The Ramsey Show - App - Cutting the Financial Umbilical Cord With Grown Kids (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

This is the Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you with us. We're here to help you win in your life. We're taking your calls, walking you through practical steps so that you have some hope and some action items. I'm Ken Coleman. Dr. John Deloney joins me. Phone number is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Of course, we'll take your money calls. We got the mental health relationship guy here, and I love to weigh in on some of that stuff. It's just so fascinating. So where are you struggling in that area, and how is that affecting some of the money things that are going on in your life?

And then I'm the income guy. Winning at work. Let's get better so our paycheck gets bigger. That's my whole theme. And so that gets you through the baby steps faster. So you've got the options today. We're happy to talk with you about your life, whatever the situation is. Are you ready to go, good sir? Let's sing and dance, Ken. Sing and dance can sing it okay great i'm down for it i'll do the singing i can't

dance i'm an incredible dancer you got you got good rhythm no i'm terrible yeah i've never seen you dance it's very intentional i'm terrible i mean i'm really bad you know i don't know what the deal i'm embarrassing yeah i can catch a ball ball, throw a ball. I feel bad for my wife. Me too. I just see a guy kind of glide through a room and just think, I'm sorry, honey. Which is why I watched Dancing with the Stars for years because I felt so bad for Stacey that I couldn't dance and I caved in and watched that. You just gave that to her.

Atrocity. Here's what this looks like, honey. Sorry. Sorry I can't do it, but I'll watch other guys do it. It's kind of one of those deals. All right. We're going to have some fun today. We always do. Let's get it started in looks like, honey. Sorry. Sorry I can't do it, but I'll watch other guys do it. It's kind of one of those deals. All right, we're going to have some fun today. We always do. Let's get it started in San Diego, California. And Julie, Julie, how can we help?

Hi, guys. Well, you know, I've watched a few segments of your Ramsey show and heard a few things about other individuals who have a similar situation that I do. And I'm in a blended family and we both have adult children. And I find that my lovely husband tends to financially support his adult children a little more so than I feel is necessary. And... Hey, Julie. Yeah. You're super talking around this with my lovely husband

who's just a little bit more than, just be as honest as you can. Sure, sure. Well, I don't agree with the situation right now that his decision on or his lack of a decision, he's not sure what he wants to do. He's not sure if he wants. So his son recently got into a situation where he was schemed into opening up an Amex card, taking out $10,000. How he got this card, I have no idea. And then he's now in $10,000 in the hole with no job. And my husband feels

like he needs to take out a HELOC or pull his stocks out to bail out his son. How old is his son? His son is 21. I don't see where the big mystery is on how he got an Amex card. They let 16-year-olds fill that crap out. So let's get over the mystery of how he got an Amex card. They let 16-year-olds fill that crap out. So let's get over the mystery of how he got the Amex card. He probably applied for it in two minutes. He got it. And let's call a little bit of bull crap on the got the big scam. No, he didn't. He's a 21-year-old kid that ran up 10 grand on a credit card.

Now, here's where this gets tricky, Doc. We've got his kid, his boy, but I'm assuming you guys are joint finances, as we would teach and recommend, Julie. You guys are in the same bank account, so it's our money, not his money and my money. Is that right? his name. It was his house prior to us getting married. And so we have everything. We share a lot of things, but we're both very open and honest with what we're spending our money on and if we need to help each other out. Okay. So what's the open, honest situation look like as it relates to this HELOC thing? Have you told him everything you're telling us, how you don't like it? Yes. And? I have told him and i said if he decides to do that then we need to sign a postnup that that belongs to him should anything happen between us julie what are you doing wow a postnup yeah you can't triple stamp a double stamp here's the deal

you have to go all you haven't fully been honest with him. Here's the deal. You don't respect that guy. You're married to a guy that you don't respect. And here's why he has not incorporated you into his life as his wife. Y'all are two people who are dating, who got married, who are still living like yeah y'all living like college roommates right right no yeah i agree you you and your husband live like me and ken do except y'all share a bed whoa that doesn't happen for me again but i got an uncontrollable shiver ken i'll venmo ken money if we go out to dinner and if if ken bought something and i was going to participate i would help pay for that like you see what i'm saying it's ridiculous how y'all set it up and expect it to work united so

of course he's going to make his own money decisions because he's caring for his own money and you've lost respect for him and he doesn't know that you keep talking about this is money and you're having a hard time being with a man that has adult kids that is not letting their adult actions have adult consequences and he's probably a dad who's a father of divorce who still feels some guilt and he's still carrying on trying to duct tape over that relationship partridge in a pear tree and can i say something too to add to this list uh doc i i think that she's forgetting that she's a very different person than he is. And had they had kids together,

they would still see differently on how they should parent. Absolutely. And so this is part of the issue too. She's coming in with, well, I've got a past. My kids are older. His are older.

And I think John's hit something here, Julie, but I think you've got to realize you guys don't see parenting the same way. Oh, no, not at all. And let me just say this. Stacey and I have only been married to each other for 26 years, and our oldest just graduated high school, and we're having conversations all the time about,

as we look back on his 18 years, how very different we still see things. And we've learned how to parent on the same page, but rarely, John, are we on the same line. This morning, I said, I'm going to do X with my son, and my wife said, no, you're not. And I was like, well, I guess we're going to have to. But here's the thing. We have a context for that relationship. You don't.

How long have you been married to this guy? We've been married for a little over three years, but together over 10. Okay. How y'all have avoided some of these harder conversations, I don't know. Did this 21 year old live in your home 10 years ago uh yes well 10 years ago we weren't living together we started living together in 2020 and then we got married in 2021 but still he's 17 yeah yeah this is a weird deal yeah i i once you get into the post-nups and this is yours, but that's mine, you're in a whole new, your relationship moves to even thinner ice and it's already on.

Right. Are there other things that he does that you've lost respect in? It can't just be this. No, it's not. Yeah. You need to be honest with him. Yes. Yeah.

He sounds like a clueless husband who's plugging along, trying to keep his kid, uh, smiling. And that's not always the best gifts we can give our kids, but he doesn't realize that he's losing his wife. Right. Is that true? Um, at times. Yeah. I try to get over it, you know, here and there. Cause I, how's that working out for you? Just get over it. It's a temporary fix. Yes. It's a Xanax. It doesn't fix the problem. Right, right. And so I think you need to sit down and say,

I, not you, I am struggling in this marriage. I'm losing respect. I'm struggling with this and this and this and this. And by the way, the money with your 21-year-old son is just the cherry on top of the sundae. But there's bigger issues in your relationship now. I feel like, John, this is old school define the relationship. Like high school style.

They actually need to be married all the way through with everything. That's the bigger conversation, Julie. That's what the doctor's telling you. And I agree 100%. I know you called about a $10,000 potential loan on the house. And you just got a whole buffet of things you got to deal with. But I think that's the play. Thanks for calling us. We're rooting for you guys. This is The Ramsey Show. The Ramsey Show rolls on. I'm Ken Coleman. Dr. John Deloney joins me. We're here to help you

win in your money, in your relationships, and in your work. If you are losing in any one of those areas, even if you're just holding steady, just not really growing, it's going to begin to affect all of those other areas. That's why we focus on those in the Ramsey Show and in our Ramsey Solutions Company and all we do. So we want to help you win today, 888-825-5225. Arlington, Virginia. Joe is there. Joe, how can we help? I was sitting there, I was talking to what's happening is I'm getting married

on May 17, 2025, and I've been talking to people about joining bank accounts with my fiance. Uh-huh. And it's hit or miss with everybody. Everybody's like, get a joint bank account and then uh have your separate bank accounts and uh let me ask you a quick question for a while so yeah let me ask a question on that are you saying that you're asking should we join bank accounts now

as in we're engaged or oh okay so this is not you're not asking people what they think about joining a bank accounts after you get married no i was thinking about i mean for getting married we might as well before everything comes out on the table so i would tell you i wouldn't have a job if everyone who got engaged ended up getting married okay and i wouldn't have a job if everyone who got married stayed married and so i would tell you your impulse is right to absolutely join checking accounts and the best i can give you the data that says it's going to be better for your marriage long term and it forces you to come to the table and and join um join bank accounts while they're engaged oh no no no that's what i'm

saying that's what he's asking but i'm gonna him, don't do it until you get married. Agree. Okay, good. I didn't know where you were going with that. I get what you're saying. We're going to get married, so we might as well do all this stuff up front. I would wait until you have that legal protection before you start joining stuff up. Okay.

Yeah, she doesn't know the extent. I've been listening to you guys for the past year now, so I paid everything off except my house. I'm like, I don't want her to know how much is in retirement yet. Why? What else do I have to know about? Don't start keeping secrets. Well, I sold off my company about six years ago, and I made a lot of money and then put it in an investment, you know, towards my retirement.

So I was talking to her the other day and I was telling her, that was the other thing. I was like, I want us to be retired by 55 and she just started laughing at me. And what, I forgot what she said. She said you work too much and you like to work too much and you're never going to retire. Yeah, but let's go back. Let's go back because we didn't give you a chance to answer the real.

Why do you not want her to know how much money you got stacked away? I mean, I've just been kind of weird about it. When I talked to other people about it, you know, some of my predecessors, when i started my own company before i sold it um they were just kind of you know don't let her know until it's done and over you know till we're married that's a cop-out yeah that's you just you just let me tell you what you just said to me you just said yeah you said i said why and you said well because uh some other guys that sold their companies they said not to so it's all their fault ken and whatever bro all they did was validate no they validated your own fear so what is the reason for not telling her uh i think uh last relationship because we have you know kids from separate uh separate parents so the last relationship didn't go too well and think you know i wasn't married so there was no legal obligation except my son there.

So you think going into a new marriage with a bunch of money and a bunch of secrets is going to be the better path? No, you're right on that. That's like, man, my last diet didn't work out, so this time I'm just going to put pizza in the back seat all the time. It doesn't make any sense what you're saying. The only path forward is to be completely honest and integrity. I also get this.

When you're first dating, how much money is in the bank? Let's just go there. In funds, in my bank account, since I paid everything off. How much do you work? Just total, bro. 1.3. Okay. And she has no clue of bro. 1.3. Okay. And she has no clue of that?

She knows a little bit. She just doesn't know how much I have in neutral funds, investments. How old are you? 36. Okay. That's a good chunk of money. It's not. It's not a bajillion dollars.

And she already said yes without knowing how much money you got stacked. So I don't know what your fear is. I mean, she's not a gold dig dollars. And she already said yes without knowing how much money you got stacked. So I don't know what your fear is. I mean, she's not a gold digger. Yeah. Right? Are you scared that she actually likes you? That might be the issue, too. Bro, why don't you just let her love you?

Yeah, that's true, too. I think that's it. That's the issue. I tell you right now, if you think you're better than her because you sold a company and made 1.3 million dollars you might as well just break this engagement off now before it costs you half of that because you're going to lose it because this relationship won't make that sort of ego arrogant um approach to love and connection and vulnerability it won't make it yeah i just uh well i know i love her or i would never propose to her because i've never proposed to anybody i mean i do know that and i definitely know i'm not better or she's way

better person to be but you know well we knew that without even meeting her so hey here's what love looks like love looks like this is all of me do you still love me and you hope that they say that back and you'll take that risk for the rest of your marriage. I would love for you to sit down and say, hey, I've got a surprise for you. I've kept this from you, but here's a surprise. I got $1.3 million in the bank. Yeah.

And she's probably going to go, oh, yay. You want to go get some pizza? You're exactly probably right on that. Or stay inside and eat. That's the way she is. So let's circle back to the initial question. Is she on board? I know you've been out polling people, and John and I are the latest people to poll.

You quit polling people. Yeah, stop polling. That's a good point. But by the way, we're honored to be polled. John and I love few things more than our own opinions. So that's fine. But where is she at on joining finances? Is she there and you guys were just getting other people's takes

or are you guys on different sides of the page? We both are there. Okay, good. And she thinks it's a great idea. The only thing she brought up to me, and we were going to talk about paying it off this week, is she had some medical debt, like seven grand, so she was scared that someone would put a freeze on the bank account.

She was straight up honest with me about that. Okay. Does she have any money to pay that off? We have been working together. I definitely make the more money part, so I've been trying to let her do her own thing. But I was more than willing to pay it off and she doesn't feel right with me paying it off. Neither do I. Yeah. If she's behind you and it's

about to go to collections and it's going to collapse some things and you've got $50,000 in a checking account right now, I can see you helping out your fiance. But if she's paying bills... Well, every time I asked her about it, she was, no, I want to pay it off myself. Okay. Didn't honor that. Yeah. And here's the deal. If for some reason, Joe, she doesn't get it paid off, but she's trying, and you guys get married, then it's a we thing, and then you can do what John's saying.

You paid off that day. You stroke the check. Yeah. Right? So get out of your head. I think the theme of this call is get out of your head and just kind of live inside your heart here on this deal. And you've somehow convinced a woman who is a great woman with poor judgment to say yes to you.

You're probably right. I know I'm right. That's my situation. Let me tell you this. There's some research on this. It's called choice psychology. Yes. Essentially, our brains cannot process.

Go to the supermarket next time and go by the salad dressing aisle. Your brain cannot process 119 versions of ranch. So whichever one you buy, you will have buyer's remorse. I should have got the other one. I should have got the other one. And we can't absorb that many choices. Why am I telling you that? You are a guy who is smart

you're driven you do well in business you've done well in love with this woman and you don't trust you so you ask everyone's opinion on everything from a cup of coffee to a business deal to a marriage right yeah i do and you ask so many opinions that no matter what you do your brain is like oh you should have done the other one. You should have done the other one. Are you right? Is this good? I don't think it's good.

And you don't sleep. That's a good call. I want you to have one or two mentors that you trust deeply. And I want you to begin to trust yourself, man. You've done well up to this point. He needs one of those old cloth bracelets that were hot several years ago, WWJD. We just changed it to Joe. What would Joe do?

Joe, you got a brain. I love the docs laying down, man. You feeling good? You ready to rock? Yeah. Good. Don't join bank accounts until you're married, and that day, join it all up, take care of your debts, and you'll move on into the future. And tell her how much money you have,

Joe. She'll be fine. Alright right, don't move. A couple quick messages, and we'll be right back with more of your calls. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. So how many of you out there are feeling like you've got to stay on the sidelines in this whole real estate situation? You're looking at rates, and you're going, should we sell? Should we list and sell our house? Or is it time for us to jump in and buy? And that's a legitimate question in today's real estate market. And the answer is you need a Ramsey

trusted agent to help you make that decision, whether you're selling or buying. They're going to help you stay on track with your financial goals. They understand what we teach, and they understand the market locally. They've got a lot of experience, and you can trust them. So make sure you take advantage of this experience. These are Ramsey-trusted real estate agents. You can talk to them, meet with them, find the right one, the right fit, and you can find one for free. All you've got to do is go to RamseySolutions.com slash agent, RamseySolutions.com slash agent.

All right, Alfred is up next in Yakima, Washington, one of my favorite places to stay. Alfred, how are you? Better than I deserve, thank you. Oh, there we go. We've got a Ramsey Solutions, Ramsey Show fan there. So why are you so good that you had to call us today? What can we help with? Well, life is good.

Debt is bad. Yes. So I am currently on baby step two, the snowball, my consumer debt, car debt. Then I have about $88,000 in student loan debt spread out over 13 different loans. How much in consumer debt do you have? Let's go back a step. Consumer debt, about $7,500. And what is that in? Various credit cards. Okay. Okay.

Okay, keep going. And then I have a new vehicle we got earlier this year that's $26,000. Okay. I do plan on having the consumer debt paid off by the end of the year. Okay. The student loans are currently in in income-based repayment. Mm-hmm. Those are on pause at the moment.

Okay. I don't have a payment on those. What's this vehicle? It's a Suburban. We were blessed. We have a baby coming next month. Mm-hmm. So we needed to upgrade in a vehicle. From what to a Suburban?

What did you have before? We had a truck. Is this first baby, second baby, third baby? What are we talking about? Fourth baby. After many years of our other children, the youngest is eight. Okay. Did you put any money down on the Suburban?

We did. So what kind of equity is in the car? If you paid $26, what's it worth and what do you owe? Well, you owe $26, right? I'm sorry. You owe $26 on the vehicle. So what's it worth? Yeah, it's probably worth $28.

Okay, so you're not much equity. Okay. All right, how can we help? What's the question? So I'm just, I've got the car and the snowball and the consumer debt kind of at grasp, but these 13 different student loans just makes me want to jump out of my skin when I sit down and look at those numbers. Well, the number's the number. Whether you got 13, 23, 300 loans, the number's the number, and the number you need to focus on is the $88,000. So even though it's spread out over the 13, and you've got this income repayment plan. I actually like it spread out over 13 because it gives you a bunch of small wins. It's digestible.

But either way, my point is either way, you've got to knock them all out. So I don't know what's paralyzing you there. I guess just the fear of seeing the 13 different ones. So I guess maybe I should look at it as like consumer debt, go to the smallest to largest on those. That's it. Yes, exactly. Okay.

And I mean, that's the reason the snowball exists that way because most people look at like they'll do interest rates. And this is why most people fail paying off their debts. They look at interest rates. The student loans might have the lowest and they'll have an eighty eight thousand dollar hill to climb yeah they'll put three thousand three thousand and then they'll have given six grand of their life away and that's still having an eight in front right it'll still be eighty thousand dollars and you're like this this stinks i'm done with this. Versus, you have 13 loans. Would $3,000 pay off the first one? Yeah. Okay. What's

your lowest? Let's just walk through this. Give me the lowest number on the 13 loans. Let's round it up to $2,400. All right. So that's your first one. So you think, well, I'm going after the $7,500 in credit cards. Well, I'm sorry. Those credit cards are spread out, too. How many credit cards do you have? Six. Okay. Yeah, this is a snowball. This is very simple.

It's a spreadsheet. It's a spreadsheet or a whiteboard or a piece of paper, and we go smallest loan to largest loan. Can I tell you what I want you to do? I want you to do what me and my wife did. We got one of those. We got a bunch of construction paper like children and we cut them into we made a paper chain and we hung it in our bedroom i hung it in my bedroom she was not a huge fan of that but i just need you to see it every day and you're gonna have seven credit card debts you're gonna

have 13 student loan you have 20 links on that chain, plus your car. And I want you to pay one off, and you're going to tear one down. Suddenly, you're going to have 19. You're going to pay off another one two months later, and you're going to have 18. And you're going to start knocking these things out, and you'll see a lot of progress, and you'll start feeling good about yourself. Right now, it just feels like a huge jumbled mess in your head, right? Yes, it does.

Yeah, get it out of your head, and get it paper and look at it and say, okay, I got 20 of these little things. They get smaller, they get small, and they get bigger, but we're going to get the small ones down. And you're going to have two or three left, and they're big, and they're going to suck, and you're going to get them knocked out. What's your income, and what do you do? I'm a delivery driver.

I make $22 an hour, 40 hours a week. Is your wife working outside of the home? No. Well, she was starting to start a new career. Then the baby surprised us, and at the moment, she's not. Okay. Well, the only thing I'm going to add to this equation is you need more income, and you're only working 40 hours a week, and I understand your wife is pregnant,

and that's a conversation between you two on that deal. But I know if I was you, I'd be driving or I'd be doing something else to the tune of $22 or more dollars an hour, and let's double my income. Because if I double my income, I double the rate at which I'm paying off these loans. Make sense? Yes, it does. And here's the deal. John gave you a great prescription here on the chain, the piece of paper, however you want to do it.

But you've got to get some more income right now. And you work as many hours as you possibly can physically, emotionally, and relationally, what your responsibilities are with the kids. But you can do more, and you need to be doing more. And I mean, like, right away. Right. Because more relief comes when you start knocking those debts off, and every time you start kind of moving those payments, rolling those payments over, and the bigger the payment gets as I knock off each smaller debt,

and all of a sudden I look up six months, 12 months from now, and I'm making some serious progress. But it's income at this point. And the intensity you need is the stress you're feeling. You got it? You turn that stress into, I can actually control my output, and I can control what I go and earn. And so I'm going to focus on that and not be stressed by the payments.

Got it? Got it. All right. You fired up, or are you still overwhelmed uh the motivation's there okay kind of taken back by the call but the motivation's there i want to you know another baby you know we got to start thinking about a retirement we'll get you know we're almost 40 so there you go i want you to keep these two words in your mind, little wins. Little wins.

Little wins. Yeah. Nobody increases their bench press by just going really hard over a weekend. You lift weights every week, week after week, after week after week, and you look up in six months and a year and two years, and you're much stronger. It's just little wins. You've got to keep showing up. Yeah, that's right.

That's why, by the way, Dave came up with that concept that really took off baby steps. Because what he figured out in such a genius way of listening to his audience many decades ago is this idea that I get that little win through a baby step because I realize I can do that. And it feels good. It feels good. I can pay off $1,200. I don't know if I can pay off $200,000. Yeah.

You can't just pay off $200,000. No. I'll pay off $200,000. I'll pay off $700,000. I'll pay off $1,200. I don't know if I can pay off $200,000. Yeah. You can't just pay off $200,000. No. I'll pay off $200,000. I'll pay off $700,000. I'll pay off $900,000. That's right. Yeah. That's the magic. Good stuff. Alfred, hang in there, buddy. You're okay. We've talked to people with a whole lot less gumption and a whole lot worse situation than you, my friend, and you're highly motivated. You're a good dad. You're good hubs. And you're going to win on this deal. So stay with it. All right. You all stay with us. We got a quick break and we'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. We are here for you to help you win financially, relationally, professionally. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman. Dr. John Deloney is with me this hour. Clinton is going to join us now in

the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan. Clinton, how can we help today? Thanks for having me on. You bet. I am currently 982K in debt. Oh! I got two mortgages on that, which makes up the large percentage of that, but it is still roughly about 100K in consumer debt. And I'm curious if there is a recommendation about selling the rental property. It kind of makes me nervous due to the fact that we moved and we own a different house in a different state. And I'm renting that out. Okay. So give us the details. So let's stop right here so we know what we're dealing with. So you are in the Detroit area. Where is the rental house? How much do you owe on it, and how much could you sell it for today?

I need those three answers. Okay. It's Seattle, 0-475. Okay. And I believe I can – I'm seeing other things go up for 700K, and so I'll be conservative and say I could probably easily sell it for 650. All right. I like that number, 650.

Okay, and you owe 475 on it. And so your question to us is, should I sell it and take the profit from that and put it to my debt? Yeah, I may be able to make it out of that sale and straight into baby step four. I think that might even give me enough for my savings and to pay off the rest of my debt. I would hang up with us right now. Why are you calling a realtor in Seattle and have that house listed within the next 30 minutes if I could? The question is because I have tenants currently living in it,

and I'm not sure how that works. Well, tell us. What do you got? What's your agreement with them? Well, we have a 12-month agreement that started on um, April 1st, April 1st, I believe, uh, just off the top of my head, um, 12 month agreement. And I told him that if he were to make the payments on, because he wanted to do 24 months. And I told him if he made his payments every month on time, then I would give him an eight, a six month extension. So that would put him at 18 months and I, and I wouldn't hike the rates on them.

And then at the end of the 18 months, I would have to maybe just adjust for inflation or something like that. I think you've got to figure out what Seattle's, what Washington's rules are on tenant law, and are you allowed to sell the property even though it's under contract, and how much notice you have to give them, things like that. It's worth paying a lawyer, somebody who knows what they're doing, because things change. And I totally get the conviction here to not do these people wrong, but I think there's a middle ground here. I don't think just, you know, let's say that you find out that you can just willy-nilly sell it. Probably can't in Washington State. My guess is they've got some protections

there um but if you can come to a man-to-man agreement kind of a hey here's where i'm here's where i'm sitting and um i know that you know and i i think there's always the law and then there's a civil conversation to do yeah and i i would try both see what your options are legally but still be and by the way you're a good person that's why you called so i'm not worried about you you know doing something wrong to these folks uh but uh but but outside of that once you know your legal options and if you have an option to shorten the term of this deal and get out of it so you can sell the home you can still be kind and sit down with them and try to figure it out. John, you got something? Yeah, this is just me looking at a quick look on the internet. It says to sell a rental property with tenants in it in

the state of Washington, you can wait for the tenant's lease to expire or negotiate with a tenant regarding early move out. So there's your option, it looks like. So maybe you give them, say, hey, I'll give you a free month, but we're going to need to cut this thing short because I got to sell this property. My finances aren't what I thought they were here in my new town. Or you honor your 12-month agreement and you learn a long, harrowing, frustrating lesson. And hopefully this is a good tenant. It's a good person, a character, and they pay every month.

And then when it's over, you don't extend the lease and you sell the property. I know it's an ignorant thing to say, but I do trust the tenant will pay because he seems like a good tenant that I have in there now. Another option was possibly a lease option where I get a large chunk change down now to lock in the price at a later date. So that way, the big chunk of change helps pay off the debt. Can I just interrupt you? Yes. debt and then um can i just can i just interrupt you yes you've tried to do these little whoopty do's and rigamarous and that's what got you in this exact situation just don't get cute with it just let the lease roll out or negotiate with the guy and then sell the property when it's when it's free and clear yeah but if you do a lease with a big chunk down and i'm gonna do this i'm gonna

triple stamp a double stamp i'm gonna slap it slap it up, flip it, reverse it. Like you're going to do all these things and you're going to find yourself in another weird situation where you owe a million dollars, dude. Yeah. Are you really tight as it relates to your margin right now? And that's why we're doing this? Or can you make some momentum, keep going on the snowball while we're waiting to figure out this purchase, I mean, excuse me, the sale of this property? What's your situation? We're not tight. It is, you know, we make $250 a year. So my point is, you can still make progress. And what John and I want you to know is you need to

be attacking the debt while we're figuring out. Don't just put it on cruise control and wait for the sale of this house to make everything clean. Make sense? Yeah. I was watching a different podcast, and I saw a brand new on there, the Theo Vaughn podcast, and that convinced me to sell my truck. Good for you. Wow. Way to go.

Yeah. I'm still waiting for the check to clear, but that's an extra $21,000 I'm going to drop down on the bed. So then you got it. You're on this, man. Thanks for the call. By the way, I'm going to highly recommend, since Rachel Cruz is in the kids' book thing now, you should, after the whoop-de-doos and rigamarous, I feel like that's your next installment. It's kind of your own Dr. Seuss line.

And the kangaroos, that's right. Whoop-de-doos and rigamarous. Ken the Kangaroo. If I could have a title character, I would really i'm gonna roll with ken the kangaroo and the rigamaroo i love it it's gonna be obnoxious insane uh financial uh whoops people find themselves in it had a ring to it i wanted to call that out we'll see we'll put it on the table for john's next few product lines all right next, next is Catherine in Milwaukee. Catherine, how can we help today?

Hello. I've been watching you guys forever. I love you and also listening, and I have every one of your books. Catherine, we love you. Catherine, we're going to make you a head of the fan club. We appreciate you. All right, so we're up against the clock. I have all of your books. got about are amazing thank you we got about two minutes to be amazing for you what's your question thank you um i actually have three questions two of the

questions are regarding my niece and my nephew i became guardian over them two years ago when my sister passed when she passed um she left $75,000 for each of them in a college IRA Roth and then she also left $100,000 in trust for each of them for when they turn 18 they can do do whatever they want with that trust. Should I be adding more to their college because I know college is expensive? No, not that much. So you're telling me they have $175,000 when they turn 18? Yes. Yeah, they're good.

Okay. They're good. A 15-year-old actually is going to do what I did. And I keep telling him to live his life, do be his best person. When I was their age, um, he's 15, he's actually going to be starting college accelerated courses. So he'll be in high school and going to college. When I was in college, I actually worked for two hospitals, and they paid my tuition and everything. So I had no college debt when I graduated from my bachelor's and also my master's. Well, here's a great gift you can give him.

If you can steward your niece and nephew, if you can steward them to still not just rely on this money, but you steward them through this process, and then they get through college debt-free, they have a $175,000 launching pad to start their life with. Yeah. Can you imagine? No.

That's amazing. I mean, it was an amazing gift that she left them. That's right. And they want to honor her. Yes. And you do too. And they are really lucky that they got you as their guardian. You're an amazing woman.

Awesome. Catherine, what an awesome story. Love it. Great, great call there. Paying it forward. That's a real legacy. Thank you for sharing that story with us. All right.

Good hour. Dr. John Delaney, thanks for hanging. And I want to thank James Childs, our fearless leader, and the merry band of folks behind the class for keeping us on the air. I got to take a break. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time.