The Ramsey Show - App - "Greedy Rich People": Mark Cuban's New Low-Cost Pharmacy (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 25, 2022

Debt, Education, Investing, Retirement As heard on this episode: Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE

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. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. As we answer your questions about your relationships, your mental health, your work, you, your money, this is a show about your life. It's called The Ramsey Show, but it's all about you. The phone number here is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

As we celebrate Baby Steps Millionaires being number one book in the nation, John, I think it's a good idea to stop and pause and remind people that very, very few people become wealthy being crooks. Most people build wealth by steady saving and by being good people, people of character. I disagree, Dave. I heard that on the news that evil people are also rich people and vice versa. You read that in the newspaper, did you? Yeah. Because everything that's on the news or the internet or the newspaper is absolutely true. So you're telling me, Dave, that there are people who have worked and saved and provided value to their communities and to their country and to their neighbors, and they have money too?

It turns out that that is the statistically significant most high probability of becoming wealthy is providing service. Because if you feed somebody one hamburger and you make a dollar, you made a dollar. And they got a hamburger. And they're happy. They got a hamburger in their belly. And if you feed, I'll tell you a guy I talked to the other day, our team talked to, I didn't talk to him, is the guy that started the company Jelly Bellies. Those gourmet jelly beans. Oh, I know what they are.

He's brought a lot of joy to people. Now, he's an evil rich person by selling and giving great joy with jelly beans to a lot of people. And I'm telling you, man, I don't know who the gummy bear guy is, but you personally have been served by him. Jelly bellies. I don't know if I've been served by them. I'm not sure who the donut guy is, but I've been served by him. Mr. Cream. Yeah, of the Kris been served by him. Mr. Cream. Yeah, of the Krispy Kreme Foundation. That's right.

Krispy's is first name. Thank you. Yeah, we support that foundation. Or the Duncan, Mr. Duncan, either one. I love Jelly Bellies. Oh, man. So, hey, here's the thing. If you provide service to one person, you're going to make one dollar or one amount of money.

If you provide service to millions of people, you're going to make one dollar or one amount of money if you provide service to millions of people you're gonna make millions of dollars and you didn't steal any of it evil rich people is a bunch of crap it's a lie here's an example my friend mark cuban and um i can actually dial mark's phone number and he he actually will answer. We have very short conversations because he and I are just alike. We don't talk on the phone. Hey, what? See you. That's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Done. No. I email him sometimes, and he emails me back, no. Yep. Or maybe later. We'll talk later or something, you know, that kind of stuff. So big, big, deep, in-depth relationship. But he has, to his credit billionaire this from uh this on npr

god a billionaire investor and dallas mavericks owner mark cuban has launched an online pharmacy for generic drugs that promises steep discounts over traditional distributors the mark cuban cost plus drug company announced opening its online pharmacy Wednesday. The pharmacy says it will bypass the health care industry middlemen and help consumers avoid high drug prices by charging manufacturers prices plus a flat 15% markup and pharmacist fee. All drugs are priced at cost plus 15%. Sign up and share your thoughts and experiences with us.

Cuban tweeted last week. Cuban's pharmacy says it will negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers to lower its costs for consumers. One drug for diabetes patients sells for $3.90 for a 30-day supply compared for retail at $20. A 30-count of, I can't pronounce it, which is used to treat leukemia and other cancers goes for as low as $17.10 at Cuban's pharmacy compared to $2,500 instead of $17 at other pharmacies. Now, Cuban's going to make another billion doing this and he will have helped millions and millions of people get drugs for 17 instead of 2500 what's evil about this you literally have a billionaire here that that by looking at this article looks like he is attempting to provide a public good somebody who says i've got the money and resources i'm sick of people i know who have lesser less less economic uh buying power

than i do not being able to afford their drug i'm solving this problem and i'm gonna make a lot of money why why is that i don't understand the opposing force there there it's it's um if i'm happy you can't be because you took up because i took up all the happiness. Yeah, it's like there's a sum zero game on happiness or joy. Like it's a fixed pie. Yeah. It's a fixed pie. If you make a bunch of money, that means someone else didn't. That's not how money works.

Oh, man. Rabbi Lappin says money is more like candles than cake. If you get a big slice of cake, that means someone else gets a smaller slice. No, that's not how money works. It's more like candles. When you light a candle, your candle is not diminished, and you light another candle a candle your candle is not diminished and you light another candle and you light another candle and you light another candle and then you got christmas eve service oh huh so this is mark cubans here's a here's something that just happened just a few minutes ago um i went and did a talk with a

guy who owns a couple of car dealerships in Kentucky and met with this team. Around the tornado. Right. It was right around the tornado. He asked me to come up there, talk about crisis, talk about stuff. Talk about trauma. Talk about trauma and how do we move past this. And it's the first time his group got back together.

And as a part of that conversation, I was asking individual people, what's something that's real and tangible that's going on in your life right now? Somebody stood up and talked about a problem with their home. They don't have a home. Yeah. And they just bought a new home, and then a sale of their old home fell through. It was just a mess. And this owner quietly said, he called his wife and said, I'm going to buy a house today.

And he didn't elaborate further. Ended up buying that house and said i'm gonna find something good to do with this house and thought i'll flip it whatever then somebody in this and when the tornadoes came through he was able to provide housing for a family that's been displaced and now has the idea of i'm gonna keep this thing and definitely i can just use this to serve because people need a place to stay whether it's's two months, five months, one year. And now I've got an opportunity to help them. And that's a 30 year game of somebody who's been stewarding their money, taking care of their people has got a heart of a servant and now has the resources to say, I'm going to help you.

And I'm going to help them. I'm going to serve my community. And no one will ever know this happened because he's not a, he's not a billionaire Mark Cuban. He's just owns a couple of car dealerships in a small community that just got wiped out by tornadoes. And he's not a billionaire Mark Cuban. He just owns a couple of car dealerships in a small community that just got wiped out by tornadoes, and he's able to help. He didn't have to call the government, didn't have to call any service. He's able to help. And those stories go untold day after day, minute by minute, all across this country, man.

So the data actually says that when your moron friend or family member says rich people are evil, the data actually says that your friend or relative is a moron, but they're wrong. That's what the data says. It says that guy's a moron. He's just wrong, and he doesn't know what he's talking about. He has no firsthand knowledge. He has no data to back this up because the actual data says that

there are no more evil people among rich people than there are among poor people. Turns out there's jerks that have money and there's jerks that don't. And there's good people that have money and good people that don't. This is The Ramsey Show. Most people know me as the guy who did stupid with a lot of zeros on the end.

I made my first million dollars in my 20s the wrong way and then went bankrupt. That's when I set out to learn God's ways of managing money and developed the Ramsey Baby Steps. By following these steps, I became a millionaire again, and this time the right way. After three decades of guiding millions of others through the plan, the evidence is undeniable. If you follow the Baby Steps, you will become a millionaire and get to live and give like no one else. My new book, Baby Steps Millionaires, is now available for purchase. When you order my new book, you'll learn how ordinary people built extraordinary wealth and how you can do it too. I'll walk you through how to invest, build wealth, and bust through the barriers preventing you from becoming a millionaire. Baby step your way to becoming a millionaire. Get your copy today

at RamseySolutions.com. That's Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Logan and Kelly are with us in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I see on my screen you guys are debt-free. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you. We're so excited to be on the phone with you.

You too. Well done. How much debt have you paid off? We paid off $29,011. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? We actually, most people go up in income. We kind of went down because we moved from Indiana to Mississippi.

So we went from about $95,000 to now $70,000 as my wife is just working part-time right now. Very cool. Good. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a surgical technologist. And I'm a student pastor. Okay. Very good. And what kind a student pastor. Okay, very good. And what kind of debt was your $29,000? The debt was all my college loans. So when Kelly and I got married, she was completely debt-free and I was not.

Ah, okay. All right, so you married up. I did. I married rich. It's a good thing. So tell us the story. What happened that put you guys on this journey 11 months ago, plugging into Ramsey? Well, really what happened was when we were preparing to get married, she didn't have any debt.

She kind of kicked my butt into go mode, and we had to. She said that we weren't going to have any debt, and I agreed with her. I had taken your class before. We actually now just taught financial peace. And so really it was just, you know, deciding that we were going to make the decision to become debt free. Yeah. We both were working full-time jobs and doing side gigs. We did DoorDash and Logan Officiated.

Just did anything to attack the debt. I love it. Well done, guys. Proud of you. Yeah, that's fantastic. Thank you so much. What was the hardest part as a married couple or as a dating couple, newlyweds? What was the hardest part about this? The hardest part for me was, you know, like I know a lot of males do is I kind of felt, I felt bad like I was bringing in baggage to our marriage. And as we were dating, you know, preparing to get married, I didn't want to be that type of husband that was, of course, you know, no one wants to pull their spouse down. And I definitely didn't want to be weighing my wife down with debt.

To me, I think the hardest part was just not spending. When we get married, I am the spender in the relationship, although I didn't have debt. It was just not spending. When we get married, I am the spender in the relationship, although I didn't have debt. It was just hard for me to get married and not be able to spend. But it was so worth it now that we paid it off. Wow. Way to go, guys. Very cool.

All right, so you're teaching Financial Peace University. You paid off your debt. You really did it. And they ask, hey, Pastor, how'd you pay off $29,000? What do you tell them the secret is? We tell them the secret, of course, is to first pay, you know, your tithes. That was a big, we never wavered on our tithes. So that was first.

And then the second was you just have to attack it. Do anything. Focus on it. Yeah, focus on it. And, you know, be intentional with your money and ensure that you're not just falling into lies that it can't be done because it's a big dollar amount. Constantly I'd be like, okay, how much debt are we at?

Like it was just like a constant weekly thing or daily thing. You know, we were just constantly focusing on it. Yeah, wow. Way to go, guys. Very cool. Thank you so much. It's a big deal. that intentionality is everything and there is something that happens uh that god understands and we don't that says when we give

first uh and we live second it means we trust him that something happens in our spirit something happens in the universe something happens in god's law and we just see things unfold to our benefit. It's very real. So if you live like no one else later, you can live and give like no one else, but we're giving at least a baseline of the tithe all the way through, and that's what our lessons have always taught too. So very good, guys. Very well done.

And so you're going to be a student pastor. Is that right? Are you a campus pastor? I'm full-time at a church. Okay. We're student pastors now. So how are you going to teach and educate students on their transition into college after going through what you just went through? That's a great question. One of the things that I try and do as a student pastor is provide a lot of practical teaching and then implementation skills on how they can do that. And, you know,

I teach tithing and I try and teach them now to save and to prepare for college or whatever their next route takes them because life comes hard sometimes. And so one of the things that I encourage is that, and at the church, is that they take a financial piece together before they get married. Love it. And just working with our young adults ministry so that they ensure that they are being visited. Are you teaching high school teens? I teach high schoolers, yes. How many high schoolers in the group?

We have about 80 students. Wow, way to go. That's awesome, man. Cool. Hey, I want you to recommend to them that they watch Borrowed Future, the documentary that we did on the epic failure of student loan debt. I'm going to send you a case of Anthony O'Neill's book, Debt-Free Degree, for your high schoolers so they can go get debt-free degrees. Wow. Thank you so much. We're also going to give you a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires because that's the next step or the next chapter in your story as you move on and continue to be heroes in what you're doing i'm so proud of you guys well done thank you both so much very cool very cool all right count it

down logan and kelly hattiesburg mississippi wow 29 000 paid off in 11 months it's how they start their married life i love it ding ding making 95 down to now 70 with a move. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Yes, sir.

Love it, love it, love it, love it. Well done. Very well done. Good stuff. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Well, the last couple of years have been tough. They've been tough on relationships. They've been tough on people's mental health.

They've been tough on business and economics. They've been tough on finances. Tough on marriages. You, your spouse, the kids have been cooped up in quarantine, juggling online school, work from home. Maybe you've thrown in a job loss or a job change and all that chaos is sucking up all of your bandwidth, all your time, your energy. You lost focus on the real issues in your marriage, your money, your intimacy, your parenting, your communication. The good news is with the right tools, these challenges can bring you back to your spouse

and make you guys even closer than before. So Rachel Cruz and Dr. John Deloney, to my right, are back to talk about how to do all this in a fan favorite event, the Money and Marriage Livestream. Valentine's edition on Friday, February the 11th. Rachel Cruz and Dr. Deloney will walk you and your spouse through the five keys to unlock your stronger marriage in 2022. The Marriage Money live stream is on sale right now. It starts today. Only $20.

Go to RamseySolutions.com slash events to learn more. John, this event has always been a huge event. Yeah, it's been a huge event, and it's a savior for couples because for $20, you can cuddle up on the couch. You don't have to go make reservations and get out in the mess. You can sit at home, and we really make it easy for you to have some good conversations with your spouse and to get closer and better connected or to decide, hey, we've got some healing we've got to do. It's good.

We've got some work to do. That's right. Yeah, so it's a Valentine's Day date night, Dr. John Deloney, RamseySolutions.com. And, again, it's our annual money and marriage live stream, only $20. Go over there and get signed up and make that a date night on the 11th. That's a Friday night. And one thing is for sure, if Deloney and Rachel Cruz are there, you will be laughing. There's going to be some chaos.

There will be some chaos. You will be laughing. It will be fun and funny. It will not be accidental. This is going to work. You're going to learn stuff, but you're also going to just have an entertaining evening. These guys are both world-class communicators and both world-class with the content and things they're going to bring to you.

So the Money and Marriage live stream on sale now, only $20. And for you Ramsey Plus members, if you're already a member of Ramsey Plus, you have free access to this event, part of your membership. If you're not a Ramsey Plus member, again, it's only $20. So get the early bird rate, get your event pass today, or jump on Ramsey Plus member, again, it's only $20. So get the early bird rate. Get your event pass today. Or jump on Ramsey Plus. Go ahead and join and get Financial Peace University started,

and you can get this Valentine's Day Money and Marriage livestream as part of the package. Not a bad idea. Ramseysolutions.com slash events. This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. Landon and Micah are with us in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage to do a debt-free scream. Hey, guys, welcome. Hey, Dave. How's it going? Good to

have you guys. I'm honored to have you. How much debt have you paid off? We paid about $132,000. How long did this take? Took about 11 months. 11 months, very impressive. And your range of income during that time? Well, we started about $40,000 and then we went up to about $280,000. That's not a bad jump in a year. Somebody got a raise, you think? Oh, my gosh. What do you guys do for a living now? So I work for a pro-life organization as a continuum of care coordinator.

And I'm a turf and pest control technician, but I also started a small carpentry business during that time, which is where the 280 came from. Okay. That turned into not so small. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, everybody's going crazy in construction. It's just wild out there. Absolutely. during that time which is where the 280 came from okay that turned into not so small yeah yeah wow well everybody's going crazy in construction it's just wild out there absolutely caught a wave man very what's your carpentry skill uh pretty much anything you need but mostly just furniture and stuff like that oh you're building fine fine okay wow very neat yeah that's where some money can

come in excellent excellent look at you guys. Very fun. So what started this journey 11 months ago? So, I mean, I wish we had, like, this huge climactic moment where, like, we had this major turnaround. But it really just didn't happen that way. I was homeschooled my whole life, and my mom basically crammed your program down our throats as part of our schooling, for our entire homeschooling lives and so you know it's really just always been in my head you don't get a credit card you don't get a car payment you don't get any kind of debt and so you know i mean i just grew up never

having any kind of debt um but you did what was 132 000 that was our house oh you paid you got a lead with that one. How old are y'all? I'm 24. I'm 25. What? Oh, my goodness. Dude. $280,000 a year at 24 and 25 years old with a paid-for house.

What's this house worth? About $185,000. Way to go, mom cramming it down your throat. Oh, my gosh. You are on your way to be millionaires in no time. You're amazing. Wow. Appreciate it. Very cool.

So how long have you been married? Three and a half. Yeah, three and a half years. Okay, so three and a half years, and you bought a house, and then 11 months ago you said, paying it off. Yeah, well, we actually found out that we were having our first baby, and so we basically said to ourselves, what would life be like if we could have our first kid and not have a payment in the world?

And so we basically just kind of said challenge accepted and said that we wanted to be the last Twisdales shoot why am I crying because you broke your family tree man we basically said that we wanted to be the last Twisdales ever in debt in this part of the family tree that was

ever a slave to the lender I love that why am I crying because it's awesome. Because it's amazing. I promised myself I wasn't going to do that. When you do something that breaks the mold, your body feels it, man. That's amazing. That is incredible.

Yeah. How many couples get pregnant and say, how much can we doll up this one-pound human's or the 10-pound human's room, right? And let's add all these trinkets and stuff. And you guys said, what if we set this kid up for a life that's not going to know the stress, the anxiety, the rattling that goes on? You guys did it. You did it, man. Wow.

Wow. You literally changed your family tree. You're 24 and 25. You're amazing. You're amazing. It's so impressive. What was the hardest part about this journey? I think for me it was the nights and days that we didn't really see each other because of work.

I mean, it was 18 hours a day, six days a week, grinding all the time. I think the hardest part definitely, I mean, other than that, had to be just the relentless physical labor, you know just till i mean you know till 5 a.m 48 hours straight sometimes 60 hours straight with no sleep sometimes um i mean i would drive all the way to nashville to deliver some pieces drive to little rock to deliver some pieces um just non-stop all the time grinding yeah wow but dang you brought in some serious cash yep yep and you can do anything for a short period of time. Yeah, for sure.

You work like no one else, now you can work like no one else. That's exactly right. Now you'll get the furniture when I'm through with it. That's right. After I get done holding my little baby for as long as I want to. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Man, you guys, that's so cool.

Very cool. Well, obviously, hard work is a big part of your equation, and I love your mom homeschooling, cramming this stuff down your throat, and now here he stands as a young dad. Yeah. Not a payment in the world. Yeah, we would literally be on the way to Disney World on vacations, and we would be watching the videos on the little small TVs that used to be in the vans and stuff.

We'd be watching the videos on the way to Disney World, having to take notes and everything. Little kids having to watch Dave Ramsey. Oh, God help them. There's counseling needed for that. Oh, the van in the van i mean other kids watching little mermaid he gets to watch oh man wow it's pretty amazing how y'all have friends who've been married for a few years too when you hear the struggles they're going through and how their marriage is going and how it's not how would you stack your marriage up against theirs? And I know you shouldn't compare these kind of things. I'm asking you to compare these kind of things.

Well, we've actually been having – ever since we did this, we've had a lot of conversations with people our age just because they want to know how we did it and stuff like that. And just hearing situations that people our age are in or voluntarily put themselves in um it's pretty wild you know the stories we've heard because you know growing up like we did you know i just thought that every i mean i thought everybody paid cash for cars i mean why would you not pay cash for a car um you know and so it was weird um hearing these different stories of different situations um and i was even reading baby steps millionaires yesterday and reading the data in the back of the book and i was telling her i was like, the average millionaire in here paid their house off at like 50.

I think we're all right. You are more than all right, my friend. Yeah. You are more than all right, my friend. You'll be there. You're going to be there by 32. You're going to be the guy that your kid calls you and says, I got a buddy who really needs some help,

and you can say, tell him to meet me at coffee, and we'll be able to bless them in a way that they don't even know what's coming, right? For sure. Oh, my gosh, man. That's incredible. Very neat. How inspirational, man.

So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I would say to find people that will encourage you throughout the whole process and be there for you. I would say I think it's the most obvious but the most difficult thing of the entire thing, and that's never giving up. Because I think everybody goes through storms. From all the hundreds of debt-free screams that I've listened, somebody went through storms in the middle of it. And we did. We had one month where her car locked up, the engine locked up, the heat and air went out, and she had medical bills from the pregnancy. It was about a $14,000 a month in bills. Wow.

Stuff like that makes you want to give up. I'll tell you what. But instead of giving up in the middle of a storm, we would just ask ourselves what could we accomplish in the rain? And so I think the key would be to never give up. Great song title.

I like it. Wow. What can we accomplish in the rain? Good stuff, man. I don't believe you. He's just done. It's unbelievable. If you listen to this show for five minutes you know that I'm rarely

speechless and I don't the words aren't coming I don't have I just hope people are listening to this you got a young couple who decided

we're going to get on the same page we're going to have a singular goal I'm not going to take tired for an answer for a short period of time this isn't sustainable

but I'm going to do it for a short period of time for that little bundle of joy I'm looking at right over there we'm going to do it for a short period of time for that little bundle of joy. I'm looking at it right over there. We're going to go through storms. We're going to figure out who we are in the midst of madness. We're going to keep going, keep going, never give up, never give up. And you changed it all, man.

Micah, you said the support was everything. Who are your cheerleaders that are here with you? It's definitely our family. They have been there through it all. Who all is with you? This is my parents, my siblings, her parents, her grandparents. It's definitely our family. They have been there through it all. And, yeah. Who all is with you? This is my parents, my siblings, her parents, her grandparents. I think that's it.

Oh, and my brother-in-law and nephews. Oh, wow. Okay. So is that your grandparents I met from South America? Yes. All right. Very cool. Very cool.

Wow. We're so honored, you guys. What a neat story. Do you want to hold your little ones? Yeah. Yeah, I'll bring him in there. I got the headphones's his name lucas lucas way to go lucas all right well hopefully you won't it's a new new baby yes one month oh wow 11 months they did a house and everything 132 000 paid off 24 and 25 years old with a paid-for house, making $40 to $280.

I ain't saying tired. I'm getting it done. Landon and Micah from Memphis, count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Lucas never moved. Never flinched.

Yes! So cool. Yes! Wow! Powerful. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Amy is in Dallas, Texas. Hi, Amy. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, Mr. Ramsey. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I got two quick questions. So first one is, does it really matter if I invest in real estate or mutual funds? Because I'd really rather not be a landlord. You do not have to invest in real estate. Okay, so it's pretty much the same okay so then second question is um should i roll over my traditional 401k to a raw 401k basically i already asked my company if they would do it and they said no but should i push that or is that like probably something that they just don't offer

uh they probably don't have a choice but, you should not do it unless you're on baby step seven and have extra money. I am on baby step seven. Oh, you are? Okay. And I have, I can, I can take the, you can take the tax. How much, how much is in your traditional? Um, 400 in mine and about 300 in my husband's and 700 total.

Thousand dollars. Yes, sir. Okay. So your tax bill is three hundred thousand dollars yeah i don't know if i could probably piecemeal that you know each year so basically a little more like i'm 32 net worth of around two million maybe seven houses paid for obviously maybe yeah i would roll it i would roll it to a r, and I'd certainly not put anything in the Roth in any traditional going forward. Your company offers a Roth, but they're not offering the option for you to roll your traditional portion into the Roth portion.

Correct. I think you can push that. I think you can push that. That's technically allowable, and I'm not positive that they technically can deny you doing that. Okay. Once they offer a Roth. If they don't offer a Roth 401K, then they could obviously say, well, we don't have that available. But if they've got it available to do, say I've got a Roth here.

Let me give you an example of how I know that. Okay, I've got a Roth here at the company, at my company, and the matching portion has to be traditional. But I every year roll the matching portion after the match is given to me into the Roth portion, and I pay the taxes on it. Right, I heard that. So I was like, huh, interesting idea. Yeah, so you can do that if you want to do that. Now, your company, his company, both, if they both have Roth 401Ks available,

I can't tell you for sure that they have to. We know technically they can because it's available to you, and I'm not sure they technically, by regulation, can deny you doing that. I think they just don't want to screw with it. So walk me through the math on that dave so if i've got 700 grand and i in traditional i roll it to a roth i gotta pay taxes on that you gotta pay taxes it's gonna cut it in half it's gonna you're not gonna take the money out you're gonna take 300k from somewhere else and pay the taxes okay and then that 700k is gonna grow tax free on. So mathematically, it's as if you put another $300,000 into your traditional.

Because you're going to pay taxes on it at some point. If you had put the $300,000 you paid in taxes into this one, it would have grown enough, the $700,000, now a million, would have grown to enough to pay the taxes on the traditional. Okay. So it has the same mathematical effect as an additional 300 000 being invested into your uh into your 401k because you're paying the taxes on the side and you don't do that stuff till you get to baby step seven though okay because you need that other money if you wouldn't use that 300k if you had mortgage you wouldn't use that

300k if you had other debt you know so you're a baby step seven though and she's two million dollar net worth at 32 years old. Ding, ding. Another baby steps millionaire. They're everywhere out there. They're everywhere. Christine is with us. Christine's in St. Louis.

Hi, Christine. How are you? I am very thankful to be talking with both of you today. Thank you for taking my call. Certainly. How can we help? Well, I'm living a country song, so I'm hoping you might be able to give me some ethics advice.

I was a travel nurse until I had a stroke last year, and it knocked me flat. Thank you. At this point, I'm physically able to work a half day, about two or three days a week, so praise God and healing, but that's all the ways to go. While I was travel nursing, I held my tithe aside in a separate account because I didn't have a home church. And in the last number of months, I've just had back to back to back to back to back emergencies. So I've used up my six month emergency fund and I've used up my emergency fund, emergency fund. And, um, now I have property taxes and a $640 prescription due next month.

And I'm wondering about the ethics of dipping into that tithe account as a second emergency fund in this situation. Okay. All right. You have children? I do not. I am single, unmarried. Okay. Cool.

All right. Do you have a good relationship with your dad? Yes. Good. They have already helped. Okay. I wasn't asking for that reason. I was asking for another reason. So, okay.

Oh, okay. Here's the thing. God is our Heavenly Father. Scripture is very clear on this. He's absolutely crazy about you, just like your dad is. He thinks you're amazing. And he says to you, my daughter, the best way to live your life is to be generous. Generous people prosper. Generous people prosper.

Generous people have better lives than selfish people. A baseline for the generosity is a tenth of your income going into your local church. Now, let's get this straight. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He owns the hills. He does not need your money. And if his bride, the church, needs your money, then they are confused because their source is not you. Their source is God.

So the tithe is to get you into a rhythm of giving because giving is good for you. It's not an ethics or a moral question that makes you bad it's like god says if you eat donuts by the by the box you will get fat my daughter don't eat them that's what he said to me by the way dave don't eat donuts you will get fat because when i can eat every donut in a 50 mile radius but is god mad at me if i eat a donut no he just said your best life is if you're generous and eat healthy and exercise every day that's your best life i know that and um my my dad in heaven that loves me says that and he he loves you. And he's not worried about the tithe.

So if you need to use this money to eat, you're going to be just fine. Don't ever give out of a sense of duty or out of a sense of legalism or rules. Give because it's the best way to live your life. Right now, the best way to live your life is pay your prescription bill. Is to live. And to live your life. Right now, the best way to live your life is pay your prescription bill. Is to live. And to live your life. And you'll get back to giving soon enough. Okay.

So lots of grace on the tithe. I'm a tither. I believe in tithing. I got saved. I met God in a tradition that teaches tithing. I teach it. I do believe it. But with absolutely zero legal that teaches tithing. I teach it. I do believe it. But with absolutely zero legalism, lots and lots of grace on it.

Okay? That gives me a lot more comfort. What would your dad say if he gave you $100,000 and he said, oh, you need to give $10,000 of this to the church, and then you got your back up against the wall like you do right now? Would your dad be mad at you if you used that $10,000 of this to the church, and then you got your back up against the wall like you do right now, would your dad be mad at you if you used that $10,000? Your dad loves you. He would not be mad at you.

Thank you. I appreciate you walking me through that. That's why I asked you about your dad's relationship right there. Because this is your heavenly father. It's the same thing. And if I can see a healthy earthly father smiling, how much more so our Father in Heaven. Amen.

You're going to be okay. I'm sorry you've been through this. Well, God's carried me this far, and now I understand the grace a little better that will carry me to the next step. Yeah. And you'll get back to giving. You're going to end up giving a whole lot more than this amount of money

through the course of your life above the tithe. You'll make up the ground just because of who you are, aren't you? Thank you. You're a nurse. So important to me. We love you, darling. Thank you for calling. Sorry you had this year.

It's a tough year. Amazing. Dr. John Deloney, good show. Thank you, my man. Good hour. Good hour. Good job to the folks in the booth, James and Ben and Kelly. Well phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.