The Ramsey Show - App - Don’t Try To Time the Market! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 22, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Ken Coleman discuss: Finding a job you love, Dealing with bankruptcy, Saving in a money market. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: 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

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the 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. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, number one best-selling author and host of The Ken Coleman Show, where he talks about your careers and your jobs and anything we have to do with making money, is my co-host today as we're answering your questions about your life and your money. It is a free call at 888-825-5225.

And Andrea is with us in New Jersey. Hey, Andrea, what's up? Hi, Papa Dave. Hi, Mr. Coleman. How are you guys doing today? Great. How can we help? So currently I'm a longshoreman, and I truly hate what I do.

I started it last year. Before that, I worked for an urgent care, hated that too. I think the only thing I really enjoyed most is dealing with people with disabilities. It was a calling for me. I loved what I did, except there wasn't any money in that, so I had to kind of move along. And I just don't like what I do. Like, I'm a people's person. I'm not with people at all. I'm in in a machine like 42 feet in the air and I just don't like it so I was wondering should I search for a job that I love that pays more or should I stay there to pay off debt a job that you love that pays more correct yeah what's but it's both and you don't have to choose so we stay why would you not get a job that pays more that

you love of course you would do that well the job that I work at now pays a lot. I get paid a lot, like $220,000 a year, but it's long days. I work from 6 in the morning to 9 at night, 7 days a week. How much debt do you have? About $35,000, $20,000 in student loans, $6,000 in credit cards, $7,000 in medical bills. What's your payoff date? If everything stays the same, when are you going to be out of debt? So I should have been out of debt by next year.

However, I got injured at work at the end of March. So I've been out on workers' comp, and workers' comp doesn't pay a lot. It pays about $1,400 every two weeks. When do you get back to a normal schedule? Hopefully by October,, end of September. All right. Well, so you're posing the question of should I stay where I am and pay off debt or do something I love and make really good money? And it's not a choice. It's we want to get you out of debt. And while you're looking for something that you love that you can make really good money in,

that's going to take some time. That usually doesn't just appear on a tree somewhere. So we stay put, even though you don't love the longshoreman work. The fact of the matter is you're making really good money. That's going to get you out of debt faster, get you into baby step three quicker, get that fully funded. So there's a timeline based on what you choose. So you got to get qualified maybe, and then you got to get connected you got to get started and get moving into this new new path so stay put get out of debt keep working the baby steps while we are exploring and deciding and getting ready to make that transition so that's the overview here's the thing you're um your level of frustration at work will go down dramatically the harder you work on

your exit okay if you just sit around and fume and run the crane you're just going to fume, right? Correct. But if you are actively going, okay, I've figured it out. There's 17 steps to get where I want to go. That's a pain in the butt. But I'm going to start working those 17 steps, and I can do some of those from this crane, and I can do some of them after I save up $100,000 after I get out of debt and quit, or whatever.

But at least developing a plan the not knowing and the ambivalence is much more stressful than even a hard path correct and so i think that's more so what it is is that i don't know what i want to do that's exactly what it is so you aren't clear and so you're frustrated so what we got to do is get you clear. I think the clues for you are the work that you absolutely loved before, but now expand your ideas and a vision beyond what it really was. So you loved working with people. Specifically, they had some, was it physical or mental disabilities? Is that what you mentioned?

Both. Both. So getting to the why, and I'll just put you on the spot really quick. What was so rewarding about serving that particular people group? It was just helping them. I was able to give them a voice that they didn't have. So it was, I don't know, it was just helping. No, you nailed it.

You just nailed it. That was beautiful. Don't forget that. I'm going to give it to you one word, okay? I think it's the advocacy side. You were sticking up for standing in the gap for somebody or people group that most people aren't standing up for. And that's what drew you to that work. Does that sound about right? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Now, good. So here's the deal. So that's a clue that we're going to start with. So now we go up from there and we go, all right, that's the baseline. I need to be in a role where I'm advocating for people

who don't have a voice. I want to be the voice of the voiceless. So how do I make $200,000 and more? Eventually, this is the framework here. So I've got to say, okay, who are the people that I want to be the voice for? Let's start to get some special groups that you go, okay, well, it's over here. Maybe it's the mental disabilities, physical disabilities. Maybe it's somebody else, another people group that you feel drawn to. And you go, who's helping them now? So we start to go look into that world. Who's serving that people group? Nonprofits, for-profit, what's it look like? Products, services, what is the whole universe like around this type of advocacy work? And now you begin to see, well, there's this professional path, there's this one, and it goes on from there. Are you still tracking with me, Andrea? I am definitely tracking. So now you begin

to see things you haven't seen before. And so then you're going to sit down and talk with people who are winning in that space that are making really good money in the product or service lane okay and we find out what it looks like day in and day out this is called clarify and verify and then as we pick something we okay now it's going to take this much uh certification or some type of education depending on what's required it's going to take this level of experience and so today's point you may be in that crane for a while to save up to put yourself in a position to then go down this path it won't seem like long it won't because you because it's part of the plan then rather than just a place to fume okay so what happened let me just tell you at you're an advocate or a uh a crusader and um so 30 years ago a bunch of banks crapped on me

and i spent the next 30 years pissing them off and taking up and taking up for the little guy so i'm a crusader it's what i do i'm an advocate it's what i do for people that regular people that never even stopped and thought that the bank is screwing them never even thought that bank of america and sofi are actually filthy dirty words they never even thought about it and so we started putting that in their brain and showing them how and so it doesn't necessarily have to be something as uh in other words a crusader or an advocate isn't necessarily someone who simply helps somebody in and out of a wheelchair it could be a much bigger thing than that single act a matter of fact it should be i don't just sit and do budgets one-on-one

with people anymore but that's where i started that's right and so um we can take you there hang on we're gonna give you a copy of ken's book paycheck to purpose and also a copy of the with people anymore, but that's where I started. That's right. And so we can take you there. Hang on. We're going to give you a copy of Ken's book, Paycheck to Purpose, and also a copy of the assessment to take to help you get clear on where you're going. But I think we got a good head start on it. Hey, I'm proud of you. Yes. You're a neat lady.

Get after it, girl. This is The Ramsey Show. The get Coleman Ramsey personality number one best-selling author of the book paycheck to purpose is my co-host today have you ever found yourself saying one day one day I'll be able to buy a house one day i'll be happy in my career one day i won't have to battle with anxiety one day i'll get my debt paid off hey listen you're not gonna do anything when you start saying that that just that's kicking the can that's all that is you got to stop waiting around whatever your one day is you got to start that's why we created smart conference it is oddly enough a one day is, you got to start. That's why we created Smart Conference.

It is, oddly enough, a one-day event where we tackle all areas of your life and help you get moving along. Let's get some traction. Let's face it, we could all use that kind of a boost. And you hear from some of the nation's top thought leaders and best-selling authors on each of the subjects. Career, mental health, money, relationships, marriage, leadership. This event is hitting the road and will be coming to Dallas.

These are my best speakers, the best people I know to bring. I'll be sitting in the audience and speaking when Rachel Cruz, my own daughter, number one bestselling author, many times over will be speaking. Dr. John Deloney, number one bestselling author, speaking on mental health and mental wellness. Ken Coleman, sitting to my right rightoney, number one best-selling author, speaking on mental health and mental wellness. Ken Coleman, sitting to my right right now, number one best-selling author, will be speaking on career. Our hottest new Ramsey personalities, George Campbell, Christina Ellis, and the space of money. I'm going to be there speaking, and my friends Craig and Amy Groeschel, pastors at Life Church in Oklahoma City, one of the largest churches in America, will be speaking on marriage.

So every subject is covered by some of the best speakers, communicators, thought leaders in these spaces. It's the kind of information you need, and a whole day of it, I mean, it's like drinking from a fire hose, you know? Go up to a water fountain to get a drink, somebody turns on a fire hose. That's where you're going to go home emotionally tired from learning this much in one day. And it's only $39 for the day because the VIP and Platinum are already sold out.

The event is almost sold out. It's August 22nd, October 22nd. Almost had it over there. October 22nd, Saturday, all day long in Dallas, Texas. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash events and get your event passes immediately, if not sooner. This is the thing to do. Get her done right now. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Elizabeth is in Birmingham. Hi, Elizabeth. How are you?

Hi, Dave. Hi, Ken. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, my husband and I actually filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy back in May. And, guys, this is a decision that we are regretting right now. At the time, just long story short, we were in a bad financial place earlier this year. I had lost my job. And so we were working the baby steps. We were on baby step number two when all this happened. And I think in a panic of realizing that we were down to one income, we panicked and did some stupid things and got into more debt and then realized that, hey, we got to pay this off. How are we going to do it? We

weren't looking at the bigger picture. And so we filed for Chapter 13. And fast forward to today, we're in a much better place. I have a great job. My husband's doing well. And guys, we do well every month, except that pesky payment that we have is really cutting into our monthly income. And we were, we're in gazelle mode right now. We're selling everything that we can sell. We had a yard sale and we're doing good and they're bringing in extra money, but in bankruptcy, you can't, you know, you get that payment and you got to stick with it. And we are actually, we have an appointment with our bankruptcy attorney later this week to actually see about just getting out of bankruptcy, just canceling it altogether and taking on the task ourselves.

And we would love to get y'all's opinion on whether you think we should do this or just keep at it with Chapter 13. Okay. Well, first, let's establish a couple of things. Once the file has been opened on you at the courthouse, that's where the phrase comes from, filing bankruptcy. And a number has been assigned to you, so you have filed bankruptcy. You cannot unfile bankruptcy. You can voluntarily dismiss a Chapter 13, but if anyone ever asks the question, have you ever filed bankruptcy, the answer for the rest of your life is yes. Okay. Me too, by the way. Yes. Okay. I

filed Chapter 7 in 1988, so me too. Been there, done that, and 7 is a lot worse than 13, so, but that's really a misnomer, because right now what you're asking about is the cash flow and what kind of risk and stuff have you got. So what kind of debts do you have? Our biggest one, guys, we have two car payments. And that, our cars were, we owe more on them than they were worth at the time. Now, since we filed, I don't really know the standing. We also had about $25,000 in credit card debt and about $6,000 in personal loans, no student loans, and that's all we have

at this time. Okay, and what do you owe on the two cars? The two cars, right around probably $30,000 each. Okay, and you think they're worth somewhere in that vicinity uh probably a little bit less um probably around i think we could it may be more just dependent on how the market is right now uh but i would say they probably around 26 or 27 000 at least okay um and and so what do you guys make now what's your household income now our household income per month net after health insurance taxes and all that we're looking right around fifty one hundred dollars a month um and then the bankruptcy is running what's what's your house payment uh we rent and our payment is 1400 a month

okay all right so the way you can kind of analyze this is um pretend like you took a um a baseball bat and you hit a hornet's nest and you threw the hornet's nest in a closet and closed the door okay you're getting ready to open the door no lord all of these people are not mildly pissed they're going to come after you with everything they got and you got to have a plan for taking care of every one of them if you're going to open the door okay okay so you need more information on the cars. Can you get out of these cars? Because you probably need to sell both of them. Yes, sir. We can.

We've actually got a little bit of money from just the gazelle intent of selling everything stashed aside to where if we needed to pay the difference, we could. And then you're going to get something to drive for cash. Yes, sir. What was the $6,000? The $25,000 was credit card debt and the $6 was what uh personal loans okay to who uh let's say uh just lenders in general um audio credit like personal lines of credit okay yes sir yes sir they're going to be the worst versus credit cards okay because they're basically bottom feeders and they're they're

they're gonna come after you um really really aggressively so you're gonna knock those out really really fast the credit card companies are um incompetent inefficient so the uh how aggressively they chase you will take them time during that time you need to just be on the phone with one at a time of them and get a payment plan going okay if you just start paying them payments most of the time you 99% of the time you shut them up okay okay okay but you you can't just ignore them because now you've got no protection because federal bankruptcy filing puts a stay, an injunction, like telling a dog stay, on all of the creditors. They can't touch you.

They're the hornets in the closet with the door closed. When you voluntarily dismiss, you open the door, and out come all the hornets. So you need a bug you need you need a bug spray you need a floss water you need a hood that's you know on your head or whatever it is whatever metaphor we want to do here to keep all this crap from getting at you right and so yeah go ahead and dumping the cars uh and so forth all of that'll work uh by the way inside the chapter 13 you can probably get the trustees permission to do

the car deals okay and dump the car deals and get your cars all situated and you know pay the payment for one or two more months all of the payments you're paying is going towards your debts anyway you're not losing any money by paying payments because you're going to be paying payments after you come out of this so you're still going have payments, and there's still going to be a bunch of them. You just want to make sure you've got a plan. But I'm with you. If you can step out of that 13, you probably can manage it more efficiently

than you can inside the 13 if you're willing to dump these cars especially. Wow. Lesson learned. Bankruptcy's not something you do impulsively because I'm scared. This is The Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, host of The Ken Coleman Show, is my co-host today.

In Phoenix, Arizona, Chris and Andrea are with us. As on my screen, you guys are debt free congratulations thank you yes we are we are officially completely 100 never going back into debt free i love it i love it how much did you pay off so we paid off the mortgage that took us about 10 years is about 211 $211,000. But altogether, from when we first picked up the total money makeover in 2011 to now, it's $267,631. I love it. And what was your range of income during that 10-year period? We ranged between $150,000 and $250,000.

Cool. What do you all do for a living? Well, I am a former TV news anchor here in Phoenix, Arizona, and I left in 2018, but that was my career path for many, many years, almost 15 years. And I'm a firefighter in Phoenix. Okay. Very cool. Very cool. So, Andrea, do I know you? Yes, we do.

Of course we do. I thought so. You know Chris, too. In fact, we visited you as well in 2019, not that long ago. Okay. I thought that was you guys. All right. Well, congratulations, you guys.

Way to go. You did it. What's this house worth? We just looked it up the other day. It was $670,000. Love it. How much in the retirement plans? Just over $800,000.

Ah, Baby Steps Millionaires. How old are you two? So that was our thing. We had this goal in 2011 that we would be debt-free before Andrea turned 40. She's a little bit older than me. Oh, wow. Brave guy. So 39, and then she's now 40.

All right. And your Baby Steps Millionaires, I love it. Yeah, he is a brave guy he runs into burning buildings and he just called his wife old i know yeah i'm more wise actually whoa quick around there way to go you two okay so tell us what started your whole ramsey journey 10 years ago so we were we were just normal. We were normal Americans, student loan debt, credit card debt, car debt. And it just seemed like no matter how hard we tried, we just kept falling further and further behind. And I remember driving down the freeway to go to the fire station

and used to have this, in Phoenix, you had this billboard that said, act your wage, and you were cutting up a credit card. And I thought, what does that mean? So I found your book and we went through that, that total money makeover book and started teaching F card. And I thought, what does that mean? So I found your book and we went through that, that total money makeover book and started teaching FPU. And it was just, it like, it changed our lives. It changed the way we looked at money. And so that was kind of like, I think the seed we planted. And then we got on the same page as well. We started kind of, you know, looking at our future and deciding how we wanted to look and how we wanted to raise kids and what we wanted to teach them. And then also started buying, stopped buying things that we

couldn't afford and justified it with, you know, we deserved it. We made good money. We worked hard, you know, the whole story that we all tell ourselves and how we all end up getting into debt. Sure. But now with 1.4 million and you're not even 40, you don't have to get up at three o'clock in the morning anymore. No, I don't. Thank you, Jesus. That was one of the, I mean, if it wasn't, Dave, it wasn't refining you. I mean, obviously your plan, your book, your ministry that you do for all of us, if it wasn't refining you, there's so many things that happened along the way that we could have never imagined. Like when the kids got older and Andrea was

thinking, you know, I get up at 2.45 in the morning, I never see them because we had no debt. And because we had a giant emergency fund, she was able to walk away from her job. It was little things along the way that happened that we didn't, like our goal was always to be debt-free, but there were so many wins along the way by just not doing stupid things with money. Yeah. For those of you listening or watching, a lot of folks don't realize if you turn on your television at 6 in the morning and someone is there and bright and chipper and cheery, it's because they've been up since 3. Yep.

2.30 is when I woke up. 15 years of that, Monday through Friday, and we were just talking about this the other day. Well, actually, we were talking about last night. We had a real late flight getting in. We were on a vacation, and I said, I used to wake up at this time. What in the world? How did I do that for so long? But, you know, you do what you have to do for a while, and now we're well past that, and life looks better than I think we ever could have imagined it. Yeah, I'm going to turn that statement, that question, into a question for you.

Tell folks, how do you stay in it for 10 years to pay your house off? What kept you guys going, because now you're on the other side of it? You know, there were so many days that were hard, I will say, but we were such a team, and we could not have done this if either of us were on a different page. And so I think we just kept that goal of one day we'll have a paid-off house. One day we won't be making decisions based on, oh, well, we have

to do this job or I have to work here because we have, you know, X, Y, Z to pay off. And so we just stayed so focused on that. And some days it was so hard, you know, people would make fun of us. And, you know, we still drive old cars, but they're nice cars. They're just old. And, you know, now it's's just it's such a way of life like i could never imagine living the way we used to live ever again amen the freedom we feel today nothing can take that away yeah yeah way to go you guys i'm so proud of you man what a wonderful moment we've i've been dreaming about. I've been listening to your show for 10 years. And every time I have, like, I hear somebody on the radio doing their debt-free

scream, I would send it to Andrea and be like, Hey, this is going to be us in, you know, X amount of years or whatever. And it's just, it's just kind of sitting in this moment right now. I'm like, I cannot believe we're actually on, but we're doing our debt-free scream. I just, it's just surreal. It's so surreal. And I will say, I've got to just add this in here because we have really sat in this the last, like, month or so since, you know, officially paying off the mortgage. And I told Chris the other day, I said, you know, God, man, he's so good. I said, his math, though, it does not make sense to me because what we paid off in the last year, you know, our income has changed significantly with me leaving work, but for some amazing reason, like, he's just amazing because it doesn't add up. What we paid for the principal and how much we were able to pay off in the last

year with having less of an income. But, man, when you're faithful and you just keep stewarding it the way we're supposed to steward it and you stay so focused on his way over your way, like everything changes for the better money changes relationships change everything gets better amen amen it's a different economy than the standard math for sure yes and it's a better economy my goodness amen amen well so proud of you too very very cool it's good to hear from you too copy of baby steps millionaires coming your way since you are officially one. And a copy of a one-year subscription or membership to Financial Peace University.

I know you've already been through it, but these are things you can give away and help somebody along the way as you keep talking about having one with this. It's not bragging. It is testifying. There's a difference. so also copy total money makeover for you to give away to somebody so we're going to give you lots of stuff there to help you out and just to say we're proud of you congratulations my friends very very very well done chris and andrea phoenix arizona 211 no7,000 total paid off a little over 10 years. House and everything.

Baby steps for millionaires before they're 40. Making $150,000 to $250,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Ready? Yeah. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Free! This is how it's done. Whoop, whoop. Man, oh, man, oh, man, oh, man. See, Ken, you know this. Our listeners don't. But you and I and the other Ramsey personalities, we have the pleasure of being in studio with a lot of television personalities

on the national scale. Our friends up at Fox, for instance, and lots of the cities that we go into will be in Phoenix in a few weeks and be doing television there while we're there and hanging out with people and getting, you know, because I've been going into that studio off and on for 20 years, I end up making friends. And, you know, honestly, the funny thing is, I mean, your cameraman, your audio guy or gal, the lady calling the shots and, you know, honestly, the funny thing is, I mean, your cameraman, your audio guy or gal,

the lady calling the shots and, you know, calling the camera shots and the anchor in front of you, it's not unusual at all for one of them to start following the stuff we teach. And then they'll give you an update when we drop by there the next year or two. Hey, man, I did it. I've been working here for two years. I got out of debt. And some of these folks we've struck up friendships with over the years, and Chris and Andrea are on that list.

I'm so proud of you guys. Very, very, very well done. This is The Ramsey Show. Субтитры подогнал «Симон» Ken Coleman Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Cindy's in Baton Rouge. Hi, Cindy. How are you? Hi, Dave.

Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? My husband and I have $460,000 in a money market type account, and then we have $1360,000 in a money market type account, and then we have $135,000 in cash. And we're to the point of saying, what do we do with this? We're not making any profit on most of that money. And we took the $460,000 out of equities and securities because we were losing a lot of money in that. And that money had come from a home that we sold, and because we got an interest rate of 2.5 on a new home,

we went with the 2.5 and put the 460 into securities and equities and didn't want to lose it beyond what we put in there, so we put it in a money market. What do you owe on your home? $366K. Okay. 366k from 30 years of coaching people how to become wealthy and from doing a study of 10,000 millionaires these are the two sources for my data

that tells me the shortest distance between where you are and wealth is two things is a um consistently funded 401k roth ira in good growth stock mutual funds over a long period of time that becomes some money and a paid for house our last debt free scream was a six hundred thousand dollar uh paid for house and eight hundred thousand dollars in their 401k or reverse i forget which but it was 1.4 million dollar net worth and it was just a few moments ago while you were on hold you heard it yes okay so that is the typical path that we see that is the most often used by people who become millionaires now where does that take us in your situation, it says I would pay off my house today.

Because here's what you ended up doing. It wasn't the start of your plan, but the net result of your plan is you borrowed money at 2.35% and invested it at a half a percent. Right? Yes, sir. I know that wasn't what you set out to do but that's where you ended up isn't it it is i pay off my house today today by close of business today

write a check okay okay and now you don't have any house payment anymore how's that feel awesome because i want to retire yeah and now you got two hundred thousand dollars in cash that we got to do something better than a stupid money market account with you need an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses for your short-term emergencies and um i mean you know let's call that 50 grand at your house for the fun of it. You've still got $150,000 that you need to do something with other than a stupid butt savings account. Now, if you put it into some kind of a mix with a stockbroker and you were losing money, I get that. If you put it into good mutual funds and the overall economy slowed down like it is right now and the value went down, then you didn't have somebody good in your corner to coach

you and say, hey, the only person gets hurt on a roller coaster is those that jump off in the middle of the ride, which is exactly what you did. Now, were you invested in single stocks? No. You were mutual funds. Very diversified. In mutual funds. Some of them were mutual funds.

Okay. Well, what I would do is sit down with a good investment broker, and here's what you're looking for this time. And you're looking for someone with the heart of a teacher that teaches you the history of the mutual fund that you're putting the money into. Okay, I'll give you an example. I own one that's over 80 years old. In the 80 years it's been open,

fewer than 15 of those 80 years has have been a down year. So if we happen to have a down year, and I know that, I know that, not my broker knows that, but I know that, then I'm not freaking out. It's kind of like the house that you own in Baton Rouge. If it went down in value this year, you wouldn't freak out because generally speaking, homes

in the neighborhood you live in for the past 40 years have gone up in value. Agreed? Agreed. So you wouldn't freak out on one down year and bail out. That's just like that mutual fund I'm describing. I'm not going to freak out in one down year and bail out. But that's all knowledge on your part rather than depending on someone else to tell you what to do and then you get scared because you watch the news and you never take financial advice from the news

if the commercial breaks where you're watching tv are walk-in bathtubs gold commercials and reverse mortgages and snuggies that tells you you don't want to take financial advice there that's just a bad plan and so here's me looking at you fox but anyway yeah so there you go but the uh fox business right but i love them they're wonderful but the commercials are comical saturday night live so hard i can't hold it in can you not say walk-in bathtubs are a bad idea just the investment advice i'm just saying if this is where you get your investment advice i know when the commercial breaks or walk-in bathtubs and snuggies then you know you're not getting good this is this is a bad place oh that was perfect i'm sorry that just got me that was like the church giggle i couldn't

hold it well i mean we've all sat and watched them at the commercial i know exactly i know exactly what you're talking about yeah the and and we're on there giving financial advice so what do we know but anyway the uh uh but you know you really need to sit with a good broker who has the heart of a teacher go to to RamseySolutions.com. Click on SmartVestor. Sit down with them. Interview them. And what you're looking for here is a type of wisdom, not intellect.

There's a difference. There's a lot of very, very intellectual ignoramuses out there. And that's not in the world in general. That's not what you're looking for. You're looking for common sense wisdom that says, I bought a mutual fund that for 80 years has only had less than 15 down years, so we're having a down year. I don't need to panic.

And that you learn that, you internalize that, you emotionally swallow that, and then it becomes part of your plan. And so in that situation, then you invest in good mutual funds and your 401ks and your Roth IRAs and those kinds of things. And you get your house paid for. And that's what I'm going to do with your $150,000, unless you've got other debts. And then I'm going to clean that up, too. So I want you debt-free 100% and investing in good growth stock mutual funds. That is the shortest, that have long long track records that are comfortable to you and that you understand what's going on you didn't do it because i said do it or because some goob

at a financial office said do it it's because you learned and your knowledge allows you to sleep at night you know ken that's the difference between tossing and turning at night when the stock market's down yeah is whether you made the decision based on knowledge you had or knowledge someone else had. Yeah, well, it's true. I mean, you know, for years, I mean, before I even started working with you, this idea, the roller coaster analogy that you've given, it's really true. And you look at the data, if you look over the last 30 years, you just got to stay calm and ride this thing out. And I just don't freak out when I see the stock market dip. You know, I say keep investing that's an opportunity it's going to

come back and and you're right knowledge uh is what gives us tremendous confidence and confidence the piece yeah and once you really understand that folks about the stock market then when it goes down you kind of go like it's on sale yeah we're getting bargain it's a bargain time yeah this is a time to buy well we don't really do that either because I'm not going to tell you to time the market. I'm just going to tell you steady invest. Steady invest. That's all I have done. I have been tempted at times when the market is down to time it.

Yeah. I really, really wish in 2008 when the stock market was crashing and the world was coming to an end and it went from $13,000 to $6,500. I really wish I had put an extra million dollars in. Yeah. Because, I mean, the Dow's sitting at, what, 6x of that. That million today would be worth $6 million. Wow. Because the Dow's, you know, over $30,000, right?

So, yeah, there you go. I mean, that's 5x. 5x of that. It'd be worth $5 million. Now, ultimately, I did have money in there, and it that's 5x 5x yeah it'd be worth five million dollars now ultimately i did have money in there and it's worth 5x but if you could have timed the market and bought at the lowest possible time we've seen in decades then that would have been the time to do it but who knew when the bottom was if i bought at 6500 it would have gone to 6000,000. Well, there's a chance, yeah. Then I'd have been pissed I missed the bottom.

Not that I was going to lose money, but because I missed the bottom. So don't try to time the market. People trying to time the market don't win. They really don't. And jumping in and out based on what you hear on the news, based on whether or not Russia invades Ukraine, is really a bad idea. You've got to have a long-term scope on this stuff and ride it out. And that includes having your house paid off, Cindy. So thank you for calling. We appreciate

you being in our audience. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey folks, Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? It's your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows from The Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts. The Ramsey Show.