The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Set Financial Boundaries in My Relationships? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Ken Coleman & George Kamel answer your questions and discuss:  "Should I sell my Tesla?" Buying a house, "Creating financial boundaries with my parents" "Should I start a restaurant?" "How do I start tackling my debt?" Support Our Sponsor: Neighborly Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Join a Personality-led FPU class. Click here! Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3cEP4n6 Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Interested in advertising on The Ramsey Show? https://ter.li/s64ye3 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Potts Moving and Storage Studio, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win with your money, your work, and your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague, George Campbell. The phone number to jump in is toll-free. It's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

Let's go to San Diego, California. I love that city, George. Beautiful area. One of the many reasons. No bugs. I didn't think about that. No bugs. We live in the South where mosquitoes can carry a toddler i

don't go outside unless i have to yeah not in san diego my friend uh all right so lena ray is there let's go how can we help lena ray hello hi how are you guys we're great what's going on so i'm in a dilemma because I'm in the military, and I'm transferring out within about a year, I'd say 12 months, 12 months to 14 months from now. But I'm in the baby steps. I'm currently in baby step number two, and I'm thinking about selling my car.

I just don't know how to go about that. I'm just afraid, I guess, to take the next step and choose a car. How much loan should I take? all right so first and foremost we want to say thank you for serving our country you are a great american thank you very much for that tell us about this car that you're thinking about selling so i currently owe 40 000 on it it is a is a Tesla. Oh, Tesla. You're talking to the right guy today with George. George likes Teslas. So you owe 40.

I have a great interest rate on it. There's no such thing. I'm sorry to break it to you. The best interest rate is 0% with a $0 payment. That's what I got on my Tesla. So now why do you want to sell this Tesla? Why are you calling us, asking us about selling this? Is it killing you? Is the car payment killing you? Let's be honest. Absolutely. And you're not even driving it much? I'm not driving it much, no. Okay. And

what's it worth? After plugging in the numbers at a higher value, maybe $38,000 to $39,000 right now. Let's say you sold it for $40,000. That leaves you with no money to buy a car. Do you have any cash on hand? Just my $1,000 saved. Okay. And no other debt? No, I actually do have a lot more debt, and that's why I'm trying to sell it. Okay, so this is one step. I have $75,000 with the car.

What's the other debt? It's all consumer debt on credit cards. Okay. So you got $35,000 in credit card debt? Yep. What's the interest rate on that? The highest interest rate on one of the cards is 27%. Oh, my gosh. Oh, I need some Pepsi to see immediately.

Okay, heartburn. I'm almost done paying that one off. Good. Well, absolutely, we are selling this car. Are you going to need a car ASAP to get around? Yes. Okay, so can we get you a little beater car? Let's say you waited to sell this Tesla for three months,

and whatever you have saved in three months, we're going to find you a cheap car. Is that reasonable? Yeah. What's your income? Total income, I would say $9,000 after taxes. A month? Yes. And how much of that do you have after paying your minimum payments on your debts?

How much could you save towards that beater car? I'm only paying minimum. I think I can save within three months about $6,000. Okay. Oh, boy. All right. I'm on the hunt. San Diego, used car, $6,000.

George, I'm going to look some up here. You are going to find the exact opposite of what you're driving now. What model Tesla is this? A Model Y. Okay. All right. So you're going to find the exact opposite of what you're driving now. What model Tesla is this? A Model Y. Okay. All right. So you're going to miss that Tesla, and whatever's next is going to be the saddest, worst thing you've ever driven.

For now. The good news is we're going to get you back in a Tesla, if that's what you so choose, later on down the line once we are debt-free with a fully funded emergency fund, and we're going to do it with no payments. We're going to pay cash. I'm ready for it. Does that sound good? Yes. Okay. I'm glad you're willing to make the sacrifice. Most people calling in are even unwilling to sell the car. So the fact that you're going, should I sell it? I feel like I need to. And you have a great income. You're

making six figures. Yeah. So we're going to knock out the rest of this credit card debt real fast without that payment. What's that Tesla payment right now? $837. Oof. Can you imagine having almost $900 back in your life to throw at this credit card debt? $837 a month. Game changer. Oh, my gosh. Because you're probably paying $800 in interest on those credit cards right now, at least.

Right. Yep. Ugh. Lena Rae, we are pulling for you to knock out this debt fast. Is there any way you can create more income? Yeah. So I'm actually, I've been doing DoorDash and I did it for one weekend just to try it out and only did maybe like 14 hours and made 400 bucks. That's awesome. Whoa. That's incredible. The good news about DoorDash is no one gives a rip what you drive. That's true. They just care that their food got there and it's still warm.

Isn't that the truth? And if you're that embarrassed by it, I'm a fan of just pulling 500 yards down the street. They don't see it. That's true. Nobody cares, to your point. Sure. Good for you. Well, that's awesome.

Lena Rae, drive like no one else until later on you can drive like no one else. You're doing it the right way. Well said. Proud of you. And again, thank you for your service. You are a great American, and you've got this. Let's go to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Jackson is on the line. Jackson, how can we help?

Hey, hey, hey. How are you guys doing? We're having a blast. What's going on? Awesome, awesome. Okay, so me and my wife are out of Baby Step 2. We have Baby Step 3 done. We were going to save for a house,

but I really, really want to be a pilot as my long-term career eventually. And if we go that route, we would be putting off buying a house for several years because flight school is quite pricey and it takes a while. So I just want to know, what would you guys do? I would do whatever it takes to get through the pilot training without any debt at all. And if that means putting off multiple things, that's what I would do. Because there's no reason to have any debt for this. It is expensive. But when you come out of this thing, you're going to be one of the few pilots who have no debt, and you're going to be flying the friendly skies, debtfree and the house will still be there. So I would do whatever it takes not to go into debt cashflow. How long would that take to save up in cashflow this?

So it's about, um, it's 95,000 for all seven ratings. And, um, then I have to be an instructor to build my hours for, for a couple of years. So I'd say it would probably take about three years to save up and then probably another two or three years to go through everything because while doing a full-time job here, it will be hard to go faster than that. So get through the training and everything, and then I'd have to be a flight instructor for maybe a couple years. So I'm looking at, I mean, it's a long road. It's like going to med school. It is. And you have a spouse? Yes. What do they think? Yeah, they're very supportive. She's very supportive

of me. She wants a house. I mean, we've kind of talked like, hey, we can rent a house eventually. I mean, like, if we want to have more space, we can still rent in the future and she's okay with that. And she's completely on board as well. Well, that's huge. That's the most important part. Because then you're going to be willing to do whatever it takes. Because we agreed on this vision for our life and it may take longer. It may look different, but I love that you're choosing your reality and we can't have the cake and eat it too. We want the house. We want to do the pilot, but we've got to choose which one is the priority. And here's the thing, Jackson, I'm not saying you're going to do this, but it could be very

easy for someone in your situation on a long journey like this to start to feel guilty about midway through and your wife is still supportive. She's on board for the vision, but all of a sudden you go, oh, I feel like we got to get a house and we just slip into debt. Don't do it. Stay the course. It's going to work out. Don't move. More of your calls coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show, America. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by my colleague, George Kemmel. We're here for you this hour as we answer your questions about money, about your work, and about your relationships. All three of those areas of your life, they just have a way, George, of bleeding into each other. If you're not winning in one, it tends to affect

the other. And we are here for you this hour, 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's go to Megan, who joins us in Atlanta, Georgia. Megan, how can we help? Hi, thank you so much for taking my call. I'm a recent graduate. I just got my master's degree and I'll be working for the first time pretty soon. And I just wanted to know how to go about establishing financial boundaries with my parents. Uh-oh. So the very question here, George, tells me that you feel like there aren't some healthy boundaries now. They're crossing some lines. I'm just curious, what is the source of this? What are you concerned about as maybe not being a boundary? What's going on?

Tell us a little bit more. So I had the gracious displeasure my last year of grad school living with a family member. And they didn't charge me at all. And they even opened up saying like, hey, we get you're just starting out you know like you can stay with us longer um i definitely had planned on you know giving like a monetary gift uh monthly um even though it's not required um however my dad is kind of like very just expectant of like how much are you going to give and i kind of was like oh I think that's for me and that family member to discuss and so he's not involved in this in the actual transaction it's not his place he's not has he's just gone well you should be paying him um he um well I

had already established that I am but I guess he's kind of just like insistent on knowing how much I would be paying them and like creating like that number for me instead of me and that family member talking to ourselves. And what is your response been to him when he said digging? I, I told him, you know, that I'll talk to it with the family member and he definitely wasn't happy about it um he said you know I as as as my father I shouldn't keep information like that I'm being secretive so I I just want to go about like you know I do love my dad and everything but I do think it's time for

me as an adult to like you know be on be on my own. And so just trying to find that balance. All right. So let me, let me ask a question. Is it that you don't want to pay the amount that he's suggesting or you just don't want his, his input at all? And the reason I asked that is because what's the big deal with you just going, dad, here's what I've decided. I'm happy to tell you. It's not a secret. I'm just deciding what I'm giving and it feels like he just wants to have input and I'm just wondering why is it that big of a deal for you to just say to him all right this is what I'm paying dad you want to know what I'm going to do it. Okay, so this to you is a clear dividing line by saying, I'm not even going to tell you.

It's just between me and this other family member. Yes. So what is his motivation? You know him better than anyone. What do you think's behind this? I know his motivation is definitely just to like, I know his motivation is definitely just to, I guess, make sure that family members aren't talking and thinking I'm just mooching. There we go. It's his reputation on the line. Yeah, essentially. Okay. That's what I was digging for. Yep. Because the motive matters.

Some parents are just going, you know, they have the, they looking out for you. They want the best for you. But this feels like if they find out through the grapevine of the family that she's only paying 300 bucks, they're going to be coming at me going, wow, your daughter's so cheap. And that's a reflection on that. Yeah. Okay. Well, this is a, as our friend, Dr. Henry Cloud would say, you've got to draw the boundary line, the property line that marks what you're responsible for and what he's responsible for. And this is not his responsibility. And if it's going to put a tear in the relationship, that's on him, not on you.

And I know that's hard to say, but it may cause a rift that is unrepairable, depending on his response. Do you think it's something that's going to last a long time, or do you think he's going to get over it eventually? I'm hoping and praying it doesn't last a long time. I definitely told my parents that I am thankful for everything, but I do think just me as an adult going forward, these are just some things I should kind of keep to myself for running my finances. So this conversation has already happened.

Yeah, yeah. And how is it so far? What was his reaction? He wasn't happy. Yeah, but I understand he wasn't happy. I want to know, what was his reaction? When you say not happy happy did that mean he was gave you the silent treatment did it mean no he definitely you know definitely blew up which is

expected um i'm sorry definitely did the whole like you know as your father which is expected um my mom was also not the happiest but she's more understanding. Like, you know, I'm not happy, but I understand what you have to do. How long ago was this? Kind of like a couple hours. Oh, okay. This is fresh. So this is like the hot now sign at Krispy Kreme Donuts. I mean, this is fresh.

Yeah. Well, do you believe you did the right thing, yes or no? I do. I do. Okay. I do. Parents are the best at making us feel guilty and selfish for our decisions.

Yeah, I think you have to hold the line to say, I love you too. I respect you. I'm sorry you feel the way that you feel, but I'm still your girl. Your values are intact. I'm doing the right thing. And cast a vision on what this is going to look like going forward. And so that they get their mind off of this fear that George pulled up on here. I mean, he figured your dad out pretty quick on this deal. And so it's, it's just some selfishness going on here, but it's what I would call, uh, it's unintentional.

Your dad's just worried about you, his reputation, the whole nine yards. And you know what? He's having a hard time letting go of you. So I would tell you to, and I feel like you have the spirit on you right now, but the spirit of grace, of understanding, compassion for dad, which is hard to have compassion for somebody that blows up on you. Yeah. And I'm going to do you one better, Megan. We're actually going to send you a copy of our friend Dr. Henry Cloud's book, Boundary. So hang on the line and we'll make sure you're sent that book. And it may be one you give to dad, not passive aggressively, but you're saying, dad, this book has been really helpful for me. I'm learning all this now as I'm becoming an adult,

how to have these really hard conversations. I found it helpful, not just for this, but for all areas of life. And I think you'd get a lot of value out of it too. I think you're right, Ken. Dad's having a hard time letting go. He's used to being able to tell the daughter what to do. She's a grown woman now.

She gets to make her own decisions. And based on what I heard from her, she's very respectful. I think so too. She's got her life together. She's not doing anything out of control. Yeah. You know what it makes me think of?

I was reading, and I'm sure you've seen these lists before. They're quite popular. In fact, there was a bestselling book written by an Australian nurse that she was a hospice nurse. And she published this book on the top regrets of people who are dying. Oh. the top regrets of people who are dying. And one of the top five regrets of people who are dying is, I wish I had lived the life that was true to what I wanted to live. In other words, and as you start to unpack that phrase, you realize that these were people who made big decisions in life that pleased others. Based on the expectations of others.

That did not please themselves. And so what happens is, is if you don't establish boundaries here, and you're always trying to make decisions that please others that are in absolute conflict with what you believe you should do, you are going to be a person who dies with regret. And it's that important. Yeah. Well, I've heard this quote, and Dr. John Deloney is quoting another psychologist physician when he says, choose guilt over resentment. Yeah, right.

That's the healthiest way to go about your life. Resentment will eat you alive. Oh, yeah. Guilt is something we go, okay, feel guilty for telling that off, but at least I'm not resentful. So true. I'd rather disappoint somebody than resent them. Than live an inauthentic life. Isn't that true?

Man. Wow. Well, Megan, we got the book coming for you. I'd rather disappoint somebody than resent them. Than live an inauthentic life. Isn't that true? Man. Wow. Well, Megan, we got the book coming for you. You read it and live it. It's really, it's going to be a game changer and set you free. Thank you so much for the call. All right, folks.

Quick commercial break. More of The Ramsey Show coming up. Don't move. Welcome back, America. You are joining the conversation here on The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by George Camel. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. You got a work question?

Not happy? But you're freaking out? I'm in the baby steps. Can I interrupt my income? Do I need to? You got a money question? Well, we are here for you. 888-825-5225. A lot of you are

planning to move sometime soon, and that's always exciting. But we've got to get real with you here. In most places around the country, you're going to be facing some sky-high home prices. Interest rates are not going to return to their record lows anytime soon, but that doesn't make it impossible to own a home. If you want to buy or sell, you've got to make sure that you're financially ready and that you've got to make sure that you're financially ready and that you've got a trusted and experienced real estate agent to walk you through it, not Uncle Larry who just got his license last month. You need a pro who's a true expert.

You can find a high-caliber Ramsey-trusted agent like that through our endorsed local providers program, and we vet the agents around the country so you're going to get the best support whether you're moving from Florida to Alaska or buying your first home somewhere in between. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash agent. That's ramseysolutions.com slash agent. Let's go to Atlanta, Georgia. Sarah is on the line.

Sarah, how can we help? Hi there. Here's my question. I am 54 years old, and i just got out of debt i am a substitute teacher who is building her emergency fund as we speak is it impractical for me to dream about owning a building at my age that would house my own llc restaurant. And how old are you? You broke up when you told us. Maybe that's God. No.

There's no shame in your game, but it does play into our answer. How old? 54. Okay, 54. Got it. And what is your current income? um well it's um i make um one thousand roughly one thousand seven hundred dollars a month and how often are you substitute teaching to make that um i a 14 day about 14 days roughly a month okay and what about the other, you know, 16 or so days in the month? Are you working?

I mean, it varies. No. Okay. It's not right at 14, but it just depends on, I'm classified as on call. So it just depends on when they meet me, that kind of thing. Okay. The reason I ask is to figure out how we can get you closer to your goal. And income is a huge part of that. We always say that your greatest wealth building tool is your income. And Ken is so good at helping people increase that, which is a huge part of getting to this goal. You said you're in baby step three, you're getting the emergency fund in place. That's great. Do you have anything in retirement? No. no okay so so okay so so it's going to take we've got to stop looking at time and i understand the

heart of your question but you at this situation the time will take care of itself the answer to your original question is it realistic for me at 54 to think about owning a building that I could then have a restaurant in. It's realistic, yes, based on activity and your income. And right now you are not making much money at all. And so the clock is ticking really fast for you. And so the more income you can make, then we get more realistic on what that timeframe looks like. But I lived in the Atlanta, Georgia area for a long time. What area do you live in? I live on the south side. Live on the south side.

Okay, so have you even looked at a building that would house what you want to do with it and you have any idea what that would cost in your area? Yes, I have looked at that. Okay, what are we looking at cost-wise? $178,000. Okay, see, now we've got a number. And so how long will it take us to save up $178,000? Because we don't want you going into debt for this building, okay?

Because you really are at this stage of the game. You don't have much retirement at all. You're working through Baby Step 3, which is great. So this is going to have to be a get-after-it hustle situation. And so if the number's five years, seven years, 10 years, that number is determined by the income that you can make. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. And then we have, and did I hear you say restaurant, that you wanted to have a restaurant as well in this building? Yes, I want to own the building and move my LLC restaurant in. I've already got my LLC status for my restaurant, but I just need a building.

Okay, but what other cost are you running this from? Yeah, where are you running it? I don't want to rent because it's like $7,000 or $8,000 a month, and I want to put that money toward my humanitarian efforts because I have a humanitarian edge to my LLC restaurant. Are you running a restaurant right now? No, we exist on paper. That's it. Okay, that's what I thought.

So it's an LLC, but it's not a restaurant. George, I mean, we got to, this is an income issue. Sarah, I want to be realistic. Based on your income right now, this dream is not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Based on your income right now, we would need to increase this by a whole lot. And I want to think about how does Sarah retire one day? Let's just say the restaurant doesn't happen.

We need a game plan. Yeah. So we need to figure out how do we start investing. Do you have a home currently? Yes. Is it paid for? Yes. It is paid off. Okay. What's the home worth? What's the what? What is the home worth? It's worth 80,000. Okay. And that's pretty much all you have to your name plus your emergency fund. Okay. Yes. So I want you to start thinking about developing a plan so that 10 years from now at 64, we've developed a little bit of a nest egg by investing. That may start with a Roth IRA for you,

maxing that out. But we also need to get our income up to do that. Right now, we don't have money to invest. We don't have money to save towards this restaurant and we're not going to be able to buy a building in cash. So it may start with, I'm going to go work at a restaurant, learn the ins and outs of the business, get in with the manager, maybe take over management one day so that when the time comes, I'm ready to do this thing. Okay. Would you be willing to do that, to go work at a restaurant and learn all the ins and outs of the business? I would be willing to start from the ground up. I have a college degree.

So Sarah, I'm jumping in real quick. So we've got to start to get some real numbers for you to see. We've got to get out of our head, and we've got to get some real numbers. So you've got to increase your income to the level that, as George is saying, that you actually can put 15% of your income away in Baby Step 4, because that's first and foremost. It's more important than the restaurant. And then after that, in a given year, you're going to have to be able to put $20,000 to $30,000 away a year, George, on minimum, just to get to the point where we can buy a $178,000, $180,000 building plus any startup

cost. And I'm concerned about the startup cost of the restaurant. There's equipment. Well, and truthfully, the rate at which restaurants fail is scary. It's enormous. I want you to do so much research, do so much homework, talk to actual restaurant owners, whether they've been successful or unsuccessful, learn from these people before you jump in, because I'm worried at this point we're never going to be able to retire. And that's my biggest concern for you right I agree and so Sarah this is not in any way meant to dash the dream I just want you to have a realistic picture of what you're dealing with you're looking at on the low end twenty to thirty thousand dollars a

year that you'd have to save you start multiplying that at 54 how many years we're talking about and that's going to be a very sobering picture but but a picture you need to see. Okay. And here's why. You could buy a building and may never launch a restaurant in it. But if you buy the building down the line and it becomes a part of your retirement strategy, or maybe you get involved in a restaurant and work your way up into management and get involved and maybe buy equity into it. I mean, the point is, is that why are you dreaming about a restaurant? I'm not going to make you answer that, but we may have to adjust the details of the dream, but keep the essence of the dream because of the financial realities, George.

That's where we sit. And so if we can't do this, what can we do that meets that same heartfelt desire that she thinks the restaurant, this LLC would meet? And I'm always a fan of starting small and doing it with cash. That may mean eventually, maybe one day we have a food truck. And maybe one day that food truck becomes so successful, we have the brick and mortar store. I love the food truck. And one day we get so successful with that, we buy the building and we own. That's the stair-stepping I want here. That's really good advice. Sarah, thank you so much for the call. Do the homework, get a real picture of what you're dealing with, and now you've got a plan that you can attack.

Thank you again for the call. He's George Camel. I'm Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Camel, 888-825-5225. Here's the phone number to jump in. Today's scripture of the day is Proverbs 4, 25 and 26. Let your eyes look directly ahead. Let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established.

Our quote of the day, George, you must have picked this one. I know you're a big Shaq fan. I had nothing to do with it, but I'm a fan. I'd love to see you and Shaq side by side in a picture. We've seen Muggsy Bogues out there. That's pretty much what we're going to get. You like that reference? It's about the same thing. I love that. Today's quote from Shaquille O'Neal, excellence is not a singular act, but I have it. You are what you repeatedly do. I don't know.

Do you think Shaq said that? It feels like we could have put anyone's name there, and I would have believed it. So it's plausible. Shaq's funny. I love Shaq. He had a podcast for a while. He's got some great quotes. I just don't see him saying it that way.

That one feels too serious. It is. He's a great dude, though. Very funny guy. I had a chance to meet him once. When he shook my hand, it was like my entire arm went into his hand. It was like a baseball mitt? Yeah, essentially.

Wow. Fantastic. 888-825-5225 is the number. Providence Road Island is where we go next. Jaden is there. Jaden, how do we help? How's it going? Good.

What's going on uh yeah so just uh shortly briefly uh summarize my my situation i'm uh 21 years old i uh when i graduated high school originally i went and took a year and a half of college and um my major kind of just i kind of lost interest covid was happening i was I was online. So I gained some student loans. And from there, I switched careers and I went into the iron workers. So I'm in that union now. And I have about $9,200 of debt right now. And that's counting $500 of credit from my credit card. I'm just honestly looking for the best way or some financial advice to go from here because I'm doing monthly payments currently, but I feel like it's just going nowhere.

Okay. So we've got about 8,700 in student loans, 500 on credit cards. Yes. Are those separate student loans? How many are there if you broke them out? There's four separate student loans. What's the smallest one? The smallest one is $1,500. Cool. So this is the way I attacked my student loan debt. It was exactly like you. I had credit card debt, student loan debt back in 2013. I had 40 grand total. And so the way I attacked it was using a method called the debt snowball method, where we lay these debts out from smallest to

largest. So your credit card goes first. How quickly, if you made minimum payments on your student loans, how quickly could you attack the credit card debt? If you were working extra, selling stuff, on a budget, cutting expenses. Next month? Could I? Yeah. I mean, right now the job I'm working on, I'm making, if I work a 40-hour week, I'm taking home about $6.50 a week.

Okay. So, I mean, I have some other bills monthly, but like such as like car insurance or whatnot, I mean, I feel as if I could definitely pay it off in like- A month or two? Yeah, I was going to say like a month and a half, two months if I just completely focus on it. Great. So then you free up that credit card payment and now we can apply that plus all the extra margin you had to the next payment and the next payment until you knock all of your debts out, smallest to largest. And on average, that takes folks 18 to 24 months. With your level of debt, nine grand, I think you'll do it faster. Okay. Sounds good.

So that's the way to do it, my man. That's it. It's that simple and it's that hard because you got to focus on one thing at a time. And you have to not look at the interest rates, which is hard to do, and you just have to go on a vengeance. Yeah, maniacal focus. Yeah, great. Linda is up next in Austin, Texas. Linda, how can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call today.

I just retired. I'm 68 years old. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm so excited. Yes, you should be. I'm retired. I'm 68 years old. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm so excited. Yes, you should be. I'm 72. Say that again?

I've been working since 1972. Wow. That's fantastic. How long have you been retired, Linda? Well, next Saturday is my last day. Actually, it's the second time around. I retired once in California. I moved to Austin, got a job again, and been working, and here I am.

Still a little encore career, and now you're sailing off into the sunset. Now she's done. She's had it, folks. She's out. Plus, you get two retirement parties. I like that. Yeah. Good.

Okay, so what's your question? I have been collecting Social Security for a couple years, and I get a pension from California, which I'm doing pretty good monthly. I have no bills, but one thing came up here at this time. My mom passed away a couple years ago, so I'm going to get about $114,000, and I owe $83,000 on my house, and I have an interest rate of $2.875. So my question is, the financial advisor, which I just rolled over my 401k for that company at $103,000, I rolled it over this week, she says I shouldn't pay my house off with that money. I should just reinvest it with them because the interest rate is so low.

Well, of course, Linda, the financial advisor is going to tell you to invest with them. Ah. I know, I know. It would be like asking a gastroenterologist if you want to get a colonoscopy. You know, you're going to the wrong place for advice on debt payoff. Wow. Yeah, I know. I know you were going to say that, but.

Not that they're a bad financial advisor, but they're incentivized to get you to invest. That's how they make money. That's how their brain thinks. So I would encourage you to pay off this mortgage tomorrow. I will when I get it. You're going to get a payoff quote and wire the money, and you'll still have $31,000 left. Yeah, so then what do I do with that? Well, so what was your mortgage payment?

My mortgage payment was, without tax, $616. Okay, so we've got a few extra hundred bucks in the budget now. We have our Social Security, we have our pension. I bring in about $4,240 between Social Security and my pension. Awesome. No bills. Well, now we just got a little cushion in retirement, and now we can live and give like no one else.

We can give a little more, spend a little more, and continue to invest. Do you have any other investments? No, I just rolled that over this week to an investor and they're going to put it in some mutual funds. I've never done that before. But you have no money in investments. It's all social security and pension right now until we get this money. Yeah, well, that money is rolled over. Yeah, it's here already. I just got to take it down there and give them the check next week. Yeah, whatever's left, throw it into some mutual funds, and you can continue to pile on top of that with whatever margin you have left. But I like having a goal for giving, saving, and spending.

And so let's increase our giving a little bit. Linda, have a little fun. Increase some of the spending line items for fun money. And then we're going to invest some as well. Okay, so then I guess I could give it to them, or else I was just going to put it in a CD account just in case something happens. I don't know. Yeah, I would just park in a high-yield savings account and keep it liquid.

That way, if an opportunity strikes or you want to buy something or whatever it is, you'll have that money ready to go. And you've got great rates right now with those high-yield savings accounts. Yes, I've been looking at them, the CD rates and all that, put in there for a while. So I really appreciate you. So I'm glad I'm going to go pay my house off next week on my retirement rate. Linda, that's amazing. That is so fantastic to be retired and no house payment.

And that's a nice little chunk of change you get to decide what to do with, and George gave you some great advice. These are the fun problems we get to grapple with, Ken, is Linda out there. My work days are over, yes. Linda, what is one fun thing that you think you'd like to do now with this extra margin? What is it, one thing? No, no, one fun thing.

I don't want to put pressure on you to say one thing but what's one fun thing george gave you some great advice celebrating this milestone two milestones what do you think you want to do oh god i don't know i'd probably go to go to go on a vacation somewhere there we go where are you going that's what a bucket list what's on the list paris france or something like that would be fun. The City of Lights would be fantastic. Yes. Yes.

All right. All expenses paid. No debt here, Linda. We're not going back. You need to stay in tune with George and everything he's doing. This guy can give you all kinds of hacks on how to do Paris for less. That's true. Have you done a video yet on this?

I need to. You probably should. I was looking at Costco travel at Paris trips. See? I got the itch, Ken. There you go, Linda. Costco travel. This is more than you asked for today. It's more than America needed. I have a Costco card.

I have a Costco card, too. Hey, Costco member, I'm a fan of that. As long as not the credit card. Cut up the credit card, but if it's a membership card. No, no, I just use a debit card. She just means to get in the building, George. You never know these days, Ken. Hey, Linda's a membership card. No, no, I don't use it. I just use it to have a card game. No, she just means to get in the building, George. You never know these days, Ken. Okay, I appreciate that.

Hey, Linda's going to Paris. I feel like we just sent her like Price is Right. You're going to Paris, Linda. I know. Behind door number three. Hey, good hour, George. Always fun to be with you, my friend. I want to thank James Childs, our fearless leader,

and the entire crew behind the glass for keeping us on the air. Hey, America, this is your show. Thank you for tuning in. We believe in you. You got this. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Ken. If you like what you heard in this episode and want to know more about getting started

on the Ramsey baby steps, go to ramsesolutions.com and click on the get started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation. Again, that's ramsesolutions.com and click get started.