The Ramsey Show - App - Don’t Believe the Lies – YOU Are the Hero of Your Story! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

🎵 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. George Campbell, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. He's also the co-host of the Ramsey Network production called Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruz. You don't want to miss out on anything George is doing, especially on the YouTubes. He's pretty good at that stuff. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Alex is in Sacramento to start off this hour. Hi, Alex. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. I just want to say thank you because with your program, we were able to purchase a home and we're now on baby step four. Well, congratulations. Well done. Thank you. So my question is related to investment and so my husband and I, we're both teachers. We both make about $80,000 a year,

and we don't have any debt. However, we just had a baby, and we'd like to stay home, at least one of us stay home with a baby for two years. So we saved enough money to do so. We have another daughter, so two children, and we haven't started saving for my other daughter's college yet. This is my second marriage. The first one was very short-lived. I was very young. However, God blessed me with my new husband, and unfortunately, my daughter's biological father passed away, so she is receiving a Social Security income each month. So I'm wondering, should we be investing, and should I be saving money for her to go to college? Yes, to all of that. And are you planning on staying home at this point? Have you guys talked through that? Yes.

So right now I'm staying home with the baby. Okay, and you guys have crafted a budget and looked at, hey, can we make this work in the Sacramento area off of one income of $80,000? Yes, we were able to save enough money. Great. Wait, wait, wait. You said you have savings you're going to use to cash flow this? Yes.

How much? We saved around $25,000. So you can't live on $80,000? No, but we were able to, using the budgeting app, we were able to calculate how much we would need in order for us to stay, one of us to stay home. Right, which is $1,000 a month for 24 months, right? Yeah, about there. Yeah, I mean, you got $25,000 you said saved, and then you're going to use all that to subsidize the fact you can't make budget at 80, right?

Yes. So you're $1,000 a month over budget? Mm-hmm. Okay. And you have an emergency fund in addition to that? Yes. Okay. But no retirement.

Okay. My worry is you're looking to save for college. Do you guys own a home or are you renting? We own a home. Okay. I don't think you're going to be able to invest 15% and save for college and pull off this plan right now. No, you're not doing either.

You don't have college or retirement built into your $1,000 burn rate, right? That's right. Yeah. So that's the part that really scares me with this. I think we need to hit pause on this or figure out a different solution. Maybe you bring in the extra $1,000, and we still need more money than that to invest for the next two years. Yeah, like why don't you tutor part-time while you're staying home?

You can make $50 an hour in Sacramento doing that. Okay. And my daughter, the income that she's receiving from social security is not is that not in your budget it's not in the budget okay all right let's stop and park on that for just a second you're not morally or legally obligated to do anything with that money except put it in the budget because you spend more on your daughter than that social security check is so that's just to supplement the raising of your daughter and your household spends more money than that than what they give you on the daughter so it can be a part of your budget morally and legally and that's usually what we recommend because you've got this dialed down so tight

if you want to use that to start a uh a college fund for her that's fine i don't care but i don't want you to do that thinking that this money has to be earmarked for that somehow or you're a bad mom or it has to be earmarked or you've done something illegal neither one of those things are true that was my worry i just want to use this ethically well ethically would be if you put it in your budget and you take care of your daughter, which includes saving for college for your kids. That would be you've done ethical. Because you're spending, believe me, you spend more raising a kid than that check each month.

Agreed? Yeah. Easy. Okay. The same thing is true usually with child support, for that matter. It just rolls up into the budget. It doesn't have to be set aside for the actual child. It goes into the budget because we buy stuff for the child like shelter and electricity

and things like that in the household budget that is for the child's benefit. And so it's ethical, moral, legal, all of the above. But right now, you've got the budget dialed down, and you don't have anything to put in Kids College. If you want to use this, since it's not've got the budget dialed down and you don't have anything to put in kids college if you want to use this since it's not including the budget as long as you're not doing out of some kind of emotional obligation then i'm fine with that okay okay yeah i don't like that you're burning this money it's not a healthy place and you're not putting money into retirement i do like you want to be home and you're figuring out a way to be home with the babies.

I'm all for that, okay? But you're really straining at this. So if I'm you guys, I'm picking up some extra work between the two of you with tutoring is probably your highest income as a side hustle and try to earn $1,000 a month so that we don't touch this $25,000.

And then that allows us to start putting money into retirement, possibly. Okay. So let's try to adjust just a little bit here. You're close. I mean, $1,000 a month on an $80,000 budget is only $12 a year. So that's not... That's side hustle money.

That's side hustle money. Easy side hustle money. So not much hustle, just side. And a lot of people, Dave, don't know about the spousal ira for those that are stay-at-home parents they still have the ability to fund an ira which can be a great thing so don't miss out on that if that makes sense for you you can do a full roth ira if your spouse works and you don't okay so that's called the spousal IRA. So you're just as qualified as if you had an earned income. So my wife, Sharon, has not worked outside the home in 30-plus years, and we've never missed a single Roth IRA.

Way to go. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. That's the way to do it. Since they started doing IRAs. Oh, I didn't think about that. That was before my time, I guess. It was after we went broke. So there you go. But yeah, so not the entire marriage. We haven't been doing it. But once we got some money and we were funding retirement, we've always done a spousal, to your point. That's a good reminder, IRA, because you qualify for that if your spouse

has an earned income. Earned income has to be in excess of the two IRA amounts combined, but it obviously would be. I mean, it's only, again, only $12,000, $14,000, so not a lot of money. But you'll get there. You'll get there. I love it. I like what you're doing, Alex, in that you're planning very carefully. That's what keeps people out of trouble, is very careful planning.

What is a little bit scary is your burn rate, and if we can adjust that, I think you've got a fabulous plan. This is The Ramsey Show. George Campbell Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. Our first ever Money and Marriage Getaway weekend retreat is this coming weekend, October 19th through the 21st here on the Ramsey campus. You and your spouse will be equipped with tools to cast vision for your family, set goals, create the life you both love. The money and marriage getaway is of course, Rachel Cruz and Dr. John Deloney.

The only thing funnier than that would be if George Campbell was involved. And then there's lots of humor. both love the money in marriage getaway is of course rachel cruz and dr john deloney the only thing funnier than that would be if george camel was involved and then there's lots of humor so the three of them get together it's an absolute hoot i can't wait me and jade just watch we just watch the circus when it happens so deloney's the circus i wrangle the circus yeah i'm i'm the um yeah i can't say not my monkey not my circle well you're pt is my circus you are pt barnum you put on the circus i'm the guy you collect the checks yeah i go in the ring and let me know when that happens all right so anyway hey the tickets are still a few available uh i mean literally just a handful but it is just a couple days away so if

at last minute you want to impulse, come to Nashville, and you've got the money, obviously. Don't impulse something when you're broke. That makes you a broker. We're not talking about that. But this is a great weekend. It is a three-day event, October 19th through the 21st. It will be at our Ramsey Events Center here on campus,

and the whole team is gearing up for this. We're really excited to have you guys on campus with us. Thank you. Tickets are $7.99. And, again, just a few of them left. RamseySolutions.com slash events for your tickets. Mike's in Dayton, Ohio. Hey, Mike, how are you?

Good, Dave and George. I'll get right to my question. I haven't heard. I've been calling you for about six months. And we paid off all our credit cards, and now we're down to nothing but our mortgage, but I have two Parent PLUS loans for my daughters, and they want to do that pay-for-play thing,

or whatever that's called, that extends them out. And I'm 59 and a half'm almost 59 and a half and I have a half of I have $500,000 in 401k between me and my wife and I also started a new job about five years ago and I was putting a lot into that, and I have about $125,000 in that. And I was wondering if I should, when I get 59 and a half, if I should use that $125,000 and pay off them two parent plus loans. How much are they? One's $41,500, and the other one is eight eighteen thousand and seventy eight dollars i would just pay them off yeah okay you are technically liable they are not i understand that they said they would pay them back but but then they said they weren't

well they're going to do that extended thing well that means they would pay them back but but then they said they weren't well they're going to do that extended thing well that means they're never paid back you understand that yes that's why the extended plan is 30 years of not even making the principal payment exactly which means no interest is paid and they don't even make a principal payment. It goes backwards for 30 years. I know. The definition of stupid. I've been listening to you, yeah. Yes. Stupid government program.

The DMV visits finance class. I mean, that's what this is, right? Correct. Oh, God. I mean, thank you, Joe Biden. I mean, can't string a sentence together and came up with this plan. Oh, my God. It's horrible. It's absolutely horrible. No, no, no, no, no, no. you joe biden i mean yes can't string a sentence together and came up with this plan oh my god it's horrible it's absolutely horrible no no no no no no you're gonna get stuck with it dude that's

what's gonna happen so we might as well own that now and be done with it did you have an agreement with the girls before they went to school that they were going to pay these yes and they've paid on them, but they're going nowhere. The $41,000 was originally $39,000, and the $18,000 was originally $16,000. So they're going backwards on these already from when they took out the loan. How long ago was that? Oh, geez. One daughter is 30. She graduated at 24, and she's she's 31 okay so we're coming

up on a decade and what we've done has gone backwards so the way i analyze this is that pattern is probably going to go forward we just discussed that so how does that work out for mike well that sucks is how that works out for mike that's what that's what i was wondering and but you always say never take out your 401k but i thought this might be a good time well i don't take i don't take it out prior to retirement after 59 and a half what you're talking about where there's no penalty and you've got 500 000 or you've got 625 000 we're going to pull 60 something out plus some taxes to cover these, right? Well, I have my Roth.

I have most of it in a Roth. So my Roth would be tax-free. I have about $44,000 in Roth. And the 18 would be I would have about 15 that I'd have to take out of the standard 401 because, yes, you know what I'm, the standard one. Do you sense the cleanliness in your spirit of what I'm talking about? Yes, because I just, I got my thousand, I paid off all my credit cards, which was 12,000, and now I'm stuck with, this is the only thing on my credit right now is this and my mortgage obviously i'm not worried about your credit i'm worried about mike and mike's daughters are not paying this that's what they announced we're going to not pay it we're going to pay it while

not paying it that's that's what they announced because they signed up for stupid government's crap so trusting a 17 year old's good intentions to pay you back isn't going to cut it and so when parents sign on the dotted line for these they don't understand what they're doing they're potentially decapitating their retirement when they sign up for this and it's heartbreaking to hear and but mike this is a stupid tax that we just got to pay as we enter our golden years and they're starting to look a little more silver, a little more bronze. So what's the stupid new one called? The save?

The save plan. Which is absolutely the opposite. Let's just stretch it out. Yeah. It's like the stay in debt plan. They nicknamed it save. Stands for some acronym. Stupid.

Stupid. David can't say the second. Yeah, there we go. Stupid asinine. Yeah, I'm just I'm thinking oh god so I mean seriously it's a 30-year plan and when they give you the thing based on your income it does not charge you any penalty or interest beyond what you're doing but it but it accumulates principle because you're not even covering the principle with the payment and and you know so

you have to have a Dr phil moment with these stupid things and go how's that working for you you know it's not you're you know you've been you've been screwing around with a government plan since you got out of school you're 31 years old it's gone backward three thousand dollars and you announced to your dad that the way you're going to help him out and honor your word to him is that you're going to pay this is not pay it again and let it go backwards some more now stick them with a higher balance than you started with exactly oh that's that's the net that's the net of this now these girls didn't know that they didn't think that through but that's what it wasn't a maniacal plan leave in a stupid but plan coming out of washington dc god almighty we heard story

after story so aggravating and the borrowed future podcast and the documentary of all these people who were like well the government's giving me such a gift to lower my payment based on my income then they wake up 10 20 years later and their principal has doubled and now they're really underwater and they're really screwed so the guy in the other hours he started with a hundred and something thousand two or something thousand now it just balloons counting on the private or the the public student loan forgiveness the ps uh which is not oh it's just you're gonna give dave an aneurysm america well i just hate it for you guys because you're getting screwed by your own government the first way they screwed you was they have put a student loan program in place for you to get

150 000 in debt to get a degree in left-handed puppetry and told you that was the way to success and now you're a barista and you're screwed and it's just awful it's just awful and then they come out and go we're going to forgive it oh no we're not yes we are no we're not no we're yes we are and really they don't intend to forgive it it's they want to keep you it's the biggest scam perpetrated on the american public by our government mathematically in history. The second largest scam was the genius that invented the idea that we take your taxes out of your check before you see your check. If they posted a tax guy inside your building and you had to walk out and hand him cash out of every check, there would be a revolution in America. Pitch forks, torches, because you people would see how much of the money you earn

you're giving to this government to misbehave. You would see that. But no, it just kind of came out of my check. I didn't notice it. Yeah. But tax collectors would be as reviled as they were. We would name the guy Matthew. After the biblical Matthew.

He'd be as reviled as they were in the Bible. Post him inside your building, little Matthews, and they're collecting a check. Him and Zacchaeus. They're in there collecting your check. george camel ramsey personality is my co-host today in the lobby of ramsey solutions on the debt-free stage rikisha is with us hi rikisha how are you hey dave hey george so good to be here i'm great we're honored to have you where do you live i live in cleveland ohio very cool welcome and how much debt have you paid off rikisha? $253,000. Good for you. And how long did that take? Four years and one month. Good for you. Wow. And your range of

income during that time? Went from $60,000 to $375,000. Nice job. Okay. Yeah. What do you do for a living? I am a surgeon. Oh, well, there's that. Okay. So we went from residency into the like the real big stuff. Yeah. I finished my fellowship training, then became a a surgeon. Oh, well, there's that. Okay. So we went from residency into the real big stuff. Yeah. I finished my fellowship training, then became a staff surgeon. Okay. How long have you been finished with your fellowship? I finished about two years ago, 2021.

So you've been in the big bucks for a couple years. A couple years. Yeah. And you didn't go live like a stupid doctor. Instead, you went and paid off your bill. That's right. That's right. Look at you.

I still drive my 2012 Mitsububishi lancer yeah so the lifestyle creep uh did not get me it didn't creep it did not how much of this was med school that over the 253 uh the lion's share of it it was credit cards a time share and then most of it was medical school wow about 200 000 a little over a whole bunch of things to get clear way to go so how long do you remember back in your childhood how long have you wanted to be a doctor uh only a senior year of high school when i took a field trip to a local medical school before that i wanted to be an engineer okay so valedictorian of your class oh no not at all no no but i did well i was top 10% or something. Yeah, well, you got in med school, so you're no dummy, obviously.

Yeah. Well done. What kind of surgeon? Now, I can do dumb stuff with money in particular, so don't put it past me. Well, we've all got that ability. That's not the question, but I'm just trying to look at you. Well done. Very well done.

And we said, what kind of surgeon? I do general surgery and actually weight loss uh bariatric surgery okay all right very cool and you're in cleveland ohio yes okay good good doctors in your family uh no doctors okay yeah all right so you're the first one uh yes sir i am look at you wow congratulations thank you so what made you decide to go the opposite of all of your peers, which is keep the student loan debt around for a decade or two, which is what most of them do, and they go buy a new BMW in a house they can't afford as soon as they get out of med school?

Yeah, when I graduated in 2019 from my surgical residency, I had a month off before I started my fellowship, which was a two-year at Cleveland Clinic. And during that time, I just had some time to breathe. And I was like, well, why don't I get my finances in order? So I started figuring out how I could be debt-free and wealthy. That was one of my affirmations. And so soon after I Googled that, I found the Ramsey program. And so, man, I was hooked when I started listening to the show. I loved how you were kind of, you know, being hard on people, like kind of that tough love,

which is kind of my love language. And so from that time, I decided to get on the plan and get after it. That's amazing. And so what were these sacrifices that you made? Did you just keep living how you were living? Or was it hard seeing how your friends were living at that point? So, yeah, it was in a way, but, you know, I was, once I kind of learned about the plan and had a sense of direction, because

before that I had kind of no clue how I was going to kind of get to wealth and debt freedom. But I bought an efficiency when I moved to Cleveland four years ago. I bought a studio that was like $700 a month. Wow. And so I definitely sacrificed that way. And then during my surgery fellowship, I took on extra call and did some moonlighting at smaller hospitals that needed some coverage. What does that pay? Anywhere from like $400 a day to you can make probably $1,000 a day. So on a weekend. Because you're doing your residence at that point yeah i was not paying you full dock rate but correct i was in my fellowship making 60 000 so i could make a couple uh one to two thousand extra a month yeah so i was putting it toward my

debt yeah another okay so but still mathematically looking at this i'll bet you you paid the most of this in the last two years since you got the $375,000. Correct. Absolutely. Yeah. The lion's share. Once my income went up times five. Well, you already had the habits in place, and now you just added fuel to this thing. Absolutely.

It was gone. The budget was it once I kind of had the game plan. Yeah. All that extra money. Any of your peers cheering you on, or they all think you lost your mind? Oh, yeah. They were cheering me on. They were like, you know, that's great for you. My family and friends were cheering you on, or they all think you lost your mind? Oh, yeah. They were cheering me on. They were like, you know, that's great for you.

My family and friends were cheering me on. I was trying to get most of them to be on the plan, but I wasn't as successful with everybody, but had a lot of support. People were like, wow, good for you. Most people in med school catch a disease called docitis, and when they graduate, they go spend money they don't have. Correct. Because now they're a big doctor, only they're a broke doctor and so it takes them about a decade to recover from the stupidity two years after getting their degree yeah or two years after passing their bars and getting her passing their boards boards and getting md yeah yeah so wow congratulations

you're sharp you're a rock star thank you so amazing amazing hero i'm scared to see how much wealth you build oh my god over your lifetime now 375 000 what are you what's the first you got to do something big and cool to celebrate what are you doing i mean you know this happened what in july i actually you know got out of debt officially so i mean my birthday's tomorrow so this was my big present to myself to come here and do my debt-free scream we appreciate that but you gotta do something bigger uh yeah i mean you gotta go big i mean you make four hundred thousand dollars a year you don't have payment in the world right maybe one of those over water some kind of cool celebration upgrade the car or something uh yeah i mean car needs upgrading girl upgrade that car it runs fine you know i've learned contentment during

you make four hundred thousand dollars a year upgrade that car okay It runs fine. Upgrade that car. I've learned contentment during this time. You make $400,000 a year. Upgrade that car. Okay. Get you a good car. Next is a good down payment on the home. There we go. Okay. All right. You can do that, too.

You can do that, too. You got plenty of money. I'm not saying buy an $80,000 car, but I mean, go get you a $20,000 car on top of what you got. Yeah, at least. Come on. If you say so, I might do it. I'm just telling you.

We have broke people that buy $60,000 cars, so you have earned it. Yeah, you make $40,000 a month, I mean, or $35,000 a month. I'm just telling you. We have broke people that buy $60,000 cars. So you have earned it. Yeah, you make $40,000 a month, I mean, or $35,000 a month. I mean, come on. Yeah. So, hello. Way to go. Amazing. Way to go.

I'm so proud of you. You're amazing. Thank y'all. You're inspiring. Hey, y'all are inspiring. Y'all are such an inspiration to me. So I'm really thankful for the program that I found y'all. Yeah.

Well, we're glad you're here. I hope we can help you in the rest of this wealth journey. Oh, yeah. We've got the Baby Steps Millionaires book. You're going to be there in 20 minutes for you. And the Total Money Makeover book to give away to someone who's inspired by your story and your family or friend group. And certainly Financial Peace University as well.

All of that's for you. Just to say thanks for coming down from Cleveland. We are honored, honored, honored to meet you. You're a hero. Thank y'all. You have complete. Talk about somebody change your family tree whole everything and i mean the education piece the whole bit uh and making serious bank and not a payment in the world wow all right count it down 253 000 paid off in four years and 11 months make it 60 to 375 count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one i'm dead free yeah that's what i want my surgeon to sound like i love it she's operating differently now on a whole new level

way to go george that's she's operating on a whole new level uh this is the ramsay show it's crazy george wait a minute it's not the ramsay show yet it will be in a minute but we got excited we got a little trigger i got fired up there that's pretty amazing she's impressive so here's the trick did you hear what she said she did i got on a budget when i had the break i sat down i said this is where i am i'm gonna be wealthy what do i have to do to get there what must be true about my life for me to get there and i'm gonna get on a plan and so she jumped on like every dollarollar, started doing that. The EveryDollar webinars, you and Rachel and Jade are doing those again. They're free.

You can go to everydollar.com slash budgeting and sign up. It's completely free and learn how to do what she did, and that is take stock of where you are and end up, as George said, operating at a higher level. Oh, that was just too corny. I know. But it was really good. I'm a dad now, so I make dad jokes. Oh, that was just too corny. I know. But it was really good. I'm a dad now, so I make dad jokes. That's good.

Thank you. Okay. But it's true. Whether you make $30,000 or $300,000, because people go, well, Rakesha makes so much money, of course. Uh-uh. You saw that sacrifice when she was making $60,000. And she paid off $253,000, too.

Hello. Big hole, but big shovel. Most of you don't have that. So there you go. That's impressive. Tell me it can't be done it can be done this is the ramsey show george camel ramsey personality is my co-host today thank you for joining us emma is in albany new york hi emma welcome to Hey, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? So I'll start with a little bit of background. I am 26 years old. I have no debt. I have an emergency fund, and I just started saving up for a down payment on a house. Good for you. Thank you. In doing this, I'm looking at how much my paycheck is going where, and the one thing I keep coming back to is how much is enough to retire on.

Now, I know you guys have that general 15% guideline. But since I graduated and started working, I've been contributing between 20% and 25% to my retirement. So it's pretty front-loaded. And now I worry a little bit about having too much of my net worth tied up in funds I won't be able to access for another 30-plus years. So that leads me to kind of a two-part question. First, how much is too much to have in your retirement, and how do I plan for something so far in the future, considering we don't know what inflation or cost of living is going to look like by then? Great questions, and it sounds like you're way ahead of the curve. How much do you have

in retirement currently? Currently about $100,000. Amazing. And it sounds like you want to retire early, by the way you're talking. You're saying, I can't wait 30 years to access these funds. Are you saying, hey, if I want to stop working or have the option to work at 50 what do i do yeah if it's possible sure okay it will be possible in your case what do you make a year about 95 000 a year good for you well you're doing really good i will put you in the top 95 percentile of somebody your age you are kicking. So this is more of a theoretical discussion than it is an actual discussion because you've really got it dialed in.

Let's just say that Emma has her act together, okay? Thanks. All right. Now, if you want to do what we would call some bridge investing, you'll be able to do that beginning in your late 30s and still be in great shape. So you got 10 years before you have to worry about that. Okay. And the only way you'd want to worry about that is, like you said, you've got a lot going into retirement. You know, you're going to be putting 15% of your income into retirement.

It's only $15,000 a year right now. And you're going to put the balance of what you can find on the house and get the house paid off after you make the purchase on the house, all of that kind of stuff. Um, and yeah, you know, in your forties, you should be, and you should have over a million dollars. And so if you want to, at that point, go, I'm going to start side loading some money over here. Some of the money I'm going to save.

Once my house is paid off, I mean, you could continue to put 15% of retirement and have another 10% going into non-retirement investing, just into, you know, just an S&P 500 would be fine. If you wanted to. I mean, that's what I did. I maxed everything out, and then I just threw money to the side and had, you know, more than enough wealth long before I got into my 50s. So here's what that equates to, Emma. You can go down to 15% investing, keep saving for the house.

That's going to help you save up for the house faster, get it paid off. Then you can increase your investing. I just crunched the numbers here for her, Dave. She's going to have $7 million at her current rate. If she just invests 15% and you get a 10% return, she's going to have- Is that including the 100 that's already in there? That includes the 100. You'll have $7 million by 60.

You'll hit a million by, you were spot on, Dave, by 40 years old. Yeah. She'll have a million bucks in that account. I thought she'd be about there. That sounds right. And so what that means is that when you get that first million in retirement, if you're in your late 30s, early 40s, then just stop or slow down and then just chunk everything else. But when the house is paid for, you can go on up to 30%,

35% investing if you want to. You'll have plenty of money because you'll have a house payment. Right. And your income is going to go up through time. As far as predicting what returns are 40 or 50 years in the future, no one obviously can do that, or what inflation is going to do 40 or 50 years out. No one can do that. When I was your age, it was 40 years ago, and I started talking about doing this stuff, and now I've got a bunch of money in mutual funds.

That's the equation. It's not some nerded out tenth of a point to two-tenths of a point to I got to figure out the 12B1 fees, or I got to just invest, invest, invest, invest, invest in good mutual funds that have a long track record. They're going to keep you ahead of inflation, especially inside of a retirement account, because the companies that cause inflation are the companies that you're buying stock in. By definition, that's a hedge. Okay. So if you're buying stock in computers, the value of the cost of computers goes up, that's inflation. If you're buying a stock in oil and gas, you know, in your mutual fund, and the cost of gasoline goes up, which it has over 40 years, then what it's built into your the profitability of your company you're

buying into so you know ultimately the stock market in in itself is basically an inflation hedge you're because you're the way you hedge against inflation is you buy items that are inflating houses and companies that are going that are that are charging inflated prices due to inflation that's the name and that that's what you're doing so uh that the way you're going to build wealth you don't have to spend a lot of time fretting over uh you know the the economy or inflation or something else the economy goes down we're buying stock cheap economy goes up the value of my stock all went up. And based on the way Emma's talking, I think she needs to have some balance, live her life.

You don't need to funnel every single dollar into investing. I want you to enjoy some of it too. And right now you're very much on track to have plenty of money. So I'm not that worried about it. Done a great job. Crushing it. Franco's in Las Vegas. Hi, Franco.

How are you? Hey, Dave. Hey, George. I'm very excited to be talking to you today. Sure. What's up? So my question for today is, should I buy out my ex-wife out of the house, or should I keep waiting for the house to sell considering the slow months ahead? So to give a little background on that, um, I recently went through a divorce that finished about a month ago.

It lasted for about eight months. Um, and since, uh, since the beginning of the relationship and even beginning of the divorce, I've been paying for the mortgage for all the bills related to the house and for all the debts that she's carrying uh right now plus the three dogs that we used to have together um you're paying three dogs that you used to yeah i'm so confused why would you be paying for dogs that you don't have for an ex-wife because uh since the beginning of the relationship she basically decided not to work even if i encourage her i don't care have you got the dogs no i don't then they're no longer your responsibility

okay if you want to take care of the dogs go get them but otherwise quit paying for the freaking dogs for your ex-wife come on man now and so she's in the house she's in the house yes and you're paying and what did the divorce decree say about the house it had to be sold uh yes it's in the process of being sold uh it's been three months in the market with a lot of showings but it hasn't been sold yet okay and you're paying the payment yes i'm making the payment and i'm paying uh the bills related to the house as well okay and she's living in the house yes what a wonderful deal I bet it's hard to show that house, and when you do, it's messy. I'm actually not allowed to enter the house.

She prefers for me not to. So what makes you think you can buy her out? So I've been thinking that I could buy the portion that will be the same for her if the house gets sold. Is she going to move with the dogs then? Yes. You sure? If I do so, I mean, I would hope so. So far, you've not done very good deals.

Yeah. She's got to move. You understand that? Yeah, I do. And the dogs. At what point do you stop paying all of her bills? When the house sells. Yeah.

Are we sure about that? Yes, it's part of the divorce decree. Yeah, but is Franco going to quit? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to quit. How much does it take to buy her out? About $50,000. Okay, but it's not worth that because after expenses, you're not going to net $50,000 on half.

You're not netting a full $100 full 100 when it sells, are you? So the price of the house is about, on the market, $630 right now. And because we still owe a big amount on the house, we owe about $450. Okay, there's not. Yeah, that's about right then. Okay. If you can come up with $50,000 and you want to buy her out and sell the house yourself later, but she's got to leave, and I don't think she's going to, 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. 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.