up as many side gigs as I have been able to in order to complete this journey. Cool we do a lot of stuff with Southwest it's a good company so very very cool. Very proud. What are your side gigs that you did? What's the best one that made you the most money? Well the one that helped me the most was a brand marketer. So I helped several brands, including wellness products and spirits and wines, promote their beverages. And yeah. And personal training. I took up a personal training gig as well because it's very exciting to help people improve their lives.

Wow. Very cool. Good for you. What kind of debt was the $54,000? So I had about $37,000 of student loan and $8,000 of credit card and another $8,000 remaining on my BMW car. Of course. Okay, very cool. So what happened to you 28 months ago that started this whole following the Ramsey way thing? Well, I had a friend at work at Southwest that a long time ago, she had posted something about Dave Ramsey and your total money makeover that impacted me in some way. But I honestly, I don't think that when I saw that post, I was ready to make those changes. It wasn't until a few years later that I met my fiance, Johnny, that he really lives by what you preach. He talks about Dave Ramsey this, Dave Ramsey that, the baby steps, and he watches your show daily, and it inspired me to learn learn more and I talked to him about my goals and the things

that I wanted to accomplish I moved from Venezuela when I was really young I was so long story short was born here moved to Venezuela when I was seven and came back at the age of 19 ready for college so that was like the beginning of my journey with that I didn't know what I was doing so I signed up for a loan that I obviously couldn't pay off because I didn't know what I was doing. So I signed up for a loan that I obviously couldn't pay off because I didn't have the right job to pay for it. And then everything trickled from there. So Johnny knew about my story and he wanted to help. So he bought me the book. And through the pandemic, I just felt like it was the perfect time to really focus on what you really wanted because there was nothing else to be worried about it. And while everybody else was, um, very few distractions. Yes. Very few distractions. Um,

I, I just use this time to kind of like hit the reset button and really focus and not let anything get on the way. That's awesome. He sounds like a keeper and it sounds like you're keeping them around. So that's great. You guys have a wedding date? Yes. March 25th. All right. That is awesome. He sounds like a keeper. That sounds like you're keeping him around. So that's great. You guys have a wedding date? Yes, March 25th. All right. That is awesome. And you're starting it debt-free. I assume he's debt-free as well.

He's been following this stuff. That's fantastic. Absolutely. So what was the hardest part for you? Was there a moment where you're like, oh my gosh, this is brutal? Yeah, I'm not going to lie to you. It's not easy.

It's almost, it felt like an identity crisis because you have like this lifestyle and you have this cool things that you like to do and you like to, like I work in the airline industry and I was a flight attendant for a very long time. So it becomes normal to travel and do cool things with your friends and all that. But in reality, you can't really afford that travel because it's not only the airfare you now have to pay to stay there and do all the other cool things that you want to do when you're traveling so it was just more of like that adjustment of that reality check of like hey I can't really do these things that

I think are okay of doing like I really have to change my ways and not really worry at all about what other people think because the thing is it's that's I think that's the hardest part you just just have to feel like you have to explain to people why you're doing the things that you're doing and break free from that I think for me that was the hardest part and obviously we get into this situation because you're not disciplined so getting the discipline to just stick to what you're doing and plan and strategize how you're gonna do it like for me I knew that with my salary alone I wasn't gonna be able to make that happen so how much more do I need every month in order to complete those payments I

actually wanted to pay it off in 24 months, but that was a little hard. It took me a little bit longer than 24, but close enough. So what do you tell people the absolute key to getting out of debt is? Well, the key would be to know that it's going to be really hard, that you are going to encounter a lot of bumps along the road, and that you just have to be true to yourself you are going to encounter a lot of bumps along the road and that you just have to be true to yourself true to your goal and think and honestly like revamp your value system you just have to change your values like the things that were important to you before they

can't continue to be important because then you're really not going to make it. And yeah, and just go from there. I think if you remind yourself every morning what you are, like what your goal is and just focus, focus, like write things down. I love to write things down in a journal where, and then I have a board in my bedroom that I write the things that I need to remind myself for that week. Cool. We're proud of you, Hero. Well done. Thank you. Very, very well done.

I know he's proud of you. He's sitting over there cheering you on. Life is good. And we're proud of him, too, because he helped you. This is great. Great handoff. I love it. Good, good work.

We've got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. Awesome. That's the next chapter in your story for sure, to go on and become millionaires as a newly married couple starting next march and financial peace university a one-year membership to that as well and if you guys haven't been through that you can go through it together as a premarital thing it's a really good pre-marriage class and uh as a part of your overall pre-marriage anyway work uh and a copy of total money makeover which you already got that means you can give this one away. So that's perfect. So good stuff.

Very, very, very well done. I'm so proud of you. Good, good work. All right, Lena from Frederick, Maryland. $54,000 paid off in 28 months, making $76,000 to $87,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. I'm debt-free! I'm debt-free!

Yeah! Yeah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Well done. With a kiss to top it off. Very well done. I love that. She upgraded her values. She used to value other people's opinion of her,

and now she values freedom and not owing anyone anything that's good that's a worthy upgrade in values right there good insight very good insight yeah there is something that happens in transformation that has to occur for you you know you can't keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result that's the definition of insanity. So this transformation idea is that it is more than simply a mathematical activity to get out of debt. The heart has to change. And that's what happened. Got to start caring about different things. And it's a superpower to not care what people think in America today.

That is one of the keys to building wealth. If you have that and common sense, you're a bona fide superhero and a unicorn at that yeah that's really cool but that is exactly what we need in america today yeah people of character with common sense who don't care what other people think there you go that's a magical formula yeah and um i i will share that that that you can go too far with the not caring what other people think. I want you to shower and have good hygiene and not be a jerk. Because I just truly don't care, and I really need to care a little bit. It's worked for you so far, Dave. I know, but I need to care a little bit.

It's kind of unkind at some point, and it's just like I just truly don't give a rip, and it's a bit of a problem. I need to be a little nicer. That's what makes you Dave. That's why we love you. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's it. That's exactly what it was. That's the whole definition of Dave. That's it. It's a bit of a problem. I need to be a little nicer. That's what makes you Dave. That's why we love you. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's it. That's exactly what it was.

That's the whole definition of Dave. That's it. It's that simple. Thanks, George. I'm here to make you feel good. Good job, Lena. Good work, good work, good work. Well done.

Awesome. This is The Ramsey Show. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Rick is with us. Rick is in Austin, Texas. Hi, Rick. How are you? Hi, Dave and George. I'm doing great. How are you guys? Better than we deserve, sir. What's up? Well, I just wanted to call and say thank you because it makes a huge difference when you purchase a vehicle in cash versus all the other ways I've done it over the years. So thank you, Dave.

Well, you're welcome. So you bought a car in cash? Yes, sir, I did. What'd you buy? We had a trade-in, my wife and I. It was a Subaru Ascent 2022, so a brand-new one. We made sure we met the guidelines that you usually lay out for that. But we went in, we purchased a car and spent less time than I've ever spent buying a car in my entire life, which was fantastic.

Wow. So are you guys Baby Steps Millionaires? Yes, sir. Oh my goodness. That's fantastic. Way to go, Rick. How long have you been doing this journey, following our stuff? My wife and I have been married for 10 years i've been on the program probably for about 15 that's awesome that's a living it out that's a perfect timing that's it fits the guy i mean it fits the standard case study of the millionaires the baby steps millionaires that we wrote about in baby steps millionaires the book because it shows people exactly how rick did what he did and people like him so way to go rick that's awesome man

love hearing that congratulations we're proud of you good work spencer's with us in columbia south carolina hi spencer how are you good hey dave how george how are you guys doing better than we deserve what's up so uh my wife and i we just had our first baby about a week and a half ago. Oh, congratulations. What'd you have? Thank you. It's a girl. So we're trying to get set up to start putting money away to save for college and just trying to think through the best way to do that. So I'm familiar with 529 plans, but it seems like there's a lot of different options out there for 529. And then I just wasn't sure if there was any other type of account that might be a better alternative. No, 529 is about the best thing there is, but you're right.

There is a bunch of options. The only option you want is the kind where you select the type of mutual funds that go in it, each individual fund, and it does not change unless you change it. It's not on autopilot of any kind gotcha okay yeah and if you got that one of our smart investor pros they can help you line those things up and um you know generally i just dump it into a simple growth stock mutual fund but what you don't want to get into is one of these things where they move the funds around as the kid gets older without uh it's kind of an autopilot thing. It's hypothetically lower risk, but it ends up being a stupid move.

Kind of like a target date fund retirement. So you don't want that. But there's a lot of state-specific ones, and you can choose one from a lot of states. So your SmartVestor Pro can help you choose the best one for what you're trying to do, which is awesome. Okay. And so the 529 is going to be better than just like standard mutual funds. I mean, I guess I was thinking if she doesn't end up going to college, is that money going to be tied up, you know, versus just putting it in typical mutual funds?

Well, anything, any type of furthering her education. I mean, if she goes to tech school, you can use it. And listen, you don't need to. I'm just going to be grandpa for a second. Train your child to be a continuous learner yeah post post high school doing zero education of any kind is not a good idea you are going to be you're going to be at a huge disadvantage in the marketplace so by god learn something somewhere if you're not doing if you know if you're not doing higher education, that's fine.

So quote college. But there needs to be some kind of a track that involves education. Because, you know, like for instance, I'll tell you, if we're interviewing someone to work at Ramsey for a leadership role, and we say, hey, what books have you read recently? And they say, I haven't. Interview's over. I don't need people in here who aren't learning and growing and getting better.

I read like crazy because I'm an idiot on some things. I don't know what's going on. I have to read a book about it, right? And so, you know, I've learned more post-education from books and classes and so forth than I did when I was in education or when I was going through getting a four-year degree. So you don't want to just get the school of hard knocks because the knocks are harder if you don't know where to dodge. And the other option for you is the ESA, the Education

Savings Account. Those are the only two I'd recommend for college saving. And I would rather have too much money for college than not enough. You can always change the beneficiary on that. And if she gets a scholarship, you can withdraw from the account for that amount. There's a lot of options here. So I would just go ahead and save. And we don't know what the cost of college is going to do. Probably skyrocket now with this forgiveness and everything they're doing with income-based repayment. So I'd go ahead and start saving now. Yeah, there is a lot. Thanks. the call man you're right that's a an opinion piece i saw the other day um uh actually deloney found it oh yeah i read that one uh that's mind that the the forgiveness is going to cause a further increase in tuition yeah because part

of the forgiveness program that's proposed if it comes through if it actually happens is that the rest of the balance can be done as a percentage of your income for the rest of your life and so just pay them for the rest of your life at five or ten percent of your income isn't that dumber than crud yes that's just because then colleges are going we can charge 400 000 you know why if you're so stupid that you did that, how'd you get out of college? I mean, if you're so dumb you sign up for that program, how'd you get out of school in the first place? The whole thing baffles me. It just baffles me, the stupidity on parade,

the island of misfit toys doing a dance. It's unbelievable. All right, let's see here. Luke is in Virginia. Hey, Luke, what's up? Hey, Dave, thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? So I learned financial peace in high school.

As a result, I have no student loan debt. I have no credit card debt. The only thing I owe any man is I was in a motorcycle accident a couple years ago, and so I have a few thousand dollars, maybe $3,000 in medical debt. I just settled with the insurance company for $900,000 because it almost took my leg. They told me if a car was going to hit me, it should be this one because it was insured by a major corporation and it was a business car. And so my question to you is as somebody with no debt and who is on, uh, believe baby step five and point of saving money for,

uh, kids for college. And I don't have kids yet. I'm not married yet. Uh, should I invest the $900,000 in mutual funds or given the volatility of the potential recession or the recession we're in right now, should I consider other investment options with that $900,000? Good Lord. How are

you doing? I have a metal rod in my leg and it'll be there for the rest of my life, but I have a personal goal of being able to run a 5k and uh i got to three miles last night so i'm not going to sit around and mope about it i'm gonna do everything i possibly can to to make a bad situation as good as i can man wow 900 grand how old are you 26 wow my goodness and do you do you own a home no i rent okay all right uh what do you do for a living or no what do you make what do you make what's your income i make 110 000 a year and then i have a small business on the side that brings in about 20 000 so around 130 000 a year and i take it you. Yes, but I plan to be married within the next year.

Be purchasing a ring as part of the settlement. Yeah. All right. I'm going to rattle this off real fast. Are you ready? Yes. Okay. You are a candidate for losing all of this money because you've never handled the money of this type before yep so i want you to not number one don't put money in anything you don't

understand if that means you just put it in a savings account forget it that's fine how you'll put it in three different banks forget it that's fine okay number two um were you dating her before all this happened? No. Get a prenup. Okay. Number three, you need to put a group of people in your corner that become your board of directors to help advise you. Insurance, number one, a good insurance broker that can help you with insurance. Number two, you need a good investment professional. Get a smart investor pro in your corner.

Number three, you need a good real estate agent in your corner because you probably need to buy a house that she helps you pick because she's going to be living there. And if you buy the house without her, you're going to buy the wrong one. So you need to get a good real estate agent. And have yourself a board of directors, a board of advisors that teach you all these different components of handling that amount of money well. And then you'll make good, slow, careful, wise decisions. There you go. This is The Ramsey Show.

Dave here. You can find all of our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. It's the only place to listen to the entire back catalog of episodes. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.