The Ramsey Show - App - How Can I Pay for College? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: July 25, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Kristina Ellis discuss: Can you invest too much in your 401(k)? How to go to college without debt, Fear over using an investment professional.   Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Christina Ellis, Ramsey Personality number one best-selling author, is my co-host today. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Zach is in Finley, Ohio to start off this hour.

Hi, Zach. Welcome to the Ramsey show. Thank you, sir. How are you doing today? Better than we deserve. What's up in your world? Oh, my wife and I have been reviewing our financial picture and we were curious if we might be contributing too much to our traditional 401k and we're curious on your perspective okay how much are you putting in there uh last year i contributed the max so 20 500

or 19 5 i can't remember when the change was but it was the max 6 000 of that was to the roth and then the remaining would have been to traditional 401k, and then my wife's contribution would have been $18,000 all going to traditional 401k. Okay. Now, you can do Roth 401k and a Roth personal. There's no prohibition on that. Sure, sure, yep. And we're...

What's your household income? Well, we're at... i was just going to explain that we're pulling in over 340 a year and so we're in a position where we can't contribute to a roth independent of what's offered through our um employer unless we backdoor it yeah you just do a backdoor row that's what i do so okay um um all right so 20 so what percentage of your income are you putting into retirement when you add it all up have you figured that out um not directly 20 you're doing 20 and she's doing 19 plus 8 no no uh She's doing 18 total. So our total contribution that we're putting in would be about $38,500 a year. And 15% would be $45,000.

Correct, yep. So we need to, yeah, so what I'm hearing in this is then we would need to be bumping up contributions outside of our traditional then, correct? Yeah, I mean, we tell folks at Baby Step 4, I assume you're out of debt and have an emergency fund, right? Yes, sir. Okay. Baby Step 4 is 15% of your income into retirement, five skids college, and anything we can find in the budget beyond that,

we pay off the house with Baby Step 6, right? Correct, yep. Yeah. You guys are doing great, though. That's awesome. I think just that little tweak and you guys are going great though that's awesome i think just that little tweak and you guys are going to be really set in a good spot what made you think you were putting too much in uh when we were projecting out what our balances would be when we get to retirement yeah you're gonna have a lot of money yeah we will and what so what this started for us was a conversation about how do we retire early yeah and then if all our money is tied up in some

type of program well that's fair touch it without penalty then we need to create a gap fund okay so maybe if i'm fine with that or bridge fund whatever we want to call them you know the the 45 how old are you 38 yeah so 45 to how do i get from 45 to 59 and a half if i wanted to retire early and get to some of that money yeah if you want to do some low turnover mutual funds and call that part of your 15 instead of doing the backdoor roths i'm okay with that okay but the point being that you're you're setting aside for your future you know can i save too much i don't know can you be too rich i mean you know um that's kind of what it comes down to no you really can't because

you could the richer you are the more generous you can be the more people you can help and the you know the the more margin you've got and the better your sense of humor is and all that hypothetically assuming you had one to start with but yeah the uh but the uh uh yeah i i think you're right um but i wouldn't say uh we're only going to max out our 401k and then just dump the rest of it on the house and only be saving only be saving you know 10 i'd be saving 15 into something even if some of its bridge or gap or whatever whatever we want to call the fund and just pick you a low turnover mutual fund uh like a um uh something like an s&p 500 fund where there's hardly any taxes on it because it's all capital gains growth. Sure. Yeah, some type of index fund then.

Yeah, that's an easy way, and it's a no-commission way to get to a low turnover. You can check with SmartVestor Pro and have them show you some low turnovers that aren't indexes. I do both. I got a lot of low turnover money because I'm maxed out a long time ago on this other stuff, and then I'll use some of that low turnover money eventually and go buy a piece of real estate with it because I like real estate better than I like mutual funds I like them both I got a lot of money in both but I'm an old real estate dog from way back so I'm always going to

go that way dirt just excites me it's just ridiculous so but that that gives you a lot of options yeah and I love those conversations even the conversation about early retirement and the cool thing about working with a smart b investor pro is they can kind of map that out for you. So if your goal is to retire by 45, how much do you need to be saving right now in order to reach that goal? That's like a financial plan and stuff. Yeah, that'd be cool. That's very wise, Christina. You know, I should have thought of that. Do you, Dave? No, really, I should have. That's do you Dave no really I should have that's really good that's a really good insight because actually what I'm always doing is big numbers on

stuff that's where my brain works and if he'll sit down and actually map the thing out in detail like you're suggesting it gives you a whole different track to run on that my big number math won't do right so I'm good with that you may even want to back it down further on your traditional if it hits you to your gap or your bridge goal faster as long as you're putting 15 of your income aside for your future i mean we can define it as early retirement and we can find it as 59 and a half and beyond retirement we always want to match first roth second traditional third uh when we can. And so the beauty of these low turnover mutual funds, tax efficient accounts,

sometimes people call them, or tax managed accounts, is that when you do cash it out, if it's sat in there more than a year, it's taxed at capital gains rate, 15%, rather than taxed at, I mean, if you're making over $400 400 it's going to be more than that but if you're making a normal income it's it's a low tax when you do where if you put it in like a um like an annuity where you don't pay taxes on it but you can get it out later if you want to screw around with that you know you're going to be taxed at ordinary income rate when you take it out so uh and that's you know it's a difference in 30 15 or 35 38 15 so it's very tax efficient to do these low

turnovers once you've maxed out other stuff or when you've got a short of 59 and a half goal like an early retirement goal yeah well at 340 000 it feels like they can probably do both they can do a lot. Yeah. They'll be able to do a whole lot. They will go a lot of directions here. It's impressive. They're doing very well.

Yeah. That's a sharp guy, man. Very cool. Just keep diving into the plan, laying it out, and just getting on it. Cool. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. In an uncertain world, being a good steward of your money is more important than ever. While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a

budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a Ramsey Personalities, my co-host today. If you haven't heard the news, the sky is not falling. The real estate world is not crashing. It has slowed down. There's a difference between a slowdown and a crash. Here's the thing if you're

at a um you ever been on one of those uh things uh nascar experience you get in the car and you're going 500 miles an hour 200 miles an hour whatever it is you go and then you stop and you get in your car to drive home at 55. It feels like you're walking after having gone 200. Well, the real estate market was going 200 miles an hour. Now it's slowed down to like normal speed. And it feels like you're walking. You've got your systems in shock. And so everybody's going, that's crazy. The world's coming to an end.

Oh, my God. Put it on TikTok. And let's see what the TikTok economists say. Because they know what's going, it's crashing. The world's coming to an end. Oh, my God. Put it on TikTok. And let's see what the TikTok economists say because they know what's going on. Oh, brother. Jeez, please, people. Seriously. Unbelievable. Calm your butt down.

You just got off a NASCAR ride and you're just driving home. That's all it is. Seriously. This is cray cray. So that's what's going on. If you want to know what's really happening with the actual data, which the data is your speedometer says I'm going 55, I'm not stopped, and I'm not in reverse. That's what the data tells you.

Your emotions, however, are still all hyped up and geared up because you were in a car going 200. So you want a reality check on this, you can watch the replay of our one hour streaming that we did um several hundred thousand people i think it's approaching a half million people have now viewed this uh if you want to know what's going on it's all the data i actually do something i hardly ever do i completely nerded out and i did my professor dave as rachel called it a routine but um you know the data is where we get these principles people that

we teach it's not we don't just like let's just make this up it's not what we do so ramsey solutions.com slash reality check and watch the free free reality check on real estate it's a free live stream don't miss it question of the day comes from blinds.com. 100% satisfaction guarantee means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. Free samples, free shipping, and when with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey to get the best possible deal. Today's question comes from Sarah in Connecticut. My parents aren't

helping me with college funds and I don't want to take a gap year or go to community college. I have a 3.3 GPA, so I'm not getting any scholarships. I have $5,000 saved so far and I will graduate from high school next year. How do I pay for college with no debt in these circumstances? Well, Sarah, my first question is just why no community college? A lot of states have free community college at this point, and it's a great way to get started. Once you graduate from a four-year school, your employer's not asking, you know, did you start at community college and then go on to a four-year school? You get your four-year degree. So it's a great way to save money. I would just encourage you to maybe open up your mind to that. Beyond that, there's tuition assistance programs, which I just

absolutely love. A lot of companies are now helping people not only make an income and pay for their regular expenses, but they're also helping them pay for college. So companies like Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart, Chipotle, Dollywood, Disney, these all have really awesome programs where you can work, get experience, and pay for college. You know, one of the first ones I ran into was UPS in Louisville. If you work for UPS Loading Trucks, they'll pay for your school. That's awesome. 100%. Well, they pay well in general.

So you load trucks, make good money. It's hard work, 20 hours a week. And you go to school full time, and they pay for it. That's pretty freaking incredible. I mean, the whole thing. Yeah. It's like, so shut up. I mean, join UPS.

It's not the Army. It's Big Brown. Load the truck, man. I mean, come on. That's incredible. Yeah, and I mean, their hourly rate is great. So it's like this is a win-win. All of these, a lot of these you mentioned are $25, $30 an hour, and they'll pay for school or a portion of tuition anyway.

Because they've got hiring problems, and so they're doing stuff to get people in the door. I'd also just challenge you on the idea that you're not going to get any scholarships. There you go. Yeah, because 3.3 GPA, you're still in the running. A lot of scholarships, they're not just looking for perfect students. There's a lot of niche scholarships in different areas. So there's scholarships pretty much given away for everything at this point. There are vegetarian scholarships. There's this amazing golf caddy scholarship where they give away full ride scholarships for being a golf caddy. There's a scholarship for having the best

peanut butter sandwich recipe. No. Who is that by? Like Jiffy or somebody? I think it is. It's one of the peanut butter companies. That's pretty cool. So there's scholarships for almost everything. And the thing that I want to encourage people to think about is that scholarships, they're given away by people. Like a lot of people create foundations that then they create a scholarship. And a lot of people who are super successful down the road they didn't have perfect grades in high school so they're open to picking people to who are similar to them they want to pick people who maybe you know have incredible potential but don't necessarily have hundreds of millions of dollars

of scholarships they're not income-based they're not academic-based and they're not sports-based right and so that hundreds of millions and they're not just for perfect students um so don't write yourself probably actually a scholarship for not perfect students yeah i actually saw one probably named that there there's actually a scholarship out there that was for average students i saw one recently that it's like you had to have a c average to apply for that scholarship that's pitiful well but the guy who created this scholarship had a c average and he became a millionaire so now multi-millionaire right because he figured out it wasn't where he went to school so um hey sarah i'm gonna pick on you a

little bit too i don't want to take a gap year or go to community college. I just want to go where I want to go, and it doesn't matter if I have to borrow money. Listen, that sounds a little whiny. You know, go get some scholarships, get three jobs or both, or go to community college. But don't try to box it into where the only way I get to live my dream is. You're being a drama queen, kiddo. I mean, there's a part of that in this I'm reading in there. You know, start telling me all the things you don't want to do and that you can't do because you've only got a 3.3.

And all of this leads up to the only way I get to do what I want to do is in in these in my circumstances that I have boxed myself into well don't have to right well and I mean that's a huge factor that's at the core of the student loan debt crisis the number one problem yep is college choice yep where you go to school is it because it I mean University of Tennessee 12, $12,000 a year tuition. Vanderbilt, how much? The cost of attendance is around $70,000. Yeah, but I mean, tuition this year, $56,000, I think. Yeah.

Okay. And Vanderbilt's a great school. And if you got $56,000 or you got scholarships like you did, you went and got a degree there, but it was all paid for by scholarships, that's all great. That's fine. But if you're writing a check for 12 versus 56 and you think you got something for the difference in 12 versus 56 at Vanderbilt, you didn't. Or even worse, if you're taking out student loans.

Because I graduated from Tennessee and people that work for vanderbilt went to vanderbilt work for me so you didn't get what you thought you were going to get there on people that's just how that works all right so you know there's a trade-off in other words and this idea that you go to this famous school and it's like i don't want to sue and so you have to say i have to wear an ascot you know or some kind of crap that's just bs all right or i want to go across the state line because the school has pretty trees on the campus one girl actually told me that she said the campus at the university of mississippi is a beautiful campus it has big trees you're kidding me this is how you select your academic endeavor there's a problem here child where is your parents i love

my time at vanderbilt no it was i'm not i'm not tracing vanderbilt free if you can pay for it absolutely if you can pay for your dream school debt free awesome but if it involves student loans or if you're backed into a corner like this you got to think outside we got a we got a family member that was valedictorian or salutatorian or whatever, got a free ride at Vandy for undergrad, went on to be a very successful lawyer. It's a wonderful school. I'm not mad about it. But don't please tell me with a straight face that it's worth 5X to go there what it is to go to your in-state school. That's complete BS.

So school choice matters a lot like community college, Sarah. So now that's me picking on you, kiddo, because I love you. This is The Ramsey Show. ស្រូវនប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ Christina Ellis, Ramsey Personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, on the debt-free stage, Timothy joins us. Hey, Timothy, how are you? Hey, Dave, great. Thanks for having me.

I'm honored to have you, sir. Where do you live? I live in how are you? Hey, Dave. Great. Thanks for having me. I'm honored to have you, sir. Where do you live? I live in Columbia, Missouri. Oh, fun. Great. Welcome to Nashville. How much debt did you pay off, sir? Right around $300,000 in about six, six and a half years. Good for you, man. Well done. And your range of income during that time? 110 125 okay what do you do for a living uh nothing i'm retired nice were you uh are you you make 125 while you're retired well just just retired so okay what were you doing what was your career i started in engineering i became a manager and i polished off a 22 year teaching career oh so very good very good. Good for you. Well done. So I'm going to guess and say with that amount of money over that period of time you paid off your house? I did.

Oh, looking at a weirdo. Way to go, man. Thank you. What's this house worth these days? I'd say it's about four and a half. Good for you. How much you got in retirement? 3.2. uh three three point two thus the retirement i like it so uh how much of this did you inherit none i had a few gifts along the way my folks were very very gracious and giving me a property that was distressed that i fixed up and turned into a rental property and i've sort of picked that up and done that for 30 years. And that's been my side hustle in addition to my professional working career. So what was that property worth that they gifted you at the time? At the time, it was about $50,000.

Okay, so you're not a millionaire because of that. No. A multimillionaire. Right. You're a multimillionaire because you systematically saved. That's correct. Yeah, okay. Just want to make sure, because people say all millionaires inherited their money, and

I just want to make sure that people realize that you are not there because of that. You got a nice gift. That was a nice thing, but it isn't the reason you're where you are. No, I took that property, and it was distressed and turned it into a winner. Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, the skills I did that with came from my parents who were in real estate and had managed properties themselves. And so I saw the picture of you mowing as a kid. Yeah, you too.

That's pretty much how I started my life before I became a, you know. So you want your kid to be a millionaire? Teach them to work. Oh, there it is. Okay. Who knew? Well, I'd say, you know, the best summer i ever had was probably mowing lawns and i remember walking home with a hundred dollars in cash uh when i was you know probably 19 years old and i just thought what that was when uh i think in 1979 i think the

minimum wage was 235 265 and i'm teaching swim lessons during the day and then you know mowing lawns in the afternoon and walking home with a hundred dollars cash and that's like three paychecks for a lifeguard yeah so when i was a little kid i was like 12 or 14 i was a math nerd so i'm as bad as you i'd be mowing grass and while i was mowing i would increase the speed so because i wanted to i wanted to earn more than three times what my buddies were making flopping whoppers at burger king right and i said if i'm i'm not gonna be a whopper flopper i'm gonna learn i'm gonna i want to make three times the minimum wage so i've got a i've got to cut this grass at that speed and so i'm doing the math because i'm a math nerd while i'm mowing and weed eating I got to get finished at a certain time that way I can get my three three x of

Burger King wages and that's how it all starts right yeah I kept side hustling like that I mean I managed three rental properties and uh I do most of the work myself and and mowing is a just great reward it kind of takes me back to my roots and, like, why I got into this. I mean, I have a professional career. You're a better man than me. I quit mowing, man. Yeah. I quit.

I just don't. No, I mowed enough grass by the time I was 18 and never have to do it again. God said you don't have to. Well, when you spend your days inside a classroom or on a computer, grass. It's a release. It is. It's really nice to get out. But working for yourself is certainly the way to go, I think.

How old are you? I'm 59. Wow, you did so good. Yeah, your story is impressive. What would you tell people is the key to getting out of debt and to also save as much as you have? I think the journey needs to be purposeful. Like for me, it was like take responsibility for your happiness and don't blame others. And own failure uh learn from

it study it and just i i always felt like if you know your weakness is more than your strengths that you're you're you're you're on the path to improving and and i also felt that um part of part of the journey is is for me like i began began my journey as an engineer, and I pay. I just wanted money. And then I got into management, and I wanted power and prestige. And those are both very addictive and elixing sort of rewards. But as you grow older, I think you have to reshape what you work for. For me, it became play and purpose.

Like teaching. Is teaching what you're doing now for fun? I quit. Well, I retired from teaching. So what do you do now for fun? I mean, it's real property. And I just sort of like, you know, I potted with my parents during the pandemic. And we became best friends. And now it's like every day is about what we can,

we can do to sort of have fun and, and play and have purpose. And then I just, I just reflect on that sort of journey of what the rewards of work are for. But you always, I think it's important to enjoy your work too and enjoy the journey and whether it be, okay,

money's great. Power is great. Prestige is great. work too and enjoy the journey and whether it be okay money's great uh power's great um prestige is great but for me it ended up with play and purpose and creativity i think teachers i think spent a lot of time with purpose but the playful way do you remember when you were young you just learned for fun that's sort of what i thought was teaching was all about and so i i really enjoyed my career but this this kind of wisdom you need to be doing something to share it. You need to be doing something somewhere. You don't have to get back in the classroom. I'm going to send you back to work. But oh my gosh, you've done so well. And you got to share some of these messages. This is very good. Thank you. Very well done. Very, very well

done. How does it feel to be 3.2 million in zero debt? It feels like i thought it would i mean i think i think when you're young you imagine your future self and when you get to be this age you you reflect on your past self like the childhood you had and so those two i think sort of are talking to one another right now saying yeah i knew i was going to be you and yeah I knew I was you and it's this play and purpose they go hand in hand I mean when you do things for a reason and you give to others and you teach them how to overcome sort of their fear of failure and and how to find their way and achieve things and and do it in a creative way like you do it's it's it's it just it gives back to you when you give that way so i would just say that uh it's been a wonderful journey and i'm looking forward to the next chapter which

which whatever that would be i'm looking forward to your next chapter i think it's going to be awesome man you're you're amazing you're a hero i'm so proud of you thank you very very well done hey we got a copy of baby steps millionaires for you you are one and uh you will read about read about people just like you. And you can give it away to show somebody that this is how it's done. Because you are a classic example. You're above average example, but well done. Very well done. So much wisdom. Yeah. And a copy of Total Money Makeover. You can give that away and inspire somebody. Financial Peace University will give you a uh one year membership to that as well and i would imagine i see you giving that away as well so you never know where you're going to thank you able to spread this wisdom very well done timothy beautiful job man you're you're a stud absolutely cool all right count it down three hundred thousand dollars paid off in six and a half years making 110 to 125 let's hear a debt-free scream

three two one i'm debt-free okay don't miss that number one career in the largest study of millionaires ever done that we did at Ramsey, airtight research, number one career, more than any other career showed up for millionaires, was engineer. Number three was teacher. He was both with a $3.2 million net worth. Don't miss this. Don't miss it, okay? There's a lesson in there. You don't have to be an engineer or a 3.2 million dollar net worth don't miss this don't miss it okay there's there's a lesson in there you don't have to be an engineer or teacher but what is it about those people

they're processed people they stick to a system they work a system and that and they don't question the law of physics it works this way do it this way. This is The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, 1 Thessalonians 1.3, we remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Christopher Reeves said, once you choose hope, anything is possible. Christina Ellis, Ramsey Personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today. Cameron is in Houston. Hi, Cameron.

How are you? Hi, Dave. Hi, Christina. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? We're on baby steps four, five, and six, but I feel like we're a little stuck in neutral. My wife is very concerned about using a financial advisor.

She thinks she's heard too many horror stories of people losing everything from other people handling their money. But I've told her I'm in need of additional guidance and I want to maximize our finances moving forward. Do you have any advice for helping assuage her concerns or anything that I could tell her or discuss with her that might help us move forward? I love that she's cautious about this. Okay. There are two kinds of fear, the fear that keeps you from playing kickball in the middle of the interstate where there's 18 wheelers or touching a hot stove.

Those are good fears, right? And, you know, fears that make you wary of crooks are good fears and I will tell you this truthfully the thing that scares me more than crooks are well-intentioned ignoramuses that are enthusiastic they will screw you up with money more often and and screw you up in life more often than actual crooks because there are more of them um right and so i love her caution in that the other kind of fear is false evidence appearing real

i once heard about a family that had a car wreck and so i refused to drive a car okay well that's where she is okay okay so how do you solve that for someone that has this fear that is based in a good kind of cautious wisdom but has gone too far? The only way I know to solve it is with information. Now, the way I would do that is this. If it was my wife, I would say, okay, you know what? I completely understand because, by the way, I do. I can say this truthfully. I completely understand that people sometimes get completely ripped off by people in the financial world, because sometimes

they do. But I do know there are some good people in that world that also help people, and I don't know how to do this without some help. And so what I'm asking of you is not that we invest money with someone, not that we make the decision to use an advisor but that you agree to do three meetings with advisor with an advisor or advisors to learn about that industry because you and i don't know about it all i'm asking you to go is to listen and to learn if at the end of that you remain completely opposed to it then we'll deal with that because here's the thing there's more regulations on those guys dude than there is on banks oh wow okay i mean they are so regulated out the yin yang it's unbelievable i don't know how they get any work done for the stupid feds sticking in their ear hole all the time it's nuts okay i mean they have to give you a prospectus that says you're going

to lose all your money in the first 17 pages before you can even see the actual investment analysis behind it and this isn't this is an investment that's been open 85 years and has not had but five down years but you still have to say you're going to lose all your money. And they make you say stupid but stuff like, past performance is not indicative of future performance. Of course it is. That's dumber than crap. But they make you say stuff like that.

You know? Of course it is. It's not a guarantee of future performance, but it's the only way you do forecasting in investments or business. You have to use past performance to do it so anyway my point is when you get in there with a good financial advisor and say just tell them the truth she's scared because she thinks there's so many crooks in this business and tell them ahead of time show us what the safeguards are tell us how the industry works to protect us if you're a crook and if they're offended by you saying that get out of

their office because i if i was in that business i would love to have this conversation and tell the uninitiated how regulated that world is um it's it's nuts but anyway all that to say i think the other thing that'll happen as a sidebar is she'll see a human being that she will sense with her spirit is a good person or is a bad person. Okay. And you've got to trust her when she says that. Absolutely. Now, all of our meetings so far have been over the phone, but we do have some in-person meetings scheduled soon. So I think this will be a good way to do it.

If we show us the safeguards, it might be the best way to do it. Just tell them the truth. She does not want to do this because she's afraid of all the crooks in the business and the stupid people in the business. Tell us why you're not that or that that's not. Meet with our SmartVestor pros if you can, dude. Click on ramsaysolutions.com. Get with some of them because they will relish – because they have the heart of a teacher,

and this is like you're going to give them the opportunity to do what they love to talk about. Right. Okay. Yeah, and we've done a lot of the vetting too, so we're only going to recommend people that we trust. Yeah. So hopefully that will help us a lot.

But it always scares me when we do that because sometimes people will go in there and do business with them just because we trust them. I would rather you trust them you vet them you get in there but i mean we vetted them we feel good about them and one of the things we vetted is they're going to have the heart of a teacher and so just you know what are the types of investments i should be scared of what are the types of people i should be scared of and how does that work and i'm really scared and i don't even want to be here i would encourage her to say all of that and if they raise their hackles up and are offended get out of their office don't use them okay okay because i think a good one will say rise to the challenge on this

and go i thank you for letting me tell people how this all works because i don't get to tell many people how screwed up our business is by the few crooks that are out there because truthfully there's a lot more crooks in the real estate business than there are in the financial business because real estate business is relatively unregulated i mean there's a little bit of regulation but not much and there's not many crooks in real estate business either it's there you know you're not taking people's money there you're just doing a transaction most of the time so but I mean golly I think a lot it is so I mean I mean and there's a lot more idiots in the banking world a thousand times more idiots than there are in the financial advising world

because the tests are so hard to get in there number one but number number it just requires a level of intellect to get in there gray matter and you don't have to do that to work in there, number one, but it just requires a level of intellect to get in there. Gray matter, and you don't have to do that to work in a bank. Right. Well, I think a lot of people get into these situations, and they feel like they're being interviewed. They sit down with an advisor or a real estate agent, and they feel like, oh gosh, I got to be interviewed. But it's like, you are still hiring that person. You get to ask questions. You get to dig deeper. Yeah, and you feel inept because you don't know. i mean anytime you go in a situation and the expert is there you feel like like like you know and i but man i tell you what the best thing ever happened

to me in my life is i learned to bow up on those people and make them prove themselves and by teaching me right i'm not you don't need to be my lawyer if you can't teach me how we're gonna win you know you don't need to be my tax guy if you can't teach me why we're doing this and what's going on you know i don't have to be as good as you i don't have to know everything you know but you got to be able to transfer the knowledge enough that i get comfort because i'm not doing it because you said so you ain't my daddy right you know i said so bull crap my money you know we're not doing that so that's the thing you got to get to there and i love his wife's spirit for that reason i think it'll lead them to really good solid conservative investments that they won't get

screwed on that's a wonderful thing so folks you're always looking for someone with the heart of a teacher yes if they're condescending or they're offended by you asking hard questions, which is a form of arrogance or condescension. If they expect you to do stuff just because they said so, you got the wrong people, whether it's mortgage people, real estate people, insurance people, lawyers, financial advisors. You're looking for the heart of a teacher around the financial world. And I got to tell you, more people learn how to sell in the financial world than learn how to teach. So the teachers are harder to find.

And that's the only people I work with, the only people I'd tell you to work with. That's good. That's good. Yeah. Be willing to look around, ask those hard questions and really explore for yourself. I love her heart that she wants to see. Oh, yeah. That's a good place to be in.

It's a healthy. There's the unhealthy side of fear that makes her maybe not want an advisor, but being cautious and going in and interviewing people, that's wisdom. Yeah. Instead of just going, I turned it all over to my man.

And the man lost the money. No, no, you are the man. You don't turn it over. You get somebody to advise. You're in charge. So I love, yeah, she's sitting in the driver's seat, man. That's awesome. Good stuff. Good job, Christina, today. Good job to James, Andrew, Zach, Ben, Austin in the booth. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before

you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Have you been inspired to make a change with your money? Want to know where to start? Take our three-minute money quiz to get a plan you can follow. Go to RamseySolutions.com and search for Get Started to get a plan for your money.