The Ramsey Show - App - Dealing With a Massive Pile of Debt (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Jade Walsh, number one best-selling author of the Ramsey Quick Read, and, of course, Ramsey Personality. She's my co-host today. The phone number is 888-825-5225. James is in Cleveland, Ohio.
Starting point is 00:00:57 Hi, James. How are you? I'm all right, and yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hi. So, a little bit of backstory. I'm a couple years out of college and I've been working at a large public accounting firm since then. And I guess I am kind of at a point in my time doing that where I've decided that I might be looking to do something else because I don't get a lot of fulfillment out of it. And I guess I just have a hard time deciding, you know, how do I decide when to do that? And also, I guess, what career path to pursue, you know, because, I mean, I have an attraction to, like, you know, a management area.
Starting point is 00:01:39 I have a minor in business management, you know, along with my degree. And also for context, I've passed the CPA exam, so I have that for what it's worth. But it's just I don't know where to go from there. Okay, so you went to an extreme amount of trouble to become an accountant. Yes. Okay. yes okay and you've discovered that the version of accounting that you do in a public accounting firm is not fun for you yeah i'd say that's accurate yeah so what is it because it occurs to me that possibly it is not that you hate accounting. It's that you hate accounting there.
Starting point is 00:02:28 I suppose. I guess I was kind of afraid to try and move into another role just because. What kind of other role? So some other roles I've looked at are, I guess we call them, you know, in the industry, we call them industry positions. You don't work in public, you work for a company. Like I've looked at this hospital position that has, you know, accounting positions within various levels and a few other places.
Starting point is 00:02:57 And they just haven't panned out. Like, you know, I've applied and I know that's not the best way to get into a position like that, but it just, it hasn't panned out for me thus far. So, that doesn't mean it's not what you want to do. Just haven't found the job is all. Yeah. I don't think you know exactly what you want to do. I think...
Starting point is 00:03:18 What I'm suggesting is there's a possibility you are not disillusioned with the accounting field. You are disillusioned with being an accountant in a public accounting firm, which is pretty much a grind. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you're what, two years out of school, you said? Yeah. Yeah, so they're dumping everything. There's a brother on your desk. You're just a widget machine right now, right?
Starting point is 00:03:52 That's about right. Yeah. Well well no wonder it's not fun but that doesn't mean accounting isn't fun for you i suppose i guess you sure have done a lot of it for somebody who hates it i mean what would your ideal if you if you had your ideal scenario as an accountant, what would it be? And then work backwards from that. My ideal scenario, and I'll tell you what it is here in a second, isn't something that I think exists in public accounting anymore just because it's changed as an industry. And that's fine. It's more of an industry. Okay. It'd be more like the nuts and bolts of accounting like you know um
Starting point is 00:04:27 explaining i guess transactions and you know how they affect financial statements to people as they need it because like the accounting people do at ramsey all day long yeah they said they sit with the business units and they talk about how to do the business and tell them what the accounting is telling you know here here's the tea leaves. The tea leaves in the accounting reports are telling you in the business unit this, this, and this. And what other KPIs, what other things can we do to assist you to make your business run better? It's a live, breathing thing when you do accounting in a place like ours. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:05:02 And it's just I don't feel like that's exists in the public scenario so don't do it anymore so go get one of those okay but it doesn't mean you have to go become a guitar player yeah or you have to get a degree in art yeah you know which would be like the other side of the spectrum from your brain yeah and so i mean the other side i guess and this would be like the other side of the spectrum from your brain. Yeah. The other side, I guess, and this would be like a whole heck of a pivot, so to speak, but it would be, you know, if I'm just that fed up with it, moving into, I guess, again, management or even crazier a trade. But, like, I guess it doesn't sound like. See, accounting is... Here's an interesting number for you, okay?
Starting point is 00:05:53 Of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, over 60% of them have an accounting degree. And most of them from public universities, by the way. Not from muckety-muck universities. So the accounting degree is very functional because in order to get an accounting degree you have to learn business otherwise accounting doesn't even make sense and so you're qualified to walk in to business settings and create i mean you're probably inexperienced in business, and so you've probably got to get some calluses, but you have the ability to go create some serious business acumen
Starting point is 00:06:29 over the next decade and maybe be a CFO somewhere. That kind of thing. And so that's what I'm saying. And that's really not that big a pivot. It's using your education and your natural bent and your skill set just to apply it in a different place that has more life to it than the widget machine you're stuck in yeah so i don't i don't blame you i mean what what i think what you're doing would make me want to i mean i i
Starting point is 00:07:00 couldn't stand it so uh but i but i couldn't stand just generally doing accounting all day anyway because I'm not detailed enough because I'm not that. So here's what I want you to do. I'm going to send you Ken Coleman's Get Clear Career Assessment and his new book, Find the Work You're Wired to Do. Okay? And the book explains how the career assessment works. But I think the career assessment works.
Starting point is 00:07:28 But I think the career assessment, just from talking to you, I might be wrong. It's a very, very good tool, by the way. We've sold almost 100,000 of them, and we've now put them in this book. So, folks, when you buy the book, find the work you're wired to do. It comes with the career assessment, a code, to take the career assessment on our website and it's it really gives you insight so i think it's going to help you a ton james and and i think it's going my opinion is and
Starting point is 00:07:52 you could call me back and tell me i'm crazy later it might tell you something else it may tell you to be an artist but i think it's going to tell you you're doing the right thing in the wrong place all right well i i hope that it gives me some direction. I really appreciate that information and those thoughts. Sure. I'll send that to you. You hang on, and the team will pick up, and we will get you signed up just for that. So I get the sense that James doesn't suddenly hate numbers.
Starting point is 00:08:23 I don't think so. There's many applications that you can do the same skill set. I'm a version of that. Yeah, that's true. That's true. We never would have thought the lady on the cruise ship stage is going to end up a Ramsey personality, but both of them have microphones.
Starting point is 00:08:41 It's the same skill set. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries.
Starting point is 00:09:16 CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Jade Warshaw, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us. We're glad you're here. Hey, Rachel Cruz's second kid's book, I'm Glad for Where I Am, is available today.
Starting point is 00:10:13 It is book launch day. That's right. Rachel has an exceptional gift of storytelling that both parents and kids enjoy. These illustrations bring the adventure to life. It's the perfect gift for kids. I'm glad for what I have. The first book was about contentment versus entitlement. I'm glad for where I am teaches you about gratitude, particularly about home.
Starting point is 00:10:38 And I'm glad for what I have, and I'm glad for where I am. We're both in our store. You can order your copy at ramsey solutions dot com slash store and rachel's going to be out and about tomorrow she'll be in phoenix signing books and on april 17th in los angeles uh the next day april the 18th and uh dallas april the 20th the following week in at on April the 27th. So do a little story time, read the books, read the book, and bring the kiddos out and get the book signed.
Starting point is 00:11:11 These books are the first one to hit the children's number one bestseller list, number one on the children's bestseller list. I'm trying to get that right out of my mouth. And this one will too. They are fabulous. I've already been reading them to the grandkids of course i've got an inside track on this and so the grandbabies love it the ramsey grandbabies endorse rachel's book i'm just saying so uh good stuff and uh the book is i'm glad for where i am
Starting point is 00:11:37 and if you can teach kiddos gratitude you can teach them contentment in a world gone crazy grateful people content people are peaceful highly attractive people and that's what you want your kids to grow up to be yeah this is the ramsey show jade washaw is my co-host aaron is in des moines hi aaron welcome to the ramsey show hey thanks for having me sure what's up i am so i just have a couple of questions for you i'm around 785 000 in debt and i have an idea of how to tackle it but my wife is on board with my idea so i just want to give you our advice on how to tackle this and what you would do in my situation. Is that including a house? It is. So it's a primary that I owe $450 on, and I have a secondary house that we move.
Starting point is 00:12:32 It was our primary, so we're still within that window of capital gains we were to sell, but I owe $192 on that one. What's it worth? It's worth about $325. Okay. And what's the $450, the house you owe $450,000, what's it worth? Around $490,000.
Starting point is 00:12:49 We just bought it less than a year ago. And so you've got $200,000, $650,000, which leaves $135,000 in other debt. What is that? Yeah, so two of them are vehicles. About $40,000 of it is our our vehicles one for me and one for my wife about 15,000 is personal debt six of it's a credit card and nine of it is a personal loan and 29,000 on a student loan yeah you guys are seriously broke what do y'all make yeah we are um combined uh so my wife is a stay-at-home mom,
Starting point is 00:13:25 but I make my base salary, my W-2, is $175,000, and I have about $20,000 in gross rental income from that first property. Okay. So you make about $200 a year? Yes. Okay. And why can't you all live on that? Well, I think it's lifestyle grief because it's uh you know less
Starting point is 00:13:45 than a it's been less than a year ago my salary doubled and i think we just kind of went crazy so what is it what is it you're wanting to do that your wife is not in tune with so i'm wanting to sell that that uh rental property before the capital gains becomes a an issue use that to clear out all of our consumer debt and then just start tackling our primary mortgage with the snowball. Why doesn't she want to do that? Well, it's next to some relatives. Our primary home is next to some relatives.
Starting point is 00:14:22 Who are the some relatives? Her parents? No, they're my brother and his wife, and they're pretty close. His wife and her are pretty close. So that means you have to own a rental property next door? That's kind of where I'm at with this whole thing. Well, what does she say? Is that the reason? It's a safety net, really, because we just picked up.
Starting point is 00:14:49 How is it a safety net? You guys are freaking broke. Yeah, that's really what I'm trying to get across to her. Has she seen the numbers? Have you laid out the way you just laid it out with us? Have you sat and said, look, honey, here's where we're at? Have you guys done that? You know, we have.
Starting point is 00:15:13 Her and I both come from traditional backgrounds of living on consumer debt with our families. And her idea of never being in debt is just that it's not possible to do. And, you know, after finding... Well, it's pretty possible if you sell the rental house. Why is it not possible? Of course it's possible. It's just you don't want to do it. One of the crutches is that 2.5% interest rate that we have on that thing,
Starting point is 00:15:37 and it's just... Yeah, which is such a blessing. Because y'all are freaking starving to death making $200,000 and spending like you're in congress i mean i think i think you have a pretty serious level of denial going on inside your household here that i'm a lot more upset about than you are yeah well that's the thing we you know we grew together we went from having nothing to where we're at today. To having a negative net worth.
Starting point is 00:16:07 Yeah. You're exactly right. Making more money than you've ever made in your life, and you're more broke than you've ever been in your life because you want to own a rental property next door to your brother-in-law. No thanks. We talked about this earlier, about the idea that real estate's not always a good thing.
Starting point is 00:16:21 It's not a good thing. And this is not well. No, what's going on here is there is zero control on spending in this house and uh that's what's really going on that's the core of this is that okay now we're going to admit we bought cars we can't afford we've been taking vacations we couldn't afford and we've been buying crap on amazon that we can't afford and so we got credit card debt and personal loans coming out our ears and two car payments and we make $200,000 a year. So I, Aaron, I don't think this is a financial problem.
Starting point is 00:16:54 I think this is a denial problem. And I think the two of you need to sit down and you need probably if I'm in your situation, I'm going to go, honey, look, I can't live like this. This is ridiculous. I'm working my butt off and we're going backward because you won't sit down and look and deal with our spending, our overspending. And I'm willing to work on it. I'm willing to do the sacrificing to win. I am not willing to live like this just because your parents live broke and your brother-in-law lives broke and everybody else lives broke paycheck to paycheck making $200,000 a year.
Starting point is 00:17:30 I don't want to live like that. I'm not going to live like that. So we're getting ready to do something different around here. And, you know, that's how it's going to sound at our house. And so, uh, and if we can't come to, um, you know, some kind of agreement where we start acting like adults and living on less than we make and making adult decisions about our future, then we've got real serious hundred thousand dollars we need to be able to show everybody that we're making this money and it's with the cars and the being able to buy what you want on the credit cards and having the second rental property and how will how will it look to other people if we start to downsize and we start to cut back in areas and it shows and i think people are very afraid of those changes showing you really got to watch out calling this show when jade's here because she'll just read your mail you just nailed that that's exactly what's going on it's
Starting point is 00:18:32 yeah she really cares about what people and here's the thing you're going to be broke your whole life you're going to work your whole life and be broke when you do that not just aaron but anybody who's following this plan because if you one of the benefits of going broke is when i went broke is i lost my need to make you people happy if you know what i drove today a really nice car you know why i drove it's because what i want to drive i don't care if any of you know i've got it or see it i enjoy driving the freaking car it's none of your dadgum business. I used to, when I was an immature little twit, drove a car because I wanted people to see me driving that car.
Starting point is 00:19:11 There's a lot of difference. And one will make you broke and one will make you rich. Not caring what people think is a superpower. Man, it's right next to common sense. It's like the whole council of superpowers right there. This is The Ramsey Show. Jade Walsh, Ramsey Personality is my co-host today.
Starting point is 00:19:34 Thanks for being with us, America. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Carmen is in Clarksville. Hi, Carmen, how are you? I'm great. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? We just have a quick question.
Starting point is 00:19:48 We are going to be selling a rental property that we own in a different state than where we currently reside. And we're going to be getting a pretty decent size net profit off of that. Cool. How much do you know? We think between like 200 and 250 based off current estimations. Yeah, we're pretty excited about that. And we were just curious what the Ramsey principle thing to do with it would be. Well, what baby step are you on?
Starting point is 00:20:13 So I'm terrible about keeping track. I think it's like five, six, and seven. So we have, or I'm sorry, four, five, and six. We have no debt except the house that we'll be selling has a mortgage still. Our primary home we're living in currently has a mortgage, but no debt outside of that. What'll be selling has a mortgage still our primary home we're living in currently has a mortgage but no debt outside of that what's the balance on your mortgage that we currently live in our primary home yes about 320 325 okay but a little like throw a wrench in things this home will not be a long-term play for us. My husband is active duty military and we will be leaving this house in probably like one to three years, which kind of made me more cautious of putting that money toward this property and wondering if there might be a better
Starting point is 00:20:57 play with it since it's more short-term. What's your interest rate uh it's pretty high five six seven five we've only been here just about two years so we bought peak price peak interest rate okay so what is the risk of making five percent on your money by putting it on your mortgage i guess nothing yes there is no risk there because i mean when you sell the house you're gonna get the money back right yeah you're not spending here we'll be looking at like moving back to where our families are from yeah and you would sell the house you know if yes and so you and the house the house is worth the house is worth about what now probably what we paid if we're lucky probably still 335 345 okay and so
Starting point is 00:21:48 when you sell it if it's worth 402 years or 450 you're going to get 450 minus selling expenses if it's paid off by then yes and you take that half million and go start your next life after military okay thanks for your service by the way toward this house i think i would yeah now is there And you'd take that half a million and go start your next life after military. Okay. Thanks for your service, by the way. Do you still put it toward this house? I think I would, yeah. Now, is there any, I mean, are either of you driving a junk car? Is there a kid getting ready to go to college?
Starting point is 00:22:15 Is there a little bit of light renovation? Is there something we need to do while we're in Baby Steps 456 that, with some of this money, and not put it all on the house? The emergency fund's good, right? Yes. Okay. Yeah. four five six that with some of this money and not put it all on the house emergency funds good right yes okay yeah we have a short uh yeah i mean we both drive older paid for cars but that are well cared for and well maintained um so we don't so you don't think in the next 12 14 months you'll be buying a car oh no okay all right and um our kids are young um five and eight so our kids are little they were not aside a little bit each month for college we are not much because they will each be getting half of my husband's gi bill he's not using it for himself
Starting point is 00:22:58 he's using military tuition assistance so half of their college will be paid for already on the next move i said in that i said post-military. On the next move, will he be retiring or will it just be another move? No, it will hopefully be retiring. It will either be standard retirement or medical retirement, depending on the timeline. Okay. All right.
Starting point is 00:23:16 Okay. Because he's approaching his 20-year then. Correct, yeah. He's at like 16 1⁄2 now. Okay. Yeah. You'd like to ride that out and get that 20-year coin for sure. That's the goal we are hoping. Yeah, that's at like 16 and a half now. Okay, yeah. You'd like to ride that out and get that 20-year coin for sure. That's the goal we are hoping.
Starting point is 00:23:28 Yeah, that's cool. Well, thank you again for your service and for your no-nonsense assessment of this. So I'm probably going to set a little bit of this aside, not a ton, for just enjoyment. Okay. Like y'all take a trip or you buy yourself something that y'all have been wanting, a little bit of a splurge, not a $50,000 splurge, but a five or a 10, okay? And then I'm going to throw the rest of it at the mortgage if it's me. And then I'm going to start going, hey, that mortgage is now in reach.
Starting point is 00:24:01 Let's start thinking about in our budget finishing that puppy off. Yeah, I think that's going to serve as a big motivator. Because now you can kind of see the end of the finish line, and it's easier to run when you see the end. Carrie's with us in Eugene, Oregon. Hi, Carrie. How are you? Hi.
Starting point is 00:24:18 Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, I am about to change jobs temporarily, and i'm trying to decide do i move my 180k from my current 401k to my new employer never roll into an ira never always roll it to an ira because you've got 8 000 mutual funds to choose from literally exactly yeah current 401k at your new job is going to have 12 or 14. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:24:50 So part two of that question is 401k at the new job, knowing that I'm only going to be there two to three years while I finish my master's program, do I do the employer match? Yes. Or, or, or do I bump it up to max contributions? Well, I've maxed it. If you've, are you out of debt? Yeah, we have, uh, my husband and I make really good money. Uh, we have a house loan and other than that, we're debt free. Um, great cars, all the good stuff, paying for college cash. But I don't know whether I should.
Starting point is 00:25:30 One hundred percent. A lot of things to you. Well, I mean, before we got married, we completed your course. We wanted to do this right. Yeah. I mean, you're going up to 15 percent and you're starting with your match. It sounds like you might make more than a Roth IRA. Am I right? Yeah. OK. yeah okay yeah yeah max it out max what you can out and then you can do that if you got a roth 401k at the new place yeah is it so so is that what i should do then yes yes take a take a take
Starting point is 00:25:59 roth everything that you can and um and uh on the new new stuff, not the rollover. The rollover is traditional to traditional, okay, the 180, because I don't want that to become taxable right now. But, yeah, I'd max out that Roth, especially if you can get it with a match. And, yeah, you're just going to end up with an extra pile of money there that you move when you leave that job. Yeah, so when I leave that job, my career will most likely be self-employed, and so that's where I'm trying to kind of get that IRA established, because I think
Starting point is 00:26:34 that's where my best retirement is going to be, if I've understood correctly. I'm sorry, your best retirement is where? You can do all kinds of stuff when you're self-employed. My IRA. Okay, well, maybe that's another call then. Okay, your rollover IRA you won't be adding anything to. You'll be opening a new one when you're self-employed. But it can be in the same mutual funds with the same broker. Get a SmartVestor Pro to help you do all this. Just click at RamseySolutions.com.
Starting point is 00:27:03 Find the SmartVestor Pro in your area. Sit down. They'll help you arrange all this just click at ramsey solutions.com find the smart investor pro in your area sit down they'll help you arrange all this stuff so what you're going to end up with is the oh 401k rolling over to an ira you're going to open a new roth 401k with a match we hope at the new place when you leave there you're going to roll it to a roth so you'll have those two accounts with account numbers on them that That's right. And then when you're self-employed, you can start doing traditional, I mean, you can do regular Roths, and you can either do a SEP or a simple IRA for your self-employed company, whichever one you want to do. And you can look at all of that at that time. But yeah, you can do all kinds of stuff
Starting point is 00:27:43 when you're self-employed uh to do the same exact have the same approach as your only difference is you if you match you match yourself that's right that's the only difference so other than that you're in great shape carrie you're doing really good stuff very good she's she's killing it yeah asking the right questions yeah moving in the right way so here's the thing thing. Always, when you leave your company, folks, always roll your 401k to an IRA, not to the new company's 401k. Because you have more options. You're sitting with your SmartVestor Pro. You've got an account.
Starting point is 00:28:16 You're now managing your wealth away from work. Right. It's a transfer, direct transfer. It's not you pulling it out and then putting it into. It's a rollover. It's a direct transfer rollover. That's a good point. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:28 And so what Jade is talking about is make sure the money is sent straight to the mutual fund, not to your house. Because you don't want them withholding on it. Put the whole thing in there. And that's the route to go. This is The Ramsey Show. Our Scripture of the Day, Philippians 1-6. God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished. John Wooden said, What is right is more important than who is right.
Starting point is 00:29:02 Ooh, that'll work. Todd is with us. Todd's in Philadelphia. Hi, Todd. How are you? Hi, I'm doing well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I got a question on what to do with some proceeds from a life insurance
Starting point is 00:29:17 policy. This is from my late life's estate, and I got a bunch of money. I put it in a CD last year to kind of hide it from myself, and the CD is maturing in May. I'm trying to figure out if I should use it to pay off the mortgage or to save it, use it for my kids' education or something else for my children.
Starting point is 00:29:43 Wow, so she's been gone since May? Since May, yes. I'm sorry. What happened? I'm sorry. Since June. Since June. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:52 What happened? I'm sorry. She had leukemia. It happened very, very quickly. Yeah. How old was she? 53 years old. Wow.
Starting point is 00:30:04 And how much money is in there, Todd? There's $180,000 left. Okay. All right. And what are your options? What are you considering doing with the money? So I have $145,000 left on the mortgage. I could pay it off and be done with it, and that's the only debt I have.
Starting point is 00:30:26 Another is to say, you know, keep it, my youngest is still in high school. I have to put him through college. I might need that, I might not. I would just do something with it for the kids somehow. Yeah. What do you make? Do I make?
Starting point is 00:30:45 Do I make? About $200 a year. So if I understand, you have $180, you owe $145. So if you paid off the mortgage, you have $35 left, plus you make $200 a year to get the youngest through college. Yes, and I'll have a good big save for them, too. I just don't know how much this is going to cost, right? Well, I do. It's going to cost $35,000 plus whatever you can come up with out of your budget.
Starting point is 00:31:14 That's what it's going to cost. That's where he's going to go to school. We're going to go to school we can afford to go to. That would be nice. No, it's not nice. It's what we're going to do. It's my money. So that's how this works. If you want my money, you're going nice. It's what we're going to do. It's my money. So that's how this works. If you want my money, you're going to go where I want you to go to school.
Starting point is 00:31:30 So, I mean, we'll talk about it, and we can pick a school, but we're probably going to a state school, which is fine, by the way. Yeah, because we didn't do this with our daughter. But I get it. The situation has different now. Hey, Todd, your phone is awfully muffled. Can you speak directly into it? I'm having trouble hearing you. Yes, I am. I get it. The situation is different now. Hey, Todd, your phone is awfully muffled. Can you speak directly into it? I'm having trouble hearing you.
Starting point is 00:31:48 Yes, I am. I'm sorry. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. You're saying? We didn't do that with our daughter. We kind of let her pick her place.
Starting point is 00:31:56 But I recognize the situation is different now. Yeah. So is she out of school? She has one more year, but I can handle that. I already have something for that. And how old is the youngest? What year of high school? He's 16 years old, junior.
Starting point is 00:32:11 Okay, so he's got senior while he's finishing up his junior while your daughter's finishing up her senior year of college. No, they're both juniors, so one in high school, one in college. Okay, so they're both going to be seniors at the same time then. So you're not going to really get a break. You're going to go from one to the other. No, I'm not. You're correct.
Starting point is 00:32:31 Okay. I'm catching on. Okay. And how expensive was her school? It's $80 a year and no aid. Okay. And you cash flowed all that? We did.
Starting point is 00:32:48 Wow. We did. My wife, Sharon, handled all the finances. She did a wonderful job. Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, I mean, if you make $200 a year and you don't have any debts, including a mortgage, you can probably pull off just about whatever you want, however you want to prioritize your personal cash flow towards your youngest college.
Starting point is 00:33:07 That'll be up to you, plus or minus $35,000. Do you have any other money saved? Yes, I do. I do. How much? Probably about, let's say, $350,000, $360,000. And that's not retirement savings, right? It is not retirement savings.
Starting point is 00:33:31 Okay. So a junior can go to school wherever he wants if you're willing to part with some of that money. You can, yes. Okay. So that's a value judgment you make. It's a decision you make. So knowing that we have all of that,
Starting point is 00:33:44 that further ensures that we have all of that that further ensures that we're going to pay off the house yeah i'm thinking that way and i kind of i figured you would you guys were going to say that but you got five hundred thousand dollars yes you have five hundred thousand dollars you only owe 140 on your house so it's a no-brainer pay it off okay i i think that's a good idea. I'm going to lean in that way. Yeah. And here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:34:09 You've been through a terrible time, and what is hard to anticipate until you've been there, not because I've been there, is that it's not even in the same category as your the stuff you went through with your wife but paying off the house is going to be is going to give you a you're physically going to feel peace from getting rid of that mortgage because extra because extra weight just even though it's not that much compared to what you make because you've been through so much and y'all have had so much pain and grief and now when that is cleared there's a
Starting point is 00:34:52 cleanliness to that and the spirit you're going to feel it i promise i think you're going to be sitting on the back porch having a cup of coffee and you're going to be going wow i did not see that coming yeah i haven't had that in a while yeah yeah and just you know you take your shoes off walk through the backyard the grass feels different when you own it when it's paid for and and it's particularly highlighted in a highly uh emotionally charged situation like what they've been through there i would i would imagine it gives a sense of closure. You started this journey with someone, and that included buying a home,
Starting point is 00:35:30 and this is the place that we live, and I think that I would imagine that paying it off would give a sense of closure. Yeah, absolutely. And it does. And here's the thing. He said his wife Sharon's good with money. I can imagine that she's in heaven smiling. The house is being paid off.
Starting point is 00:35:51 Oh, yeah. Yeah, she would want him to have ultimate peace, as much peace as you can have here on earth. Exactly. In that situation, that's the way to go. Andre is in Seattle. Hey, Andre, what's up? Hi, Mr. Ramsey. I had a quick question for you.
Starting point is 00:36:07 Okay. Kind of get the feeling, and I know what you're going to say, but wanting to confirm. So I think I'm broke, but kind of an interesting situation. So anyway, I have about $205,000-ish of bad debt, not including mortgages. And about $64,000 of that, $65,000 as cars, $55,000 as a personal loan to my father-in-law, and another $64,000-something on credit cards and about $20,000 for this. Andre, I don't want to be rude, but I'm really short on time. Real quick, what's your question? Quick question. So my accountant is saying that I need to rent out the current place I live right now
Starting point is 00:36:56 at least two months out of the year. So he can do a cost segregation study and save me about 20 grand a year for next year's taxes. My question is, do a new account oh yeah when when a tax advisor start giving you economic bad financial advice just to save on taxes that means you need to fire them and so yeah you need a new accountant you need to you need to sell that house dude you so deep in debt, you can't breathe. I think I'm broke, and my accountant is telling me to be in the rental business. Terrible. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
Starting point is 00:37:31 Yeah. Get somebody else. So, folks, 100% of the time I see people do something solely for tax reasons and they ignore the economic and the personal finance implications of it, it's always a bad move. Because I hate taxes as bad as anybody else, but I don't want to trade dollars for quarters. And a lot of the tax advice is you're getting a write-off
Starting point is 00:37:55 and you're trading dollars for quarters. Meanwhile, the guy can't breathe. He's got $200,000 in debt and this stupid accountant is saying keep a rental property. God, that's dumb. Yeah, get a new cpa that puts this hour of the ramsey show in the book so 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 Thank you.

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