The Ramsey Show - App - Guidelines on When to Give Money to Family (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 2, 2018

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show, America. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. We appreciate you being with us. Robert is with us in Memphis, Tennessee. Hey, Robert, how are you? I'm great, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I have a question. It's about an investment that sounds too good to be true, But they are making just such over-the-top claims.

If it has a chance of being true, I'd like to get into it. And the investment is property tax lien certificates. Yeah, the only place that that information comes from is the get-rich-quick real estate guys that do the nothing-down real estate seminars. Well, what they're telling me is that... But, I estate guys that do the nothing down real estate seminars well what they're telling me but i mean that's the same source right uh can i say the name of the company sure cornerstone oh don't know it but most of them uh they're pitching the nothing down weekend real estate seminars for you know buying no no it's not closures and that kind of thing, pitch those things. That's about the only place I've ever run into that.

The only experience I have with it is this. There's property tax lien certificates, as you probably have already understood, in a few states, not that many. But basically, if someone doesn't pay their property taxes, a lien is issued at a set interest rate. And if the person that owns the property doesn't pay the lien and the interest, then you can foreclose on the property. The way it was presented to me was without foreclosures, it still paid 1% per month. Well, there's nobody to pay that.

Okay. I thought it was coming from the state. No, there's nobody to pay that. Okay. I thought it was coming from the state. No, the state does not pay its own taxes. What happens is a lien, because the property owner did not pay their taxes, is issued. And an investor can buy that position, buy that lien in some states. This is the way it works. And then if you do not yeah some of them are as high as 12 just one or two of them i think that most of them are down lower than that

but uh um you know if if i want you know like if i don't pay my taxes there's a lien you buy the lien i have to pay you the lien amount plus the 12 a year one percent a month accruing and um you know in a worst case scenario and and then if i don't pay that then you have the right to foreclose on my property just like the state would foreclose on the property or the city would foreclose on the property with a tax sale a property tax sale i understand now the problem is uh that number one they're a needle in a haystack. Very difficult to find in practical fact. Number two, when you do find them, people pay them very quickly,

and they don't get into liens if their property doesn't have some kind of a problem. Oftentimes, though, you have the right to foreclose on a property property but it has more of a mortgage against it than it's worth and you've got rights of redemption uh and so they're very difficult to find one that is on the type of property that you would want in a worst case scenario that you could get your money back out of and or make an extra profit as a result of and you have to wait two years or three years or five years, depending on what the rights of redemption are. So you can have this money tied up a very long time, and then there may be other liens on the property that you have to deal with.

And so it's a very cumbersome, very difficult thing. The equivalent would just simply be, I'm going to bid at a property tax sale when a property doesn't pay the taxes and the state or the county sells the property as a result. You see those in the newspaper. In Tennessee, that's the way we do it, where you are, where I am. We don't have tax liens certificates in Tennessee. And in that case, there's a right of redemption. And so you buy the property, but you can't do anything with it for a year. If you fix it up, they can take the property back for only what you paid for it, regardless

of what you fixed it up for. So I have probably bought 1,500 pieces of property in my life. I probably bought three that way. They're very difficult to find one that works. I see. So they're claiming that the 11% or 12% per year is guaranteed, no market volatility, no way to lose cash, just hype. Well, it's guaranteed to the extent that the property is worth what you're paying

for the tax lien and is unencumbered, meaning it doesn't have – and you might have to go through a redemption period, meaning that if you foreclose on it, you have to wait for that redemption period to run. And at any time, that property owner can come back in and pay you, which was your original goal. That wouldn't make you mad. But it's not – if the property were heavily encumbered and you were having to wait three years, meaning it's got other mortgages on it and you're having to wait three years, or it's not worth what the tax lien is, that's why they walked off from it. Right. But then you could lose the money. I mean, let's say you bought a $5,000 tax lien and you find out the lot, it's some kind of a blighted area, and it's a little lot that's worth $300. The minimum tranche to buy in on this particular thing is $20,000. Within their packaging, this is some kind of a security, it sounds like.

Well, yes. It used to be that the property tax liens that they offered were only available to really high-net- worth investors like for a million dollars what they've done is come in and bought this and they're splitting it up into smaller tranches to offer to people that can't go all in on it that's weird and their their real estate for the most part is located in flor Florida. Yeah, that's really weird. And here's why. It would have to be only extremely expensive real estate, or they're packaging huge groups of these tax liens together.

And you may be buying a tax lien on Swampland or buying into that. I mean, it could be done easily. The old Swampland and Florida joke. Right. Which actually turned out to be a good investment 40 years down the road. Well, it could be done easily. The old swampland in Florida joke. Right. Which actually turned out to be a good investment 40 years down the road. Well, it might be, depending on whether you're buying near Disney. But the thing is, I have not investigated somebody packaging them like that. There's almost no such thing.

There's very few properties that go to tax lien status that are a $50 million property and therefore have a $1 million tax bill on them. So what they have to be doing here is they have to be bundling a bunch of little properties together to create this package, and then they were requiring large net worth people to buy in because it's such a high-risk investment. This is not a no-risk investment. There's a lot of play involved here, and if I had to make a decision based on what I've heard today only from you, I wouldn't do it.

I got you, and I respect that opinion. That's probably the way I've grown. The thing is, if you're going to go forward, you've got a lot more due diligence to do. I'm not saying they're scam artists. I'm not saying that because it's possible somebody in a legitimate way has packaged this together and securitized it. It kind of sounds like that's what they're attempting to do. But I'd want to know the inner workings of this a lot more detailed.

And when someone starts promising me that on tax lien certificates, which have traditionally been in the get-rich-quick market, that also throws up a flare for me because it's usually around these scam guys that do the weekend seminar stuff and that kind of thing. And so there's too many flares around this for me. I can find more traditional investments that will pay in that same range, and I've got a lot more control and a lot more track record. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Okay, I need you to listen to this because one normal routine that everyone does can cause total chaos in your life. Folks, I'm talking about the simple act of using Wi-Fi. When you're on Wi-Fi

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Hi, Lorianne. How are you? Hi, I'm well, thanks. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right. So we have a relative who is asking for money, and we're just starting our Bay Step 1. We do have the money. Well, the household doesn't have the money.

However, the money is in a trust, and it is accessible. Okay, I'm confused. Is the money in the trust yours? No, it's my husband's. If it's accessible, why are you not using it on your baby steps? We'd like to do what we can without it. How much debt do you have not counting your home? Um, about 18,000.

And how much is in the trust that's accessible? You know, I'm not sure. Roughly. I wouldn't even, I would say maybe. 5,000, 50,000? Maybe 50,000? $50,000? Maybe $50,000. Okay. Well, I think you guys need to talk about that part of it, number one, as far as your all's life goes.

If I were in your shoes, we use all available funds to become debt-free. Of course, this is making the assumption that two of you are going to live on a budget and never go back into debt. And you're not going to misbehave in the future going forward. And that's the assumption I always make is that you're through with debt. You're through with misbehaving. You're through with not having a budget. Now, how much money is the relative asking for? $6,000.

Okay. Why? I think he's just kind of looking to maybe buy a home right now. And why has he not saved up his own money to buy a home? I don't know. And who is the relative? He's a relative of my husband's, and so he's aware that my husband's... A brother, a cousin, or what? An uncle.

An uncle. And how old is your husband? 33. And so this uncle is in his 50s? About, I think, or late 40s. Yeah. Okay. Well, here's the thing. If you have money in your hand and you want to give it to someone to bless them,

here's the guidelines, okay, only if it's going to help them. If you are, however, participating in their lack of discipline or their misbehavior with money, then you are an enabler. You are giving a drunk a drink just because you're too weak to say no. Okay? Just listening to this discussion, I'm kind of disgusted with this older man coming to his nephew for money, $6,000 to buy a house.

Why doesn't he get a job, save up his own money, get on a budget, sell some stuff and do what normal people do instead of tapping the trust fund of his nephew? So it kind of sounds parasitical to me, like a parasite. Does that feel that way to you? I feel a little uneasy about it um but you know to say we don't have it no i didn't say you didn't have it i'm saying even if i had it just sitting in a savings account and let's say you're worth a million dollars i'm not sure i'm giving it to him yeah because i think he probably doesn't have good money skills himself, and by giving him money, I'm participating in his misbehavior.

Does that make sense? Yeah, definitely. Now, let's say he had come on hard times through no fault of his own, and they had had a childhood illness or something had happened, and he needed some money just to catch a break and so forth, and he had not misbehaved with money and so forth you follow me then i'm not participating in that but i don't hear any of that in this discussion this is just like you've got some money and i want some yeah it's what it sounds like to

me yeah that's what it sounds like to me also so my answer is no that's the basis I would say that on, because I don't believe I'm helping the man. Right. I think he's inappropriate in asking, and he's used to people just taking care of him instead of him doing what he's supposed to do, take care of himself. And let me just tell you, when we help someone, when the Ramsey family helps somebody in a situation like that, what we do is we require that they go through Financial Peace University, and we require that they're through Financial Peace University, and we require that they're exhibiting good money habits, because that way we know we're not

giving a drunk a drink. Okay. We're not reinforcing bad behavior, because we really do want to help them. We love them. We want good things for them. And when you just give somebody money to go away so they continue to misbehave that's not really helping them that's just being weak is that is that logical to you yeah and so that's how i talk to the plus on top of that in your particular situation i'll add to this you're not

even willing to take money out of the trust for yourself why would you be willing to give it to him yeah that's completely illogical now i would take money out of the trust to pay off your debts if i'm in your shoes and so then that that does away with that piece of logic but if you're unwilling to take money out of the trust for yourself, I'm not going to take it out and give it to the uncle who has refused to save money. No, this does not work in my mind. It's totally inconsistent. So no, no, no, no, no.

There's a wonderful book out by Dr. Henry Cloud called Boundaries, and it's how to set healthy boundaries, loving boundaries in your life. Folks, I think that one of the biggest questions I get that has the most heartache around it on this show for the last 25 years has been questions where we have somebody that we care about that is wanting or needing money. And we somehow feel duty bound or something like that because it's family. And here's the thing you have to remember.

When you are giving someone support financially who is misbehaving, you are paying them to misbehave. How is that good for them in the long run? That's like saying, hey, my 32-year-old son has a cocaine habit, and he wants money, so I'm going to go buy him some cocaine. Now, that's an extreme hyperbole, but it does illustrate the point of you are financing crap that's hurting him and when your 32 year old son lives in the basement and plays games electronic games on the television all day long and won't get a job you are not helping him you are supporting his sloth his laziness well that's tough love, Dave. No, that's just love. Because I love my son.

And I want good things for him. And sitting in the basement playing video games all day is not going to bring him good things. Because he is not a video game developer. That is not his job. No one's paying him to do that. And so he's engaging in something that is adolescent at best, at that level. Now, the occasional video game is not adolescent. That's not what I'm saying.

But when you sit there all day long and you're 32 in your mother's basement, that's a problem, people. That's called arrested development, stunted emotionally, hasn't grown up. And so you're not loving him well by leaving him there. Kick his little butt out. Make him get a life. Let him experience some of the stresses of life. It would be so good for him. He might become a man instead of a boy.

See, these are the, Dave, you just have tough love. That's not tough love. You are bringing harm to your child. You're bringing harm to your relative when you give them money to participate in their misbehavior. And if they simply just won't work much or they won't do a budget or they won't save money and they continually run up credit card debt, that's all misbehavior. And when you pay someone for doing that because you're too weak to say no, you are bringing them harm because you're reinforcing the negative behavior.

You're what we call an enabler. And it's not love. It's just weakness. That's all it is. It's not tough love either that I'm talking about. I'm just talking about love. Just do something for that relative, that friend, that is good for them. That's all that matters.

If it's not good for them, if it doesn't cause them to have a better life at the end of the equation, you haven't done the right thing. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Can you believe this real estate market? Home shopping has become so competitive. There's a ton of new buyers in the market, and bidding wars are the new normal. Folks are under a lot of pressure to offer more money to get into that house. Don't do that. Get certified instead.

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NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee, Kyle and Emily are with us. I hit the wrong button. Let's try it again. Kyle and Emily are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Great, Dave.

How are you? Better than I deserve. I see on my screen you are debt-free. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Very cool. How much have you paid off? We paid off $51,875.

Good for you. How long did this take? 18 months. Good. And your range of income during that time? We started around $70,000, and we ended at $95 at 95. Cool. What do y'all do for a living? I'm actually a stay-at-home mom. And I'm a financial analyst. So how'd your income go up $25,000 in 18 months? Change jobs. Oh, that'll do it. That'll do it. Were you already looking before

you started this process or the process of getting out of debt make you start looking at the income side of things? The process of getting out of debt had us look at our income. Yeah. And you went, oh, there's an opportunity over there. Pretty much. It actually lined up really well. Very cool. What kind of debt was the $52,000?

We had almost $25,000 in a personal loan, and then $27,000 we got out of my car lease and ended up getting a new car then, or new to us car. Gotcha. Okay. So getting rid of a car was part of the equation? Yes. Very good. Very good.

So what did you sell? What kind of car did you get out of, and what kind of car did you get into? I sold a Ford Edge and got into an Explorer. That's not a bad move. That's doable. Yeah. It took a lot of work to find that Explorer, though, so it was considerable hunting. Yeah.

Yeah, you've got to get the deal, because you've got to make these numbers work. And so you went from like a $27,000 leased car to the Explorer was how much? The Explorer was right around $25,000, so it was right in the same ballpark. So we did pretty well there. I'm confused. How did that get you out of debt? No, so the $27,000 was the getting out of the lease and also paying for the new car. Okay.

So you basically cash flowed like 50 grand in 18 months? Between the personal loan and the car, yes. Yeah, I mean, you cash flowed all this. Yes. Wow. You guys have been on beans and rice. Yeah. all this yes wow you guys have been on beans and rice yeah it uh when you get on a budget though it actually uh makes you realize where your problems are yeah man amazing so what happened

18 months to put you on this process well about 18 months ago we were expecting our our daughter who's almost two now and uh I realized that we needed to do something because we were barely supporting one child and we had a second one coming. And somehow I find your show again. We had listened a long time ago and I found it again. I realized I needed to do something. So I had pulled up your store

and I had the total money makeover all ready to order. And for some reason, I wanted to call my wife. So I texted my wife and I said, hey, can I get a book? And she texted me back, well, what book? I told her, well, the total money makeover. And she texts back, no. I was like, what do you mean, no? It's a book. So she comes back and she texts me a picture of the book that had been sitting on our shelf evidently for the last three years. I love it. So she pulls it off the shelf. You don't have to order it.

You've already got it. You read it, and then you go on go after that, right? Yeah. We found every dollar also, and that really helped us and really kick-started the whole thing, and we just went from there. There we go. Very cool. Congratulations, you guys. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is?

Being able to determine a want from a need is a big one. You want a lot, but do you need it and holding each other accountable for well you know i really want you know he mentioned he wants a new lawnmower and i was like we don't need a new lawnmower good point so just really holding each other accountable and determining what we want versus really what you need what was the thing that you guys sacrificed? Because you cut deep to make these numbers you're giving me work. I mean, this was deep. What was the thing you got rid of that was, like, weird?

Like, you're like, I can't believe we didn't buy that. Well, for us, it was, I mean, I think the hardest thing was getting rid of the cable and the dish and all that stuff and just making that not a priority. I mean, we have an antenna now, and we get local stations and Netflix, and we're good. And it's just daily stuff that we used to go out to eat all the time, and that stuff just kills you when you start doing penny-pinching and you're $20 hereing and um you 20 here for

pizza 30 here to go out to eat and it adds up very quickly and um like a lot of people have said we were we were eating we were eating our budget so yeah yeah eating your retirement yeah very cool well we've got a copy of chris hogan's retire inspired book for you number one best-selling book nationally, and that is the next chapter in your story to be millionaires and outrageously generous as you go along, okay? Absolutely. So keep fighting and keep now starting to turn the intensity towards the investing side, and, wow, you're going to see some huge progress

because now you don't have all these payments coming out of your ears. Very, very good job, you guys. Very proud of you. Thank you, Dave. Kyle and Emily, Toledo, Ohio, $52,000 paid off in 18 months, making $70,000 to $95,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! We're debt-free! Love it! Well done, you two. Very, very well done. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Heather is with us in Lexington. Hi, Heather.

How are you? I'm doing good. Thanks for taking the time to speak with me, guys. Sure. What's up? You know, I've recently purchased your book, The Total Money Makeover. My husband and I have got your app, and we've put our budget into your app, your every dollar. And, you know, we've cut out a lot of things.

We don't go out to eat anymore. We're on a budget, you know, we've cut out a lot of things. We don't go out to eat anymore. We're on a budget, you know, ramen noodle lunches. And at this point, I'm only able to pay towards our debt about $500 to $600 a month, varying depending on the utilities. And I'm just wondering if you have any advice on any way that we can get this debt of ours paid off faster so we can be the next ones making that debt-free screen. Cool. How much debt do you have, not counting your home? I'm not counting our home. It's about $36,000, including the vehicles. How much is owed on the vehicles mine is just under four or five thousand

and my husband's is a little over seventeen thousand and what is your household income uh yearly it's forty eight thousand okay all right well a good rule of thumb on cars is can I be debt-free on all of my cars within two years and do the value of my cars, anything with motors in them for that matter, add it up together, equal more than half your annual income. If you violate either one of those two, you probably have too much car and you need to sell a car. You're pretty close on both on that $17,000 car. Yeah, pushing it. to sell a car you're pretty close on both on that 17 000 car um yeah and so you know you're going to have to look and say where can we cut or can we work extra in order to be able to get that car paid off this 36 000 paid off in two years can you do that making 48 well that's 18000 a year out of $48,000. That's doable. It's possible.

But, you know, half of the problem is this one car. And you're calling me because you're having trouble finding a way to get the needle to move on this thing. So if you can't get on an $18,000 a year schedule, which is $1,500 a month on debt reduction, you need to look at selling that car. And I think you probably can get on that. I'm not sure it's worth it just to hold on to that car, if I'm you. I'm a car guy. I want you to have a nice car.

I just don't want your nice car to have you. And this one kind of, it's half of your dadgum problem. And so it's pretty recognizable in these numbers that it's part of a big part of the issue. If you choose to keep that car, you're going to have to pay some extra prices in other places to make keeping that car make sense. You're going to be working extra jobs, selling some other stuff. You know, you're going to have to... Hey y'all, I'm Christy Wright, and I'm all about equipping women to make money doing what they love. One of the questions I hear all the time is how do I know what business I should start? Some people have a ton of ideas while

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That's businessboutique.com. Thanks for joining us, American. This is the Dave Rangin Show. We're glad you are here. Scott is with us in Charleston, South Carolina. Hi, Scott. How are you? Good. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? So we are currently in step two of the debt snowball. And my wife has been battling with some medical conditions, and we've been trying to cash flow that. And we just found out that she has toxic mold poisoning, and the rental house that we're in we have to move out of. And along with moving out of it, we have to leave our possessions behind.

So my question for you was how long do we pause our debt snowball to maintain, I guess, or build back a normal life? I guess if that makes sense. Yeah, enough to get you a couch and a bed. Yeah, for sure. We have two kids. So I guess my thing, you know, me and my wife, we could sleep on the floor or whatnot. No, I mean, you can buy, you know, get some reasonable furniture and get started. You don't have to go crazy and go furniture shopping and brand new stuff.

You don't have the money. But, yeah, you pause it and you buy, you know, good used furniture somewhere for your living room and that kind of stuff and go get you a couple beds. And, you know, your basic stuff, we don't have to go crazy here. We're not decorating a rental like the Taj Mahal for Southern Living or something. But, you know, if you have to leave your – it's mainly your upholstery stuff, right? Yeah, upholstery and any – like we can take our kitchen stuff, anything that's metal is fine. But, like, the upholstery – Your electronics, your TVs and stuff are fine, aren't they?

Yeah, as long as it doesn't have a fan or a motor, it's fine. Okay. Wow. Did you have any kind of insurance? Did you have renter's insurance that would cover any of this? So they will cover $1,500. Oh, good. That's all they'll cover.

Yeah. So, I mean, that'll get us some stuff. Yeah, and that'll help you get the move done and some of that. What a mess, man. So what's your household income? $97,000. Okay. Well, that's good news.

So, yeah, it's going to take you. You're going to be on hold a couple months with your deposits moving and your moving costs and some of your replacement stuff and that kind of thing, and then you'll be back at it. Okay. The good news is it'll be easier to fight the debt with her healthy. Yes, yeah, and that's what she's a nurse, so that'll definitely help when she's better. Yeah, yeah, because I'm sure that's a great income or a good part of your income.

So, yeah, absolutely. I'm sorry you guys are going through that. But, yeah, you're having a huge mess on your hands. You have to stop and, you know, address this and then come back. But don't take, you know, again, just don't use the emotional aspects of this because this is emotional. I mean, she's ill. You're moving. You're mad.

You know, there's all of that. Don't use all of that to go overspend on furniture. That makes sense. I think my hard struggle is, like I said, the kids. I don't know toy-wise or stuff like that. I mean, I know they don't need a ton of stuff, but I guess I don't know how much to make their life normal again, if that makes sense.

Yeah, well, I mean, I'm probably going to do that in a couple of phases. I'm probably going to hit it, you know, hit one lick in this initial run on the kids, putting their toys box back in place and, you know, get some things going there. And then, you know, we'll make another run at Christmas or something. Okay. That kind of a thing. But, you know, I don't know how opulently your kids are living now and how much we've got to put back,

but I'm also not asking them to play with a rock, okay? Right. Yeah. Somewhere in between there, obviously, but we want to be kind. But, again, just don't be so emotional on the one way that we come back to, you know, literally you have to play with a rock and a stick. You're not that poor. You make $97,000 a year, okay?

And then on the other hand, they don't need some kind of uber expensive thing that has to be bought today or their life is going to dry up and they're going to need counseling when they're 30. Oh, bull. You know, very few things we own really cause all that. So that's how I'd get at it if I were in your shoes. Hey, good question. I'm sorry you're facing all that. Mar that's how I'd get at it if I were in your shoes. Hey, good question. I'm sorry you're facing all that. Marley is with us in Knoxville. Hey, Marley, how are you? Oh, doing fine. Thank you, Mr. Ramsey. I did have a question for you. I'm 61. My full retirement age is 66. I don't have any savings at this point. I was a caregiver for my mother for 13 years. She had

dementia. And the last four years, I wasn't able to work much. But anyway, good news, I've cleared out $20,000 in debt. I sold a piece of land I had. But I'm wondering what to do from here because do I need to get savings for annuity, build savings, get CDs, or maybe sell my home and land that I have and purchase a duplex, live in one side, rent out the other to give me an income stream? I'm not sure what to do. I do, the last six months, I've acquired a full-time job, just $9 an hour, but my insurance, health, dental, and vision kicked in today. So that is a great, I feel like I'm in a good place, but at my age, I don't have time on my side. What's your property worth? Okay, probably around $100,000 if I sell it. Should I pay cash and get a duplex if I'm able to get a foreclosed duplex?

No. Is your home paid for now? Yes, it's been paid for. It used to be my rental property, but I sold my home that I had to my daughter when she married, and then Mom and I, she died a year and a half ago. We lived out in the rental property. Was there money from the proceeds of selling that property to your daughter? Oh, no, no, i didn't i had i was carrying another 15 000 in debt because you know i was supplementing mom's social security that okay so that just cleaned that that property cleaned that up yes

all right yes well no i think you stay where you are uh assuming you like the property that you're in um i don't think you're forced to move out at this stage. But I think you have to, you know, let's be very careful and very tight on our budget and begin to build your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. And then once that's done, I want you to start investing aggressively. Is there anything you can get your hands on to invest? And let's see what kind of a nest egg you can build up in the next five or six or seven years. And I think it's possible for you to build up a little bit.

And, as a matter of fact, I know it is. And, of course, the more you can work, the more money you can make, the bigger shovel you've got to dig out of this hole with and to get the retirement game on the run. I'm going to send you a copy of Chris Hogan's book, Retire Inspired. It's for young people wanting to lay out their retirement plans so they don't face what you're facing. And it's also for people that are facing what you're facing. So it's perfect. You will love this book.

And it will give you some direction and some step-by-step guidelines on exactly what to do. So hold on. We'll get that for you. Kelly will give that to you. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. What are the pros and cons of buying a condo?

Well, the pros are the maintenance issues are all covered on the outside. You don't have to fool with them. The hassle factor of that. That puts you in a really, really good place. The pros can be security. A lot of condos have a gate, a gated community built into them. The other pros can be that you have some neighbors that are close. That can also be a con.

Your neighbors are on top of you. The cons can also be if the HOA for the condo, the homeowners association, is run poorly, you can get yourself into a mess with all the other owners, like they don't take a large enough maintenance fee or they don't manage it well to be able to do the stuff like roof replacement and parking lot replacement and painting and windows and whatever else is going wrong out there. All things being exactly equal, which they never are in real estate, a single family will go up faster than a condo

because there's more market for it than there is for a condo. There's more demand. Anytime there's more demand, there's a higher price. So if you had an exactly equal condo in price and neighborhood and everything else, then the single family would be the first choice in terms of just the pure investment side of it. But usually when you buy a condo, it's not just for that. You're looking for some of those other pros that we were talking about. So we're back on Facebook. Hope that helps you.

That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Hey, it's Blake, Chief Production Officer for the show, and here's a little tip for 2018. Go download our revamped Dave Ramsey Show app from the App Store. We're always listening to your feedback and adding new features to make it even better. Check it out. One question I get asked all the time is, do I need life insurance? Listen, the whole point of life insurance is to replace your income for someone who counts on you. So if you have a spouse or you have kids, yes, you need

term life insurance. It's the only way to protect them until you're out of debt and have built up your wealth. You're only digging a deeper hole if you waste money on cash value plans since it robs you of the ability to make real progress. And that's why I send you to Zander Insurance, and I have for 20 years. That's where I get all my insurance, and they only offer the plans I recommend. It is not expensive. It's not complicated and Zander will be there as your guide every step of the way. Visit zander.com or call 800-356-4282. You need to get this taken care of. I can give you the advice and I can tell you where to go, but it's really up to you to take that important step to get your family protected. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282.