The Ramsey Show - App - Can I Get Life Insurance After Having Childhood Leukemia? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: January 13, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave 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 am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us, America. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. Again, 888-825-5225.

Drew is in Gilbert, Arizona. Hi, Drew. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Chris, it's a pleasure to talk with you both. Appreciate the reset last night. It was good. We appreciate it. All you guys do. Thank you, sir. So we've been following you guys for quite a few years, and our kids are a product of your teachings, basically, and your principles. So we've got five kids, and I told my oldest son when he was in junior high

that I wasn't going to be able to pay for five kids to go to college. So he started pushing a lawnmower, started doing yard work, doing things to save, prepare for college, and he did. And so he started to grow, started making money, and he's a natural saver and entrepreneur. So he's a freshman in college now. He's saved for, he's got all of college saved, paid for, basically in a savings account. And now he's just making more money. He's got basically six figures that are coming in and trying to help him understand what to do, what's next. How do I advise and help him plan getting through college

and then this financial blessing that it's been, it's a tribute to his hard work and dedication, what to do with that. What a great kid. Yes. You're a proud dad, too, and you ought what to do with that. What a great kid. Yes. A proud dad, too, and you ought to be. Well done. Well done. Well, I mean, I am okay with people not investing except into their education,

into themselves while they're in school, even if that means there's a pretty good-sized pile of money when they come out. Because when you come out of school and then you're full-time into the career, whatever that is, and it sounds like this guy's going to be an entrepreneur, having an extra $100,000 laying there to start your life is never bad. Yeah. That's one thing he's getting interested in is finance, right? So the markets.

I wouldn't screw around with anything too complicated. If you want to park it in something like an index fund or something like that, an S&P 500, Chris, what do you think? Yeah, I would just, again, Drew, I'm going to help him to be very aware. His most important investment is in himself right now and taking care of college. So he could have an interest in it, but I would not put him in that game just yet. You know, you might take him and go sit down with a smart investor pro, start to look at those funds and talk about investing some to allow him to have an interaction and to

gain confidence. But in terms of I'm going to start my wealth building process, I'm going to start my retirement process. You can. It's okay to. But the most important goal is to make sure he graduates with no debt and he graduates. Yeah, I agree. And I think you going in with him, Drew, he can have that conversation, learn. You can talk with him. And I don't see a problem fanning the flame of knowledge for him. But as far as doing it, I wouldn't get too tactical right now. But he's done an amazing job.

Wow. And be sure to celebrate him as that dad. Regularly. Yes, so he knows it. Amen. Anthony is in Trenton, New Jersey. Hi, Anthony. How are you?

I'm good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. How can we help? All right. So I'm a 23-year-old. I live in New Jersey. Um, I have a 2011 Chevy cruise. It's worth about two or $3,000. I also have a 2003 Nissan three 50 Z and I drive the Chevy cruise. The three 50 Z was just kind of like a, I got it for keep. I just fixed it up and I'm trying to sell it right now.

I have an apartment. The rent is about $1,200 a month, but I split it with my girlfriend and I pay $900. She pays the rest. I guess my question is, I'm looking to buy a new car. The one I have is kind of giving me problems and stuff. So I'm looking to see maybe getting like a Toyota Tacoma or something like that. But the only issue is the car is about $15,000. And I have $18,000 saved right now.

And I'm just trying to see what you think. If you think I should pull the trigger on something that expensive or I should what do you make uh 55 000 gross pay okay well a rule of thumb i use is not own things that have motors and or wheels added together that equal more than half your annual income because they all go down in value it doesn't sound like you're going to violate that. I'm a little confused as to why you have two cars. Well, sometimes I buy cars that are, like I used to work on cars, so I know what they are too about them. The Nissan was just a really good deal, and so I just picked it up, fixed some issues with it,

and I was planning on selling it. Okay. It just hasn't sold yet. Okay. It's just sitting in my driveway. Okay, and so you'd sell the Chevy Cruze, and your daily driver would be the the tacoma well hold on a minute anthony if you said you work on cars why can't you fix the one you drive i can but the thing is the work that it needs it costs about you know it'd probably be around two thousand dollars that's all the

stinking cars were i got you okay yeah i. Yeah, I mean, you got the money. You don't want to be below your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses, and you're getting pretty close on that because you only got 18, and you're talking about spending 15, right? Right. Yeah, that was the thing. Yeah, I don't want to get below. Whatever three months of your expenses are,

you don't want to get below that in the account after you buy that car. Well, and we sell the Chevy. We get rid of the Nissan Z and then use some of the money out of savings and get a new-to-him car. Yeah, that's what he's saying. Yeah, but you may not get to the 15K one. You may not need the 15K out-of-pocket because you got the proceeds from the other two cars. Other two cars coming. Yeah, that may make up the difference in the emergency fund because the 3K left in that emergency fund sounds shallow. Yeah, it does, Dave, especially living in Jersey. Sounds thin. I mean, that may make up the difference in the emergency fund because the $3,000 left in that emergency fund sounds shallow.

Yeah, it does, Dave, especially living in Jersey. Sounds thin. I mean, that's thin. So, you know, let's just make sure you don't leave yourself vulnerable because of a stupid car. That's what it comes down to. So it might be a $12,000 car. You know, that might be what you're after. I don't know, but somewhere in there.

And you're not over half your annual income invested in things with wheels and motors, so you cool there you're paying cash so you're cool there so overall the deal is good just don't ever get below your three to six months of expenses and emergencies because you're inviting trouble that's right and it's like sending out a ticket it is and even if you've got to pick up gigs on the weekend of fixing other people's cars that's a natural side hustle for you you love cars you have the skill and talent to be able to work on them so again thinking outside the box and you hold off two or three more months and then maybe you can go get that other 15 000 yeah yeah exactly right so sacrifice so you got to make sure you have a plan for that we live in a car culture and i love cars i'm a car

junkie um so i kind of enjoy the whole process of messing around with them, and I enjoy having a nice one and all that kind of stuff. Not because I care what somebody else thinks. I just like driving them. Yeah. But the thing is, they go down in value so fast, and it is the largest thing that everyone buys that goes down in value. It goes the wrong way. So you've just got to limit the damage that it does to your finances, and that's why we say no more than half your annual income tied up in it,

even if you're paying cash. And you drive really fast, too. Well, there's that. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. It continues to amaze me how identity thieves keep finding ways to use our own identities against us. Not only did they commit crimes related to financial fraud, medical ID theft, and insurance benefit fraud, but now we have to deal with home title fraud. Thieves are using your own personal info to take ownership of your home so they can take out loans,

and you end up with a pile of debt and foreclosure notices. Over 4,000 data breaches happened in 2018, exposing 3.6 billion records. So thieves have plenty of identities to use, and there's a one in five chance it will be yours. That's why Zander Insurance is the only program I use and recommend. Their plan covers all types of identity theft and it takes over all the work if you become a victim visit zander.com or call 800-356-4282 Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Paying off debt is, of course, smart.

Saving and investing is, of course, smart. But there is a key to winning with money that's often forgotten, and that's protecting your family from emergencies. There are 10 kinds of insurance coverage that are good. There's a lot of gimmicks in that world. We'll be right back. And it's free text the word CHECKUP to 33789. Text CHECKUP to 33789. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Means even if you mismeasure, you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your window blinds for free.

Free samples, free shipping, new promos all the time. Use the promo code RAMSEY to get the best possible deal. All right, today's question comes from Michael in California. He says, I'm currently saving 15% of my income into my Roth 401k plan through my employer. The 401k plan's portfolio is based on my year of retirement. I'm 38 years old and make around $140,000 a year. I was wondering if you recommend sticking with what was prearranged for me in my Works 401k portfolio, spread the money out into my own,

into the four different categories of mutual funds I've heard you all talk about on your show, or is that not an option with Works-sponsored Roth 401ks? Well, I mean, looking at this, Michael, what it sounds like is they've got you in a target date fund. And a target date fund is simply this. It's just age-based. It has nothing to do with your progress or future. It's just making an assumption.

So I'm definitely going to recommend that you utilize the four types of mutual funds that we talk about. Yeah, you'll get a better rates of return these uh i don't believe in the pre-packaged portfolios if you can avoid them at all if there's a way to avoid them and it depends on how your 401k servicer has structured the thing but um yeah i don't want anything that's pre-arranged me in my 401k. I want you to decide what mutual funds your money is going into. I want you to make the decision. I want you to be in control of this. The prearranged part scares the crud out of me.

So I'm with Chris. We recommend, and I personally don't do prearranged. We don't even offer prearranged portfolios in my 401k for our 1,000 team members here. We don't even offer it we just put the mutual fund options up there we expect you to learn about them and choose for yourself like a grown-up yeah because it's amazing dave those funds automatically assume that you gear down and take absolutely no risk or also not get any growth after a certain age which is ridiculous so again you want to be in control, work with a smart investor pro,

and invest in things that are going to bring you a rate of return. Nick is in Atlanta. Hi, Nick. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. How are you guys doing? Great, man. How can we help?

So, right now, I'm in a situation where I'm getting married in July. We're blessed. My future fiance. Yay. And, yep, super, super excited for it. It's awesome. So she's great, and we're really excited for our future. And I just have to say, you guys and your program is something that I love

and it gravitates for me so well. I love the Brian mentality and long haul. And so right now we're on babysit two. We're just paying off our debt. And we talked about attacking it really between the three of us, between two of us. It's just my car, my student loans, her car. And I just wanted to get your opinion on if you think financially

we're in a good spot and we're attacking this the right way. Okay. So how much debt do you have? So my student loans is $6,500, which I plan on having done by the time July comes through. I'll have my car, which is $16,000, and her car, which is right now at $8,000. Okay. And what do you make? Combined, $90,000. Well,,000. Okay. And what do you make? Combined, $90,000.

Well, you're not combined yet. What do you make? $54,000. Well, then she makes $46,000, right? Or $36,000? Yes. Okay. Yes.

All right. Okay. You don't pay on each other's debt. Yeah. And it sounds like when you get married, you're going to have two car payments with a $90,000 income, and that's going to be your first order of business is to knock those out. Do either one of you have big money in savings? Yes.

Right now, I've got $45,000 saved. Okay. How much does she have saved? $15,000. And how much are you all planning to spend on this wedding? It's going to be about $15,000, but we're getting some help from our parents. How much are you planning on spending on the wedding? How much is your fiancé going to spend, not the parents?

It's going to be about $5,000. Each out of pocket, you and her? Yes. Okay, so you have $45,000. You're going to spend $5,000. Each out of pocket, you and her? Yes. Okay, so you have $45,000. You're going to spend $5,000 on a wedding. She has $15,000. She's going to spend $5,000 on the wedding. Did I get that right?

Mm-hmm. Okay. The rest of it, other than $1,000, both of you are going to write towards your debt today. She's going to put $10,000 on her car, and you're going to pay off your debt today. Mm-hmm. Yeah. debt today she's going to put 10 on her car and you're going to pay off your debt today you yeah well wait a minute that is that doesn't sound real convincing no i i i want to do it i i i guess the the scary thing of of bringing that down to the the baby step one but well you're not. Yeah, you won't, buddy. You only got $22,000 in debt. Right, right.

No, I know. Yeah, it's... I don't know. So you're going to have $15,000 laying around, and she's going to be at Baby Step 1. Yeah. And then when you get married, you're going to pay off her car. Mm-hmm.

After you combine your accounts, after you get married. Nick, you guys are going to pay off her car after you combine your accounts after you get married nick you guys going to be ahead of the game now what what you're having right now is called cognitive dissonance that that is your your brain is going i hear dave and chris but that's not what i was designed i don't this is new and you're right. It is new information. It is a totally different way of thinking because we want you to start that marriage off without having debt hanging on for 10 or 15 years, buddy. It's going to pave the way for you guys to start to really save up a fully funded emergency fund. If you're unwilling to pay off your car today, Nick, you should sell it. Well, hold on. He just heard it, Dave.

It's new to him. He can do it. Nick, you're going to do it. I believe in you. Well, if you're going to do, the reason that we teach what we teach, Nick, is it's the shortest distance between where you are and wealth. Yeah. And so you keep your, you finance a separate prior to marriage, and Baby Step 1 is $1,000.

Anything above that goes on all of your debts. In your case, you're going to do all that, and you're still going to have $15,000 left over, and you need $5,000 set aside for the wedding. She needs $5,000 set aside for the wedding. I already did that. And then you're going to continue to build your Baby Step 3 until July into your fully funded emergency fund, and she's going to uh continue

to pay down aggressively on that car between now and july and if there's any car debt left and there probably will be with her after you get home from the honeymoon you're going to knock it out you're going to write a check and be done with it and then you're 100 debt free by the way you're probably going to have five or ten thousand dollars left over after all that happens yep by july because you're a saver and you make pretty good money. And look, you take what he was paying on the car, the student loan, and what she was paying on the car, start saving that towards your fully funded emergency fund. Man.

You're going to be there so fast, it's unbelievable. And a young couple starting off the right way. Yeah. That's, boy, Nick, play this call back. Play it. Listen to it with her. Gain agreement. Pinky swear swear and start writing

checks yeah yeah set the five aside for the wedding i'm not messing up the way no no no not messing up the wedding but you guys have done a good job saving money and you've done a lousy job managing your money and so now we got to decide now we got to fix it that's right clean up the mess it really is that's what it comes down. So we know from studying millionaires that the shortest path to being a millionaire is not keeping money in savings while you have a car payment. It's not on the list of things that millionaires did. No. It wasn't on the list of things they did. It's on the list of middle class people do it all the time, but not millionaires.

So it's just what do you want to do? How do you want to win with money? This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Chris Hogan Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Christian's in Dallas, Texas. Hey, Christian, how are you? Hey, Dave and Chris. Thanks so much for taking the time today. Sure.

How can we help? Great. I just want to say I'm a new listener to your program, and I'm really blessed to be able to get the opportunity to speak today. Well, thanks. You too. So just a bit of background. I'm currently a semester ahead,

and so I would have been going into my senior year right now in January. My parents and I decided that it would probably be best for me to take a leave of absence and, you know, take a step back and kind of pay my loans down a bit before going into my final year. I chose to study sports management since I realized I probably couldn't play professionally, but I still wanted to stay within sports. But I think it's going to be very difficult for me to find a job in that field coming out of college since my major is so restrictive.

And my question really is today that should I, since my courses will transfer within the business school, should I change my major to a bachelor's in business management and give myself a broader range of options in order to kind of guarantee a job coming out of college? Nothing guarantees you a job coming out of college, but you're right in that you've kind of painted yourself into a corner in an industry right now that is dead as a hammer. I mean, sports management, obviously the stadiums and the arenas are all empty. And I assume they're coming back, but I assumed they would never go down.

So what do I know? I mean, last year in March, we were saying, wow, well, at least this will be over in time for football. And then it wasn't. So what do I know? I don't know anything, you know. But I do know that you can do sports management with a business degree. It's tougher to get into business when you have a sports management degree because it is narrow. And they're not that much different.

It's eight classes or something different right yeah it's not much yeah i mean so you could have all of the uh actually as electives you could pick up all the sports sports management sports management stuff and still have those tools in your belt yep uh meanwhile uh just have a degree in marketing or a degree in management or whatever, none of these things guarantee you a job anyway. Right. And none of them keep you from getting a job. If you walked into our place, we don't do sports management.

If you had a sports management degree, one of our guys in leadership here is interviewing you. They're going to have sense enough to know that that's basically a business degree with five or six sports classes yeah and so we're going to know that you've got basic knowledge uh uh you know in those areas from your academic studies if we're interviewing you common sense will tell you that so i mean if anybody is dumb enough to look down at a resume and say oh we're not going to interview the guy because he's got a sports management degree instead of a business degree, then they're too stupid to work for, really. I agree. Christian, how much student loan debt do you have?

As of now, I'm at about 51. Okay. So I would be adding 29 for my last year. Yeah, we don't want to add any. So tell me this. What sport did you play? I grew up playing soccer. Okay.

And so I got recruited to play at Richmond University. And so it's over in London, and so they're not really funding my tuition. And so it was kind of a gig where I come over and play, but you've got to worry about your You have to pay for it. Right. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Well, I like the mindset that you have about shifting to business uh i also i also like the mindset of you kind of taking a step back here and going okay let me attack this debt gain some real world business experience while you're doing it that way you can cash flow that senior year and i don't care if it takes you five, six, seven years to get the degree. I do. That's too long. Well, what I'm saying is if he takes off a year or two to be able to pay off what he's got. No, you're just talking about a short period of time.

During this short period of time, you need to pile up some cash, pay cash for your last year. The last year, right. And make the major change. I would. And while you're doing the major change, pick up the sports management stuff that is the love of your life as electives. And you've still got them as tools in your belt. But pay cash for your last year, and I would make the move for two reasons.

One is it's a very narrow degree. Two is the sports management world is just upside down right now, and I don't know what's going to be there. I can't tell you. I can't tell you it's not going to be there. I don't think it's going to be destroyed permanently. The world is too much sports fans, too many sports fans, so something's going to happen.

And, Christian, before you go, I'm going to ask Madison to get your information. I'm going to send you Ken Coleman's book, Proximity Principle, because this is something that will give you some real-world experience as you're building your career of getting around certain people, building relationships, and starting that right now. Yep. Takiyah is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Takiyah.

How are you? Hi, Dave. It is a pleasure to talk to you today. You too. How can we help? So, quick question for you. I've been debt-free since 2016, thanks to you and your team. I'm essentially looking for permission to spend a pretty significant amount on a vehicle.

So I'm in baby steps four and six. I have about $125,000 saved. And I'm considering buying a car that will cost between $50,000 and $60,000. So I'm trying to see if that makes sense. What do you make? $182,000. $182,000? Yes.

And you have $125,000 saved? Yes. And you're in Baby Steps 456? Yes, sir. Yes, I would buy that car as long as it's not brand new. Awesome. Thank you so much. What is the car?

A BMW X5. Oh, sweet. Yeah, it's a nice car. Very nice. So what, one-year-old, two-year-old? Probably one-year-old. Yeah, okay, good. Very good.

Takia, how much do you owe on your home? $252,000. Okay. And I just started attacking my mortgage actually this month and i'm hoping to pay it off um by september of 2024 that's good you're heavy in savings right now so that savings needs to be on four five and six other than the car and the emergency fund okay okay you're sitting a little heavy on cash. You don't need $125,000 in your emergency fund. Now, we're going to pull $60,000 out. You probably don't even need $60,000 in your emergency fund, do you?

No, I think my six months is probably about really $20,000 to $25,000 realistically. Okay. Well, let's leave $30,000 in there just for comfort because you make really good money. Let's pull $60,000 out for the car, and let's put the rest of it on the house. Will do. Thank you both. I appreciate it. You're doing great.

Wow. You were awfully affirmative on this car. Why not? That's a big dollar amount, Dave. Well, she's earned the right. I mean, she makes $180,000. And she had the cash. I thought you'd give a little pushback.

She had the cash. I mean. Well, I mean, it's not half her income. That's true. She's not the cash. I thought you'd give a little pushback. She had the cash. I mean. Well, I mean, it's not half her income. That's true. She's not buying new. That is true. She's not buying new. She's not a millionaire, so she's not buying new.

She didn't get the house paid off yet. But it fits. I mean, it's just, it's zeros. Yeah. It's a lot. I mean, if you make $60,000 a year, you shouldn't be doing that. No, I completely agree. Maybe I mean, if you make $60,000 a year, you shouldn't be doing that. No, I completely agree. Maybe I'm just frugal.

Maybe. Okay, come on to the next call. I'm not. I was like a softball pitch to you. I'm not doing that. Come on, hit the button, Dave. Come on. Let's get to the caller.

Nope. Uh-uh. Too late. Too late. Maybe I'm just frugal. Okay, come on. Hit the button. Come on.

We'll talk some more. Wow. You ain't got time to take a call. It's almost time for the commercial. You've already walked into it now. Yeah, I did. Goodness gracious. Listen, everybody.

We had a blast. Are you a spender or are you a saver? I am a spender. Are you? I am. I really am. And, you know, it's one those, I had to really reel it in as I talked about in the Reset event last night

with my groceries back in the day. It was really a grow-up moment. I was laughing my butt off at you. And I know a lot of you listeners out there, you've got a category in your budget that gives you trouble. And as I talked about it, I want you to go watch the Reset event,

because as you begin to see it, you realize, I'm going to make a decision for myself and my future. And you start making these sacrifices. And it's okay to be uncomfortable as long as you're being productive. So check it out. You'll get a laugh, and you'll get some facts. Scooping up some eggs. Scoop up eggs.

I never scooped up eggs until I heard of you. This is great. This is the dave ramsey show We'll be right back. Our Scripture of the Day, Ecclesiastes 7.14, In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider. God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. Robert Lewis Stevenson said, To be truly happy is a question of how we begin and not of how we end, of what we want and not of what we have. Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today at 888-825-5225. Andrew is with us in Orlando. Hi, Andrew. Welcome to the

Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave and Chris. So excited to talk to you all. Thank you. Sure. How can we help? So I'm 25 years old. I don't have any debt. I graduated college this past May, and I was able to live at home and do an in-state school. And so I was able to save a lot during those years. And right now, I have about $ 3,500 in the bank. And then I have a Charles Schwab account that I just transferred about $38,000 into, but it's not invested right now. And so I'm wondering what y'all's thoughts are on what I should, should I do a lump big sums of something into different funds or what's your idea and thoughts on that?

Now, did you graduate yet? Yes, sir, and I just started a new job. Great, great. And have you moved into your new place? Well, right now I'm actually still at home, and I'm hoping I'm talking to a friend of mine. We had actually moved out together, but once COVID hit, we moved back in to our house

and so I'm looking with him right now to move out okay cool what do you do for a living how much do you make right now I make about 30,000 but that's I'm working part-time this new job I got I should be starting full-time in the next few weeks or the next month or so and then that should bring it up and hopefully i'll get a pay raise in there as well and where did the money in the charles swab account come from it came i had it just in my savings account i've been just saving for years and then i just kind of transferred it over wanting to kind of get started on some stuff. All right. And how's your car? What kind of car do you have? It's paid off.

It's a Toyota. Okay. And I don't, so I don't have any debt right now. Okay. And you plan to have this vehicle for what, another five, ten years? Yes, sir. Okay. So it's in really good shape. That's good.

That is good. Well, I like the fact that you all are planning to get back out on your own, you and a roommate. Yes. And so, you know, with that in mind, beginning to look and giving yourself some cushion. If your car is stable, right, and you're making $30,000, you're getting ready to try to get to full time,

you have some of that money you hold on to as part of your emergency fund. The rest of it, I'm going to invest that for the future, buddy. Yeah, and or it's your first home fund, either one. Whatever you want to do with it. That's what I was thinking about, too. I wasn't sure because I had originally kept it in savings, but I didn't really have a purpose of, okay, I'm saving up for this. And so I just started thinking it was probably not super smart

to just let it sit there. That's good. I don't mind that at all. I would invest it either into retirement accounts and roth iras and so forth uh and or i would put aside from the emergency fund and or i would just set it aside invested in a mutual fund for your first home purchase and continue to add to it and that's your down payment fund and so now it's got a name it's got a purpose and that's very smart for it to have a purpose. That also tells you how to invest, what to invest it in, once you give it a name, once you give it a purpose.

Shelby's in St. Louis. Hi, Shelby. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? I have a question about life insurance.

My parents bought a life insurance policy when I was born, and I'm 26 years old. Oh, no. I was diagnosed with childhood leukemia when I was 13. I'm 13 years cancer-free now. Yay. But I'm facing the decision of keeping that policy, upgrading that policy, or taking the money and running and getting. I know you guys preach term life insurance, but I'm just not sure what to do since I have that history of cancer. Yeah.

Well, what you need to do is figure out if you can get term, get in touch with Zander Insurance, and see if 13 years from childhood is enough to clear you to get term insurance. If it is, then it's time to get a big girl policy and let this whole thing go away upgrading i don't know what upgrading means getting getting whole life i shouldn't say upgrade i'm saying updating um it's a variable official life policy that i have now and they're trying to update me to a permanent life insurance policy that's a downgrade actually no i wouldn't do that i know i wouldn't do that. I know I wouldn't do that. The only question is, do you keep what you have because you're uninsurable,

or do you get term insurance and drop this crap because you're able to get insurance? Those are your two choices. That's right. Okay. And, Shelby, so what you do is reach out to Xander. Go ahead and apply and begin through the process. They'll walk you through it and guide you. And if for some reason it comes back that you're uninsurable, you'll be able to work with one of our insurance endorsed local providers to be able to guide you to find out what other

special policies are available that are going to be a better overall deal for you than this permanent life. Yeah, the life insurance world, Jeff Xander and i were talking about this over the holidays we were together um you know for christmas party and stuff and um uh he was saying that it's amazing in the last even five years how the life insurance world is now covering things that they wouldn't cover before you mean like back in the day when i started if you just said cancer out loud you're done yeah you know or in her case that would be you just you're done even though it's 13 years ago even though it's childhood leukemia even though the survival rate on childhood leukemia

is very high doesn't matter doesn't matter you're done nowadays they look at it very carefully and they've been able to write policies for people that have had diabetes or people that have had a cancer or had a heart attack scare or something. Now, if you're square in the middle of it, they're not going to. It's going to be tough to get coverage on that, obviously. But, you know, the number of years they want to wait that you're cancer-free has changed. They're just much more lenient on the underwriting now because I think they've got better data that they're working with

in order to book those in. And so, guys, let me just tell you something. Term life insurance, if you haven't priced it, unless you have an illness or something where you're getting rated up, the prices are ridiculously low. It's just, you know, what, $13 a month will buy you if you're 30 years old will blow your freaking mind. I mean, it's unbelievable. Yeah, and really here, if you've got dependents or people counting on you, this is not an option.

You want to make sure that you've got term coverage outside of your job. That policy with your job is not going to provide you enough. It's not doing enough. So we tell people 10 to 12 times your income. So if you're making $50,000 a year, you're looking at $500,000 to $600,000 in term. But it's really how you say you love your family. It's how you say I love you. Because you're going to provide them money to be able to take care of things after you're gone. Finish funding college. Finish paying off the house.

Finish whatever it is that they need to do. So please don't delay. And if you've had this through your job, it's not portable. It's not going to follow you. And I wouldn't delay because of this COVID mess either. No. Because COVID is going to affect life insurance policy prices. I don't know exactly how yet because we don't know what the data is.

The actual death rate on COVID is not high enough to affect it. But the illness and the, man, it's got that business spooked. That business is a numbers-driven, statistics-driven business, and they don't like uncertainty. They don't like pandemics. And so they may jack policy rates up soon just in case. That's right. Just in case. That's exactly right.

And then bring them back down later. Later. You're right. So if you've been dilly-dallying around about this, you're getting your dadgum term insurance in place now. Yeah. All right. That about puts this particular hour in the books if you have not seen the reset

event that was live last night 240 000 folks signed up to see it last night it was chris hogan dave ramsey rachel cruz and craig rochelle all four were on their game including me so check it out daveramsey.com slash reset it'll be up for a day or so more. There'll be over a million people watch it by the time it's over, and it's completely free. James Childs, good job in the booth. Madison, thank you for filling in for Kelly. Good stuff. Chris Hogan, thanks for hanging out. Yes. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show.

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