The Ramsey Show - App - Get Back In The Driver Seat Of Your Life (Hour 2)

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

Jade Warshaw & John Delony answer your questions and discuss:  "How do I talk to my dad about getting days off work? I haven't had a day off in 2 months!", from the blog: 12 Tips for Running a Family-Owned Business Why financing something for 0% interest will never put you ahead financially, from the blog: What You Need to Know About Zero Percent Financing What to do with a house you can't afford after breaking up with a significant other, from the blog: How to Sell a House How to get your spouse to take finances more seriously, from the blog: What to Do When Spouses Don't Agree on Money The best way to save for college when you have a lot of kids, from the blog: 10 Best Ways to Save for College It's ok to sell your rental property when you're tired of being a landlord. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Here's an EveryDollar deal just for our listeners: get a 14-day free trial PLUS $15 off your first year of premium. Click the link below and start budgeting today! www.everydollar.com/jade Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3cEP4n6 Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Interested in advertising on The Ramsey Show? https://ter.li/s64ye3 Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting live from the Podmoving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America is hanging out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I am your host, Jade Warshawaw joined by Dr. John Deloney. In this hour we're going to be taking calls about you. You get to decide what it is that we're going to talk about today. Are we going to talk about getting on a budget? Are we going to talk about renting versus buying a house outright? Are we going to talk about how to get this money saved?

The show is about you so give us a call 888-825-5225 is the number and in the meantime we're going to go to Sherry in Calgary Canada Oh Sherry Sherry What's going on girl? Oh nothing much I kind of had

I hope you guys are doing well today by the way but um That's the most Canadian welcome like you just had to get some niceness in there. You're so great. Well, thank you. So I'm in a bit of a weird situation and I guess more of a question for you, John. So I'm a part of a family business and I came back full-time from university two years ago and I'm struggling setting up boundaries with my dad who is the owner and has been for the last since I was born so 25 years ago and I'm trying to get my life set up like not only professionally which I think

I'm doing a pretty good job but and I don't mean to disrespect him at all, but just like telling him that I cannot physically work as much as he can. And like, I haven't had a day off and I think over four months, I'm burning out and I don't know how to tell him. Like I have had these conversations where I, I tell him like, Hey and I don't know how to tell him like I see I have had these conversations where I I tell him like hey I can't you know I need a day to just get the house in order and like do laundry and he just doesn't understand that is it just you and him so it's pretty much just me and him and I try to give him days off and he's been able to take a vacation in the span of time.

And he's, he's about 60. So I just, I feel bad letting him take on all the work all the time. And also like, I'm trying my best, but I just don't know how to deal with this. No, it's, it's absolutely, there's a reason there's, there's, um, laws about breaks. A human can't work four months in a row without a day off. That's just madness. And so I think you've proved. It's an agriculture, so I have like over 200 hours a month.

Yeah, exactly. So is it okay if I'm super direct with you? We'll still be best friends? Yeah, go ahead. All right. Sure. So I want you to put the family business aside. I want you to put the relationship with your dad off to the side for a second.

And if you called into this show and you said, hey, I'm working for this supervisor. He's a nice guy. I've told him what I need. I told him that I'm running into the ground, that I've worked for four days straight. I told him that I'm running into the ground, that I've worked for four days straight. I'm working 200 hours a week, running ag. I would tell you to quit the job before the day is over because it's going to kill you. And here's the thing. The reason you're

calling is because you know it is killing you. You can feel it. And you also have this other thing hovering over here, which is your relationship with your dad. And so the best I have ever seen it in my whole professional career is the way Dave and Rachel and Daniel and Denise, the kids handle it. Here's a couple of the rules and I've seen it in action. And as a bystander, it can be super uncomfortable. When Rachel Cruz asks, did you hear what Dave said? And I'm asking like, is this a test? Cause that's your dad. That's your dad. At the office, all the kids call him Dave. They refer to him as Dave. I've seen them in meetings get very heated and the conversation is to Dave and to Rachel.

And then I've seen them at the house and it's dad and everybody at the table. Yes. Everybody at the table has to agree that we can talk about work for somebody to bring up work. There's just a big, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I've seen it. It's incredible. Right. And here's the deal. You're not getting that from your dad like you should. So you have to take, you have to take, you have to get back in the driver's seat of your own life and say, dad, I no longer work on Sundays, period. I will not work.

Yeah. I'm crashing into the ground. I'm not going to answer my phone. My phone shuts off. Sherry, what happens if you do that? Well, it's not just consequences for like our relationship, right? It's like the business in general. And I've tried to bring up maybe, because we can afford it. We can hire help, but he just doesn't like seem to want to trust people. He doesn't need to because you keep showing up.

He doesn't need to hire anybody because you show up and you show up. As the great Henry Cloud says, your dad needs to get some problems. That's so good. He needs to get nobody working on Sunday and he'll hire somebody.

I totally agree with you. I've tried to do that.. No, I totally agree with you. It's just, um, I've tried to do that. Like, um, this winter I kind of tried to set up a schedule with everybody. And, um, then I also started interviewing people just kind of without his consent because I'm also like kind of an owner operator now. Well, not really. Cause you're not getting the salary, right? Yeah. You're not getting paid. No, I get paid. I get paid quite a bit okay successfully negotiate um my way up but it's just kind of um and i do have a lot of decision making power i do all of our marketing i i've definitely made this place grow over the course of two years we're not we john and i are not arguing your value to the company.

We know you're valuable. I just don't know how to get him on board with maybe hiring another person. John gave you the solution. He's not going to. You've tried. You've tried for months and months to reason with him, to educate him. He's not getting the message. Sherry, you're so sweet.

I know. And you're so kind. And you love him. And he's your dad. You need to give this man some problems. I am not working on Sundays and I leave Saturdays at noon. That's right. I will leave the hiring if you would like me to hire somebody,

but I don't work on those days because I have to have my life. This can't be the rest of your life. Even if this was the life he chose and you grew up with a dad who worked 200 hours a week and you didn't get to meet him until after you got out of college he works more he has another business that he also runs that's right so i think he's just seeing me as like oh well you only have one thing to handle so listen listen listen listen he doesn't get a vote into your personal life in your business life you've gone into partnership with him he absolutely gets a vote and i would suggest sitting down and saying dad here's here's my rules i'm gonna call you by your a vote into your personal life. In your business life, you've gone into partnership with him. He absolutely gets a vote.

I would suggest sitting down and saying, Dad, here's my rules. I'm going to call you by your first name here because I'm struggling with these roles getting crossed. It's hard for me to balance them. I'm going to start calling you Dan at work and I'm going to call you Dad at home. You ain't calling me Dan. Actually, I am.

Actually, at work, I'm going to call you Dan. Then at home, I'm going to call you dad at home. You ain't calling me, Dan. Actually, I am. Actually, at work, I'm going to call you Dan. And then at home, I'm going to call you dad. And then Sundays, I don't work. Saturdays, I'm off at noon. I will walk out. And you have to be courageous and gangster and brave and actually walk out. And it will have to be uncomfortable for a couple of times

before your dad's like, oh, just hire somebody. Then if you're just going to quit on me, all right, cool. I'll hire somebody. And then make it happen that way. I think Sherry's a G. I think she's going to... She has to. I think she's going to

gangster up and put dad in his rightful place so she can maintain her relationship. You can have a lot. Yeah, this is all in service of I want to still like you

as my dad. Okay. And I'm starting to not like you as my dad. That's how you do it. John laid it out for you. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys, health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel

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So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget at chministries.org slash budget. All right, all right, all right, all right. You're listening to the ramsey show i'm jade warshaw your host today joined by dr john deloney your other host for the day taking calls about your life and money you know the number triple eight eight two five five two two five is it all right our question of the day is brought to you by neighborly your hub for home services neighborly's nationwide network of locally owned home service pros like molly made you got shelf genie you've got mr appliance these guys take

the stress out of home repairs maintenance and improvements visit neighborly.com to schedule a service today i think i need to holler at all of those people. I do too. All right. Today's question comes from Charlotte in Tennessee. Ooh, Charlotte just cuts right to it. What is the downside to purchasing something with 0% interest? What's the downside? That's a good question. I like to go back to a little thing. It is a proverb and it says,

the borrower is indeed slave to the lender but so i'm going to play devil's advocate but it's there's that borrowing doesn't cost me anything well it does cost you you're not paying anything additional so let's say okay let's say we have a vehicle it's twenty thousand dollars and you finance it right zero percent so you're not paying you're still paying payments you're not paying anything additionally but you've still said hey i'm going to pay you x amount of dollars for the next five years for this car so you're still adding a layer of risk to your life you're a slave to that lender because it's like hey i'm on the hook to pay this money. If anything should happen in my life, if I lose my job, if I don't know, mama decides she wants to stay at home now

and be a stay at home mom. And we go down to a one income family. And now I'm feeling the stress of that. We're still there's still this idea, John, that if we can't pay cash for something, we can't afford it, period. If you're asking how much a month instead of asking how much, then you're, do you see what I'm saying? You're borrowing at that point. So even though theoretically, yeah, if you are, if you were going to borrow money, which I think is a horrible idea. And yeah, if you, a lower interest rate is better than a higher interest rate and a zero interest rate is better than interest, but you're still borrowing money. To that end, I'd be like, hey, just pay it off. And the average car loan is between five and seven years now, right? They've kicked it out. Just for context, six years ago was two states and three jobs for me away that I did not know existed.

Wow. Yeah. Two states and three jobs away. And so to say, I'm going to sign, I'm going to chain myself to something, even though it's not going to be a chain and a slap in the face, it's just gonna be a chain. And for the next five to seven years, I'm confident enough in our government. I'm confident enough in my boss who I don't like. I'm confident enough in our government. I'm confident enough in my boss who I don't like. I'm confident enough in the market that I'm watching fail right in front of me. Whatever you do, I'll be okay to be able to make these payments. That's such a good point.

You're just chanting yourself. And dude, I live a thousand miles from where I would have signed that note. I'm a YouTuber for God's sake. Everything's different now. And so the idea that it's just that your life is going to be static, that your kids are not going to need braces, that whatever is going to happen. And listen, I get it because I've been you listening. If you guys who are listening and watching,

I've been you going, yeah, but it happens to other people. Jade and I and Dave and Rachel, George, none of us would have a job if everybody's plans always worked out. We would have this building wouldn't exist. Are you saying that they keep us in business, John? I'm saying that everybody's got, as the great Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until you get hit in the mouth and everybody gets hit in the mouth. And so don't set yourself up. Don't

chain yourself to something, hoping that your world is static seven years from now if you can't pay for pay for it in cash you cannot afford it you can't afford it and that's okay that is okay that's okay you know you make such a good point john we always project it's like when we project the future it's always perfect always i'll be in this job and i'll be making this money and the kids will be healthy and everybody will be perfect and it's like no dude I wish that was the case we do it worse Jade we one up we go and I'm going to be getting five percent raises every year so in six years I'm going to be making this much and then I'll be which is even more ridiculous than to keep the debt because it's like look if you know you're making money go ahead and pay that joker off is all I'm saying okay I think we basically drilled that one into the ground I want you to be free that's all I'm saying. Okay. I think we basically drilled that one into the ground. I want you to

be free. That's all I'm saying. The borrower is slave to the lender. If you don't ask how much a month, simply ask how much and pay in cash. That's the moral of the story. Or even better, I've learned, just say, I'm going to give you this much. Can I give you this much for that car? Can I give you this much for that thing? And man, that, that, that changes the conversation a lot. I like it. I like it. All right, let's move on. Let's go to Kelly in Philadelphia where she was born and raised. Look, we were both there. Hey, the playground is where she spent most of her days. What's up Kelly? Hey guys, how are you? Very good. Um, very similar to the storyline that you were going around, uh, with getting punched in the, in the face.

Um, definitely living in that right now. I'm sorry. What happened? So I made an assumption about a situation. Um, needless to say, the backstory is I, um, I got debt free about five years ago. Um, started saving up really, uh, heavily for a house. It was always my dream to be able to buy something of my own. Ended up in a relationship about three years ago, and at that time, I was still living at my parents' house, and we went for it. We decided

that I had enough money saved. I was going to put down money on a house, and we can move into it and have our future home for the long term. Needless to say, that relationship ended. So now I have a house that's probably at the top tier of my budget that I am struggling to decide what to do with now. So I love the community I'm in. I love my neighborhood. I feel like this is the one thing that is now consistent in my life versus all the other changes that I'm going through.

But I'm making about $200 more than what my expenses are per month. So I'm trying to decide if this house that I have an extra room in would make sense to have a roommate and try to, you know, get back to, you know, being able to pay towards this a little bit faster than I am currently. And I'm going to let John, I'm going to let John talk to you about what I think is deeper than the money issue here. But hear me when I say, if you only have $200 in margin, this house is too expensive. Having a roommate is a good idea, but I would only enter into a situation like that when you know you can make the payment regardless of a roommate and the roommate is just icing on top. So you need to think about a way to get out of this home and John's going to tell you why. Yeah, except I'm

going to put a caveat on it. Okay. This is, how long ago is this breakup? It sounds like it is still right there at the top of your heart. It was about three weeks ago. Okay, so you're still living in it. I've been trying to do the budgeting now. What does my future look like? Obviously, this was on the back burner for the first few weeks of trying to process everything. Yeah, just breathe again. I'm trying to be smart about my next steps and do what's right.

Somebody who is very important to me, a mentor of mine, the guy who trained me on crisis response, actually the guy that gave me the phrase, facts are your friends, Dr. Young. He gave me some personal wisdom when I had a personal tragedy several years ago that has proven to be wise not only in my, but in the life of people I've sit with when things get sideways. And that is, if at all possible, do not make a giant decision for at least six months after something wild has happened in your life. And so I can imagine you having memories in this home with this boyfriend about you you made plans in this house and i bet you'd walked by a room and thought that was going to be the nursery

like you've made plans in this house and so the temptation i completely understand would be to run from this thing and if you think you can sell this house and be done, awesome, and just clear your hands of it, great, but it also sounds like you're connected to this place in something a little bit different. So let's do this. I want you to hang on the line. We're going to go to a break, and then we're going to bring you back right when the break's over, and we're going to talk this through all the way. I'm going to give you a couple of options I think that might be helpful for you, okay? Thank you so much. You got it. Hang on the line, and we'll be right back here on the Ramsey show. What's going on everybody. You are listening to the Ramsey show, a show about

life and money and getting it all together and making it look right because some of y'all's situation is not looking right and you need help. That's cool. We're all trying to do better. Give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225. And we're going to try to help you. John is a mental health expert and they call me John, a money expert. I got it. Hey, you're an expert at teaching people how to do the right thing. That's right. That's right. And so, hey, at the last, right before the last break, we were talking to Kelly, who was out in Philadelphia, and she had a dream.

She bought a house. She saved up a lot of money. She moved in with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend moved in her house, and they had dreams and plans, and then they broke up. And now she's looking at the budget. The smoke is starting to clear on the reality.

He's moved out. He's gone. And after all bills are covered, she's got two $100 bills left. Oh, that's right. And she is feeling the pinch. Did I get that right, Kelly? That is very close to, yeah. Okay. Yeah. So sitting close to home, literally. And it sounds almost surreal to hear somebody else just rattle off your life, right? Yeah. And I hadn't really verbalized it. So even just hearing somebody else telling me about it, it's a little surreal for sure. So if you could, if you put your house on the market today in the area where you live,

would it sell pretty quick? Yes. Okay. So I think that's an option to consider. And one thing you mentioned that I think we discount a lot in our culture is community, is I like, I've got friends, I've got neighbors, I've got people who will show up at 2 a.m. if I need them. It sounds like you have that in your community? I do, yeah. Okay. If people say like, I really love the area because it's got a pool and like it's close to a Publix, I could care less. If somebody says like, no, I got some ride or dies in this community, that means something to me. That means something to me. So I might reach out. If you were my sister, I would say, hey, call a couple of friends and see

if you could have a roommate by the end of the month, by next month. If you could have somebody move in and just say this is for six months while the smoke clears on this thing. And you might hear me crying in my room at night sometimes, and that's okay. do you think that would be possible it's gonna be weird and annoying but is that possible okay that's definitely possible how do you feel if you had a roommate who was paying you 1500 bucks or a thousand bucks or whatever to give you a little bit of of gap room there how does that feel i'm not too proud to do that. I thought you were going to say I ain't too proud to beg, and I was about to high-five you through the phone. I would go as far as to not even say I'm too proud to do that. I would say, no, I get to help somebody out in a wild rental market,

and I get to sleep at night for a season. And then the other question you're going to have to ask yourself over the next five to six months while this person's living there is, do you like having a roommate? Is this a long-term thing? And Jade brought up a really important point. I'm always nervous for someone to have a house payment that they can't afford unless they have a renter. And so it may be, I need to start looking at different work. It may be that I need to start looking at, can I take on a second job and get this mortgage down and then refinance it? How can I change my financial situation before I just run off and haul off and sell this house? What's your monthly payment on this place? It's just over $1,600. Just over $1,600? You couldn't even rent a place for that out there, could you?

No. That's where I'm like in this weird dilemma. I would grab a roommate until I could just, because you think the fog is clearing now, it's probably going to be a couple more months at least, okay? Hey, what's your monthly take-home pay? It's $3,100. Okay, yeah. That is tight, tight, tight.

What do you do for a living kelly are you still there just cut out sorry i work for an insurance company how much do you make a year uh it's just about 68 000 okay are you yeah this is this is definitely tight um i i mean i'm with john definitely on the emotional side of things holding off and just letting the smoke clear but i do want you getting into a situation where you're the one that's able to afford this house even without a roommate having a roommate's great like that's able to afford this house, even without a roommate. Having a roommate's great. Like that's, you know, income or whatnot, but you're not going to feel calm

until you know that you can afford this even without the renter. Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah, I do have $10,000 saved as like my emergency fund for some relief on that end, but I definitely feel like I need to start making a decision so that. Yeah, because your emergency fund is not. I'm not on a deadline.

Yeah, because your emergency fund is not there to float you, you know, month to month. It's there for, you know, and you get that. So maybe get a roommate for six months or a year and sock that money away. Just keep that cash for if you're going to end up transitioning out or transitioning and moving, whatever comes up. And then maybe over the next two or three months, I think you'll find some peace there.

And I think some clarity emerges if you can just hold on during this storm here. But yeah, $200 extra a month. I mean, that's any number of things cost more than 200 but i'm trying to think of the electrical issue i've got that's thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars so um yeah that's really really tight thanks for the call kelly that's that's a tough situation but i think that you've got the tools to navigate that from here on out uh john let's take another call let's let's talk to christopher oh he's from your neck of the woods fort worth he's from the right side. 817.

What's up, Christopher? Hello. How are you doing? Just out, to say the least. Uh-oh. What's going on? I'm just trying to get my wife on the same page and, you know, figure out that our finances are as bad as I'm thinking they are

because I'm losing sleep over it. Basically, we're going paycheck to paycheck. My life's having to, you know, do the little pay advances through work to get to the next week so stuff gets paid. Yikes. And then we've got, yeah, then we've got, you know, small credit card debts or the rent to owns and... So, go ahead, John.

I was going to say, what turn the light on for you uh just i mean just even though that we're both making i mean significantly you know we're making around you know 70 80 000 a year so we're bringing home four or five thousand dollars a month but yeah but you're renting to own bro you're you're either propping up a lifestyle that's not real or you are baroque i mean yeah we're broke i mean like renting to own, bro. You're either propping up a lifestyle that's not real or you are broke. I mean, yeah, we're broke. I mean, like rent to own furniture, rent to own appliances. Why do you guys keep choosing that? My screen, I'm just going to tell you what my screen says.

My screen says, how do I get my wife to take our finances seriously? Yeah, and that's the biggest thing right there, because everything that I've suggested as far as ways that we can cut around the budget, something always gets shot down. This is not about cutting around the budget. This is about changing your entire life. You're talking to somebody in Jade who slept on an air mattress for years. You're talking about me who, for our 20th anniversary, my wife said, Hey, we've had a headboard that you bought off Craigslist and spray painted. Could we get a real bed? 20 years. And listen, brother, Dave Ramsey pays us real, real well.

So like rent to own furniture. I can't, it can't even wrap my head around how insane that is. Insanity. That, that, what that tells me is you guys are that my what my dad used to say trying to keep up with the joneses if you're renting to own furniture because you want you feel like you should have a certain look and a certain this you guys need to kiss that goodbye and and get real with what you earn what that looks like monthly in the lifestyle that you can actually afford. And as it relates to your wife, you know, I'll be honest. Marriage is a two way street, you know, both folks are on it. So it's not like unless she went to the rent to own place without you, unless she said and decided on her own, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that.

It's both of you guys. You're if she's doing it, you're allowing it. So it's both of you guys contributing to do this. I'm going to do that. It's both of you guys. If she's doing it, you're allowing it. So it's both of you guys contributing to this mess. And it's going to take both of you guys to get on the same page and to really sit down and say, are we going to be adults or are we going to be kids? Almost every time, Chris, a guy calls me with this, they're some sort of schemer. They've had some sort of plan. And then I got another plan. And then five years or 10 years into the relationship, it's like, Oh,

I got this other plan. I'm gonna get this job. I'm going to flip houses. Is that you? No, no. Okay. I'm just, we're basically, you know, we were making, you know, pretty much minimum wage jobs, barely making it. And then as we were, I thought, I guess almost thought we were making more. So we wound up, I guess, getting into the trap of spending.

Yeah, y'all started spending and spending. You just quit saying no. So listen, I want you to take your wife out for breakfast and say the following. Honey, I'm scared to death about our money. Would you make a budget with me? Would you help me be intentional about our money so that we can change our family tree? Hang on the line. We're going to send you Financial Peace University.

I want y'all to watch those classes together and change your life. Hey, what's going on, everybody? You are listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm your host, Jade Warshaw, joined by John Deloney. Give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225. And we will do our best to answer your question or put you on the right track. Let's take a call. Let's go to Chaney in Waco, Texas. What's going on, Chaney?

Hi, how are you? Hey, how are you? I'm doing good. So I'll just get to it. My husband and I are on baby step four, five and six. Sweet. And we have five kids, so we're trying to figure out the 529 situation. I'm nervous. Oh, don't be nervous. So our kids are seven, five, three, two, and one. Ooh, girl. Yeah. I'm trying to hide from them right now.

Very good. Hopefully they're not too loud. But our youngest two have college taken care of. We adopted them, so that's part of their adoption subsidy. Okay. But our oldest three, we don't have anything set up for them yet. Okay. And we have about $300 to $400 a month to put towards that.

That's great. My question is, should we have three separate 529s or just one big one? Should we do five for all of them just in case or? That's such a good question. Um, with 529s, of course, I always, you know, would suggest that you get with a Ramsey trusted professional on that, that can help you with the investment side of it because they're going to help you decide how to divvy up that money, whether you should focus on one kid first, that being the oldest, or they're going to help you sort through that. That being said, and they're going to help you select the right one because they're state specific, right? And you can choose, you don't have to necessarily choose the state that you live in.

You can choose another state's 529 that might have better options for you. So definitely work with a Ramsey trusted professional on that. But as far as the idea of do you need just one account or open one for all of them off the top of my head, I would I would probably open one for all of them for a couple of reasons. One being like the beneficiary situation. I think that it's simpler because once that money is in there, it's designated for that child. Now, some of them, depending on the state, you can use them for different siblings on down the line. But just to keep it clean, I'd probably do separate 529s for each of them. John, do you have anything to add to that? Yeah, there's also some tax advantages. And so, depending on what state you live in, they may allow X number of thousands of dollar deduction based on a 529 plan. And if you have three kids in one plan,

you're going to get a single deduction. If you have three plans, you get to deduct that each time. Ah, that's a very good point. So yeah, I would just for cleanliness. And then the final thing, and you know I'm going to have to go all dark and sad here, but if something were to happen to you and your husband and you have these existing plans and there's just one lump sum, you're going to have to expect your custodian to properly delineate this and make decisions on this versus this. And we want to support this kid who

was the first kid in college and they got into Stanford. And then the other kid, you see what I'm saying? It just gets messy. If you have them delineated out, there's no confusion there. If me as an executor, if I show up to take care of your kids in your absence, I'm able to go, okay, here's a count for this kid, here's a count for this kid, here's a count for this kid. And that's just like Jade said, it just makes it clean. And I think that makes it simple.

What do you think? Okay, thank you guys so much. Yeah, that sounds great. I've been mulling over this for about a month. Yeah. And by the way, there can be a paralysis by analysis. Just open them up and get rolling. You're good.

Yeah, I'm really good at that paralysis. I am too. I am too. Awesome. Thanks for the call, Janie. We appreciate you. Very, very cool. That really good at that paralysis. I am too. Awesome. Thanks for the call, Chaney. We appreciate you. Very, very cool. That's good stuff, John.

Things to think about in Baby Step 5. Baby Step 5 is funding kids college. And we do suggest, you know, 529 plans, ESAs can work. And, you know, in the Baby Steps, we don't say a specific amount. You know, a lot of times we'll say, hey, save three to six months or invest 15 percent of your income. But when it comes to kids college, we're pretty open about what you decide to do or decide what you don't want to put into that. You might be the type that's like, hey, my kids are going to get a job and get scholarships and they're going to work through school. And we're only going to, you know, fund this little bit.

So it's up to you to decide what you want to do with that. But I think that's important. And here's the key. You have to be honest and open with your kid, probably when they're a freshman in high school. That's right. There's going to be $50,000 in this account. You can go to community college locally for free. And then you can go to any state college you want to in the United States for that $50,000 for the back half.

Or you can go to the state school and use $25,000 of it and then $25,000 of it for grad school, whatever. But there's going to be $50,000 in that account, or there's going to be $10,000 in that account, or there's going to be $200,000 in the, like whatever. But it's a parent's job, even when it feels shameful, even when it feels embarrassing, to sit down with your kid really early in the process and say, here is the situation when it comes to college. I think that is the determining factor in all of this because so many kids, they turn 18 and it's like, they've got this idea in their mind of where they want to go, right? And they're the ones that start talking about it first. And then the parents are like, oh, she says she wants to

go to Emory. That's expensive. And, da, da, da, da. And then instead of them, because they never mentioned payment before. Now you turn to student loans and that's how you go start going down that crazy train of student loans. So having that conversation. Look, John, my parents said to all of us, there's four of us. I have two brothers and a sister. And my parents were like, y'all better be really smart or really great athletes because y'all ain't getting any money but hey they told you on the front end they told us on the front end and do you want to know what i did i played like three different sports and i tried to

figure out which one i can master i got a volleyball scholarship and i was like i gotta turn i gotta figure out how to do math so i can get an academic scholarship. And I did. And, you know, it would have been great to be one of those people that's got a college fund and money set up for you. But the key here is everybody's not going to be in that situation. And even if you do have a college fund, if it's only $10,000. So what you're saying is really the solution here. It's just have these conversations with your kids. Let them know what the expectation is. Let them know what you can and cannot do. And it's as simple as that. I love that. I love it.

Cool, cool, cool. You think we can take another call? Let's go for it. Let's do it real quick. Come on. Let's go on, Neil. Neil, we're up against the clock. Brother, what's up?

Thanks for taking my call. I'm struggling if I should sell my rental property in Orange County. And I've owned it for 44 years. I recently wound up with some noisy neighbors upstairs. It's getting a little more difficult to rent out and it's getting tougher to find good tenants. How old are you, man? I'm 75. Is this your only, is it completely paid for? Yes, right?

Oh yes, completely paid for. Do you have any other debt? No, no debts at all. So if you sold this, it would just be because I'm tired of fooling with it. It's getting harder and harder to rent. Maybe I can do something better with the cash. Yeah, that's pretty much it. I mean, with the profit, I'm just going to probably put it in T-bills or something like that.

Dude, I can hear it in your voice, and this is a good thing. You're done being a landlord. Yeah. I can hear it in your voice and this is a good thing. You're done being a landlord. You've got 20 years left to ride off into the sunset without dealing with idiots messing up the plumbing or whatever. Yeah, it's time. And be honest, Neil, you got money. You got some money laying around.

I can hear it in your voice. Hey, treat it like an old... I was going to say something's going to get me canceled. Because that's been a part of your life. You almost have a relationship with this place, right? That's right. That's the problem.

Yeah. It is the problem, but also it's just an apartment. So I would sell it. I would sell it tomorrow and I would take that cash. Yes. And I'd put it in some sort of retirement vehicle or I, you know what I'd do? I'd actually spend some of it too, brother. Go have some fun.

All right. I love that. I love that. Sounds good. Thank you. And then next month when you have nothing to go fix or no repairman to call, you can just smile real big

and then check your account balance and smile even bigger. That's right. I love it. What'd you think, Neil? Sounds like a plan. Sounds like a plan. Sounds like a plan. Congratulations, man.

I love calls like that, John. Neil, that is the business. Neil set up, hey, 44 years, man. I asked him. Same property. Look, I was treading lightly because I'm like, after 44 years, you better dat gum well own this house.

Thank goodness he did. I could tell that he did. But I love those. I love this kind of calls where it's like, hey, I basically got wealth sitting right here. What can I do with it? There's no wrong answer, but you're right. He was just tired of fooling with the renting game. Well, and it's okay.

Listen, America, listen to me carefully. It's okay to change your mind. You can not want anything to do with real estate and then be all in on real estate. Listen, America, listen to me carefully. It's okay to change your mind. You can not want anything to do with real estate and then be all in on real estate. And then I don't want to be a landlord anymore. You get to do that because it's America. Change your mind. It's not a sign of weakness.

It's a sign of strength. Good for you. I love that. All right, guys, that does it for today's show. We'll see you next time. hey it's dr john deloney if you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to ramseysolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramseysolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.