The Ramsey Show - App - Can I Comfortably Retire on $3 Million? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental 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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us, America. Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Number one best-selling author with her new book out for sale on pre-sale right now, Take Back Your Time, The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance.

Be sure you check that out at RamseySolutions.com. We're here to talk to you about your life and your money. The phone number, 888-825-5225. Jacob is with us. Hey, Jacob, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how are you doing? Great, man. What's up?

Not much. So I've got a good problem, so to speak. My wife and I, we've been really good with money ever since we've been married. Never really had any debt other than our house. I had a good opportunity to make some good money the past years at work, but recently I took a promotion, which kind of came with a pay cut because there was no overtime. And so I'm trying to get our family locked down on budgeting. And I've had some resistance the past years with my wife,

and it's not because she's not great with money, but she's a full-time teacher. She's a mom of four kids and runs our house. And so the problem is she pays for a lot of our mislany expenses that are not like mortgage utilities, things of that nature. And so I need her input and her information to help make our budget work. But usually every time I need to get it, she's just so busy it becomes a little bit of a tense conflict between us, and it just stops. So I don't know if you had any advice on how to kind of get your wife on board when she's busy and she's great with money, but it's hard to make a budget when you can't get her half of what she's spending

and try to figure that whole thing out. She's not busy. She doesn't want you telling her what to do. Busy's an excuse. I was like, go on, Dave. She is busy, but busy is an excuse. She doesn't want you telling her what to do. And you told me three times how good she is with money, and yet she doesn't do a budget.

So she's not good with money. That's also BS. How much pay cut did you take? I feel like that that's coming into play somehow. Well, I worked a ridiculous amount of overtime. I'm in law enforcement, and so, as you know, the crime rate's been kind of spiking around the country. So I went from probably the 170 range because of all the overtime down to about 110 and did y'all talk about that extensively and all the repercussions of that decision before

it happened oh absolutely um i was in a very uh high use area of law enforcement, and so I was gone a lot. And we kind of realized there was a certain shelf life with that, and so the promotion was the best way out of that because it came with a guaranteed pay increase, but I could be home a lot more and not, you know, getting burnt out so much. Yeah. All right, cool. Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing.

You have been handling all the money and giving her an allowance to run the household on, and she doesn't want you tinkering in her allowance. So you have to have a bigger vision to get her to speak into this, and the bigger vision includes her voice counts, her vote counts. She is not going to have things taken away from her, but she is going to hold herself accountable. And you both are going to be held accountable to a plan that you put in place to cause your future to happen. And that is simply we're going to sit down.

We're going to sit down and do a the kids are going to go to bed and we're going to sit down. We're going to turn off the television and we're going to have, you know, it takes about 45 minutes a week for the first 90 days. And after that, it takes about 20 minutes a week to keep a budget going. So it does not take that much time. This is about more than time. Well, and the other thing, Jacob, and I'll tell you because my husband and I do this exactly like this. We will decide in advance when we're going to have that conversation. So if he came to me about anything, when I'm in the middle of putting meals on the table

or wrangling the kids, no, that's not a good time to do that thing, because you are. It's all hands on deck when the kids are up. But if you say, hey, I'd like for us to work on the budget on Sunday night at 8. Does that work for you? And she says, yes, that works for me, or no, let's do this time instead. And you literally put it on the counter. Okay, so I just want to be, are we on the same page here? Sunday night at 8, the kids are down.

We're going to get the kitchen cleaned up. We're going to sit down and work on this together. Is that good for you? Just agree on it. Because I want your input and because I want us to be in agreement about where our future is going. We've done a good job to date, but with this pay cut, I'm really nervous and i need your help yeah and you and you plan it plan when you're going to have that conversation and then you do so then when sunday night comes like okay here we go it's just agreed upon it's not in this in the moment trying to

squeeze in a major conversation when life can be chaotic so just put it on the calendar and again like dave said share the why of it why does this matter why and how you value her opinion and it's going to give a different tone to it that um that will hopefully make it make it go better yeah you guys have never agreed on your spending before you together uh you agreed on the mortgage stuff and that she got x number of dollars after that to run the household in quotes uh whatever that meant to her and you didn't care what it meant and so but now you have to care which is good so you're going to aim at the future a little bit more detail and say we're as a couple we're going to set the vision for where we want to be in 10 years and as

a couple we're going to decide what we have to do to accomplish that vision yeah the budget would reflect that and jacob i mean when you're having this conversation one other thing i'll throw in there i know we're giving you several several tips here but ask her why she doesn't want to do it i i'm a direct person sometimes i'm like if i sense resistance be like hey seems like you don't want to do this just tell me why she's already told him she's too busy i know that's not true no but keep that's what i mean keep pressing say no like sunday night we're not busy or whatever time hey is it because you feel like i'm taking money away is it because you feel like you don't get to say is it because you whatever just ask some open-ended questions and then maybe if you peel away the layers there

the first answer you might get is she's busy but then once you keep pressing and and in a loving way it might be like hey i'm really scared of what we're you know what it's going to look like or i'm scared i'm not going to have money for then you start to be able to solve things at the root issue which is actually where they need to be solved it's not this surface level busy conversation you actually get to what's really going on so don't be afraid to ask some of those direct questions but ask them in love and then you might find the real answer so you can start to work at it at that level. Yeah. From 30 years of doing this, my suspicion is that it feels like you're taking away some of her power. Yeah.

Because this is an area that you're asking to move into her territory. This has been delegated to her, and now you're actually wanting to know what's going on, and she doesn't like you having a voice in it and because she's used to running it and leave me alone and i haven't done a bad job and there's no reason well there is a reason we need to do this together yeah and make a decision together yeah and uh it can be some of the biggest fights you have if you don't get through that it's a big deal very very very important so folks when you learn to do a plan together, a spending plan together, that's what Rachel calls it because she likes to spend, a spending plan. That's all a budget is.

You're telling your money what to do instead of wondering where it went. As a couple, when you are married and you decide together where you're doing that, you are officially deciding what's important to you. As a couple, both of you have a say, and we join our values into one. And we say, as a couple, we think this is more important than that. We think this thing here is a big deal. We want to get both of these done, but this one's going first. And when you start making those decisions together, you create a level of unity in your relationship that you can create no other way.

A budget is unique in doing that as a marriage enhancement tool. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, I'm Christi Wright. Listen, I know how easy it is to feel anxious in our crazy, busy world. That's why I want to tell you about an app called Glorify. Glorify is the number one daily worship and well-being app, and it will give you tools that will help you ease stress and anxiety in your life. Just search for Glorify in your app store. It's free to download and use. And if you like it, you can access their entire content library at half price by using the promo

code Christy. So download Glorify today. Christy Wright, Ramsey personality, is my co-host, number one best-selling author, and author of the new book on pre-sale now. It launches in early September. Take Back Your Time, The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance. If you get it at RamseySolutions.com in the store, you will find it's a $20 book, but it comes with $100 plus worth of goodies that go with it. All kinds of fun things happening, including a live stream that she and I are doing on launch week.

And all about life balance. And so she's doing it. I'm going to yak a little bit. And so, but anyway, we're looking forward to this book launch. It is a fabulous book on balancing your life. This whole thing of life balance has got so many lies out there about it and so much guilt and shame around the subject, and Christy's cut through all of that and put together this great book.

So 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Take Back Your Time is the book, the guilt-free guide to life and to balance. All right. Let's try. Wait a minute. So what did you say, Laura? She said no.

No phones right now. Phones are dead. Oh, great. Okay. That's cool. All right. Well, let's yak about this then because it's a good subject. Let's talk about the lies because you're right. There's a lot of guilt and shame around this topic here's what i've found we don't

know what balance is we just know we don't have it and so we have this feeling that haunts us that we're always failing no matter what we do we're doing the wrong thing and and that's why i love this subtitle the guilt-free guide to Balance, because similar to what we were saying earlier, Dave, in the conversation about money, there's always the issue below the issue. And if we don't address the deeper issues that are at play with how we manage our time, then the symptoms are going to keep creeping up again and again in our calendar. And so I really dig into what's going on that keeps us from feeling like we are doing the right things at the right time and showing and showing people what that looks like in a practical way.

I was actually hosting the Ramsey show with Ken last week or two weeks ago, and we were talking about this. And I think it's one of those things where there's a seasonality to our life. And so whether someone is starting a new job, paying off their debt and baby step number two, they have a new baby, you know, whatever that looks like, the season you're in will affect how you spend your time, what's right for you right now, and even what your version of balance looks like. I don't think enough people talk about that. They don't talk enough about the season you're in and how that affects what you spend your time on. And, you know, it occurs to me that you get tired, exhausted physically.

You can get exhausted emotionally. You can even get exhausted intellectually. Your brain just starts to hurt. And in almost every one of those types of exhaustion where the fatigue is, you know, smothering. It's not because you were busy. Yeah. It's because you were living in chaos. Yeah. Yeah.

And you felt like that you were, there's this internal thing pulling at you the whole time you're busy that you're doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. And that exhausts you more thoroughly than just being tired from working. Yeah. thoroughly than just being tired from working. Yeah, and it can feel when you're in one of the seasons where you are tired or exhausted or stressed, it can feel like it's going to last forever and it doesn't. And so even remembering this is the season, a season of getting out of debt, a season of little kids, a season of whatever, it won't last forever. It gives you a new level of strength and even more of an objective perspective to be able to get through that season because you know it's not going to last forever.

This is not a forever thing. Maybe you're in a tough time, but this is not forever. And so I want to help people identify their season they're in, figure out what life balance looks like in that season for them, and then show them how they can get through it in practical ways. Yeah, it is not about doing necessarily doing less of something. It's about doing the right thing at the right time on purpose. Yeah, you can feel balanced and still be busy.

And I'm busy. I'm super busy, but I'm doing the right things. And so even though, yes, of course, at the end of the day, I'm tired, but I'm energized from doing the right things. It's not that kind of tired of, oh, man, I feel all this guilt because I'm doing the wrong things. It's once you begin to align your time with what's most important to you, what you actually care about, those things are life-giving to you, and it gives you energy to get through it. It makes you feel more balanced.

It also makes you have more fun because you're doing the right things. The book is Take Back Your Time, The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance at RamseySolutions.com in the store. Danielle is in Santa Cruz, California. Hi, Danielle. How are you? Hi, Dave. Hi, Christy. How are you guys? Hey, great. How can we help? Awesome. Okay, so let's see. We have been debt-free since January. Thank you for that. I just have a quick question about retirement stuff. We have a fully funded emergency fund.

Um, my husband cashed out his retirement a couple of years ago. This was before you. Um, and so we, like, you know, now it was a huge mistake. And so, um, I have some retirement saved up from a job that, um, I had before we got married. And so, um, he's like seven or eight years older than I am. And so I'm wondering if we should front load his IRAs, 401ks, all of that stuff, and kind of let him catch up to me because he's going to reach 59 1⁄2 probably seven years before I will.

By front load, you mean out of your baby step four, you're 15%? Yes, sir. Okay. So if you're're 15%? Yes, sir. Okay. So if you're putting 15% into retirement, you're just saying put more of it in his name because he's going to hit 59 and he can access it. Yes, and I already have about $16,000 in my retirement, and he has about $1,000. How old are you guys? I'm 26 and he's 32 it doesn't matter okay you have 30 freaking years you're gonna be okay yeah doesn't matter just put 15 in the right place

don't worry about this lord i thought you were like 50 and he was 62 or something okay no i didn't think you were that old i just couldn't figure out the question lent itself to that so um you are you are the master planner girl i mean you plan way out that's awesome that's gonna bode well for you but you're uh my point is i think you're overthinking a little at this stage so i think you'll be just fine to do the right thing get the best you know get the best match whoever has that that's number one then number two get as much roth as you can get uh and then who has the best selection of mutual funds and both of you have a roth with mutual funds up to 15 of your income in your baby step four i assume you're at baby step four and you know what that means yes yep okay yeah that's and that's where this question

stemmed from but yeah you're you got enough time you're gonna be okay yeah i'm with you whenever she was asking i was thinking like this is any minute like he might retire like in a few years so we're trying to like speed this up but yeah you got you got plenty of time you're you're getting started way earlier than most danielle so well done yeah absolutely so if let's say let's change the question to what i thought it was okay someone that's older because somebody's a let's say she's uh 40 and he's uh 53 that's where i kind of thought we were okay so he's got like five years six years before he can access this and if we put a bunch in his name even if they were a little less performing mutual fund or maybe it maybe it wasn't a roth and we

would rather have a roth that kind of thing at least we got some in his name because it's going to be several years before she catches up yeah but if she had three hundred thousand dollars in her account and he had almost none in his account um and there was that kind of and you were that close to this yeah i might then say let's let's do that but she's got enough time it's all gonna work out yeah yeah yeah melanie is with us in canada hi melanie welcome to the ramsey show hi there dave and christy how are you hey great what's going on great um i have a question i'm on baby step two right now i'm 77 000 i'm working away at it um my So I've got a second job. I'm trying to throw as much money at my debt as I can. But my eldest son, he's 18. He's destined for university, but he's doing one

more extra year of high school. That buys me a little bit of time. He's unable to work. He's sick. But I have enough money to fund completely his first year university. But my plan always before you was just just to like feed and house them kind of deal they would have to pay for their tuition well now obviously that can't happen so i don't know if i should be throwing my money at my debt is he's so sick he can't work but he can go to university oh no no we're hoping we're hoping there's a hope so i'm just trying to plan for when he gets to be able to go. Yeah.

I don't know. I don't know. I would have to think through this really hard before I put his paying for his school ahead of you getting out of debt. I think he's got to work this out, and you've got to help him work it out. I'm with you on that. Scholarships, grants, other options too, maybe. Yeah. Let's be real careful here.

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at RamseyS on the debt-free stage, Justin and Kelsey are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good, how are you? Welcome. Where do you all live? Kenosha, Wisconsin. All right. Well, welcome to Nashville. And here to do a debt-free scream, how much have you paid off? $146, Wisconsin. All right. Well, welcome to Nashville. And here to do a debt-free scream, how much have you paid off? $146,000. Wow. How long did this take? 26 months.

And your range of income during that time? We started at $125,000 and we ended at $146,000. Excellent. What do you guys do for a living? So I work in the business operations department for a large recreation facility. I run a business analytics department. Cool. Awesome. Welcome, guys. What kind of debt was the $146,000? It was pretty much everything. Credit cards, student loans,

vehicles, medical bills, cell phones, a mattress. We're normal people. All of it? All of it. Just great Americans. Yep, pretty much. cell phones a mattress we're normal people all of it all of it just great americans i love it way to go guys so how long you guys been married uh nine months nine months so you started working on this before marriage during uh during engagement period i guess all right so tell us this story how'd this go go down? Well, we had some good encouragement.

My now mother-in-law was at the tail end of her debt-free journey following the baby steps. And so we decided to sit down and put this on paper and actually look at everything. And our goal was to try to finish this before being married, knowing that when we become married, we're going to want to know all these things and obviously be on the same page. So it took us a little longer than we wanted, but we still got to the end of the road there. Yeah, 26 months is not bad. Yeah. Not bad at all.

So who had the most of the debt? It was pretty even, to be honest. Okay. Pretty even split. I think when we sat down, we just kind of, you know, we knew going into the relationship we both had debt, and we just kind of sat down and put it all out there. There was no judgment. It was kind of like, this is what I have. This is what you have. And we just wanted to be upfront about that before we even got married. And, you know. Well, good for you. That's impressive that

you guys were so receptive to it. Because a lot of people, when someone, a loving family member, for example, comes to them and says, hey, you need some help, people dig their heels in. So what was that like? Was it the Total Money Makeover book? Did you listen to the podcast? How did you guys get in line with the plan and the baby steps and all that? Yeah, so I think, like Justin said, my mom was at the tail end of baby step two when we started. And I think we kind of just were living like normal people.

And then we saw all the success that we had and we realized there was, you know, more to life than just paying other people. We kind of joke because we probably were putting 40 to 50 percent of our take home pay towards debt every month. Yeah. And we're like, yeah, we can go on like a week long vacation every month because, you know, the money that we're paying towards other people, we just, just you know realized there was more and we didn't want to work forever so you know we're like let's just you know tackle this now um and we're still young and have a

better future good for you so how old are you guys uh i am 28 32 way to go guys awesome very cool so i mean you tackle one of life's biggest subjects while you're engaged going into your marriage and finish it up in the first year of your marriage uh that that's a that's a big deal for from a relationship standpoint it sets you on a really solid foundation to do anything you want to do now from a math standpoint you're free to be able to do anything you want to do that's very very impressive and just to be on the same page with your values like the fact that you you both were all in from the beginning that's huge so many couples try to get on the same page in order to work the plan where it's one's like can i get my spouse on board and you

guys are both just like yeah let's do it so what what a great foundation to start your marriage on really turned our tables when we were we sat we sat down and put everything on and then we were planning the wedding and uh unfortunately covid turned turned our dream wedding into a not-dream wedding. So we had to pivot in a lot of that. But because of the road we were on, it made those decisions easier on having to pull back on what we wanted to do for our wedding. And then put some other things in place. It was not as much worry and risk anymore because we were really close to the end. Good for you.

Yeah, that's cool. Very good, guys. All right. Now, what's the big deal? were in risk anymore because we were really close to the end so good for you yeah that's cool very good guys all right now what's the big deal when people say how do you pay off 146 000 in 26 months making 140 what do you tell them i think it's really the budget for myself um putting it on paper seeing it uh and actually seeing it come in and come out. As you usually allude to, you're putting it out there to show what you're able to do and give yourself permission. So getting it on paper and visibility, I think, would be my big thing. Yeah, Justin's kind of the nerdy spreadsheet guy.

No, the data guy? Yeah. The data guy, no way. Yeah, so he made the budget. We obviously had our budget meetings. I think Justin hit the nail on the head. It was kind of crazy for us to actually sit down and he made the budget. We obviously had our budget meetings. I think Justin hit the nail on the head. It was kind of crazy for us to actually sit down and look at the budget and realize we're spending X amount of money going out to eat

and X amount of money on random Amazon purchases that we don't need. And it's like, wow, why are we spending all this money on things that don't really matter when we could be putting this at our dead? And yeah, I think the big key is just following the budget. I know you allude to that all the time, but think the big key is just following the budget. I know you lose to that all the time. But I personally think that is the key following the budget, you know, making sure you're you know, staying on track with all that stuff. Well, it's so interesting you guys say that because it's we can say it all day. But hearing from people that have actually followed the budget

and gotten debt free is is so powerful. And you know, on YouTube, they were just showing y'all's tracker system. It's so fascinating, because research shows that nothing is more motivating than seeing progress. And so when you guys begin to track it with your, you know, a lot of people have visual charts and you've got your budget and that type of thing. You see that progress. It motivates you to want to make more progress. And that's what helps you stick with it.

It's the reason, one of the reasons we tell people to pay off your debts smallest to largest by balance is to feel those quick wins and that progress. And you guys did that. Well done. Y'all are awesome. That was kind of the nice thing when we started is we had several credit cards, $1,500, $2,000. Our mattress was $1,200.

We paid all that stuff off very quickly. And at least for me, it gave me a lot of motivation. Then we got to the student loans, which was $20,000 or $30,000. When you get to those big numbers, it's almost like we're never going to get done, and then you did it. And all of a sudden, there you are. Right. That's amazing.

Very, very cool. So obviously, Mom was cheering you on. Outside of the two of you, who else were your cheerleaders? I'd say kind of everybody kind of was secretly cheering us on, but I don't know if it was – I would say it was sincere, but I think they kind of thought we were goofballs for doing this until the end. And then now, you know, we're getting friends and family and random people that we've never even met asking us for advice. Like, how do you do it? That's right.

You know, I posted a thing on Facebook and I had several people message me like, wow, you know, that's awesome. And what kind of advice do you have? And I want to also get that free and for me it was it was kind of cool to see that just because when we first started you know we obviously had a close family that were cheering us on but it was friends and acquaintances and that kind of stuff that kind of just you know thought it was cool but you know they're like oh yeah we tried that several times and it didn't work and that's good for you but it didn't work exactly good luck all that crap yeah good luck Good luck and, you know, whatever. They always have an opinion, but it's this passive-aggressive answer.

Right. Wow, way to go, guys. Excellent job. How does it feel now that you're free? It's great. It doesn't feel real yet. I mean, I think we made our last payment in June. Yeah, so it doesn't feel real totally yet because we're still working on our emergency fund.

So I feel like once that's done, it'll really feel real. Like, you know, look at all this money and we can start investing and doing all that stuff. Justin already sees the margin in the budget. He knows. It's real. He knows the numbers. That's huge. That's huge.

Well done. He's got a spreadsheet for it, too, if you didn't know. Full software package he wrote, actually. Probably. Yeah. Well done, guys. We got a copy of the Legacy Journey for you because that's the next chapter in your story to continue changing your entire legacy. And, of course, a copy of the Total Money Makeover for you to give to somebody who's

asking you about this and you go, this is how you do it. These are the seven baby steps, right? You're in the Total Money Makeover. So, very cool. So, congratulations. We're so proud of y'all y'all are heroes well done start off your life right justin and kelsey from kenosha wisconsin they paid off 146 000 in 26 months making 125 to 146 count it down let's hear a

debt-free scream three two. We're debt free. Yeah. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo. Well done, you guys. Well done. Well, we get a lot of people in their 50s and 60s doing this, but I think we can all say that when we see a young couple getting married, there's so much runway in front of them, so much future in front of them. All the stuff they're going to be able to do, that's inspiring.

That's right. Sure is. Yeah. That's amazing. Very cool. So for those of you that think all millennials are deadbeats, you're wrong. We get to see the bright stars of the millennial generation. They show up on the debt-free stage every day.

This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today. Her new book is Take Back Your Time, The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance. If you feel busy or overwhelmed or never have enough time to do the things you want to do, it doesn't have to be that way. At the Take Back Your Time event on Thursday, September the 16th, you're going to learn how to take back your time the guilt-free way. And Christy and I will be talking to you and you'll walk away knowing what balance really looks like. Passes start at just $20. And with your event pass, you'll also get over $60 in free bonus items,

including a copy of the new book, Take Back Your Time. You can join us in Nashville for the event and a special book signing with Christy, or you can join via the new book. Take back your time. You can join us in Nashville for the event and a special book signing with Christy or you can join via the live stream. Either way, you guys can feel balanced even in your busy life. So text TIME to 33789. We'll get you signed up for all that.

TIME to 33789. Charles is with us in Austin, Texas. Hi, Charles. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

So I'm debt-free. I have about $3 million, and I'm curious if that's enough to comfortably retire. It should be. It's a lot of money. Well done. Thank you. How old are you? 58.

Okay. Well, we have to define comfortably, and we have to define what you're going to do with this money, because obviously you're not stupid or you wouldn't have ended up with $3 million. But if you suddenly grew stupid, you could get rid of the $3 million real quickly and not retire, right? Correct. So, you know, but if you had it reasonably invested and lived on that income, obviously you could retire. So if it were me, I would have put that in good growth stock mutual funds,

making 11% or 12% and lived off of about 10% or less, which means I would have somewhere around $250,000, $300,000 a year to live on. I think I could struggle through. And the principal would never deplete substantially during that time, and I could do that in perpetuation. If you can do that, then you're going to be just fine. If you want to put it in the CDs and make 2%, well, you're going to have to live on very little while your $3 million sits there and deteriorates in its purchasing power.

Right. I put about $2 million into the market, and then I kept like a million off to the side just in case everything goes to heck and back you know i can either you know add to it or you know leave that towards uh you know other investments real estate because i that's how i made my money was real estate i'd probably put it in real estate then okay instead of sidelining a million dollars because let's just say a million dollars makes ten percent that's a hundred thousand dollars a year you're losing sidelining it. Right.

So I wouldn't want to sideline $100,000. I'll sideline some of it. But I feel like, you know, if one of the things goes really badly, I think the other one's probably going to be okay. And generally speaking, I would say real estate is a less risky investment overall. But you're a real estate guy. Would you agree with that, Charles? Yeah, yeah, I absolutely would.

But it's also, you know, it takes a lot of your time and a lot of your effort. Yes, and that's an extra hassle factor. I just exited. Yes, yes, there's a lot that goes into it, you know. I owned, you know, I've done flips. I've done, you you know i sold an apartment building that's where my main thing i'm in wow but if you were managing it yourself it was a super high hassle but if you if you outsource the management or hired somebody to manage it for

you under your direction either one you know you'd be fine so it all comes down to the answer to your question is can i retire on three million dollars yes if you invest it and live off of what the investment creates without touching the $3 million, you're ready. Okay. Okay. Great job. What do you need a year to live on? Thank you.

You know, I mean, we've been living the whole time on like 50 to 60. Okay. You know, the entire time while building this. Well, $100,000 is, what is that? Is that 3% on $3 million? Yeah. Yeah. So surely to God, son, you can do that.

Yeah, yeah, as long as everything doesn't come crashing down. I'm not, you you know i haven't been in the market a long time i've never if everything comes crashing down to the point that you're only making three percent on your investments we got bigger problems than three million dollars are going to solve true true well i've got two kids though too that I got to put through college and pay for weddings and all that kind of thing. So that's kind of my, you know, intrepidation of stopping working. Unless you're dropping a million dollars on that stuff, that doesn't even matter. Okay.

I mean, what are you going to spend on all that? You know what I mean? You should be able to, again, you should make this money create 8% or 10%, and you've got a three hundred thousand dollar a year income to do something with if you live out of a hundred and spend the rest of it on your kids i mean you're still gonna be okay yeah i think you just need to plan for it it feels like i hear a lot of unknowns in your voice and there's a couple unknowns like whatever you decide to spend on these weddings or college just put a number to

it put it on paper talk to your kids about it whatever that plan looks like and then all the other unknowns of like if the market crashes and all that that's just fear that's just i mean we could sit here and run one ifs what if scenarios all day but we're going to go based on facts and the fact is you've got three million which is enough to live on and pay for weddings and colleges and you just stand on that you stand on the truth of those numbers make a plan for the numbers and then let that give you the confidence that that you need versus running these doomsday scenarios because you're in a great position so um wait a minute i gotta stay with this a second because this is okay how old are you 58 you told me that okay so you did real estate deals for how many years uh gosh since i bought my first house when i was 22 okay and so yeah so we're about the same age

and about the same deal okay except i went broke in between but um but the uh the the point is the point is you need to get some real estate stuff going because you have a much more high you have a much higher comfort zone comfort level with real estate than you do the stock market because you know it you got 40 years worth of knowing and you know it inside and out you you're not gonna fret if you've got some of this money invested in real estate and you need to pick some real estate that's not as high hassle factor the highest hassle factor in the world is a freaking apartment complex buy something where they just send you checks it's commercial real estate like i've got i've got a a couple of retail centers

and i've got a couple of office buildings and and they they bring me almost no drama i got five houses that bring me more drama than all the other freaking hundred million dollars worth of stuff put together you know so you can you can go just go get some low drama real estate and that's going to give you let you calm down it's a really good insight that's a really good point you know because he knows that he's fretting as he moved everything from what he knows to something he doesn't know yeah no that's a really good insight it's good jesus is with us in philadelphia hi jesus what's up hi dave i just wanted to start off with saying it's an honor to finally speak to you i've been It was good. Jesus is with us in Philadelphia. Hi, Jesus. What's up? Hi, Dave. I just wanted to start off with saying it's an honor to finally speak to you.

I've been listening to you since I was in seventh grade. Are you in eighth grade? I actually just graduated college last week. Congratulations. Congratulations. Very cool, dude. Wow, I'm honored. Thank you.

What's your degree in? Business, and I work in accounting. Cool. I'm a little short on time. What's your question? All righty. So basically, I just moved from Miami to Philadelphia for a job opportunity last week, and I currently have $10,000 in credit card debt, and I'm trying to get out of debt,

invest in my future, and be financially free, and I don trying to get out of debt invest in my future and be financially free and I don't know where to start you've been listening since seventh grade and you don't know where to start yes I know what I made a dumb decision you need to do a better job no Christy just said it I'm just Dave you are obviously not being very clear with the baby no no you are definitely i just made i stopped listening to you last year and look what happened yeah that's what it is there it is that's it you fell off the wagon jesus so um all right i'm gonna send you a graduation gift and now that you're a grown-up you're gonna read the total money makeover with a different set of eyes and it's gonna show you the baby steps again jesus and then you're going to remember oh i remember when i heard that kid he used to tell people to do that stuff so yeah you're going to

know what exactly what to do it's going to come back to you quickly the total money makeover has shown eight million people how to work this clear path and and now jesus is on the list so hold on we'll give you a graduation gift maybe the book will do a better job than I did, Christy. Shut up, Christy. Just shut up. So we're going to wrap up this hour with a strong shut up. This is The Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast.

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