The Ramsey Show - App - How Can I Get Ahead With My Money? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the Ramsey Show, where we help people win in their life, their money, their work, and their relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. 888-825-5225.

Rachel will take your money questions. I'll chime in. If you've got any work-related questions, 888-825-5225 is the phone number, 888-825-5225. Rachel, we'll take your money questions. I'll chime in. If you've got any work-related questions, you're just feeling stuck, maybe you want to make more money in 2024, you want to start a business, those kinds of questions, they're all related, and Rachel's got some great input on those as well. So, hey, we're going to take your calls.

We'd love to hear from you. Leslie's going to start us off this hour in Birmingham, Alabama. Leslie, how can we help? Hi. Yes. So I'm really just struggling about what to kind of put my focus on right now. I am trying to work through the baby steps or at least kind of develop a game plan. But right now I'm really not sure how to really start before I can solve my income problem. I have ADHD, and I know it's very common, but I guess it's just a big problem for me specifically. I've never struggled before if the job was active, but professional jobs are usually desk jobs. I got a master's in accounting. I got a really good job right now, but I'm failing at it because my productivity is so low because of the ADHD, I guess. It just takes me about twice

as long as everyone else. And the two jobs that I had before this that were desk jobs kind of were similar. And so- Tell me, before we go any further, this is good. So was there a time when you had a job that was not desk related that you were highly engaged and you didn't have a productivity issue? Yes. Tell me about it. Well, honestly, it was just, you know, restaurant jobs and things like that. But I've always been promoted in those jobs and they said I did a really great job. So that tells me I'm not lazy. It's just something, something else going on, you know? All right. so let me address this. And I have been diagnosed by an actual psychiatrist. I have ADHD.

I'm high-functioning, so I've never needed medication. But it does trip me up in a lot of ways. And Rachel could tell stories and my poor wife. So it is a challenge, okay? But let me just say this in general about ADHD because I've done a lot of reading about it. ADHD can be hyper-focused when you're doing something that you really enjoy. And the ADHD person, everybody, by the way, is engaged in something they enjoy, something that they're good at doing.

But you take an ADHD person and put them in a place of skill and challenge, watch out. And so you're absolutely not lazy. So this is, okay, this is the income side of things you it may not be waitressing but you have got to figure out what is the work that i really enjoy doing and i'm not going to try to unpack all of this right now but i'm just going to lay this out for you i think there's four types of work every job in the world can be put into four buckets. People work, process work, idea work, and let's call it objects or things. Okay. So that would be working with your hands, building, creating, whatever. Does that make sense? Those four areas in general? Yes. Okay, great. For sure. So this is to take the pressure off. What area do you

think that you would really enjoy because of the result and your talent? Is it people work, process work, idea work, or maybe object or things? What would you say? Let's see. I guess I'm more drawn to process or ideas. Honestly, ideas the most, but I don't see how that could be an active job. Don't worry about that. I've coached a lot of people on this.

Let's just have some fun. If you knew you couldn't fail and we paid you the amount of money that would be really, really nice, you've got an idea in your head, what would you try in that idea space? Because I think you're highly creative. What would you try? Sure. I guess I would honestly probably get into health coaching.

I really love nutrition and all of that, but I just feel like it's just such a risky, a risky venture. And I have a four year old son, my single mom. And so I just, I can't, I can't do anything risky.

Totally got it. Totally got it. But we're not talking risk right now. We're talking your future. All right. So here's what I would tell you. I think you're a people person because, you know,

you really enjoyed beat, you said you were on your feet, but you were waiting tables. And the idea of being a nutrition or health coach is highly people and highly process. And yeah, you have a heart for helping people, don't you? You enjoy stepping in and giving people maybe a light bulb moment. Yes or no? Yes. All right.

Now, here's what I want you to do. Okay. Well, I want to talk through your money. I want Rachel to walk through your money situation, but I'm going to give you a couple of tools at the end of the phone call. I'm going to give you the get clear assessment. I want you to take it. 15 minutes. And it's really going to validate what you're feeling. And I'm going to give you the book that goes with it, From Paycheck to Purpose. How do we actually get there to where it's not risky as a single mom with a four-year-old? Okay? So those are my gifts.

And Christian, I know you're listening. At the end of the call, if we need to schedule a call for Leslie to come on my show where we can go deeper, we'll do that. How's that? Does that sound good, Leslie? Yes. Yes, sir. That is amazing. I actually wanted to take that assessment.

Thank you so much. Well, it's my gift to you because I think you're closer than you realize. Last point on this, I think that there's a very clear path to where you get qualified. You may have to be patient to get to a point where we cash flow the qualification, but that you can get a pretty good job in the health, nutrition, physical coaching space. I think it's wide open for somebody like you to do pretty well. But I want Rachel to jump in on your finances right now because part of making this step forward towards this work

is getting yourself financially stable to pay for the qualification. That's right, for sure. So, Leslie, how much debt do you have? I have $100,000. $100,000. $100,000. $75,000 in student loans. And this is going to seem, you know, almost hypocritical sort of, but I have $25,000 in debt because of health stuff.

Because my son has some health issues and I've just been, you know, I felt like I knew how to, you know, help him. But I overspent on those areas by like, you know, buying, you know, really good food and things like that. So, but I'm coming to my senses. I'm just trying to get out of the hole. So $25,000 in credit card debt. So it's credit cards, but it attributed to health situations. Yes. And then there's $75,000 for the student loan. Okay, perfect. And how much are you making in your current job? My current job is $70,000, which I'm really grateful for. But like I said, I don't feel like I have a lot of job security right now. Well, let me jump in really fast on this. You have got to switch your mindset. I know the ADHD is real, but you cannot go backwards right now. This, you either replace this job with another seventy thousand dollar job that you can focus

or you overcome this you you figure this out because you can but you have to focus you're a mama bear and that little boy and getting out of debt matters you got to have this income yep so fix it i know you can it's yeah and you and you're in a great, I know the actual career path is not your favorite as an accountant, but that's a great stable degree to have and skill set to have that people need that. So you can plug in and do that. And Leslie and I would even say, which is just exhausting, but if there's any way to get some level of more traction income-wise to give you a level of confidence. So even if it's doing admin work for another company eight hours a week or be a virtual assistant for six hours a week for someone, if you can find

another level of supplemental income to attack, because this $100,000 and $25,000 in credit card debt, I mean, any amount of income that you have that can be thrown at that obviously is going to be great. And yeah, and the health stuff with the $25,000, I think that as a mom, we do. We want to help our kids. And when health stuff comes in the picture, it's very scary. But I want you to be very discerning,

have people around you speaking into these decisions so you don't go deeper in that hole. You're awesome. You can do this, Mama Bear. We believe in you. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You've joined the conversation here on The Ramsey Show, a conversation about your life, your money, your work, your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. I work, your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. I got to say this. It's always fun.

One of the neat things about doing the show at our world headquarters here just south of Nashville is we have an awesome lobby and we tell you to come watch the show. Great group of people the entire time. What are you laughing at? James is laughing at me. Rachel started laughing first. World headquarters is right up there with toll free. It's right up there. It's a little dramatic. I'm melodramatic.

Our international headquarters. I didn't say that. I said world headquarters. By the way, am I wrong? It is true. It's factually correct. Thank you very much. Listen, I'm given to exaggeration. This is just let it go. You guys act as though I've never exaggerated before so shocking it was

such a good open to the show i was about ready to talk about the nice people and rachel and james are making fun of me i'm gonna suck my thumb after the show it's not good i'm gonna be in a therapy chair over this no i hope you all are enjoying our world headquarters here at ramsey solutions well back to what i was saying look Look at these people. There they are. If you come to our world headquarters, there's a lobby, as you might expect at a world headquarters. You would think you'd have a decent lobby. And we have free drinks, free food. So there you go, Mrs. Smarty Pants.

I love it. I know. I do, too. By the way, she was telling me on a break, James, that sometimes people go in the comments on YouTube and say they don't think Rachel and me get along or George and me. It doesn't matter who the duet is. They diagnose our friendships. Like, oh, you can tell.

No, if you can't tell that Rachel and Ken like each other, you are not very aware. You lack discernment. We're having a lot of fun right now. She's not being mean to me at all. Now, James is, but that's a different deal. All right, let's go to Tyler in Flint, Michigan. Tyler, how can we help?

Hey there. So I had a question. I listen to you guys a lot. You guys don't like whole life insurance. Oh, thank you. I just got into that three years ago. I got into it. I thought it was a good investment.

I pay $75 a month for $175 whole life insurance. Um, I thought it was a good investment, you know, cause like they, when I retired 25 years, um, I'd have that little lump of money that I could utilize and I'd only be,

I think it's just under $15,000 into it. And I could utilize that whole life insurance per se on my property or something like that. And then leave a little remainder for in case. But I guess you guys are against it. And I'm wondering what I should do instead of that. Should I do a different insurance or go into like a high index? Yeah, I would.

So Tyler, yeah yeah so the reason that my biggest reason with whole life insurance that i hate is mixing your investments in your insurance and the rate of return in these policies is terrible versus if you went and just opened up your own mutual fund or vanguard account and did an sp500 index fund like you could make so much more money so much more money out in the market versus it being stuck in this whole life policy. So what I would do is I would go to Zander Insurance. This is where my husband and I get our insurance because they're the best. They shop multiple policies, not just one company, and get a term life policy. And it's anywhere from 10 to 12 times your annual income. And it's going to be cheap.

You're going to fund it annually or quarterly, however you set up the payments. And then look at investing at a completely separate way, right? So investing 15% of your income into retirement after you have paid off all of your debt and have an emergency fund in place and those kind of things. So investing in insurance should never go together. When they start going together, you're getting a bad deal because you could just do so much more with your investment out in the marketplace. Okay. That's kind of what I've been understanding listening to you guys every day on my way home. Yeah. But I will say keeping life insurance, because I'm assuming you have a family and kids that depend on your income, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So before you cancel your whole life make sure to go ahead and get the term life in place and then cancel your whole life because god forbid you cancel the whole life and something happens and you don't have right policy in place so yeah so make sure you do that but yeah just go to xander insurance and that's what winston and i do and it's so in it i can't remember what we pay. It's so inexpensive. Yeah. I got, I'm so insured that I don't sleep well at night because I think Stacy might, you know, if I don't have a good attitude that day. A little lifetime movie action. Oh, yo.

Can go smissing. Aight, aight, aight. Yeah. And I'm gone. Yeah. And the kids are loving life. Man, this is one sector of money that George Camel, if he was walking by right now, we'd wave him in because he would rant and rant on this stuff

because it is part of this product. This financial product is really what it is that they sell. It's all over Instagram reels and TikTok and financial advice. And people are like, well, you can actually use your life insurance while you're alive. That's what rich people do.

It's all this gimmicky stuff, you guys. And at the end of the day, it's not good for your money. I'm like, it doesn't. Just look at the annual return of those mutual funds and how they performed over a lifetime. Just do your own homework on it and then compare it to the numbers they're going to give you. Just on the numbers alone, it's just not even close. And Winston and I did this because we had a friend.

This was years ago. And their grandfather set them up with a whole life, which was, again, great intention. Sure. For 18 years years got the policy and if he had invested that just in a mutual fund oh it's make your stomach it does i mean it really does just do your own homework and look at the numbers folks this is not our opinion yep uh these are facts let's go to sebastian who joins us by the way i think sebastian's a great fantastic name if my name name were Sebastian Coleman, I'd be a big deal. I think so. I really do. Sebastian is on the line in Phoenix. Sebastian, how can we help? Oh my God. Hey, thank you. Um, what's it called? So my question is, uh, I have, I guess like a

month gap until January to, I guess, move out to my friend's house. But move out from my mom and dad's house. Oh, they're kicking you out. No. So, uh, they,

my friends have a open room and they're only giving me a month gap to decide if I want to move out or not. But I already know my mom and dad don't like them because they smoke. So I'm just trying to think what's probably the best way to approach trying to tell them that I want to move out to their house, per se. Yeah. How old are you, Sebastian? 22. Okay. Do you are you, Sebastian? 22. Okay. Do you have a job? Yeah, I work at the post office.

Okay. How much do you make a year? After tax, $40,000. Okay. And can you support yourself fully, or are you dependent upon them financially? No. For sure, I could depend on myself and all of myself. Well, your mom and dad don't get a vote.

They don't get an actual vote here. Now, I would kind of agree. Be wise. I mean, they probably have some wisdom in life. Like, are these guys smoking? I mean, is this a bigger problem than just what they're smoking? I mean, not really. That's, like, the only reason why they just don't want me to move out with them.

The rent's cheap. It's only $600 a month. So I don't know. Yeah, I think it's one of these things, Sebastian, you have to decide, is this the kind of house? I mean, honestly, and I don't even want to ask on air. Why? I do. I'm going to pretend, you know, because if it's cigarette smoke and they're smoking a house, it's gross.

I know. I'm just saying. The smell. The light. I know. smoke and they're smoking i know i'm just saying the smell the life i know i just say the the smell of it i don't want to live in a house where people yeah are they smoking the weed in the house that's the million dollar question yeah dude yeah is that where you want to live or do you want to let me ask you this way personally i'm going to give you a multiple choice do you want to live with these guys who are smoking weed in the house

and whatever else comes with that behavior, all right, for $600 a month because it's a great deal, or do you want to just get out on your own and get away from mom and dad because you're a 22-year-old grown you-know-what man? So which do you want more? A or B? B. B guess B. B, yeah.

Then do that. You're acting like that's the only option. Yeah. Like living with a bunch of pot smokers is your only option. Yeah, true. I know. So, I mean, you've got a false narrative here. Like this is my only option.

Live at home with mom and dad or live with these guys. You make decent money. You know? So do your homework. You can find an apartment between now and January 1st. And get a roommate. Find a roommate or two. That ideally don't smoke. My bad.

But the only reason why I'm not really too concerned if I don't move out with them until January is just my mom and dad don't charge me even rent. Yeah, but you're a grown man. You're a 22-year-old man with a job. You need to be out on your own. Seriously, bro. Come on.

You got to get out. You're a grown man. Act like it. It's going to be wonderful. You're going to be fine. Mom and dad are there. They're a speed dial away. Don't move in with these guys, whoever these guys are. You're going to be fine. Mom and dad are there. They're a speed dial away.

Don't move in with these guys. Whoever these guys. Speed dial. Toll free. Worldwide headquarters. It's a toll free number. Get a toll free number for your mom and dad. It's on my speed dial. Hey, send them a fax.

This is the Ramsey Show. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. We're here for you, 888-825-5225, taking your money questions, your work questions. Let's go to Molly now in San Antonio, Texas. Molly, how can we help? Hey, Ken.

Hey, Rachel. So good to talk to you. Good to talk to you. What's going on? Well, about a year and a half ago, we put our kids into private school. And I'm sorry, I'm a little bit nervous. You're doing great. Yeah. My husband's a real estate agent. And, you know, we've had a slow couple of months, I guess, probably since September, we haven't had a closing. I make about $110,000 a year, and the private school bill is starting to become a bit daunting.

I'm not really sure if we can cover it anymore, so I wanted to talk to somebody. That's stressful. How old are your kids? Eleven, nine, and nine. I have twins. Okay. So those are, is that third, fifth grade, sixth grade? Yeah, fourth, fourth, and sixth.

Okay, yep. Yep. How much is the school? Because three kids, three tuitions, I know in Nashville schools, it's crazy. Yeah, it comes to be about $27,000 total per year. Okay, for all three? Yep. Okay. 27,000 per year. Okay. For all three? Yep.

Okay. And... It's the dentals, but that's usually what it comes out to. Sure. Okay. And have you guys paid

for the rest of the school year already? Did you do anything up front or do you pay month to month? How does that work? It's a month to month. It goes into the summer as well. Oh, okay. Okay.

And your husband is doing doing real estate it didn't have a closing in september so that's you're feeling the pinch of that does he have things coming up does he how is his forecast looking with his pipeline yeah it's there's some stuff down the road probably not until um april or j, but obviously, you know, he's really trying. Yeah, sure. It's just, you know, we've got an emergency fund. Most of it's tied up in equities, which are in the red. So I'm a little afraid to sell. What do you mean your emergency fund is tied up in equities? It's tied up in a house? Oh, no, I'm sorry. Securities. Investments. Your emergency fund is?

Yeah, most of it's in mutual funds, to have three to six months of expenses in just a high yield savings or a money market account, something that's not invested because we say it's not an investment. So for you and your husband tonight, I mean, this weekend, I would really have the conversation of, hey, what would it look like just to get some cash to the side that's secure regardless of what the market up and down, it's there. That may give a level of peace and i understand it's in the red and all that you're gonna have to look at it but that's that's one uh step i would make do you guys have any debt no other than the mortgage we don't okay um yeah i mean i think it's just one of these conversations while you guys have to figure out

if he's not bringing in an income right now. Is there anything else he can be doing on the side to make some kind of money? How much is private school valued to you guys? You know, is it a big value? Because some people will sacrifice other parts of their lifestyle. Like they won't go on vacation. They won't do certain things in order to provide private school for their kids because of where they live or religious convictions or learning situations or whatever it may be. So I think it's a very personal choice. But also, we can't go into the red in your budget month to month either, right? So there is common

sense that has to play in. And is the amount of stress that's on you guys worth it for the private school? Absolutely, yeah. So what is the reasons for the private school, can I ask? Sure. You know, we're district in some schools. My daughter's middle school was the one that really worried me. So, you know, we thought we could just bring her, but then we figured out, you know, with all the driving and everything,

we were just like, let's just put all three in. Yeah. Because at some point we knew that the twins would have to go to that middle school as well. So we, you know. So your local schools, okay. Yeah. So your local schools is not great. So you're choosing for education. Okay. Perfect. No, that's good. It's good to know. Yeah. I mean, I mean, Molly, it's one of those things. If you guys can't pay it, if you can't afford it, then you can't afford it. But also the $110,000 of just you bringing in that money, which is great money. So if he is not doing closings, I mean, I would say he needs to be bringing in some income.

That's where I was going to go, Molly. I don't want to be insensitive, but if he doesn't have a lot of listings, and I read something this morning that housing sales are as low as they've been in quite some time. Almost two decades. And so if he doesn't have prospects, he's got time, yes or no? Yeah. Then he needs to be working. Yeah.

And so what is that number? You may have given it to Rachel. What is the number that would cover just the private school? What's that monthly number? I think it came out to about $1,300 a month. Okay. If I were him, if I were in your shoes and you really wanted those kids there, and I knew that he was in a cycle right now that's going to cycle back,

but I would be making more than $1,300 a month. I would be making enough to take care of the private school, to keep the kids in the school. Even if I got to work a side job, I'm doing whatever it takes to keep them in there. Maybe a career shift, Molly. I mean, how long has he been a real estate agent for? Well, you know, he's had his license for a while, but he went full-time realtor about a year and a half ago, uh, about two years ago, almost. Um, so, uh, yeah, there's still some, some options on the back burner that we could fall back on is, uh, it was more of the, the income potential is really what keeps us going. So, you know, it's just, there could be a great month. There could just be, I don't think he walks away. I think he gets innovative right now and innovation,

you know, is when we don't have a lot of resources and we got to come up with something. And I think he can come up with the money. I would not touch the emergency fund. This is not an emergency at all. Even if you had to tell the school, hey, look, here's our situation. Give us one month grace and we'll pick up the payments. I mean, there's things that can be done here if it's that close. So handle this, you know, like an adult and go, if you got to communicate to the school a little bit on this, but he needs to go make the $1,300. Somebody does. Makes sense. You know, I wish I had some grand strategy, but that's what it boils down to and while the while the real estate uh economy is is tight right now uh there's other ways that he can make money in san antonio texas

and and and easily come up with that amount that's if okay all caps if we really want to keep those kids in the school where there's a will there's a way is the old saying and i think that's true yeah you know yes sir trust your gut mama though i know molly and it feels i mean the tension is there because i'm like oh my gosh he hasn't had a closing money's not coming in it's dependent upon you i mean there's a level of that pressure on your shoulders molly um right you're probably feeling too and you don't want to take your kids out of the school I mean like there's so many dynamics here but $1,300 a month is I mean it's doable right it's very doable yeah if I know that I'm making this money on the side yep just to keep my kids in a private school and out of a bad school situation I like the chances of a mom and dad who are willing to come together and go how do we come up with $1,300 yep and that And that's part of, you know, as we talk about your budget and life decisions that you

make in life, you know, everything. That's the part of like, we're adults. Everyone gets to decide what you want your life structured, right? And where this family says, yeah, we're going to take on extra work to keep our kids in a private school. That's what they're choosing. You know, you talk to people and they have a one income family because the mom they're choosing for her to be home, homeschooling the kids. And that's what they're choosing. You have two people careers and they're doing that.

Like it is so much about choices and the values of the individuals and the families. And that always gives me a level of peace where we do have some black and white principled things here at Ramsey. We do say, you know, you need to be on a budget. All of these things are helpful. But the details of how you live out your life and your money, it's up to you.

You get to decide. There's hundreds of different options of which track you want to take in life. And you get to decide that. So if Molly and them, that's what they want. They're adults and they get to decide that. So now you have to figure out, okay, how are we going to make this work? And then you got to make some adult decisions around that.

Yeah, absolutely. You guys are going to figure it out, Molly. It's going to be okay. It's going to cycle through. Do what's best for you guys. Do whatever it takes to do what's best for the family. We know you will. Thank you so much for the call.

All right, she's Rachel Cruz. I'm Ken Coleman. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. Don't move, More coming up. Thank you for joining us here on The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. We're thrilled that you're with us.

888-825-5225 is the phone number. Our scripture of the day comes from Galatians 1.10. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Our quote today from Jordan Peterson, compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today. There you go. You talk a lot about comparison.

It feels like that's right up your alley. Yeah, it's a good quote. There you go. Let's go to Ivy now in Baton Rouge rouge ivy how can we hello hey thank y'all for having me you bet how can we help yes uh wondering if you can help me settle a debate between me and my wife oh my favorite thing to do is get in the middle of a marriage debate i bet y'all are okay well we both found our uh dream home which is about an hour away from where we currently live um i want to we have some rental properties and our home that we live in i want to liquidate everything and pay for this new house cash that way we'll be debt free totally

debt free except for a car note maybe and um then take the extra money that we will have and maybe do investments where we're going to live at next. Is that making sense? Yep, it does. She wants to keep the two rental properties because she thinks that the extra income every month is going to help us down the way. Okay.

Have you run the numbers to where you take her theory and we get it out on paper and we go, okay, if we keep this, this is this extra revenue. And you look at her financial decision and then you look at yours. Have you run those numbers side by side? Yes, sir. And she still wants to keep the rental income. Because yours is clearly better. Your option is better on paper. Yeah, you know, the rental income equals out to about $2,700 a month. But all we're doing with that money right now is taking that money, putting it down on our mortgage so the mortgage company can take the interest and they make money off

of it. I want to keep that money for ourselves. Right, right. I'm with you. So how far and how far will you guys move from the rental properties? It's about an hour away, a little bit over an hour. So, I mean, it's doable to keep those properties there and still maintain them. Now, we both have full-time jobs also, so it would be a little difficult to go get rent if the property is leaking.

Ivy, what's her reasoning for wanting to keep them is it just the rental income or is there something that she loves real estate that she it's she found the deal like i don't know is there any main reason she she she thinks that the that the extra 2700 a month trumps everything coming in i said well if if if everything we own is paid for we won't need the 2700 a month coming in we can we, well, if everything we own is paid for, we won't need the $2,700 a month coming in. We will have $2,700 a month of our own money to put in extra investments and do whatever we want. Yeah, because what would the mortgage be on the new house, the dream house, if you were to take out a mortgage? Yeah, the mortgage on the dream house,

she does want to liquidate our home that we live in now, and we bought well, and we bought low, and we're going to sell pretty high, so we'll make a good amount of money off of it, but the note would still be anywhere from $2,000 to $2,200 a month on the new place. Right, so it's kind of a wash in just that regard. Yes, yes. Is she putting her foot down saying, sorry, pal, it's my decision, or are we still discussing this back and forth? How tension-filled is this? You know, they say marriage is 50-50, but I don't believe that.

It's usually one person that gives more, and that person is me, and I love that. I'm not angry or mad about it at all. You know, we have a real good relationship. We work real hard to hard to get where we at and i think this is a good problem to have um but we're leaning more towards now we're still discussing it because it ain't all went through yet uh we're still discussing it but we're leaning more towards hey keeping the rental properties and just taking the profits from the house we live in now putting it down on the new house and paying the 2200 a month how much do you have left on the new house and paying the $2,200 a month. How much do you have left on the rental properties?

How much do you owe on them? One of the rental properties is completely paid for. It's worth about $150,000. The other rental property, we only owe like $33,000 on it, and it's worth about $225,000 to $250,000. Why don't you sell one of them? Why don't you sell the one that you still have a payment on? Because she wants them both. Yeah, she wants them both.

You didn't answer my question. Is there tension over this or is she open-minded? No, it's not tension, but I don't think it's going to go my way. Well, I can tell you right now it's not going to go your way. But you know what? This is tough, man. Are you sure you won't resent her over this? Because there's a good chance that she gets tired of being a long-distance landlord.

Yeah, yeah. Well, no, I won't resent her over it because nothing matters to me but her happiness. And that's truth. That's not me just saying that because I'm on the radio. Then why'd you call us and ask us to take sides? I'm not asking you to take sides. I might be calling back with a little bit of an argument towards her, you know, just to say, hey, look, I called the Ramsey show and they said this would be a better idea

to do it this way. It is a better idea, and I think you showed her that but I don't think that I don't think that this is enough of a compelling case for her to to come off of her position yeah because I mean and also you know Ivy how much do you make a year how much I make a year yeah are you guys together household income oh how so I'll make about 110 15 a year she makes 150 a year so she is the breadwinner of the family okay and how much is the dream and how much can you sell your current home for like how much will you walk away with we can walk away with about 200 000 okay and the dream home costs how much 325 oh well you're fine okay so ivy if she wants to keep the houses keep the house because you only owe 33 000 on the

second rental yes so so yeah you're not far off on a mortgage take out a small mortgage on the dream home pay off the dang car you said you had a car loan pay that off today ivy you need to pay that off work to pay off this rental property. You'll have two paid-for rental properties. And then attack your primary mortgage. Yeah. This isn't a really, yeah, this isn't like really one way that I like your plan a little bit more. I do too. But you guys are in great financial position if you do what Rachel says.

You put a huge down payment. Do you have any savings? Oh, yeah. We got $16,000 in savings right now. And then I have a 401k with close to a million dollars in it. Oh, for heaven's sakes. Well, keep the $16,000. Absolutely do what makes her happy, Ivy. Keep the $16,000 as your emergency funds. Pay off the car.

That needs to be your next step. Yeah, you can take the small mortgage on the dream home. Pay off that second house. Pay off the second house. And now you guys have got real estate use the 2700 from her point to help pay off the new house sooner yeah yeah i'm gonna change my ruling ivy interest would be paying you know i know ivy i'm changing my ruling if i were you ivy i would do your way then winston i did that we sold we had two rental properties we sold in order to build the house that we're in now.

And so like, that's what we chose to do because we didn't, we were not living with debt. So like that was a hard line in the sand for us. But you guys mathematically, it's not like crazy off. You can do this. No, no, yeah. Happy wife, happy life is muscle. That's my vote.

I guess, but also like, yeah. I just don't think he's going to, we've already asked, I don't think he's going to move her off the position at all. And they're in such good financial position, it's not worth fighting over. Right, right. Now, she may get tired. The question is, is who's going to get more tired of the hour distance between the new home and these homes?

Because that is, that's a pain in the butt being a landlord but uh you got options i didn't want to stop you know we we flipped houses in the past you know we were very handy we can we do a lot of work on our own homes and stuff like that so i wanted to start all over again where we at take the extra money we have left we'll buy some little houses over here and keep does she do any of the work on these houses you said we are here right next to me no she's right next to me. No, she's right next to me. This is the passive-aggressive play, but you can have her go and fix some of those things the first couple months you're away

and see if she likes driving an hour to fix it. It's your only shot, man. It's your only shot. It's my only shot, boss. Hey, I'm keeping it real, man. I've been married 25 years. I'm with you. You've got to go with the woman on this one. I just hate that phrase, happy wife. Why do you hate that?

You benefit from it. What's your problem? Because it's a little bit like, oh, I'm going to just be the run over. I'm just going to be here and she's going to take over. I don't know. I think you're reading into that. I think happy wife, happy life is very positive.

It doesn't say I'm a beat down, broken man. I know. That's been said so many times on this show today by multiple men. Happy wife, happy life. Say it again. I think it's true. I think Winston would say it too. We'll discuss it. We'll discuss it off the air, folks.

We'll see. She's Rachel Cruz. I'm Ken Coleman. Big thanks to our captain, old captain, my captain, James Childs. This is the Ramsey Show.