The Ramsey Show - App - Desperation Leads to Stupidity Which Leads to Being Broke (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 20, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss: Why you should stay away from viaticals, Using savings to pay off rentals, "Should I use my emergency fund to pay off my car?" Have a... question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Take our FREE 3 minute assessment: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods, moving, and storage studios, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Jade Warshaw Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America.
Starting point is 00:00:52 It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Angela starts off this hour in Minneapolis. Hi, Angela. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi. Angela starts off this hour in Minneapolis. Hi, Angela. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Sure.
Starting point is 00:01:09 What's up? Yes, I'm actually calling on behalf of my mother-in-law. Unfortunately, we lost our father-in-law about a year ago, and now she's in kind of a tough financial situation because for their retirement, they had invested in someone else's life insurance and unfortunately put most of their money in it and it hasn't paid out yet. Oh my.
Starting point is 00:01:36 Have you ever, have you ever heard of something like that? Sure. They bought a viatical. Yeah. I don't, and she has so little information that she probably doesn't even know what it's called. And we're just, yeah, I just feel at a loss for words. How old is your mother-in-law? She is 66 or 67.
Starting point is 00:01:58 So retired, just retired. She was a nurse. But she was not involved, she's not business savvy, was not involved in the decisions of the money in the household much. Not really. Do we have a file on this issue? Any kind of contacts on this issue? Yes.
Starting point is 00:02:16 The problem is I keep telling her to call and make sure it's even a legit investment, and she kind of refuses to do that and just hopes it's going to turn out okay. Okay. How can we help you? Yeah. So the problem is they invested money and now it's drawn to, I don't know all the details. I'm just guessing they put in 200 to 300,000. If they get it back, it's about $550,000.
Starting point is 00:02:48 That's if they get it back. The problem is the first 10 years, they didn't have to pay in. And now that it's been over 10 years, they have to start paying in. Last year, she paid in $80,000. And this year, by tax, she has to pay in $100,000 to keep this investment going. Oh, my. And they have to wait until this person passes100,000 to keep this investment going. Oh, my. And they have to wait until this person passes away in order to get the money back. Does that make sense?
Starting point is 00:03:16 Yeah, it's very unusual to have them staged like this. Okay, so let's start with this, okay? The concept of a viatical works like this. The beneficiary, let's say that I had a life insurance policy. My wife is the beneficiary, Sharon, and let's call it a million-dollar policy. When I die, my wife, the beneficiary is supposed to get a million dollars. If they want money beforehand, the person that holds the policy, they can sell the position of the beneficiary. It's called a viatical. And it's discounted deeply.
Starting point is 00:03:48 And so if they put $200,000 into one policy on one person, this is probably a multimillion-dollar policy. Okay? Yes. And you said it's only supposed to pay out $500,000? She thinks. She thinks. She thinks. She thinks, again, yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:08 And now that her father-in-law has passed away, he's the one who, unfortunately, this was their retirement money. The only other money she has, unfortunately, is she has money in stocks. And it's only about $200,000. And that's the only other retirement money she has besides Social Security. Well, first, let's just cover a couple things. Your angst inside of you on this weird thing is good because it's accurate. This should not have been done. It's a horrible place for people to put the majority of their money like this, absolutely horrible for multiple reasons.
Starting point is 00:04:44 Obviously, we're waiting on someone to die which is just weird okay um but that's what life insurance companies do every day they wait on people to die and hope they don't for a while and they make more money on them that's how you know so it's all weird but uh awkward but but in addition to that, it's a young industry that is full of scam, full of fraud. And if it's not a scam or fraud, a lot of them are poorly structured. And the statistical analysis, the actuarial analysis sucks. There are some legitimate companies that aren't scams that are doing it, but it's nothing i would ever put a dime in because it's just not got enough track record that even if you could
Starting point is 00:05:30 get past the awkwardness the weirdness of what you're doing um then even then it's not anything i would put money into so um so what to do now is we've got first, we got to figure out if it's a scam. Second thing we got to figure out, is there any exit prior to any exit strategy prior to death? And then the third thing is all of this has to happen because your mother-in-law actually cares. She doesn't care right now. She's ashamed or she's afraid that it's bad. And she's like, if she puts her hands over her ears and closes her eyes and goes, la, la, la, la, la, it's all going to go away and be okay. And that's not how this works.
Starting point is 00:06:09 So who's going to talk to her and get permission to talk to this company in writing? You or your husband. Or one of our siblings. Yeah. Yeah. And it's almost like we have to force it. Yeah. The only reason we're forcing it is for her own good because i'm afraid she's gotten scammed i mean the only other
Starting point is 00:06:32 option is you walk away from it all i mean i think no i'm not walking away from it because she refuses to face it no i mean she might have to walk away from it and just say it's a total loss well if it's a scam she will yeah and if she has to put money in that she doesn't have she will yeah yeah if she signed up for a contract she can't fulfill she may lose the whole stinking thing i don't know you don't know i don't know what she signed up for so the first step is getting her shook out of her fog and handing a piece of paper that gives permission for your husband her son if i'm understanding this right um to uh to to call these people or someone in the family that has some business acumen to find out what the flip is going on what these people have gotten
Starting point is 00:07:16 themselves into um it's a bad product because at best if it's not a scam, it's a young industry that's poorly run. The best of the best of them are okay, but nothing that makes me want to jump up and down and get involved in this weirdness. Yeah. Second question, really quick, if you have time. If we find out this is a bad investment, can she live off of $200,000 in Social Security for the rest of her life? That depends on what she's willing to spend.
Starting point is 00:07:50 What's her monthly budget? I mean, she has her house paid off, her car is paid off, so she's just paying taxes on her house. And insurance and food and electricity. How much is the Social Security? She's making less than she thought after her husband passed, so about $2,300 a month. Yeah. Well, $20,000 if it produced 10% would be $20,000 a year.
Starting point is 00:08:13 Or $200,000 would produce $20,000 a year, so another couple grand a month, give or take. So if she can live on three or four grand, she can make it, probably, if you invest the money wisely this time that's remaining. But yeah, you guys need to get to the bottom of this. She's ashamed that she doesn't understand. She's ashamed that she feels like in the air she may have gotten scammed, and she may have. So in general, what would the Ramsey Show say about viadicals? There is a portion of them that are on the up and up, and there's no portion of them I would ever do.
Starting point is 00:08:49 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. 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
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Starting point is 00:10:57 So get this deal right now. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash Get Clear. Chris is with us in Seattle. Hey, Chris, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hello. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up?
Starting point is 00:11:12 Okay. So the question, I have about $100,000 in cash, owe about $97,000 in two real estate properties. And the question is, should I take that cash and pay them off? The hesitation and the backstory. These are real estate properties that I kind of got entangled. I got myself entangled into this. So I'm taking responsibility for this.
Starting point is 00:11:37 I got into these deals to flip these back in 2007 with someone who I knew real well, trusted, and they had done one of these personally, came up to me and said, hey, you know what, we should do this. It will be a great deal. You can make some quick, easy money. I was naive 15 years ago. So I did that. Then we had the crash of 2008, then became a reluctant landlord. And over the years, just kind of struggled with managing those
Starting point is 00:12:06 and eventually got myself further entangled by signing these over to a sort of management company. They put it into a trust, and they essentially manage the tenants, collect the rent, they do make the mortgage payment, they handle all repairs and everything. However, I am still the mortgage holder with my original mortgage company. So I have liability, but I am not going to really get the benefit if that real estate property was sold today and made a profit. This company will essentially take all of that.
Starting point is 00:12:40 But in exchange for that, they essentially handle everything. So the, to my original question, what the thing that keeps me up at night right now, and they, I've had no problems with them. Um, for the record, they have made all the payments, they have handled everything. Um, but the thing that keeps me up at night right now, or where the anxiety is coming from is I have this liability. Um, it is, if wherever, if I went to go take a loan out today, I will be asked questions about that, and I have to go through the explanation of what they are, what's currently going on. Here's the proof that things are being paid and everything is kept up to date because I collect those on a regular basis. So the thought crossed my mind that I should refinance the...
Starting point is 00:13:24 Does the trust pay the payment on the property that you're talking about paying off? Yes, that's correct. What happens if you pay it off and there's not a payment anymore? Do you receive that? Well, that was my question. The question was, does it make sense to take my $100,000 in cash and essentially become the only mortgage holder, refinance these properties so that I no longer have these on my credit report and it's not something that I'm carrying
Starting point is 00:13:50 any longer. My question is, under the terms of the crap you signed up for, will they pay you the payment that they used to pay to the bank if you pay the bank off? I don't have a good answer to that. Obviously, if you get zero from them as a result of paying it off, you don't pay it off. Yes. But that's the culmination of the second bad deal you did on these properties. Yes.
Starting point is 00:14:26 So you gave up ownership of the properties, and they wrapped it into a trust so there was not a due on sale clause because they didn't want to pay off the mortgages. That is correct. But you don't have – if you pay off the mortgages, it doesn't increase – does that increase your equity position? No, because they're taking all the equity, right? That is correct. You're giving them an extra $100,000 by paying the loan off, aren't you?
Starting point is 00:14:48 So I guess this is my question because I am still somewhat naive, and I'm beginning to do some research here when the thought came, but I figured I got through FPU, which is kind of how I started getting all of this stuff cleaned up, and I figured I'd make the phone call. In the event that I essentially refinance this loan, whether it's an LOC or whatever. It's not a refinance, honey. It's just you're going to pay it off.
Starting point is 00:15:16 Okay. Okay, and then the question is twofold. Under this trust agreement that you have signed over the property rights, if you pay off the mortgage, do they protect that and you get that back at resale when they sell it? Cause you've given up the equity you said, but will they take the, uh, will they give you the a hundred thousand dollars at sale and will they pay you payments until then?
Starting point is 00:15:43 Got it. Okay. Because you, because otherwise you're, you're now, you know, they're getting ahead by the payments and by the $100,000 that they now added to their, you know, their equity if we don't do this. So I don't know what you've signed up for. It's a weird deal that you've gotten yourself into. I think I know why they did it. I think they did it to avoid the due on sale clause of the deed of trust. That's correct.
Starting point is 00:16:09 Yeah, it's one of these nothing-down-real-estate-crap weekend seminars that these guys went to. They have no money, but they thought they'd come in and run the property for you, and they make all the money. It made you think that you were somehow protected, and you're not. Wow. So, because if they just walk away, you're right back where you were. That is correct.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Yeah, except you don't have the property in your name anymore. Yeah, the property is in the trust. Yeah. So you've lost control of the property. All you've got is the liability. So I don't know. I mean, I do not want to give them $100,000 more. Agreed. So we need to make sure that you get something documented with them
Starting point is 00:16:56 that they will pay that out to you upon sale of the property if you reduce it. If they will pay that out to you and they will pay you payments in the meantime, then yes, I would pay it off and get rid of the liability. That sounds terrible. This is like terrible, terrible bad idea hour. I mean, no wonder. I mean, he sounded like he was just wired, man. No wonder.
Starting point is 00:17:18 That's crazy stuff. Okay. Let's kind of pause a second and talk about a concept. The concept is this. From him and from a caller in a different segment, depending on how you're watching this or listening, you'll be catching it at a different time, but about viaticals, buying out life insurance policies. I have done dumber things than both of those two things. Every time I did, it was due to, most of the time, due to being desperate or being greedy. If you're desperate, right after you get desperate, you going to get broke and that's his thing okay he got in a bad deal with a partner 2007 horrible timing on real estate law you know the guy then he had to get that guy gone but he ends up with the property
Starting point is 00:18:17 and the property's killing him and he's not making any money on it so these other guys will come in they'll they'll we'll pay the payments but we get all the equity and and we'll send you the rents or we'll keep the rents or whatever the arrangement was and you have to deed your property into the name of a trust that those other guys control so you've now lost the ownership of the property but the mortgage is still in your name you still have the liability that's what he did and that was a man that was desperate yeah would have to be yeah because that's like known as a deal that sucks and so um and i've seen that deal pitched as a way to get a property for nothing down just take over their payments and manage it for them but you got to get it into your name and you make the equity later and uh that's one of those nothing down weekend real estate things are those
Starting point is 00:19:09 tic-tac things that they're doing that's going around uh i mean this nothing down real estate comes around about every 10 or 15 years again and then right after that a whole bunch of people lose their butt and then a whole whole fresh batch of young people have to come along to be dumb enough to do it again. Well, they're here. Yeah, it's a fresh batch. Fresh batch of MBAs that are 34 years old. It's a fresh batch.
Starting point is 00:19:39 This is The Ramsey Show. Jade Warshaw, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Jerry and Christy are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi, Dave. Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? Fort Worth. Oh, welcome to Tennessee. Good to have you. And how much debt have you two paid off? $863,288 in 36 months. Whoa! And your range of income during that time? Started out at $165,000 plus bonus of $80,000 up to $185,000 with a bonus of $180,000. Wow. Big shovel. Okay.
Starting point is 00:20:28 What do you guys do for a living? Construction in the oil field business. And I manage our properties. Okay. All right. And so what kind of debt was your $863,000? Dave, it was like a CVS receipt. We had 18 line items and credit cards, $85,000. Dave, it was like a CVS receipt. We had 18 line items and credit cards, 85K, loans, 54K.
Starting point is 00:20:55 Some of those loans were because I never paid interest on credit cards. So once the 0% thing ran out, I would get a refinance thing. And then auto and ATV, 25, second house,7 and land 342 wow okay how long you two been married since 2019 okay and uh so no no no no 2009 2009 and we we had nothing in 2007 it just went by so fast it just been so good it went by fast and we had zero at 2007 when we met okay so in 2019 was about three years ago 20 was three years ago so uh that's about the time you started all of this what happened that put you guys in gear y'all went after it well it started a few years prior to that we were both oil filled in the six figures doing really good except the company i worked for was going through financial problems uh ultimately went bankrupt. And so there were routine layoffs.
Starting point is 00:21:47 And if you drove a company truck, and I did, then when you got to work, however many taxis were lined up, that's how many company truck people were going that day. And it was very stressful, but I survived it. Little did we know, and we were like 400 in debt then, little did we know that I'm through the stress wagon of my company getting laid off he gets laid off wow and that was we still gained a lot more debt after that but then october of 2019 i listened to total money makeover and i listened to the book in one trip coming and going and i came home and told him about it so jerry what'd she say when
Starting point is 00:22:25 she came home said we're gonna try this wasn't a question it was a statement it was a statement we're gonna do this you're gonna do this we're gonna do this and i said okay we'll try it whatever we gotta do something different we gotta do something different yeah so the 863 was uh half of that was mortgages yes including your Including your personal home? Well, that's a funny story. So when we bought the property, we bought 117 acres at the time. But we actually sold another house to buy this property. So we decided, well, we're going to survey off four acres and the house, and we paid cash for that.
Starting point is 00:23:02 So nobody could ever take that away from us. All we had to do was worry about taxes in. And if something something ever happened to our jobs we could always just sell everything else and we still had our house yeah so that piece of land surrounding it you also paid off yes so kind of like paying off your house yes but you had already carved it out and replatted it yes way to go i like that wow yeah we've since you know added to where we're like 150 acres there we love land we love real estate okay y'all did not did you you must have sold something because your income is showing 300 and you paid off over 300 a month a year well we sold the second house so we had a lot of equity sold the 357 yeah yes oh okay that makes the numbers and we sold we sold a cattle
Starting point is 00:23:45 herd we sold implements and then every bonus went to the every dollar budget and then so what did the herd and the implements bring uh probably the herd was like around 35 000 the implements maybe 20 30 so about 50 more so 400 and some change came from selling the big stuff yeah of the 863 right and then you cash flow the rest of in 36 months yeah how'd that feel how'd that feel emotionally having to sell off all that for him the implements he'd rather lose an arm or a leg than to sell anything any heavy equipment or any implement uh the the cattle herd was really hard for me. Yeah. Yeah. That was tough. But we had a goal we knew, and then I loved the second house. That was tough. Now, will you rebuild the herd now with cash?
Starting point is 00:24:32 We have. You already have. We started. Okay. We started. And the same thing with the implements, only better. Yes. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:37 Better toys this time. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Wow. So it's worth it. That's what I did. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:43 Not a herd, but the toys. And that's what we looked at it when we started this we said hey it's a short-term deal we're going to get it done we're going to do it and then after that then we can do whatever we want to do we can buy whatever we want to do all we got to do is live like no one else and later we can live and give like no one else i just like the way you guys speak everything is very we're going to do this this is what we're going to do this is what's next there's no question about it and i'm like that's how you get stuff done yeah well what was tough with that second house is that house was but not only 100 mortgage i remember her telling me
Starting point is 00:25:16 oh we can 100 mortgage plus all your closing costs because it was a private credit union that i had dealt with for 30 years and had a very good record. So it's scary having an oil-filled town to have a house and five acres with 100% mortgage plus, you know, you don't know when it gets cyclical. What did it bring? Like 425. Okay, so you got out of it clean. Yeah, and then we still had some equity. A little bit of equity.
Starting point is 00:25:43 Yeah, so that all went to it yeah way to go you guys how's it feel to be free great yeah it's just it's still unreal like when you ever go back no no no it's just no way and we change the way you feel at work when the work's volatile does it change the way you feel at work oh yeah you know right now somebody says something at work and says, I don't have to be here, guys. I have my retirement already set up. I have a house.
Starting point is 00:26:14 My place is already. I don't have any debt. I can walk home tomorrow. It's not going to hurt me a bit. We'll work this out. The only reason I'm working now is she wants a new house and a new barn. As soon as I have the cash to build both of those, I'm gone. Oh, just like that. Just like that.
Starting point is 00:26:30 That's it. All right. There we go. Well, we'll do other stuff. One more year. I love it. Go ahead and turn in your notice. But I was a 0% interest queen.
Starting point is 00:26:44 And I always thought, well thought if it's zero percent interest that's free and the one book the audio book just changed it total money maker that was it yes yeah you know i had heard about you on am radio stations but but yeah i didn't we didn't believe it we really didn't believe it and even today it's hard to really believe. This is a huge number that we did. Yeah, 863,000 in 36 months. But what's dumb is that that bank would loan us 100%. So my quote is, with debt, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Yeah. Right on.
Starting point is 00:27:16 They'll loan you more than they should and you should. Yeah, and we were paying $3,800 a month in interest. It was just crazy. But a lot of people will say, well, I could do that with that big of a shovel. Right? But the bigger the shovel, the bigger the mountain. Yeah. Well, you turned loose of some things that meant something to you.
Starting point is 00:27:35 Yeah. And you turned loose of some stuff you were going, whew, glad to get rid of that one. Both. But you turned loose of a bunch of stuff as part of the equation. And there's something when visually a house leaves, cattle leave, implements leave. You see that there's something happens transforming in your heart when that stuff right in front of your face starts leaving
Starting point is 00:27:55 in order to accomplish the goal. That's a permanent change. You will not go back in debt. No. Yeah. It was not easy for you because of the emotions of it. Right. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:05 And I just want to tell you thank you so much because I had spent my whole life having good income and shuffling money. Yeah. And not really knowing until I was doing my income taxes how much I had spent over the year. Wow. We're proud of you. You guys are impressive. We got a copy. We got the Live and Give bundle for you, the Baby Steps Millionaires book.aires book you're there already i'm sure with the value of that land yeah and uh
Starting point is 00:28:30 the total money makeover book as well and the financial peace university membership use them or give them there for you guys to say thank you for coming in telling your story you're impressive people thank you thank you so much so proud of you heroes well. Well done. Very, very well done. Jerry and Christy, Fort Worth, Texas. 863 paid off in 36 months, making about $300. I'll just round it with all these bonuses and stuff coming in. And they sold a bunch of stuff. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.
Starting point is 00:28:58 Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! We're debt free! That's how it's done. This is The Ramsey Show. jade washaw ramsey personality is my co-host today thank you for joining us america and uh thank you for all of you that have joined us recently. Our numbers are way up. We appreciate that. If you guys want to help us, if we've been a blessing to you, there's a couple of ways you can do that. One is you can subscribe where you listen or view the show.
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Starting point is 00:30:46 and uh that's because of you guys thank you for that and uh our team says we should be in the top 10 uh i think we're doing pretty good at 16 but we'll take we'll take moving on up if you guys share it and move us along and we get more and more and more listeners uh we're up there fighting with the big dogs on the porch anyway. So thank you. Thank you for that. We appreciate you. AJ is with us.
Starting point is 00:31:10 AJ is in Kansas City. Hi, AJ. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, thanks for taking my call. Sure. Just give a little back story real quick. My wife was involved in an accident in her van. Somebody ran a red light and totaled our van.
Starting point is 00:31:25 So that leads me to my question is, should I use some of our emergency fund to add cash to purchase a better used car? How's your wife doing? She's healing. She's fine overall. She's got some healing to do. Thankfully, it could have been a lot worse, but it wasn't, thankfully. Wow. Do you guys have any debt? We don't. We got debt-free right before our twins were born two years ago. Okay. Right after.
Starting point is 00:31:55 Two months after the twins were born, we paid off our... What was your car worth? How much money are you going to get? We just got the check. I settled on that. We got $8,500. That's including the sales tax. Okay.
Starting point is 00:32:12 She got medical coverage as well you're going to get for her injuries? Yeah, the medical stuff will all be just fine. She wasn't at fault, so we're dealing with all that. That's a separate number, right? Yes. Yeah, that's all separate from it. I'm just trying to get us a van right now. Right now I'm using my mother-in-law's van. number, right? Yes. Yeah, that's all. That's all separate from it. I'm just trying to get us a van right now. Right now I'm using my mother-in-law's van.
Starting point is 00:32:27 Yeah. Okay. What do you have set aside? Just the emergency funds all. I guess I'm saying three or six months do you have set aside? We have $36,000 in our emergency funds. What's your household income? Household income is $135,000.
Starting point is 00:32:46 Okay. Well, in general, an upgrade in vehicle is not considered an emergency. Yes. Yeah. But if you want to use some of your emergency fund because you're saying, I think we're stable and $30,000 30 is plenty we might have had it overfunded um then that's fine but if you feel like you're vulnerable to an emergency because of that then you should not do that okay because this is not an upgrade upgrade's not an emergency but you make
Starting point is 00:33:21 a lot of money to be driving a $9,000 van. It was paid off, man. It was good. I know, I know, but I'm just saying that you were probably one of your next goals was to cash flow and upgrade, wasn't it? Yes, we have $19,000 in cash, and then I still have a car to trade in as well that I think will give me like $8,000 or $9,000. So I was looking at like that. Wait a minute, I'm confused. Where's like $8,000 or $9,000. Wait a minute, I'm confused. Where's the $36,000? So the $36,000 is our emergency fund.
Starting point is 00:33:51 We were cash flowing a new car because I wanted to get my wife in a better van now that we were doing better. So the $19,000 is separate than the $36,000. Oh, and there you go. Well, why do you need to use your emergency fund? You have $9,000 plus $19,000 is $28,000. Yeah, why do you need to use your emergency fund? You have nine plus 19 is 28. Yeah. What did you want to spend?
Starting point is 00:34:10 No, it's not. So what I'm looking at, I'm looking at like a $26,000 van that has like 85,000 miles on it. Well, you've got $28,000. Does the 19 include the nine that you just got include the $9? That you just got from the insurance company? Yes, it does. Oh. Okay, okay, okay.
Starting point is 00:34:32 Yes, sorry. We were up in Cain Cash. We just got $9 for her van. So you have $19 in cash, and the other car that you're willing to trade in was a third car? Correct, yeah. And it's worth what yeah i think eight or nine is that not enough for you it is it is that's i've just if i if i spend a little bit more this is that's what like two thousand more dude you got enough car you're moving from nine to twenty eight that's that's enough that's what i thought you're gonna say so let me make sure yeah
Starting point is 00:35:06 i'm doing that on principle not on math okay yeah i know i need to eat some humble pie yeah this is you you're you're not moving from 9 to 14 you're moving from 9 to 28 you're you're 3xing your car okay that's fine. And then if you want to move up later and pay cash, as long as your total of your vehicles doesn't equal more than half your annual income, I'll be fine with that. But no, you don't need to hit your emergency fund. You don't have a need to.
Starting point is 00:35:36 And that's a good discipline factor for you. That's true. To say in the middle of an emotional thing, my wife was injured. This was a horrible wreck. the van is the kid hauler it's where we haul the twins yeah this is uh there's a lot of emotion around this and it's a good practice to say okay the emotion that i'm feeling around getting a better car is not an emergency yeah that's that's that's a very good point dave i mean if he's like a thousand fifteen hundred off from where he wants to be i mean
Starting point is 00:36:10 can he not just cash flow that little bit or whatever he's been doing can he do it another month and have the money for it i wouldn't pull from the emergency fund for that yeah it's not another i mean drive the mother-in-law's van for another month i wouldn't do that i'd just buy a dadgum car i would too but for twenty thousand twenty five thousand dollars in pay cash that's what i would do yeah okay took a little bit to get down into the numbers there they were uh some of some of those were hiding behind the barn he's got his eye on a specific vehicle yes he's got a car fever yeah go take a cold shower it helps with car fever car Car fever will get you every time. Lori is with us in Los Angeles. Hi, Lori.
Starting point is 00:36:46 Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. It is a thrill to talk with you, Dave and Jade. And today I am happy to be making this call, having learned what I have, and I'm in the position I am because I've been following the Ramsey. Thank you. Hey, we're short on time.
Starting point is 00:37:10 Go straight to your question, kiddo. Okay, I've got a situation I've never, ever heard. I'm very lopsided. I'm nearly 62. I've got over about $1.1 million in equity in a home I own that's been rental property. I have very little in a retirement account, and I am trying to decide going forward what will be the best steps for me in terms of moving back into the a, I've got a little bit of a, you know, more complicated situation. But I'm really lopsided.
Starting point is 00:37:49 That's what I've never heard addressed in any of your shows. So you have a lot of equity and no money. Yes. Yeah. That would be it. Yeah. Then you may need to move, you may need to move this property. Because what you need to end up with, Lori, is a paid-for property and a nest egg to live on
Starting point is 00:38:08 by the time you get to 70. And just moving back into this house doesn't do that, I don't think. Maybe more to your story, because we're short on time, as I said. But it sounds like that this property's left over from some other stuff in your life. Yeah, because she's living somewhere now. I wonder why she can't stay where she's at and sell off this property's left over from some other stuff in your life. Yeah, because she's living somewhere now.
Starting point is 00:38:26 I wonder why she can't stay where she's at and sell off this property. Yeah, well, she can. She's renting, though, probably. It sounded like. So, yeah, running out of time here. And, yeah, we're out of time here. Okay. Or not. Oh, my gosh okay so um yeah that's what i would do here that's what i'd get the property sold and uh and and i would get into something where i can pay for something out with
Starting point is 00:38:59 all that equity and have a nest egg left over maybe Maybe a condo she could buy. Yeah. This is The Ramsey Show. Dave here. You can find all of our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone. It's the only place to listen to the entire back catalog of episodes. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.

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