The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Look to Washington DC To Solve Your Problems! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 20, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, and host of the ever-popular Ken Coleman Show, is my guest, my co-host today here on the air. We'll be answering your questions about life and money. Ken's area of specialty is always around career.

So if you're looking for a new job, you hate your Mondays, this is your guy. He can help you with that. His book is The Proximity Principle. And we'll be talking some about that as we go throughout the day. But here to take your questions, 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Andrew is in Atlanta to start off this hour. Hi, Andrew.

Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I am in my sophomore year at Kennesaw College going into my junior year, and I am lucky enough that I'll be able to graduate debt-free. And right now, between a CD, stock markets, and my personal savings account, I have about $15,000, and I'm wondering how can I grow that growth and prepare myself for when I get out of college? Well done, sir.

What's your degree in? So, I'm double majoring in both professional sales and in marketing. Oh, very cool. Very cool. I walked through that campus not long ago. We were down there doing some speaking in the area, and I went for a walk and ended up on the campus and walked through all of it. It's beautiful. Great, great little college. Yeah, it's really blown up over the past few years. Yeah, very cool. Good for you. Well done.

And great job on the money stuff. So I think you've got a pretty good mix. You've got some in savings. You've got some in investing. And you're going to come out and start your career. And, you know, that transition for housing and, you know, whether you need to upgrade a car from your high school car or whatever. I don't know where you are on that. But you're going to use some of that cash, a little bit

of furniture, maybe something other than a beanbag chair from college, and you're going to do a little bit of that kind of stuff, and that's okay. That's what having a nice pool of money coming out of college will do for you. You can transition much easier. So what's your career feel? What are you going into? So right now, I have an in with a company called Gartner, and that's where I would really like to start my first job at.

But as of leads, that's kind of the only one I'm having right now. I'm looking for an internship this summer, but I'm not sure. I feel like I have all this money sitting around and not sure what to do with it. It's not being lazy. It's there for a pad, and it's there for track to it. It just gives you margin. It gives you the ability to make these transitions without having – because let me tell you, if you're broke, you'll take any job,

and oftentimes the wrong one, right, Ken? That's exactly right. You don't want to be desperate. You're in a situation where you've got a pretty good idea of the type of work you want to do and the type of company. So what you want to do is you want to get yourself some more options right now. I love that you want to intern. I think that's one of the best things that college students can do because it allows you to clarify and verify. And that's the process of getting in the actual field itself and rubbing shoulders, rubbing elbows with the professionals that are

doing the work. What's it look like? What's it feel like day to day, and that's the clarify. And then as you begin to experience and immerse yourself in this field that you think you want to go into, by doing that, Dave, then the verify takes care of itself. The head and the heart, the head's logic, and then the emotion of the heart to say, ding, ding, ding, or er, and that process is really important. So I love the idea of interning, and then I would come up with two or three other company targets. Yeah, you need more than one option. So that you can start working the proximity principle, what relationships do I have that allow me to know somebody, just anybody in that building, to begin to learn more about the company's culture. That's another thing, Dave, We get this question a lot on the Ken Coleman Show. A lady called just in the last hour and said,

you know, how do I know? I'm leaving one state to go to another state. My current company's going to let me work remote for a while. I eventually, I just can't be on my own. I want to work in an office environment, which I understand that. That's how I'm wired. She said, but I have such a great experience with the current company. How do I make sure that I don't get on board with another company and the culture is terrible? I said, well, that's easy. Start talking to people who know people who work there. Believe me, they'll tell you about their company, the good and the

bad. Now you've got to learn how to parse that out and go, is this a disgruntled former employee? But you can do enough research. You don't talk to them. They're former for a reason. That's right. You want to talk to people who work there. You want to see what their vendors are saying about them. And you can find out that a company's healthy. It's not this big, giant stick your finger in the air and it's a big risk. There are ways to find out if a company has a healthy culture, and you talk to people

who work there. Just because somebody posts something on Glassdoor, that's a lie. Doesn't mean it's wrong. There's no accountability to that at all. Very careful of that stuff. No accountability on that at all. That's horrible. Yeah.

I mean, we've had horrible experience with Glassdoor because people put stuff on there that they just make up. That's right. And they have nothing to do with what... Well, every company's got people that have left and didn't like it. You cannot... I can promise you they have here. Absolutely. So you've got to talk to people who actually work there, and you're going to hear the right things.

And then you go, okay, this is a healthy culture. And again, no culture is perfect. Stop making that an excuse. But I hear that a lot. People are really scaring. How do I know? Do your homework. And here's the thing.

Interview. Yes. If you can get an in-person, and you can walk in a building, you can feel a vibe. You can feel the spirit of what's going on. Are these people all heads down and look like they're in a cult and they've got zone going through their eyes? Or are they running around happy and high-fiving and getting work done and productive and looks like there's some giggling going on? You know, I mean, that's what you get when you walk through here. Oh, sure.

And so, obviously, it is not a, you know, some kind of crazy, you know, cult thing going on. That's just absolutely, you know. Well, it's great about this. People can say whatever they want about Ramsey Solutions. Then you can come here and actually walk through the building and experience it for less than five minutes, and you're going to find out really quick it doesn't match up to anything that you would have heard. And so that's true for folks that are listening today.

Learn for yourself is the point. That's it. Get the eyeball test. You know, Yelp had this problem when they first came out. They lost all credibility as a rating service because, you know, the restaurant across the street would write a negative review on their competitor anonymously and just make up crap. Right. And fill up the Yelp with all negative. And so they were not vetting their inputs. And so, you know, it's like I told somebody this week, if the National Enquirer runs a story that Tom Cruise, that they interviewed an alien that Tom Cruise had sex with, does that make it true?

Exactly. Well, how many times has this happened to you, Dave? And I trust my friends and family members and coworkers here. But this has happened to me many times where someone has said, ah, I didn't have a great experience at that restaurant. And it affects me. Yeah. And I say to Stacey, I go, well, I didn't have a great experience at that restaurant. And it affects me. Yeah. And I say to Stacey, I go, well, I mean, so-and-so said, and I've had this conversation. I tell you, I just really want to check it out for myself.

And I go, and it's not that my friend or family member who had different experiences wrong. It's their experience. It's through their perspective. It's through their lens. Maybe they didn't think the menu was any good, but I thought the menu was great. Or they didn't think the customer service any good, but I thought the menu was great. Or they didn't think the customer service was great, but my experience was great. Maybe it was a waiter that had a bad night, or maybe it was a doofus, you know, hostess or whatever.

Here's the whole point here that I'm making. Even though we may hear something, even when you go get feedback from people that you trust. Go walk it. You have got to experience it. I want to go to the restaurant. I'll tell you what I think of the restaurant. I want to go to that company, and then you're going to find out if the culture's right. That walk it. You have got to experience it. I want to go to the restaurant. I'll tell you what I think of the restaurant. I want to go to that company, and then you're going to find out if the culture's right. That's right.

So you don't have to be afraid about that. No. It's not a mystery. If you have your antennae up, and you just walk around with a smile, and just be observant, if you can physically get to the company, I mean, these days, who the heck knows, but if you can physically get in the presence, you'll get a spirit off of it. That's exactly right. And you can trust that. Yeah. It's trustworthy. That feeling.

It's trustworthy. Yeah, it really is. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Over the years, I've heard countless horror stories from listeners about being harassed by debt collectors, receiving calls at work on their cell phones, and some even getting yelled at and threatened. That is not okay. There are laws against this. And there are people, attorneys, that can help make this stop if they are in fact breaking the law. Go to CollectionBully.com to learn more. Fill out a quick questionnaire that will identify if you are a victim of this type of illegal harassment.

That's CollectionBully.com. Thank you for joining us, America. Ken Coleman is here. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You can join him on just under 70 radio stations around America now carrying the Ken Coleman Show every day. And, of course, it's a podcast. It's on SiriusXM and everywhere else. You can go to KenColeman.com and download all kinds of helpful treats to help you get your resume looking right, to get your interview started,

steps to the interview, the whole thing, everything about career. He's America's career coach. Sarah is with us in St. Louis. Hi, Sarah. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Hey, what's up? So I have a question.

I graduated undergrad, my undergrad degree, debt-free, and I'm currently working on a law degree, paying as I go and working full-time so that I can graduate debt-free. Great. But I'm also contributing to my 401K, and I'm doing the full 15% of my paycheck, and my company has a good match. I've seen some articles online that seem to make it appear that the new administration doesn't look favorably on 401ks and wants to possibly diminish them. So I'm wondering if I should do anything with the 401k that I have now.

No. I have not seen that trend by anything credible, but I have no idea what the Biden administration is going to do. And we do not have the benefit of checks and balances in that they can pass anything through a Democrat Senate Democratic Congress. So I don't know what they'll pass. I would think it would be very difficult and political suicide to screw with the largest wealth-building tool in America, but who knows? These are strange times. So it doesn't mean, though, that I wouldn't put money into it in anticipation of some bizarre political event. And by the way, that would be the definition of a bizarre political event.

For him to do that in years past would have been political suicide today i don't even know what that means but um uh so i i i used to say things like oh no way they would never do that but i have no idea in this world right now what they're gonna do but i don't i i will continue to put money in my 401k until i have different information than i have today which i don't have any information that's credible that makes me think it's one of the you know biden administration's top priorities to do away with america's primary wealth building tool yeah i'm not seeing anything on that uh that would not be an overnight result that There would be some serious, serious conversation about that and an uproar, to say the least. And so I don't think you need to be fearful at all.

I agree with Dave on that. But yeah, I mean, you know, get beyond that 401k. You know, here you are. You're off and running and you're cash flowing. Your education, you're going to do very, very well. And so begin to look at, you know, the diversified plan that we teach here at Ramsey Solutions, you know, retire inspired be a great book for you at this stage to begin to see what's the future look like and what are all the ways that I could prepare for the future. But no, don't don't be in a state of fear right now. And that's part of the

problem, Dave, is I understand there's uncertainty for 75 million Americans. Let's just be really honest, you have a very divided country and an election that obviously all kinds of stuff going around it. And I can tell you this, I'm not a spring chicken, but I'm not an old man either. But I've been around enough to watch a lot of elections and a lot of change in power. And one thing that I just want to tell our audience, your side is not as pure as you think they are, and the other side is not as evil as you think they are either. So relax. You don't need to look to Washington, D.C. for your future. You don't.

And stay the course. Keep doing smart things, and don't freak out. Fear is never a great place to operate from. Yeah, I can promise you this. If they do do away with the 401K, we'll be here to help you figure out what to do. That is true. We will be ready. We you figure out what to do. That is true. We will be ready. We'll show you what to do.

That is true. And there's something to do. There's always something to do. There's always a way to do things. But I really, truly, I would be shocked and amazed, but I will caveat that with saying I have been shocked and amazed for years of what these characters will pull off on both sides of the aisle. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Tyler is in Abilene, Texas. Hey, Tyler, how are you?

I'm doing great. How are you, Dave? Great, man. How can we help? My question for you today, I graduated college this December, probably the worst year I could imagine to graduate college. That would have been 1932, but yeah. Yeah.

I just started a job. I got my bachelor's degree in youth ministry, got a job immediately after college, and I'm making pretty decent money. This January, I started the Baby Steps, and today I just finished my $1,000 emergency fund. Great. And my question for you is, as I start Baby Step 2, there's a couple things kind of in my life that are coming up that I don't know if I should pause Baby Step 2 to let these things happen or whether I should just go ahead and go with it. The two things that I'm really looking at is I'm getting married in June, and I also would like to end up doing my MDiv in seminary as well. So I'm kind of looking at those two things right now as well. How much debt have you got?

Let's see. I got about $2,000 on a credit card, $21,000 on a car, and $35,000 on my student loans. And what are you making? I'm making $44,000. What does she make? She's not making anything. She's in her last year of her undergrad, and she'll be a kindergarten teacher starting next August. So we imagine she'll make anywhere from $35,000 to $45,000, depending on the school district. Why do you want the MDiv? Well, for my job, it'd be a pretty decent pay raise.

I really want the education mainly out of it. Your church gives raises based on your degree? Well, on average, it makes it easier. The percentage goes up. The annual raise, the percentage goes up. At your church? Yes. Hmm. Yeah, that's interesting.

It's unusual. It is. The reason I ask the question is, and this is my position on all degrees, if it's the only way and if it's the best way, then we make that a huge priority. But in this situation, and there's nothing wrong with you wanting the MDiv. I think it's great that you want that further education. But I would not press pause, Dave, on the baby steps. I'd press pause on the MDiv.

The MDiv will always be there. Absolutely. It's not mandatory. You need to get these debts cleaned up. I think with your combined income, you'll be able to clear these debts pretty quickly. I don't know what her debt was. We didn't get into that. But you're going to have a $75,000, $80,000 household income, $85,000, somewhere in there,

and you can attack these debts. And if a $23,000 car, which is ridiculous in your setting, is in your way between you and an in-div, sell it and move to a $5,000 car. That's right. And get down. It's too expensive a car for where you are today. You're getting married in June, going to double your household income soon so i'm not going to make you sell it or suggest you have to sell it to get ahead but it was a stupid purchase

yeah i'm giving the amount of debt that you have uh you're coming out as a youth pastor so anyway that that's uh but no the mdiv is definitely on hold. And, you know, again, furthering your knowledge is not a bad thing. Furthering your knowledge that creates extra income moves it up as a priority. That creates a lot of extra income or is the only way to enter a career. That's a whole different thing. That's correct. But, you know, this falls very close to the area of luxury knowledge. Absolutely, it is at this stage. At this stage, it is, yeah.

So, I mean, it's not holding you back. And it won't, by the way, in ministry. You know, in the American society, I can't speak to the rest of the Western world, but in American society, Dave, we have put a premium on education to where it is a normal thought. We don't begrudge Tyler on this question, but it is a normal thought to go, well, the next step, the master's degree in whatever industry it is, it is so worth it. It is worth the debt because of what it's going to do for me long term. And that is just, it couldn't be any further from the truth. These education folks are smart.

They got marketers, and they have marketed this message. And we got to be careful. It's not worth it. It's become a cultural icon. It's a cultural icon. It's an idol, if I could say that. And we got to be careful. It's not worth the price of going further into debt.

No. Ever. No, you're going to cash flow that puppy or don't do it at all. Yeah. In any event. So, in any possible scenario. Good question, sir. Congrats on the upcoming marriage.

This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Do you feel like you'll never save enough money or pay off all your debt after a year like 2020? Most of America feels that way. But money shouldn't be one more thing that you have to worry about. That's why in 2021, we're hitting reset. Because no matter what's happening in the world, you can take control of your money. You just need the right plan. Ramsey Plus is our step-by-step plan that gets you quick wins so you can make faster progress on your debt. And once that debt is gone for good, you get more money back in your bank account. So you can spend and you can save how you want

and worry less about the future. So here's our challenge to you. First, decide on a total money reset this year then start ramsey plus commit to working hard for 90 days and watch as your daily wins turn into lifelong habits make today day one try ramsey plus for free go to davramsey.com slash reset Reset. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today here on the air. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Jake is with us. Jake is in Lansing, Michigan. And it says on my screen, Jake, that you are debt-free. Congratulations.

Thanks, Dave. Absolute honor to be on the program. Well, thank you. Good to have you. How much have you paid off? Paid off just over $38,000 in student loans. Took me about two and a half years. I paid off just over $38,000 in student loans. It took me about two and a half years.

Started making about $18,000 all the way up to $56,000. I'm working in IT now, and it feels so good to be debt-free. Good for you, man. How old are you? 26. Way to go. Excellent. So what kind of debt was the 38 it was all student loans

man so what inspired you to get this going two and a half years ago i've actually been a long time listener i have memories riding around in the car with my dad when i was about eight listening to you so uh just always was always a dream of mine my dad pushed me I want to thank my parents for pushing me to do it and yeah very cool well so when you graduated you just took off and did it or what pretty much I mean I was living the rice and beans, beans and rice for two of those two and a half years. I went from building fences to working in IT. So, yeah, I just went and did it.

Wow. Tell us about that journey, building fences to breaking into the technology field. What did that look like? Yeah, I graduated, had a tough time finding a job. I just needed money, so I took a job building fences. I was building fences for $10 an hour in the freezing cold. I was like, this sucks. Took another job at a corporate office here in Lansing, doing data entry, worked my way up,

got an opportunity to jump over to the it side cut my teeth there got another opportunity hopefully i'll move up again just just keep hustling my way up i love it well i tell you there's nothing like a ten dollar an hour job in the freezing cold manual labor to get you motivated all right dave that'll get your butt gear won't it yeah well done jake well done okay now your friends are out there you're talking to them they got 30 or 40 000 dollars worth of debt and they say hey man how'd you do that what do you tell them the key to getting out of debt is i just point them to you dave yeah but what did i tell you to do that you went and did oh yeah you got i mean you got to cut

your lifestyle you gotta you gotta be gazelle intense you gotta just attack the debt because it feels so good on the back side of it so will you go back in debt heck no what about what about your car your next car? Nope. I've just completed baby step three. I'm saving up for a down payment on a house. Hopefully my car will make it a couple years, but if I need the cash, it's all cash. There you go. Wow.

Well done, sir. I love it. Proud of you. Congratulations. Very good. And say it feels good on this side, huh? Oh, it feels fantastic. Making that last payment, I was like, oh, wait, lift it off my shoulders. Well, I'm proud of you, man.

Well done. I know your parents are as well. Excellent, excellent job. All right, we've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires, and it will certainly show you the next chapter because that's the track your own, brother. You're going to be there before you know it. Excellent job.

Very cool. All right, Jake in Lansing, Michigan, $38,000 paid off in two and a half years, making $18,000 on the fence line up to $56,000 in the IT world. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Yeah! three two one very good excellent job very well done i suspect dave that somebody else in lansing heard that always next door neighbor anyway uh our question of the day comes from Blinds.com.

Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping. And with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey to get the best possible deal. Today's question comes from Melissa in Pennsylvania. She asks, I feel like I've lost my passion in my current career field of IT. How do I tell if it is from burnout or a loss of interest for the work itself? Okay, I love this question, Dave.

I get this all the time. So let's first start with that burnout, it's not from burnout. So burnout is a symptom, okay? If I've got an injury in my knee, the the problem isn't the actual pain i got to find out what's causing the pain so i go to the doctor and we're going to dive in and so when i hear somebody talk about burnout burnout is a very real feeling folks it comes with uh mental and emotional effects it can also have physical effects so i don't want to in any ways minimize it but there are causes of this feeling of being burned out.

If you're alive, well, you're not burned out. When you go into eternity, well, the flame is gone. So I've got great news for you, Melissa. You're not burned out. But this loss of passion, that's one of the five causes of what I call, Dave, build up on the heart. If I keep coming in every day and I don't have any juice for the job, I don't love the work, eventually it just becomes a utilitarian function. It's a J-O-B,

and I get bored, which is another cause. Maybe she's dealing with toxicity in the workplace. It could be a lot of things, but when someone says, I've lost passion, so what we have to say is, okay, why? If you lost it, you had it. So if she was talking to me on the Ken Coleman show, or she called in here today, and you could call in, I'll talk to you if that's you right now. Here's what I'm going to say. If you had it, let's go back and look to the time when you had it, when you had passion. What's changed? And therein lies the answer to when someone says, I've lost passion, we go, well, why

do you not love it anymore? Well, it could be because of a a variety of factors environment in the office it could be that um that you're bored you haven't been challenged in a long time and you've actually mastered it yes and when you first started it there was the zeal it was new but now you've done it 10 000 times it's repetitive and we as humans need progress so um i would not assume mel, that you've lost passion for IT work. Let's find out what you loved most about it at the time, what you still love doing, what work you love to do. And we walk through this with people. The sweet spot is at the intersection of talent, passion, mission.

Talent's what you do best, hard skills, soft skills. Passion is work you love to do. It's not about notoriety or pay. You just love the work itself. And then finally, mission. Well, all work you love to do. It's not about notoriety or pay. You just love the work itself. And then finally, mission. Well, all work creates results, Melissa. And so what are the results that you want to produce? And here's what I can tell you, Dave.

She's not currently producing results that really fire her up. She doesn't see them. She doesn't see it. It's a problem in the technical world. It is. And we've solved that at Ramsey. And so we're getting some of the best tech and uh you know web architects platform designers everybody else in the world are coming here some of the best in the world because we're they get to see that when they write a line of code

when they lay something out it results in this person being helped and so many times the tech department gets stuck in a basement and they're in a basement, and they're just salt mines. That's right. And they work them 1,000 hours a week and work them into the ground instead of letting them have a home life. And they're just treated like robots, like a commodity. That's right. You burn them up and throw them out, burn them up and throw them out. And that's often done in that world.

We've been the benefactor at Ramsey of hiring people trying to get away from that. So it could be the repetitiveness. It could be that just leadership has made the mistake, is a gentle way of saying it, of not letting the tech guys and gals see how their work is connected to the net result of the company. And that's why you always go back to, am I creating a result with my work that I can look at and say, this matters deeply to me because I can see the significance that it is having in the workplace.

You know, folks, this is a stark reminder, but I'll just lay this out there, Dave, because we've got millions of Americans that are miserable on Mondays. And back in one of the worst things about the concentration camps wasn't just how they treated the prisoners physically, Dave, is that they broke them down mentally. And the way they did it is they would have them do meaningless work, move a pile of bricks from one side of the concentration camp to the other.

And I've read the stories from survivors, and that killed them as much as anything, this lack of meaning, I'm doing meaningless work. You've got to pay attention to this, folks. This will eat you away. Frank will talk about that. His book was literally titled In Search of Meaning. There we go. That's it. This is the Dave Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today here on the air.

No parent ever wants their child to experience the panic of being unprepared for an emergency. But teaching your teens how to be smart with money, yeah, that can be tough. Well, we got your back. With our digital self-study courses, you can rest assured your teen will know the right way to handle money no matter what curveballs life may throw at them down the road. The best part is you don't need an instructor. If your teen has a tablet, a computer, they're all set. Parents, if you're riding around listening to the Dave Ramsey Show, the Ken Coleman Show, the Rachel Cruz Show, and you're trying to get your kids to listen in, go ahead and take the next step and put them in the class,

DaveRamsey.com slash selfstudy, and you can learn more about different courses that we have available for high schools and for high schoolers and for middle schoolers as well. Billy is with us in Dallas. Hey, Billy, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Ramsey and Mr. coleman it's a real pleasure to speak with you today you too sir how can we help well i guess a little background information my wife and i are both retired and uh we were blessed to be able to um completely build and pay for a vacation home a number of years ago. We actually bought the real estate, the property, about 30 years ago and then built a vacation

home there about a decade ago. And as life has progressed, we decided last year to sell that vacation home. It was never used as rental property. It was just a family getaway. Currently, and for the last several years, my wife and I have been blessed beyond belief and are able to live on nickels and dimes pretty much. And I've never been able to find an answer to how to calculate the capital gains on the sale of that vacation home or if capital gains will actually need to be paid whenever I file taxes. Yeah, you can just check with your tax advisor or check a tax ELP at DaveRamsey.com,

but your basis is what you paid to build it plus what you paid for the land. Because you've not depreciated it at all. No, sir, that's correct but what i've seen is that capital gains taxes are zero up to a certain level of income for a married couple filing jointly and so i guess my question is does the sale and the proceeds of that vacation home count as income during that particular year that it was sold. I don't know. I'm not very good at taxes. I'm sorry, Billy.

I think it does, as far as I understand, but I really want you to get some professional advice on this. So you don't have investment income? We do have retirement. We have retirement income, but we've not taken any proceeds from the retirement income yet. So none of it's taxable right now? No. Any of my IRAs and that sort of thing, I rolled over, based on your advice, I rolled over my 401k and the pension plan when I retired about six and a half years ago into IRAs. But we've been, again, fortunate that we've not had to take any proceeds or

withdrawals from those retirement accounts. So my guess is it's going to be taxable at a capital gains rate. I do not know whether the income is going to count. I think it will count, and we'll drive you up into that, and so you're probably going to have a 15% capital gain on the actual gain. What do you think you've got in the property well we uh we actually sold it for 360 000 and as close as i can calculate our um what we paid to have the home built and pay for the property is about 200 000 okay so you got 160 000 and the only question is how much is tax is going to be on it or how much of it's going to count towards this equation.

Yeah, the truth is I know you have a gain there. I don't know with you having virtually no income whether you're going to be able to duck under the 15% or not. And that's a technical, tactical question. And so I'm going to have to tell you to do what I would do, which is I would have to pick up the phone and call my tax guy and my ELP, my endorsed local provider for taxes, and get some help with that. And that's what I'm going to have to have you do. I'm sorry. Wish I knew the answer, but you do know how to calculate your gain.

You've got that figured out, and it's going to be at 15% if there is a gain or nothing if you're low enough and it doesn't count and this doesn't drive you up above that limit. So I don't know how that works exactly. Sorry. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Ken, I should have let you jump in because you're like a tax expert, right? Yeah.

Yeah. I'm a tax expert is that I like to not be taxed. And I think that I'm a tax expert in that I don't believe we should be taxed very much at all. And, yeah, it's all about political opinion is where I stop. I'm an expert on my opinion about what I think. That's it. But, hey, that's why we have ELPs, by the way. I think it's a great illustration to say, even with you, it's complex.

It's some of the stuff you've got going on. I don't know. We all need a tax expert. This is a weird talk show, because you don't have many talk show hosts that actually will tell you i don't know that is true that's an unusual truth and broadcasting unusual answer radio because they want you know those of us on the microphone are supposed to know something about everything all right suzanna is with us in tampa florida, Susanna, how are you? I guess I'm not doing as great as you are. You guys sound great, but I'm a little bit embarrassed and also distraught because my

question is not as wonderful as all the other questions. Well, darling, it's okay. Everyone's been very lucky. No, it's okay. What's going on? How can we help? Due to COVID and due to being laid off from my job 11 months ago, I've had to cash out my insurance policy, my life insurance, and my one and only son that I was saving for. I do have an IRA, $67,000, and I do have my about maybe $2,000 in cash put aside. I do have one CD, a small one, a lot, a lot of credit cards due to COVID. But my question is, I'm having difficulty getting another policy at my age.

How old are you? Obviously, you can tell 65 and and it's mainly for my son but also to pay off you know if i have anything left over i don't know how old is your son he's 23 and why are you required to buy his life insurance? No, it's my life insurance that I wanted to leave for him. No. You don't need to do that. See, I did it because, and I won't say the last name, I watched someone called Susie, which you know who,

said you don't need life insurance to keep paying $300, $500 a month. You should cash that out and put it in a CD or something. Well, me and Susie agree. Well, I'm glad to hear that, but I'm having difficulty finding a place to do that. Yeah, but the point is you don't need to buy life insurance on a 23-year-old, and you don't need to buy life insurance on you to leave the 23-year-old something. The 23-year-old needs to make his way in his life and not leave his mother with this burden right now.

So, Mom, you don't have that burden. That's easy. And you don't even need life insurance on you. You've got enough to bury you if something happens. And so you're good. So now all we've got to do is worry about getting your career up and going because you're starving to death because you haven't been working. And credit cards, which I haven't slept since last February.

What were you doing? What kind of work were you doing? I, believe it or not, was working at the airport. Originally working with an airline, got laid off with that, and then moved on to check in boarding passes for the passengers in front of TSA. And that's gone now, too? Gone. Okay.

So I'm doing Uber when I can. Okay. And trying to find a way to pay credit cards off and not eat too much. Yeah. Well, the reason you have credit card debt is not COVID. The reason you have credit card debt is COVID affected your career. You lost your income. Now, that is a reason that people get into debt, and that's for real.

So what we've got to do is, hang on, I'm going to have Kelly pick up, and we're going to get you onto Ken Coleman's website and let you download some things to get you some ideas on some things to start creating some income and get some interviewing going. Because what you have more than anything, honey, is a career crisis. You have an income crisis. That's right. So if we can get that fixed, the rest of this stuff is going to start to fix itself and

quit supporting the 23-year-old. Period. No circumstances. Is that okay? Especially with all the things you're facing. You got enough irons in the fire without him. Tell him to get on with his life, little pig. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books.

We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, hang on. Ken Coleman and I will be here. this is james childs producer of the dave ramsey show once again you made the dave ramsey show one of the top four most popular podcasts last year to get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration from the ramsey network subscribe or follow today wherever you listen to podcasts