The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Budget and Build Wealth? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. George Campbell, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. He is a big star on YouTube on the George Campbell Show and also, of course, co-host of the Smart Money Happy Hour and author of the brand-new book that comes out next week called Breaking Free from Broke, The Ultimate Guide to More Money and Less Stress.

There it is right there. All right. Courtney's with us. Courtney is in Colorado Springs. Hi, Courtney. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, thank you so much for having me. Sure. What's up? My question is, how do I protect or how does my husband and I protect our finances against his money-hungry ex-wife. Money-hungry ex-wife. Why would she have any access to your finances?

She's called the ex-wife for a reason. Basically, our main concern is, does she pull more child support when she finds out that he's been married? I'm sorry, would she get child support increase because he got a raise? Is that what you said? Because we got married, could she take more? She doesn't get more child support because you got married.

Child support is based on his income, not yours. Gotcha. Okay. So how else would the crazy ex have access to your husband's money that was the only way i was thinking i've heard that they do yearly audit they do someone they do because your husband your husband has children and he should support those children, and the law agrees with that idea. Correct. And if he gets more money as his income, he's supposed to give more to his children.

That's not a money-hungry ex. That's just dad taking care of his kids. Right. Has she contacted him? Is she making threats, or is this just all kind of in your head right now of what could happen? She hasn't contacted him. I guess this is just me trying to make sure we protect ourselves. Okay.

Well, you're in good shape. As long as your husband is willing to give the legal percentage of his income to his children under the law for child support, which he legally and morally should do. If you want protection from that, I can't help you. But as long as he's willing to do that, you don't need protection from anything else. She can't get anything else. She has no access.

Or if your husband is spineless and just gives her money because she yells at him or something. I mean, has he got that problem? No, she's not okay so he's not he doesn't just hand her money just because she puffs up or something right correct okay that's just a behavior issue that's not a legal or a financial issue but yeah i mean sometimes people are intimidated by their exes or whatever, and we have to just kind of correct that by saying, you know, ex in front is a reason. Ex means no more. No more. That's what that means.

We're making sure the courts decide how this goes down, not his emotions or her. And so that's the important part. And it sounds like this is largely right now just a fear versus a reality. Yeah. Like you have discovered that no one likes your husband's ex oh well that's really you know you know because she's a greedy jerk okay whatever that's fine no trouble uh but she's still over there and she's the ex and the only involvement you have is just around the children and so we'll try to be nice and pleasant and give

the appropriate amount of child support as long as you're trying to do that then uh i don't think you're going to have any issues there's nothing nothing she can just you know or unless she shows up at the doorstep and your husband just caves and starts handing her money but that's a husband issue that's not a protection issue then yeah this was simpler than i thought it'd be i thought there was some crazy stuff going on but it's just child support as far as we can tell. Yeah. So, very reasonable.

Well, there's a real dynamic when you're the new wife and the ex is over there in the distance. Crazy. There's still a connection point. That's a dynamic. Yeah. Those kids are still going to be in his life, so you're going to have to learn to manage it. Yeah, it's a thing. Christian's in Missouri.

Hi, Christian. How are you? Hello. I'm good. Christian. How are you? Hello. I'm good. Good. How can we help? I joined the Navy, and I'm leaving for boot camp in June. They cover most of your expenses, and so I have most of my five foundations covered.

After I get my $500 emergency fund set up, am I ready to start going to step five because I paid cash for my car, they pay for college, and I don't have any daily expenses that most civilians have to pay for. What should I do with the $2,000 paycheck I get? Yeah. So you're 18? Yes, sir. Thank you for serving your country, sir. And thanks for going through the personal finance curriculum. I can tell by the way you're talking, it stuck with you.

You went to that in high school, didn't you? I'm actually still in it. I'm graduating in May, and I'm taking it this year. Oh, wow. Fantastic. So boot camp is immediately after graduation, huh? Yes, sir. Wow, look at you.

Okay. Well, we will graduate you from the high school curriculum to the adult curriculum, which will mean you start with a fully funded emergency fund, which is three to six months of expenses. You're making $2,000 a month. Most things are furnished, so we might call that emergency fund $5,000, not $500. $500 is for high school students. Yes, sir. Okay, but now you're going to leave high school and enter the land of grown-ups, so we're going to put you on a grown-up plan, and that's going to be an

emergency. So your first goal is going to be a $5,000 emergency fund. You have no debt, right? Correct. Okay. You paid cash for the car, and so beyond the emergency fund you have no debt right correct okay you paid cash for the car and so beyond the emergency fund you can begin investing with earned income and maybe fully fund a roth ira and there's probably some retirement options through the navy i imagine okay maybe a tsp question is um in this curriculum we learn everything interest rates based on a 12% interest rate for compound interest. How do I actually get that good of an interest rate? Look at your TSP in the Navy.

It's the Thrift Savings Plan. They have a Roth version. You'll do that. If you look at the C plan in that, it's north of 11%. It's not quite 12% right now, average. At the C plan in that, it's north of 11%. It's not quite 12 right now, average. At the C plan? The C plan. It's the common stock plan.

Okay. I wouldn't put it all in there. I would put some in the S and in the I. The I is international. S is small cap. C is common stock. Those three. I'd probably put 80% in the C and 10 in the S and 10 in the I,

and that's your retirement plan, Roth Thrift Savings Plan, the TSP with the military, okay? Okay. And when you leave the military, you can roll that out to an IRA if you want to. Okay. How much would you recommend me putting in that retirement fund? 15% of your income after you have your $5,000 set aside. Okay. You're very wise to get ahead of this, Christian. I want you to continue all the way through boot camp to make sure you are writing down each month before the month begins where every dollar goes. Because there's a lot of really

stupid stuff 18 year olds in the military do with money and i don't want you doing any of that a lot of crazy crap out there son so just be careful continue to be calm and wise like you are right now and you're going to do really well you'll be so wealthy my friend thank you again for your service well george it's this week 300 000 people already know it's this week and some of you apparently didn't know but we're going to let you in on the secret you're invited to 300 000 you're invited easiest sales pitch ever because it's free what percent of americans say they live paycheck to paycheck the answer is generally for 30 years since i've been doing this around 70 so if you drive down your street somewhere around seven out of ten houses have too much month left at the end of the money and too much car in the driveway and too many boats and sea dues and sea dues all need a sister so you got two of them yeah crazy

just breeds and there you go this says americans say frequently live paycheck to paycheck according to recent survey harris poll that 65 do live paycheck to paycheck but you know either way you know what you can be looking good and broke that's most of america i mean it's land of land of the free, home of the broke, and we all look good, and we're comfortable with our payments until we're not. And that's why we're doing this thing. And George, did you know, you do know, but I'm going to pose this as a hypothetical question. I'm nervous I don't know. Yes, you do know.

I promise you. The stupid has a gravitational pull. Oh, that's a new science lesson. Yeah. Once you get in orbit to stupid, it holds you in the orbit. It has a gravitational pull to it. Is that one of Einstein'sstein's laws just keep going around it's a ramsey law but we we we adjust other laws of physics here to meet our it has a gravitational pull so if you want to break free of the orbit of stupid oh i like that it requires how do you break an orbit it requires

extra energy you can't just uh keep doing the same thing you got to do something different take some real inertia you got to you got to blow it up right and so that's what we're going to if you're stuck in the cycle of being scared of worrying about inflation worrying about interest rates worried about the president uh we can help you because we've been helping people for 30 years break the cycle. Your family curse is not a permanent thing. The neighborhood you grew up in is not a permanent thing. None of this is a permanent thing because you can decide. So to kick off the year, we're hosting a free live stream this Thursday, January the 11th at 7 p.m central time this is the biggest live stream we've ever done it's over 300 000 folks already registered it's me dr john deloney rachel cruz george camel to my right jade warshow all going to be talking about

navigating money anxiety breaking the cycle breaking the orbital pull of stupid bad money habits that keep you stuck, practical money tips that actually work. And for the first time ever, we're going to give away $10,000. 10 people are going to win $1,000 each as you are a viewer, not signed up. You are actually viewing because we will put it up there and you will have to be watching at that moment to qualify. So you need to be watching and signing up to do this. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash break the cycle and register. And then when you're watching, we'll know you're registered.

See, you can't just pop in there. So you get registered, break the cycle, ramseysolutions.com slash break the cycle. And it's going to be huge. It's already huge. Yeah, the numbers are boggling my mind. I think people already in 2024 are just a break free from broke, and they're not where they want to be financially, but they know there's hope out there, and hopefully we can step in and help them. That's how it works.

It's going to be fun. Looking forward to it. It's really, really cool. That's happening this week. Next week is the launch on Georgia's new book, so we're going to have a lot of fun things in the next couple of weeks here for you guys and i will be telling you more about the book a little bit later rita and charlie are with us they are in san jose california hey guys how are you great how are you better than i deserve what's up So I'm 50. I just married my husband, Charlie, for a year and a half. I bought a home 20 years ago in Santa Clara, which is nearby San Jose.

And the home is completely paid off. I just paid it in December. And it's probably worth $1.4 million. He has a house in the mountains that has about $200,000 less to pay off in mortgage. My dream has always been to get another home by the ocean in Mendocino. And so we recently just looked at a home there that was $300,000, needs a lot of repair, so probably around $500,000. So my husband's idea was to take out a loan on my house that was paid off. Where do y'all live? I don't really want to do that you live in any of these properties currently we do so we we live in the mountains part-time at his home and then we live in the

bay area in in my home when i work i'm a nurse oh i see okay so you live in the paid for home you've got a mountain home that's not paid for, and you're talking about going further in debt to buy a third home, a second toy. Yes. Okay. Well, you guys are fairly new to Ramsey. We teach folks to get out of debt and stay out of debt as the best path to build wealth. Okay. Not go into debt debt particularly for toys i've i've got you know vacation homes and

pay cash for them those are toys yes if you have a third house now you're splitting time between three houses you're consuming all all three of these houses partially when you add up what you are paying to stay there per night, it will make you throw up. Yeah. That's a toy. You need to be able to pay cash for that toy. So you're going to move backwards and go another half a million dollars into debt instead of moving forwards financially. No.

I would decide where I want to live. And what's your household income now? He's retired, so it's about one. Well, mine is like $180 between the two of us. Okay. I would have a game plan to get the mountain paid off, and once it's paid off, I would start investing and saving, and when I had some extra cash, I would buy the house on the beach.

That's what I thought. That's kind of grandma's old-fashioned way. Save up and pay for it. Yeah. But it works. Okay. You don't want to go backwards, because here's the thing. He's retired, so how old is

Charlie? He is here with me. He's oh he quit early okay he did he good for him there's heating and air conditioning okay cool well i got a feeling he could go make a ton of money by the way doing something if he wanted to just for the fun of it don't have to for sure but he could if you wanted to advance some of these um some of these goals um yeah you know so earning some income i'm 63 i mean i still work 40 hours a week so not because i have to just because i love what i do and um so that that's kind of a lot of he does a lot of work on the side so there's a lot of people who need us help yeah that's good okay so i mean, you do not want to enter your golden years with home debt.

That's what I figured. I said I don't want to have another 20, 30-year mortgage when I just paid it off. It destabilizes your golden years. Okay. And as we've studied millionaires, and studied 10 000 of them the vast majority of them have all of their home and everything paid for is one of the big elements of their million dollar net worth the other one is of course their investments okay and so i want you to you're millionaires already based on what you've told me because of just the equity in these two properties

i don't even know what your nest egg is. So you're a millionaire, but you don't want to go backwards and destabilize this. Debt adds risk. More debt adds more risk. And that's what was, when y'all started talking about this, Rita, and your stomach tightened up, that's what you were doing. You were measuring risk. Your stomach said, no.

Yeah, and HELOCs are going to put your home at risk. And so the bank could take your home if you default, you misstep in any way. And that's not the kind of retirement I want. No, you just, everything paid for, big old pile of money. This is retirement. This is the golden years, baby. And you're on your way. Congratulations on the new marriage.

So let's just take our time unfold this the right way go with uh rita's plan not charlie's sorry charlie sorry literally finally we've been waiting for that one day ready to say that but you know there you go this is the ramsey show george camel ramsey personality is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America. The phone number here is 888-825-5225. The Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by Neighborly, your hub for home services. Neighborly offers a helpful winter maintenance checklist that you can download for free at Neighborly.com.

And for the more challenging stuff in and around your home, Neighborly has local pros to help. Find out more at neighborly.com slash Ramsey. Today's question comes from Sam in Michigan. Uncle Dave, I'm 37, married with no kids yet. My net worth is $1.1 million, 600 in portfolio, 500 in equity in my home, which is worth 900. I make about $200,000 a year, have no consumer debt, and have our three-month emergency fund.

I just got into hunting, and there's several shotguns and rifles I want, but the missus doesn't see why I need so many guns. Uncle Dave, being a man of great means with many guns, what is a fair ratio? He said, I'm also about to pull the trigger on a new Lund Rebel XL as my first fishing and hunting boat. It's $39,000 out the door. I'm paying cash for it, but would be pulling the money from my portfolio to do so.

I feel it passes the burn it on the floor test. What is your take? Thanks so much for your time. This is a fun question. Live like no one else, so later you get to live and give like no one else well done sam and michigan yeah that's fun that's fun sam the only thing i'll tell you is is that there seems to be a a ratio that every time i get a gun she gets a new expensive purse tit for tat there seems to be a trade-off there so um that's the only thing i'll

tell you all i heard here was about you buying stuff i didn't hear anything about her getting stuff so i think there's some uh some enjoyment with money that you're learning to do that is within reason and um it's not a certain number but But all kidding aside, it actually does generally cost me a purse, depending on the gun or something else. But, yeah, I'm going to get one. It's like revenge spending. Yeah, none of this has to do with money. This is just her feelings about him owning all of these toys. I can tell you Sharon has exactly the same opinion.

She has no need to understand why I need all these firearms. But she doesn't know about zombies. That's right. The zombie apocalypse. I mean, you have to be ready. So, no, seriously, dude, it's just a toy. It's just a thing. I mean, whether you're collecting guns, whether you're collecting.

Whatever the hobby is. Whatever your hobby is. Whatever the thing is you collect whatever the thing you enjoy doing hunting uh you know boats skiing fishing whatever the trick is just to keep it in balance and that both of you have a say so so i and all all joking aside i still do talk to sharon we don't do any purchases around our place without both of us being in on it i don't walk in and go i just spent eight thousand. We don't do any purchases around our place without both of us being in on it. I don't walk in and go, I just spent $8,000. I don't do that. Um, I could, but it just doesn't, it's not how we got here. The way we got here is working together and both of us communicating and talking about it. And she doesn't go spend $8,000 on a whatever without talking to me.

And you know, we did, but 99% of the time it's like yeah sure because it's it's it fits the burn test i can burn that much money in the middle of the floor that means we can enjoy the item it's not going to cause us financial trouble we're not buying it for someone else we don't we quit doing that a long with the right motive yeah so you're and he's not he's not buying these guns for some he enjoys buying them for him so uh so is the key, you know, Dave doesn't have to value all the things Sharon values, and Sharon doesn't have to value all the things Dave values, but there's communication involved, and she goes, okay, it's in the budget. You're paying cash.

You're probably experiencing this around purchasing things for the new baby. Oh, yes. There are things that you don't understand. I don't, you know, most men don't understand China cabinets. I still don't. We don't understand China that we don't use, and we don't understand an expensive cabinet to put it in. None of this makes sense to us.

It was up to me. We just used paper plates. Just throw them out. See, there you go. And if it was up to her, he'd have a BB gun. That's right. So there you go. So, I mean, it's just there's some things like you don't have to understand

everything to see that your spouse gets joy from it and that it is a reasonable purchase within the thing now where we do run into troubles when someone buys a boat and puts it on payments that you know they got sixty thousand dollars in credit card debt and they want to buy an eight thousand dollar shotgun now that's just that's childish that adds financial stress to the family yeah that's that's not that's the opposite of what we're talking about he's got a million dollar net worth he's 37 years old so he can afford a shotgun or she can afford a nice purse or whatever the thing is that you're worried about there uh the trick is when you get out of control with it so you're just trying to do that and uh i mean true i'm kidding around i'm

being snarky about it but it's really no joke. There are things that I buy that Sharon agrees to, but has no understanding why I want them at all. And the same with her. I'm like, you want to do, you know what? I mean, she took a trip with a bunch of girls this summer, and I'm like, really? There? You want to go there?

But I'm not going, so what do I care? She wanted to go. Yeah, it's her experience you know let her have it that's the thing so just just hold things with an open hand but i i the the biggest glaring thing i see in this sam is not whether you can afford to do it uh is that you didn't mention a single thing that she gets to do while you're doing all these things and you really do have to have some what of a balance it's not tit for tat exactly you know like four thousand six hundred and twenty two dollars i get she gets to spend

a thirty nine thousand dollar purse that's yeah that's it could happen but um yeah yeah so there you go i mean that you just you don't have to understand everything she didn't have to understand everything can we do it and it doesn't affect our family negatively and do we still have room in the budget to invest do we still have room in the budget to give if this goes sideways um has have i caused myself a problem and none of that none of that's here no do you see it no i mean it looks good on paper it's more the relational issue now you just left out that. I get called Uncle Dave twice in the email. I like that.

That's pretty cool. It's better than Grandpa Dave, right? Papa Dave. That's nice. That's what the grandkids call me. That's reserved for the grandkids. That's not insulting. Not for 37-year-old men.

Well, there you go. You get Uncle for that. There you go. I'll go with that. All right. Melody is with us in Denver. Hi, Melody. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Happy Monday, gentlemen. Hey, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How are you two doing? Better than we deserve. What's up? Okay. Let me present my question, and then I can talk a little bit about myself.

Question. My husband and I do not have any debt. Good. The only exception is our mortgage. And while we are saving for our three to six-month emergency fund, do you think that's a good idea we also do some investment in the meantime? If yes, what kind of investment tool would you recommend? Well, thanks for the question, Melody. I love that you guys are on that stage. It's a fun place to be when you're building for the future instead

of paying for the past. And if you're following through with the Ramsey Baby Steps, you guys are in Baby Step 3, and those are done one at a time, one through three. And so baby step three, three to six months of expenses and a fully funded emergency fund. Once you have that and only when you have that, should you begin investing 15%. And the reason is because you need financial foundation under you. Because if you're investing and you don't have the emergency fund in place, you're still at risk here. And so the goal is to kind of eat the vegetables first, get out of debt, get the emergency fund. Now we can invest 15% with no problem versus people investing 3% while trying to save, while trying to pay off debt. We found that if you do too many things at once, you won't make any progress. Yeah. You know, for years, George, we had folks that,

well, they get a match at work and they're just really geared up about the power of compound interest. They really want to start investing. And so they go stinking load up their 401K and have no money at all in an emergency fund. Well, guess what? They go back into debt. No. Well, they'll go back in debt, or they'll use their 401K for their emergency fund. You know, the car transmission goes out.

I got no money. You know. Under the 401K, though. I got to get two airline tickets to get over across the other side of the United States somewhere. And, you know, that four grand ends up as a 401k loan, a credit card debt, or worse than that, they cash it out because you did things in the wrong order. You get penalized, not technically penalized by the government, but penalized just called

stupid tax. Yeah. Well, baby, step three, it's a hard one. You don't have the excitement of paying off debt. You don't have the excitement of investing, but you've got to make this a priority to get that emergency fund in place. Yeah, you need a rainy day fund. Takes the drama out of life.

Yeah. Dave, you ought to be positive. I'm positive. It's going to rain. You need a rainy day fund. This is The Ramsey Show. George Camel, Ramsey Personalities. My co-host today, Lamar, is in St. Louis.

Hey, Lamar, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hey, thanks, Dave. Good talking to you. You too, man. What's up? I guess around 2010 or so, maybe a little bit before that, I started listening to some of your, I don't know whether it was a podcast, or I think it was even tapes or something that you put out.

And since then, you know, I've used all your information to make myself do the things that you were doing. I don't know whether you called, baby steps back then or not, but I started doing it. And I'm 63 now. And I've been doing it for all this time. Did it work? And I finally, excuse me. Did it work?

Well, it worked a little too well, I think. At a point now in my life, I'm 63. I was raised on a farm, so I've been working since I was six. And I sit and watch some people retire, and they'll go sit on the couch, and they expire the next year. Yeah, absolutely. And right now I could do that if I wanted to. What's your net worth? But I'd say $4 million to $5 million or something like that.

Yeah, way to go. I'm proud of you. But, you know, I've got probably five years of cash for emergencies, and then I've got land. i don't owe anybody any money i got a nice home i've got an i got investment real estate way to go it's paid for it needs to be uh developed but i'm not going to attack that so my question to you is you know i'm kind of post ramsey now what now. What kind of – No, you are poster Ramsey.

You're the poster child for Ramsey. You did it, man. You live like no one else now. You're in a position. So your question is what to do now? Yeah, what's next? Will you enjoy what you do for work still and you're able to do it? Well, you know, I'm getting to a point where you look at Brown.

I work for a corporation. And, you know, you're sitting there thinking, okay, you could go out, you'd be fine. I'm getting beat somewhat of a dinosaur, I guess, even though I'm a chemical engineer. But the thing is, you know, should I move on? I mean, there's no pressure from the company to get rid of me. It's just one of those things, you know should i move on i mean there's no pressure from the company to get rid of me it's just one of those things you know it's just a question of if you if you hate going if you hate going to work every day you've earned the right to quit and do something else and you could go start a little business or you could develop that land i mean you can find something to do

yeah i already own a business on the side too okay i mean but if you don't if you like going to work and you like the people and you know there's nobody says you have to quit right people people think that but you know dave's still here yeah and i'll be here a while longer lord well in the creek doesn't rise right yeah you know and the other thing i do is see i want a training facility for uh diamond sports for uh pitching and hitting and everything else that's associated with baseball and fast pitch softball wow is that kind of a passion project on the side things like is that a passion project or something you're doing for money lamar are you doing that baseball thing as a passion project or something you're just doing for money? Passion, pure passion.

If you worked over there every day, would that make you happy? Well, you know what I'm thinking? I'm hoping that may take up some of my time. I don't know where to take it all. We put that in in 2018, and it was put in specifically for fast-pitch softball, and it's baseball now too. But by 2021, we started winning state

championships in our little area here in fast pitch softball so it was very effective and this is not a promo i'm just trying to tell you what yeah but but it's almost a bucket list thing and i've almost marked it off well you could you could expand it, take it to another community. You could have five of them in five years instead of just one of them. Or you can just keep running that. You said something about developing that land. You might do that. You know, I've cut back to four days a week.

I don't work Fridays most of the time. If we're doing something around here, I come in. But most of the time I'm off. And that gives sharon and i time to do stuff and uh i can work i can piddle around with those stuff here and there but uh you know it's up to you i enjoy what i do and so i will my plan is to do it as be on this microphone as long as i make sense when i quit making sense james is going to take me off and we're going to blame george that's. We'll probably meet both of us at that point.

We'll probably just run reruns. Wow, you think you won't make sense? You know what? You're planning on going early. Yeah, I'll go with you, Dave. You're going to get like early. Whenever you go, I'll go. Early retirement.

I'm kidding. I don't think so. We'll have AI, Dave, by then, so I'm not worried about that. But I do like the idea of Lamar dreaming a little bit. That's what we're trying to get him to do is just write some of these things down, things that you've been itching to do for a long time and never got around to it. And if you enjoy your work as a chemical engineer and the people are reasonable and the company's reasonable and you want to keep doing it, there's nothing.

It says you've got to quit just because you've got $5 million. And he's right. The people that check out and just sit on the couch. They expire. I like the way he put that. The people that check out and just sit on the couch. They expire. I like the way he put that. It's like bad cereal. It expired. This mustard expired.

Don't leave the milk on the counter. It expires. That's right. He's right. That's what happens. Because, you know, man was made to do stuff. Woman was made to do stuff. He's not scared of work, and he doesn't hate it.

It's a beautiful thing. Yeah, that's fun. You don't have to follow what everybody else says to do it didn't you didn't you didn't get five million dollars doing that kelly in milwaukee how are you hi i'm good thanks for taking my call sure what's up um so my question today is about whole life insurance um so my husband has a um full life insurance policy that was started for him by his grandparents when he was a baby. I'm sorry. The old grouper plan.

And luckily we are not paying the premiums on it. Yeah. His parents are paying the premiums. Yuck. And it currently has a $70,000 cash value. And so I want to know if it would be a good idea to cash that out at this point and use it for a larger down payment on a house. Yes.

Okay, then. Do you have children? We do, yes. Do you have life insurance? We do. Enough to take care of you if your husband dies or vice versa without this whole life policy? Yes.

Good. Cash it in and use that money for something good. Sitting in a whole life policy, it's making 1%. And when he dies, they're going to keep $70,000 and pay only the face value of that policy. Whole life life insurance is the payday lender of the middle class. They've been screwing and tattooing the public for decades. Since they were babies.

Getting away with it. Since they were babies. They have put so much money into this policy that it makes me want to barf for there to be seventy thousand dollars in there yeah and me and my husband know that like we're not going to be are you in control of this policy can you all cash it out or you got to talk the parents into it um we would have to talk to his parents but they are very open to us doing what we want with it good cash it out use it for a down payment on the house good question and you already knew that we were going to say that i'm sure easy and that's a good caveat dave when people go hey i'm going to cancel this whole life policy make sure that you have term life in place, 10 to 12 times your income. First. Yes, before you cancel it.

You don't want any gap in coverage there. Right. That's when the devil comes for you. So, you know, you want to make sure that you're protected and you don't have any gaps and then cancel the whole life policy. Yeah. But, man, it hurts. That sunk cost fallacy of we've been paying these premiums for decades since Jimmy was in diapers. It's somehow sentimental at that point.

It's so special to us. Gosh. I don't know how they market these whole life policies so well that Gerber got involved and went, we can make some money off of these guys. Gerber's been doing it as long as I've been on the air. But, I mean, buying investment products from a baby food company. That just smells like a dirty diaper. It kind of sounds stupid to start with, doesn't it, when you just say it that way? I mean, it's just like, you know, I'm going to buy my clothes at the transmission store.

Yeah, buying any insurance as an investment product stinks, but buying it from a baby food company is next level. It's just something there, something very interesting. Hopefully we can reverse the trend, Dave. A cute little kid on the outside of a ripoff policy a little baby i think that's what does it a little cherub a little cherub on that cherub on the outside jar of sweet potato oh my goodness both make me want to barf uh this is the Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time.