The Ramsey Show - App - Can I Catch Up on Investing if I Started Late? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 29, 2023

Rachel Cruze & Dr. John Delony answer your questions and discuss: "Should we stay in a paid for townhome?" "I feel like I'm behind on investing"  from the blog: Fastest Ways to Catch Up on Your Retirement Savings, "Should we still sell our house?" Being a blessing to your kids vs. enabling them, How to use a large life insurance payout. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Take our FREE 3 minute assessment: 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

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work they love, and create actual, real relationships. I am Ramsey Personality, Rachel Cruz, hosting today with fellow Ramsey Personality and best-selling author, Dr. John Deloney. So give us a call.

It's a free call anywhere in the country at 888-825-5225. And we're gonna go straight to the phones this hour. And Stan in Albany is up first. Hey, Stan, welcome to the show. Hey, guys. How you doing? We're doing well. Thanks for asking. How can we help? Yeah. First, I want to give a shout out to my brother-in-law for introducing me to

Money Makeover. It's changing my life. I'm on baby step two. I'll be able to pay off all my debts and complete baby step three, my six month fund by the end of December. Congrats. Thanks. I'm married just over a year, have a three month old. I'm working full time, have two other part time jobs. Hey, hold up. Hold up real quick. You just said we're hyper attentive to specific trigger words. And here's one of them. You said you're working hard to pay off your debts.

And then you said you're married. Yeah, I, I'm, I'm going to get into it, but I'm the sole financial provider for the household. Okay. Okay.

My wife works, but she, that's something we're not really on the same page about just yet. I know we're married already and we didn't really figure that part out yet. Hold on, hold on. So she works and she keeps all of her paycheck? Yes. And you're paying all the bills and everything for your...

Well, until we figured things out, I told her that I'm not willing to pay for her student loans that she brought into the relationship and her auto loan. Those are pretty much the only debts that I know of that she has. I don't know how much they are, really. How long have you been married? A year and three, four months. Okay. But I just, I want to clarify this, Stan, though, that do you pay for for your family's life, though? Like it's not like because some couples that have separate finances, you know, some pay the utility and the cable and the food and the other is the mortgage and all that. I provide everything.

OK. Yeah. And it's yeah. And I'm going to kind of get into it. Yeah. We'll let you keep talking. Yeah. Yeah.

So I'm working full time. I have two other part timetime jobs that I'm working. My average take home after taxes is like 8,300 to 8,700 a month. Okay. I mean, again, I'm acting as a sole financial provider for the household. I currently live in, well, we currently live in a paid for two bedroom, one and a half bath townhome. The rent and the utilities are paid for. Like it doesn't come out of my pay. So the 83, the 8,700, that's what I truly take home each day.

Who pays for that? Each month. So that's part of my full-time job management agreement for the property. I manage the property and it's part of my agreement with them on my compensation, which is a big plus. So that's what kind of leads me to, I know we've got to talk about the marriage and finances, but my big question that I called about here was how long can I really stretch this out? I mean, given how advantageous of a situation that I have, I have the ability to update the unit with a finished basement, a full bath to meet our needs as we grow as a family, as we have another child. And if I could, I mean, if it was up to me,

I'd live here forever. What work are you doing? Are you working for like an HOA? What work are you doing? No, no, no. I'm a real estate manager. For like a real estate company? And they just gave you one of these, their homes. Yeah. It's a family company. I'm self-employed. I mean, I I'm employed by the company. I have my own company as well. So your mom and dad, uh, different family members. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So your, so your big question is what stated again. So. So, I mean, it's an ideal situation. If I could, I would stay here forever. Yeah.

I mean, it's a more than ideal situation for maximizing what I can throw at building wealth, retirement, college fund, et cetera. Okay. I really want to know, like, how long can I really stretch this out for, I guess? The living situation? mean yeah i mean to answer that question stan i mean you can stretch out as long as you as long as you want i mean we talk to people that are in new york city and they're in a two-bedroom with three kids and you know what i mean like i mean you can you can do that as as long as possible because because it sounds like from the living situation, if everything's good with the family and it sounds like it's part of your management agreement, all of that, that all makes sense to me.

Rachel, would you put a bunch of money in a house that you don't have any equity in? To finish out the basement and all that? No, nothing would come out of my pocket. The house is brand new. It's a brand new townhome. And yeah, if I did the upgrade to finish the basement, put another full bath in the basement, and then the second bedroom, put a full bath in there. And the business will pay for that? Come out of my pocket. Okay. The business pays for it. And the business is paying for where you guys live now. Yeah. Yeah. So the reason

you're calling and asking this question means that either you or your one foot in, one foot out spouse doesn't want to live there much longer, probably her. No, I mean, she hasn't said like how much longer. I think the one foot out is more so in relation to again the finances yeah uh i mean she chooses when she wants to contribute i said i don't know that's not kind of how i want to live i mean you're either all in or not i mean i've only been listening to you guys for a month here but i mean i'm hooked and the books changed my life yeah and to give her you know to give her a little credit stand i mean you know he you know books changed my life and yeah and to give her you know to give her a little credit Stan I mean you know he you know you just came in one day and was like I'm

learning all this new stuff let's get get on board and let's do it like she probably is a little whiplash of like whoa this isn't the guy that I married this isn't there's the get out of debt whiplash but there's not the I'm gonna work and I keep all of mine you pay for everything in the house that's not whiplash. No, but it is if that's how they've been functioning for a year and a half of marriage. And then last month he comes in and she's like,

whoa, why are you changing everything? So she's probably like, what's going on? Yeah. They should have had this conversation before they got married. Oh, I know. A hundred percent, ideally.

But they haven't. How much does she make, Stan? She's a pharmacist. So I think she makes probably over a hundred thousand. Oh, wait. And you don't, so I think she makes probably over $100,000. Oh, wait. And you don't even know really what she makes, though, huh? No.

Yeah. And you said you had a kid together? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, three-month-old. Okay. Okay. I mean, we started going to therapy.

Yeah, that's great. I think that's great. We had problems that started because of... I believe it. We're not clear on finances between each other. Yeah, I believe it. Absolutely. Okay.

So from the house standpoint, I would say I would follow the baby steps. So I would get out of debt. Like you said, you're going to, at the end of the summer, get a fully funded emergency fund. And then for you guys as a family, it is a great step to go and purchase a home on your own, have a good down payment, all of that, so that you're building the equity to your point, John. But relationally, Stan, that's a much bigger issue. This marriage does not go very far unless y'all get on the same page ASAP. So hold on the line and Austin's going to pick up. We're going to give you a year of

Financial Peace University and see if she will go through it with you so you guys can get on the same page. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I am Rachel Cruz hosting today with Dr. John Deloney. And hey, you guys, if you have found the show recently or you've been a longtime listener, one of the best ways to spread the word beyond just us being out there on the airwaves and podcasts and all the things, YouTube, is for you to share the show. So if you love it, please tell your friends and family about it. This has been something that has really helped us get the word out more and more

because we want to see people become financially free. We want to see people have healthier relationships. We want to see people love their jobs. More than helping us, it helps your neighbor who's never heard of this. Yes. When you're sitting at home wondering, how do people get in all this credit card debt?

It's because they literally don't know. They're just doing what they were told. And this helps when you like it and share it, it kicks it up in the algorithms and it just it offers the show to more random people yep that's right

helps your neighbors out exactly that's it so we want to see this message of hope that we talk about every day on the show to be out within your family

within your community and within your friends so make sure to share the show again that helps us out so so much all right up next we have

here we go Jean-Pierre from Orlando Jean-Pierre from Orlando that helps us out so, so much. All right, up next we have, here we go. Jean-Pierre from Orlando. Jean-Pierre from Orlando. Welcome to the show. Hey, guys, how's it going? Good, how are you? Thank you so much.

Good, you guys did well. Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre. Ah, so close. So close. Great name, though. Thank you, thank you. I was just calling because I'm a longtime listener. Love you guys. I guess I have a question. I have, I'm currently a full-time graduate student and I was working full-time up until the point when I started graduate school a 401k. I didn't have any debt, but I don't have any debt, thankfully. And I guess I'm

thinking now, because everything you see is invest young because compound interest and whatnot. And now that I'm not investing anything, I guess I can't help shake in the back of my mind. Am I hindering what I'm going to be able to do in the future as far as investment? Because I didn't continue investing during these years where I'm not in school. Yeah, I'm in school, I should say. Yep. It's a great question because there is very much this urgency type of, you know, wording that people use when it comes to investing because because mathematically it is true, right? When you look at the math, you're like, oh my gosh, like, yeah, the earlier you start, the better off you're going to be. But you, because how old are you? I'm 27. 27. Okay. And how much longer is grad school? I have two more years. Okay. So you won't start really

probably picking back up investing until 29, 30 years old. Yes, that's right. Yep. And from that point on, you're going to be fine. You're good, brother. You are. You are totally fine. What you're doing right now, honestly, is the smartest thing. Because if you're ever doing something big like higher education, if you're in school, we always say, hey, pause, save up cash, and make sure that you can get through it debt-free. Because a lot of life can be thrown at you in this. And we don't want you taking out student loans and all of it. So what you're doing now is what we'd say, quote unquote, investing in yourself. Right. Yeah. You're part of your portfolio.

Yep. That's right. So instead of dumping it into 401, you're just dumping it into Jean-Pierre. Yep. And that's the wisest thing to do, honestly, for the present. And then when you get out and you start working and you have no debt, you have cash saved up for an emergency fund, you can press play and invest 15% of your income into retirement and you are going to be just fine. Trust me. And this isn't even math. I did the exact same thing you're talking about.

Actually on several occasions. So you're good to go. Me and my wife are doing fine. That's super good to hear. I appreciate that perspective from both of you. Yeah, you're good, man. The fact that you're even asking this question and thinking about it, that tells me're gonna be all right yeah um congratulations ma'am i know i do love the calls and we'll even get some teenagers 18 19 year olds in here and then the people in their 20s and

they're like freaking out because yeah they're doing this or they're trying to pay off the debt and like well what about retirement i'm like thank you for even asking because i read a stat that it was something like how 75 percent of millennials won't have enough for retirement or something. It was something crazy the other day. And the fact again, that you're asking these questions and you're aware to even do it, you're going to be fine. So thanks so much for the call. All right. Up next, we have Brayden in Memphis, Tennessee. Hey, Brayden, welcome to the show. Hey, Rachel. Hey, John. How are you? How can we help? I got a quick question for you.

So I'm 22. My wife is 23. And we actually paid our house off about eight months ago. Wow. Congratulations. Thank you. So we actually are thinking about selling it now. We've got a pretty good bit of equity in it.

And so it's been on the market. And now that we have several people interested in it, I'm kind of chickening out because we inherited some land on 100 acres. So we were planning on building, but now that everything just seems so unsteady, it's kind of scary

to sell the house and go into this build because the plans that my wife has had drawn up, we're going to have to borrow about $120,000. So my question to you is, should I still sell this house? And is it okay for me to take this $120,000 loan to build up, you know, a pretty nice house? Sure. Okay. So how much is the house worth how much is the current the current house yeah the house that you would sell 270 270 okay and how much do you guys make a year um we're making about 120 120 good for you guys um i mean yeah when it comes to especially right now building a home

i would get multiple bids talk to multiple builders because people the pricing in it is going to vary greatly obviously depending on probably their work and customization but also the materials they use all of it so I would go and and definitely bid out and making sure that you get you're getting the price that you want and yeah I'm I'm fine with you selling and taking out taking out a small loan to be able to do this, but I would still follow what we talk about here at Ramsey, that you'll get the building loan, and then when it turns into your monthly mortgage payment, making sure that it is still less than 25% of your take-home pay

and that you guys have cash set aside for an emergency fund, that you're still walking the baby steps in this process. I have about $105,000 saved up. So we're going to be throwing that with the $270,000. So it's going to be more like, you know, around half a million dollars is what we'll be building for. Okay. So after I set back, I guess, $25,000 for emergency fund. The thing is, it mainly scares me is that being on that variable rate for construction loan, you just kind of don't know what's going to happen in the process of building. Yep. I want to give you an alternative vision, Brayden. Y'all paid your house off eight months

ago. So the first month after you pay that off, it's kind of weird. And the second month, you just kind of go crazy. The third, fourth, fifth month, you pay that off, it's kind of weird. And the second month you just go kind of go crazy. The third, fourth, fifth month, how has that felt? It's been awesome. Like you have no bills, right? Yeah, no bills. So what I have found in my life, the couple of times I've thought, I'm just going to go, how much do I qualify?

And then when they tell me how much I qualify, then I start looking for houses in that general vicinity, right? Before I was like all in on the Ramsey plan. I spent way more, I had projected in my house to spend way more for a house than I would have if I had X amount of dollars to go spend on a thing. And so you have drawn up plans for a $500,000 house, you've got cash, you got equity, you're going to have all this money. Man, when they come to you and show you what they could do with the front yard and with the pool, that $120,000 can go to $300,000 without you even sneezing. There's something different about what if you and your wife said, we want to do this. We inherited the land. The land's not going anywhere. Construction rates are a mess. Everything's up different about what if you and your wife said, we want to do this. We inherited the land. The land's not going anywhere.

Construction rates are a mess. Everything's up and down and sideways. What if we pretended we were in baby step two again and we saved up $120,000 over the next two years and we walked in with this much dollars to spend? And it gave this absolute feeling. I'm telling you right now, your anxiety is going to be way, way lower because you've got a, here's how much we can spend

and contractor who's going to be needing work. Here's how much we got for you. And then you're going to be able to walk into a new place debt-free. You see what I'm saying? Because there's no rush. There's no rush. And you guys are still young.

It's not like, oh my gosh, we're going to retire and have to pull money out. There's not any of that conversation going on. So yeah, even if you guys are still young. It's not like, oh my gosh, we're going to retire and have to pull money out. You know, there's not any of that conversation going on. So yeah, even if you guys just pause for two, three, four years with your income, John's right. You could save it up. And then you have this absolute figure in your head where it doesn't start to creep up because with building house or renovations, it creeps.

So thanks so much for theations, it creeps. Thanks so much for the call, Brayden. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. So one of the, I don't know, pros or cons of living in 2023 with social media is you see everything. You see all different types of advice and opinions. I know I'm an old man, but I sure miss the days when I just didn't know what was going on. I know, I know. But when it comes to money, I mean, relationships,

God, there's like so much there all over for your line of work. But with money, everyone feels like a financial expert these days. And they all have like their little shortcut or like their thing that you need to do. The hacks. Oh, yeah. Figure it and it's it feels like it's everywhere so uh james our producer came across this video we watched it and i was like yep this is what's out there so i haven't seen it yet so i'm looking let's address it so james i'll play it parents instead of kicking your kids out at 18 keep them home until they're 25 and charge them $250 per month for rent.

When they turn 25, give that money back to them. That would be almost $21,000. Then they can use that as a down payment for their future home. Trust me, your kids will thank you. Just like Billy Madison, everyone in the room is now dumber for what we've heard. Oh, my God. Wow. Let me start off on the positive note since I'm like positive penny over here.

I'm negative Nelly this week, so go ahead. The idea, the motivation, the concept of, hey, help your kids save and let them have some money for a down payment yes absolutely yes absolutely secretly doing it by forcing them to live at home and pay rent and then keeping a secret account that you're gonna yeah and then suddenly here it is no because Because, no, no, on many reasons. We're not mad at grown adults. I'm not. I'll speak for me. I'm not mad at grown adults living with their parents for a period of time. I'm not either.

If there is a life transition that is happening, you've moved to the city where they are and you want to live there for a bit, whatever it is, right? There are reasons. And again, great reasons for adult children to move back home for a period of time and not for this nebulous, oh, I'm just saving money on rent. Or till 25, seven years. I'm going to just keep going. Yeah, no, no, no, no. For a period of time with an end date,

very specific, all of it, because there is such power when you're a young adult, when you're 22, 23, and you're having to figure out the world, there's just, very specific, all of it, because there is such power. When you're a young adult, when you're 22, 23, and you're having to figure out the world, there's just, I mean, there's something in that dignity. There's this idea that I have to now problem solve and I can't just fall back on my parents. And those lessons and skills

that you learn through problem solving are what you lean on when you're 30 and 40 and 50 and through the rest of your life. So if you, it's like, I'm going to teach you how to do, to bench press and I'm going to get under the bench press bar and I'm going to push it up for you. And then you help at the very end. And then at the end, I'm going to tell you, clap for you, tell you how strong you are. What you're robbing your kid of is um strength yep like the the steps you have to take the day in and day out stuff i mean it's just it's a

long-term game and i'm all for i'm all for rachel not only going home for a season that's great yeah i'm also if you're have have put yourself in a position if you've gotten lucky in life if you've taken care of your money and you've handled it well, I can think of no more awesome gift than at my kid's wedding to hand them a set of keys or to say, I got you a house for your wedding or whatever. Or your down payment for your home. I would love to do that. It'd be amazing to be in that position to do that, but I'm not going to trick you. That's right. And I'm not going to like reverse, you know, you live with me for seven years till you're 25 and then I'm not going to trick you. That's right. And I'm not going to like reverse, you know, you live with me for seven years till you're 25.

And then I'm going to sneak 20,000. But that just, come on. That just doesn't work. I know. So again, the concept of helping your kids understand money and letting them save all of it. Yes,

we are all for that. But I mean, it's kind of the secrecy or the trickery or the like, and they're not even into your point. I'm'm like they're not learning to save they think they're paying rent so then when they go off on their own at 25 they have no like ability to know how to delay gratification because they haven't been doing that i'd rather sit down and teach them how investing works and if they wake up at 25 and they've chosen not to put 250 in an account yeah um then that's the choice they've made. That's right. That's right.

And there is such a fine line with enabling. Oh, yeah. We talk about it all the time. And a blessing, right? Because like you said, I'm like, yeah, if you have the ability and your kids are at a place where you feel like, yeah, emotionally they can handle it, it's not going to damage them, to do something crazy like buy them their first house or a down payment on their first house. Like, right?

Like you could do stuff. And we talk about changing our family treats, that kind of stuff. Because if you don't ever have a mortgage and you invest your mortgage payment, what would have been- You're changing your great, great kid's life. Then that changes their kid's life.

I mean, like, yeah, the ball keeps rolling, which is amazing. And that's part of the freedom we want, that money isn't this thing that is so burdensome. Burdensome, yeah. Burdensome. Yeah. In our lives.

But again, so what's the balance of that, John, versus it bleeding over into, I don't even want to say entitlement. It's more enabling. This is an unpopular sentiment, and we do it innately, but the higher the stakes get, the more dramatic we get about it.

One of my kids, I got two, one of my kids, I can say, hey, do you want some ice cream? And they'll be like, yeah, that'd be awesome. And I can give them one scoop and they're like, yes. If I give one of my other kid like, hey, you want some ice cream? I will find them digging through the mini marshmallows at 2 a.m like right and so one kid introducing sugar in a in a in a certain context is enabling I'm making a bigger mess one of my kids can handle it so I think enabling the balance is have I trained you and taught you and have you demonstrated the character to handle what I'm about to,

the gift slash burden I'm about to hand you? Because it's both. Yeah. Can you handle this? And if you can't, I love you enough to not do that, right? And so it's super fun to give something as a parent. It's not fun to withhold, but the right thing to do is you're not ready for this, then I'm not going to do that. Okay. So let's talk about like a realistic situation. If there is a parent out there and they're like, yeah, I have two grown kids. One can handle it, one can't. Do you give one?

In this extreme example, a house. Let's just go extreme. Do you give one a house and one not? The way I would frame that was, since they were little, I would say, you are making choices. And if you choose this and this and this, then you're choosing to enter into this, right?

Yeah. And often parents will say like, if you talk that way in this house, you're out of here. I'm not going to weaponize my relationship with my kids in that way. What I will tell my kids is, if you choose to be disrespectful to mom, you're choosing to leave

and the house doesn't work well when you choose that. Similarly, if I have an adult child who is the same as we tell people from California, yeah, but houses just cost this much. Math is still the same. And so my adult responsibilities are still the same no matter how hard the conversation is. If I have an adult child who I have to look at and say, you've made these choices, so therefore you've opted out of this blessing I was going to put in front of you. And I'm not going to hold that I took this from you.

No, you chose, you opted out and you're an adult and you get to do that. This is where we found ourself. Now, if I'm going to use it for like, you're coming to all my Christmases or whatever, then you're doing it for, that's a power move. And that's a whole other pathology, right? A whole, yes.

A whole other thing there. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that that balance is one that I think a lot of parents ask and want to know as you start to raise your kids. And it's like, yeah, how do I give them blessings? And we even talk about this in our house and we have little ones seven five and three but it's like there's a point that yeah we

want to enjoy our lives and go to disney world or whatever the thing is and have fun but also there's a a normalcy that we want to create that's not that right disney world i think if somebody that there's i think if somebody like um let's take LeBron James, whose son is an outstanding basketball player, or one of his sons is. Because LeBron James is so good at basketball and is in the NBA, it doesn't give his kid a pass on learning all the drills. And so there may be better coaches, there may be better access, all that's great. His son's still got to do the hard work. And so if I am in a different financial position, I've got more money than my parents did when I was raised.

Great. The lessons that my kids have to experience and learn stay the same. Throughout it. Yes. It's still consistent because they're still going to be off on their own and life is going to be there whether you like it or not. And so training them and building that up in them so that they can survive the world is what's key.

So, so good, John. So, so good. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. All right, so a lot of you have questions about taxes and we get it because taxes are confusing and to help you better understand how to handle them. Let's unpack a question from one of our listeners. Our kids are in college and have part-time jobs. Can we still claim them as dependents if they're filing their own tax returns? So yes, you can usually claim your college students as dependents on your tax return,

even if they're filing their own tax return. So you need to check a couple of boxes first. So number one, they must be a full-time student and they need to indicate on their return that they are being claimed as a dependent on someone else's taxes. Number two, they must be under age 24 at the end of the tax year. Number three, they must live with you for more than half of the year. Being away at school doesn't count against this requirement. Number four, they must file single, not jointly. And number five, you

must provide more than 50% of their financial support for expenses like housing, food, clothes, education, medical care, all of that. So if you are confident about filing your own taxes, then head to ramseysolutions.com slash tax. There you'll find Ramsey Smart Tax with low upfront pricing and no hidden fees. Or you can connect with a Ramsey Trusted Tax Pro like one of our endorsed local providers. Again, that's all at ramseysolutions.com slash tax. Up next, we have Billy in Orlando. Hey, Billy, welcome to the show. Thank you. Absolutely. How can we help? Well, so I got some life insurance when my husband passed back in June of 22. I'm sorry. And yeah, so I paid up all my debt except my house.

And I also am eligible to get some pension money from him when he was in the union. Okay. And so I am still working, but my income is like $2,800 a month. And my house payment is $1,350. So I haven't paid that off. So I still have like $278,000. I'm just wondering, should I pay off my house? Um, since it's like half of my income, my house payment is. And, um, also on the pension, I'm trying, I'm deciding I have a couple options,

whether they want to give me a monthly payments for the rest of my life or a payment every month for 60 months. And then that's it. So I'm just trying to decide what to do, especially about the house and what I should do with the pension. Yeah, absolutely. So you have $278,000 left of the inheritance that you got? Yes. Okay. And how much is left on the house? $194,000. $194,000. $194,000. Okay.

And how old are you, Billie? 65. 65, okay. And you're working, so you're making around $30,000, $35,000 a year. And the pension, how much is it? I'm making like $67,000 a year. $67,000 a year. Oh, yes.

Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, yes, yes. And how much is the pension the pension if i take the 60 months of payments of twenty nine hundred dollars and i roll those payments into something i don't pay any taxes on of course till i take it out but if i otherwise i have they have to take 20% off the top. Yes. And do you, do you have any retirement? Do you have any savings on your own? Okay.

I have a 401k. It only has 50,000 in it though. 50,000. Okay. Um, are you in a job that you can continue to work on for the next five or six years? Yep. Okay.

Yeah. I work from home for a years? Yep. Okay. Yeah. I work from home for a company in Alaska. Okay. Okay. How much is the house worth, Billy? About, well, I think it's valued like at $270,000. $270,000. Okay.

So, yeah. So, I mean, obviously, you have the money to be able to pay off $194,000, and it would be done, and you can continue to work and put money away, and you'll get money from this pension and all of it. But I do want to ask the hard question, Billy. Is the home something that you do want to keep? Do you see yourself ever maybe downsizing or moving to something else? I don't know. I like the community I'm in. I'm in a gated community, 55 and older. Okay.

So, and I really, and it's only like five minutes down the road from my mom and dad who are in their 80s. Yep. Yep. Okay. No, that's great. I just wanted to ask because we do talk to some people, whether it's a relationship change, whether through a death or a divorce, and they have a big asset like a home. And they say, man, maybe I could, for financial purposes, downsize and do something different. But if that's not what you want to do right now, we're not in these treacherous waters necessarily

where it feels like this is the only thing you would have to do. So that's not the case. But it sounds like if she paid her house off today, she'd have $80,000 left from the inheritance that she can immediately roll in. So then she's got $130,000. And then she takes 60 months of these payments. So suddenly overnight, she's got a couple hundred thousand dollars in retirement. And you've got absolutely zero risk, no liabilities.

There's nobody coming to get your stuff because you don't have any payments in the world. If you could just snap your fingers, you look up and it's a couple of years from now, you've got a couple hundred thousand dollars in retirement. You've got no bills. You're making $67,000 a year. You're not going to be rich, but it feels like you'd be safe. Does that feel right? Right. And then Social Security, I know, will be close to $4,000 a month.

Yeah. Yeah. By the time I retire. If you were my mom, I would tell you, I have no risks and liabilities. So go ahead and pay your house off, take the rest of that money, put that into retirement accounts. And let's roll the same one. The pension's over as well. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Rolling those over and getting as much of a lump sum as possible. If that ends up becoming an option for you, Billy, being able to do that. And all of this, Billy, there's a lot of nuts and bolts when it comes to looking at your entire financial picture. So I would

recommend sitting down with one of our SmartVestor pros just to look through and say, okay, here's my entire financial picture. Because at 65, to be able to say, hey, yeah, for the next 20, 30 years that I have left, what is it going to look like? What does my lifestyle need to look like? And being able to map out the next couple of decades, I think will be really, really helpful. So if you stay on the line, Austin's going to pick up and help connect you with someone there in Orlando. And that's always a helpful conversation, again, because they're going to be able to show multiple ways of what to do and run those numbers with very specific of what the market's doing currently than we're able to do here on like a three,

four minute radio call. So I'm sorry for your loss, Billy, but yeah, definitely we would recommend paying it off just like John said, and continue to invest the rest of that inheritance though, so that you are making interest off that money that you can start to live off of. I also want to just applaud you, Billy. If you were here in the studio, I'd give you a hug. I'm so proud of you for being still. It's so hard when you get the lump sum of money like that. I feel like I got to do something with it. I got to do this thing. And we always tell folks, take six months, take a year just to be still. And that's what you've done. And now you're never going to forget your husband is never going to not be painful, but the fog has lifted a little bit and you're moving forward. You're saying you're making plans for the next couple of decades

and you bought yourself a significant amount of peace just because you were still. And so congratulations and everybody out there who has a big loss in their life. Sometimes the most important thing to do and the hardest thing to do is to just sit still for a minute and just exhale for a minute and sit in it. And the time will come, time will come, time will come. Yeah. And so that we, I mean, what would you say even up to a year? Would you put a timeframe? Yeah. That if something were to, if something big happens, like a loss, a death, and you get a big sum of money just to allow yourself to grieve and process what just happened without having to make big financial decisions.

The guy who was my, the guy who trained me in crisis response, Dr. Young, Andy Young, he's a brilliant guy from Texas. I also went to him when I had experienced loss and his recommendation, do nothing for nine months to a year. So good. Don't change jobs. Don't change houses. Just sit. Just sit still.

So smart. There's just a difference when the fog lifts. So good. And hey, you guys, all those of you that are new listeners out there and you want to deep dive into the Ramsey baby steps, make sure to go to ramseysolutions.com and click on the get started button. We're going to help you figure out what step you are on right now

and where you can learn all the lingo and all the stuff that we talk about here on the show. But it is really, really helpful. So again, ramseysolutions.com and click that get started button for all you new listeners. Thank you so much, John. Great hour.

And thank you, America. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Dr. John Deloney. If you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to RamseySolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's RamseySolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.