The Ramsey Show - App - How Should I Use a $200,000 Settlement? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: November 23, 2020

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5 from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, host of the Ken Coleman Show, is joining me as my co-host today here on the air. Open phones at 888-825-5225. The Ken Coleman Show talks about your career, your job, getting one in the process, and of course we talk about your life and your money here every day.

888-825-5225. Dan is with us in Pittsburgh. Hi, Dan. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for having me. Sure. What's up?

So I was recently awarded $200,000 in a settlement for personal injury. And my question is just, what are your recommendations for the best way I can save that money and grow it for the future? How are you doing? I'm doing good. It's been about a year since the incident, and I'm almost completely healed. So physically I'm doing great. Wonderful.

Good, good. I'm glad to hear that. Wow, it must have been pretty traumatic. That's a lot of money. Yeah. Mostly I'm just glad it's over. You know, settling the case was a big relief, and now I'm kind of left just thinking, what do I do now? Amen. Okay, so you're not doing that job anymore, huh? It actually wasn't work-related. Okay, okay. So are you on your career then? Everything there good?

Yep, everything's good. It didn't really affect my work too much, and all good there, yeah. Okay, so what do you make a year? I make about $48,000. And how much debt do you have? I have about $20,000 in student loan debt, but other than that, nothing. Do you own a home? No, I rent.

Okay. How old are you? 25. Okay. Cool. All right. Well, it would be pretty easy for me. I would tell you to pay off the student loan and fund an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses,

and then you would begin investing from there. Some of that money might be earmarked for your first house later. You don't have to make that decision today. And you could earmark some of that money for further education or whatever if you want to move in careers. This gives you the opportunity to consider that, right? Mm-hmm. Have you thought about that?

Yeah, I think education could be a good route. I'm wondering, just in terms of immediate action, what kind of accounts I should be putting this money into like, uh, savings accounts, high yield savings account, what kind of that first step of where to put the money is. Uh, I'd put it, are you fairly disciplined or are you afraid you're going to go crazy? No, I'm, I'm pretty disciplined. I'm not going to spend it on anything. That's kind of what I heard in your voice. So, okay.

Yeah, I would pay off, I'd put it in your checking account. I'd pay off your student loans. And then I would open a savings account, a money market account, a high yield money market account, and put three to six months of expenses. We could call that 20 grand. So now we've spent 40 of your 200. That still leaves you 160. And then I would get on the phone with a smart investor pro, which is one of the people in the investment world that we endorse. We're not in that world, but these are the people that have the heart of a teacher and will sit down and begin

to teach you. And you do not have to do investing quickly. As a matter of fact, you shouldn't. I don't mind if it sits in your checking account for a few months while you learn about investments from someone with the heart of a teacher, a smart investor pro. And I'm guessing that you're probably going to have possibly two routes for that $160,000. It could be that it's set up in some mutual funds that are very conservative because you're going to use it in the next few years for a down payment on a house. And it could be that some of the money is invested a little bit more aggressively than that for a long-term play. Ken, what do you

hear? The only thing I want to add is he is open to some education. And what we want to do is when we think about education, which education is lovely, but let's think about education from a macro standpoint. What I mean is that it could be certifications. It could be some existing training that would allow you to move up several rungs on the ladder or one rung that gets you set up for the next rung as you're climbing towards that dream job. But don't just assume. Do your research, just like Dave said, as it relates to sitting down on investing, to know what you're doing before you make a decision. I want people to do the same thing on education.

Let's make sure that what we're doing is the right education that will actually qualify me and get me a ticket into the dance that I want to go to. And then once you know that, let's look at the money. What is it going to cost me? Don't spend $100,000 getting a master's degree in medieval poetry. Exactly. You really want to have something here that actually is going to further your life. So what is it that's going to cause your income to go up in the field that you feel like you're called to, that you're passionate

about. And you can learn a lot more about that kind of thing at KenColeman.com for sure. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You guys jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Cole is with us in Columbus, Ohio. Hi, Cole. How are you?

I'm doing well, Dave. How about yourself? Better than, Cole. How are you? I'm doing well, Dave. How about yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm calling today to ask about how should I approach my father about getting out of a car lease I co-signed with him. So just some background. He said that he would pay for the first year on the lease. And then since I just started working full-time, he said then I would take the payments over that. But I don't necessarily want to take that car lease and go into debt with that. Okay. So the car is in your name and he co-signed or vice versa? Vice versa. I believe it's in his name and I co-signed. And you're driving the car?

Yes. Okay. So in a practical sense, it's your car and your dad got you into this mess with your permission. Okay. So you just say, Dad, I think I'm going to sell the car. I don't want the debt. What would he say? I honestly don't know. I guess that would be a good way to approach it. But I didn't think it was that easy to get out of the lease because it is four years, and this will be not even a year into it yet. Yeah.

Well, here's how you get your numbers together, and you can do this before you approach him. You call the car lease company, and you find out what the early buyout is on the car. What was the original sticker when you bought the car uh 43 000 good lord what do you make a year i just started working at straight out of college uh 65 000 yeah this is insanity yeah it does need to go away okay so 43 000 you're going to find the early buyout to probably be $35,000, okay? Something like that. Because you've got a $600 payment, don't you? It's $525,000.

Yeah, almost like I've done this before. And so, yeah, you're going to probably find it to be around $35,000, $36,000, something like that, your early buyout. That's like paying the car off. It's what's the payoff amount, okay? They'll tell tell you that number and they can give you that number right now and it's good through for a month or whatever then the second thing is um uh you need to get what the car is worth and then from there once you decide what it's worth then um you have to sell it and you have to cover the difference. And so if the car is worth $30,000 and you owe $36,000, you're going to have to borrow $6,000 from your local credit union.

And maybe $7,000 so you can get a $1,000 car to drive around in memory of this. What a mess. Yes, you do need to get out of this car, Cole. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. You know, I hate to see people waste money, but that's exactly what happens when you buy an identity theft plan that guarantees, quote, you won't become a victim. Well, the reality is you can't prevent identity theft. All these credit monitoring and preventative plans with their fine print guarantees are just a bunch of hype.

Our personal information is everywhere, and you can't control who gets access to it. Why do you think there's so many data breaches? Thieves steal your personal information and use it for medical ID theft, social security, IRS fraud, and even criminal activity. None of this shows up on your credit report, which makes these plans a waste of money. You need a plan that protects you against all types of ID theft and takes over all the work if you become a victim, since that is the real nightmare. That's why I only recommend Zander's plan, and I have for years.

I have it on my family and all my team members. It's the only plan worth buying go to zander.com or call them at 800-356-4282 Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today here on the air as we talk about your careers, your life, your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Dan is in Washington, D.C. Hi, Dan. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Hi, Ken. I am so excited to talk to the both of you. How's it going? Better than we deserve, brother. How can we help? Oh, man. Great.

So here is my situation. My wife and I are on baby step two. Our current combined household income is $175,000, and we have just over $80,000 worth of debt. I make $115,000. My wife makes just under $60,000. I have a side hustle going that's been really successful. I've made almost $700 in three weeks, and my current job is on a really hot track. I've increased my income by about $60,000 over the past four years. I work in cybersecurity, and if I invest time into getting certifications and education, I could probably get that number close to 200. My question is, since I'm on baby step two, which do I choose? Because my time has to go somewhere.

It can either go to the side hustle, and that's been successful. But long term, you know, the career track I'm on is looking great. Yeah, it's white hot. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. First question I have, Dave, is how much do you think those certifications or how much do you know that those certifications are going to cost you that would then get you in position to make that bump? They are no more. I mean, they're individual,

but they're no more than, like, $600 is the most expensive one. One of the ones I got recently was only $100. Okay, but give me a quick total, just a ballpark. How many are we talking about that would get you at that target? How many times $600? Or give me that ballpark figure. Ballpark, it's probably going to be no more than $1,500 combined, all of the certifications.

That's a no-brainer. Yeah. You can cash flow that. That holds off your baby step two by $1,500 out of $80,000, but increases your income $50,000 to $100,000. Even with investing the time it takes to study and prepare for those certification tests? Absolutely. I'd press pause on the side hustle or just really lose some sleep.

I mean, if it's a small amount of time and small amount of money, you can do this. How quick can you knock out the search? I can probably get one every three to four months. And how many are there total? I have another child coming in December, so that timeline may change. Okay, so how many do you want to get total? I have two now. I would like six. So four more.

Yeah. And at a three-month pace, you're done in a year, give or take babies and give or take whatever. I'm doing that before I'm doing the side hustle because the analysis you've given us completely aligns with the hiring process that we're doing here in cybersecurity and in everything around the whole tech world. I do believe those certs are probably worth exactly what you're saying they're worth and the knowledge that you get with them. So really good return on investment of one year of your life and $1,500 to create an extra income, to increase your personal income that amount of money. And it is in a field that is really cutting edge, bleeding edge. It changes every moment. And you're already working in the field.

And so, I mean, five years ago, nobody was worried about this. They should have been, but they weren't. Now everybody's worried about it, and they should be. You're really in a good spot, dude. It sounds like you like it. That's the other thing. I'm all over that. I can't imagine a side hustle.

Here's another rule I use, okay? And Ken, see if this feels right for career stuff too. It tends to be the right thing to do over the scope of your life. When you look back and go, wow, that was smart. That was a wise move. Tends to hurt in the short term and feel great in the long term and so with money you're saving it hurts in the short term so that you pay cash for your car and it's good long-term move but in the short term it's it's unpleasant because

you're driving a hoopty you know you're through crap. You're piling up a little money to get you a better car, right? And you're going to pay cash for it. Investing. It's not sexy in the short term. In the long term, it makes you a millionaire, multimillionaire, and you do that. You know, with career, you're not making money. I had to pay $1,000 a month just to learn how to do talk radio on Saturday afternoons at 2 o'clock when two people are listening. James, he didn't pay us anything. I know. I knew that was going to come up. Now Dave's going to need a check. He didn't pay us anything. We paid him. It's true. Because I did

that on Saturday. And that's the point. It wasn't fun. I wasn't any good at it. I had to deal with nerves and being bad on radio and paying to be bad. But that's the challenge in the short term to maybe get the opportunity to get to play in the sandbox I get to now. It's exactly right. It's time in the gym makes you win the game. It's time on the practice field makes you win the game. But nobody wants to put in the work. And that's why very few people are as successful as the people we call successful. Because Makes you win the game. Yeah. And, but nobody wants to put in the work. That's exactly right. And that's why very few people are as successful as the people we call successful. Because successful people do what the other people won't do to get there, and that's to pay the price in the short term. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it yields a harvest of righteousness.

So that's a good principle that aligns with your question, Dan, and that aligns with our answer. This says, okay, let's do the unpleasant thing for one year. You've got a great career track. Your return on investment here is your time and $1,500. It's a no-brainer. Go for it. The root word, if you do a word study, both the Germans and the Greeks basically had a very similar root word for passion, what we call passion. Now, I define passion here at Ramsey Solutions the way we define passion is work that you love doing because it's the work. You love teaching for

teaching's sake. Whether you were well-known or not, in the early days, you got an outer overhead projector because you were passionate about teaching what we now know as the seven baby steps in financial peace. And so the root word from the Germans and the Greek actually means to suffer. Now, to get that word picture, you have to understand that for anybody who wants to do something, to do cybersecurity, to get anywhere in your career or to get debt free, you have to suffer. Beans and rice, rice and beans, live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. Folks, what we're talking about here is if you're willing to suffer or we could say to sacrifice to struggle well that's worthy and so anything worthy dave is what we're saying will bring struggle it's part of the deal yeah and and if you win without struggle doesn't mean anything look over your shoulder yes sir there's a there's something coming at you

everything there is a price to be paid at some point in this, and it always gets paid. Yeah. It always gets paid. And, you know, when someone doesn't struggle and they get money, you know, you got the trust fund baby, right? It doesn't mean as much. Born on third base, thought they hit a triple. And that's why they squander it. Yeah.

Versus the person who's self-made and really struggles. We had a debt-free scream, a couple just recently, where the lady said, I felt a sense of accomplishment. And it really resonated with you and me as well. But that's the idea that it's the struggle of getting debt-free. It wasn't just the freedom from debt financially with a clean balance sheet. It's we did this together. We worked hard. We sacrificed.

We dealt with the doubt. We dealt with the criticism. But we got here. And it's just as sweet, not just the financial piece, but the sense of accomplishment. I feel so accomplished. Yeah, that's how she said it. It was beautiful. It was a really powerful phrase.

And that's what you do when you set something hard and you work through it. And then you feel accomplished because you are. That's how that works. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Jamie and Emily are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? How are we doing? Good. How are you? Better than I deserve. Where do you guys live?

Bakersfield, California. Oh, welcome to Nashville. Good to have you. And all the way over here to the other side of the world to do a debt-free screen. How much have you paid off? We paid off $113,721, but we got rid of about $340,000. We sold our house and sold the car. Well, that's kind of like paying it off. Wow. All right. And how long did this take you?

About four years. Okay. And your range of income? We started off at about $75,000, then we jumped up to $180,000, and now we're back down to $115,000. Excellent. What do you guys do for a living? We're both teachers now. Okay. So $340,000, you said total.

Yes. But you sold a house that sold for how much? It sold for about $270,000, but obviously we owed a lot of money on it. And, yeah, so it didn't have a lot of equity, but it got rid of, that was some of the 340? Yeah. The 270 was? Yeah, exactly. So basically we sold the house for 270.

We owed about 220 on it and then we had a lien on it for about $25,000 because we needed 30 new windows. Okay. So that just got you out of that mess. Yeah, exactly. Okay. And the same thing with the car new windows. Okay. So that just got you out of that mess. Yeah, exactly. Okay, and the same thing with the car. Yeah. Okay, and then when all the smoke cleared, you still had $114,000 to go.

Yes, exactly. Okay, wow. Good for you. Way to plow through. And the $114,000 was what kind of debt? We had $65,000 of student loans, about $20,000 of credit cards. We had some personal lines of credit. We basically had everything that you could possibly borrow.

Y'all were just normal. We had everything. I love it. Very cool. So what happened four years ago in your life? Because you turned it upside down, man. Yeah, so basically, I know I'm not going to do it justice, but all through this, like, God was in it for sure.

So, you know, I was attending community college at night and randomly flipping through the stations. I found you, um, on our station, you're on six to 9 PM at night. So I found you and you were, uh, you were on one of your rants and I was like, man, I, this guy's awesome. I like this guy a lot. So I went home, I listened to her for a while. I showed Emily, um, she was okay with it. She liked it. I find a lot of weird stuff to try to show her to watch and listen to. So she just thought it was another one of those. But as we went on, we ended up going on a trip up to Washington. And during that trip, I listened to you guys a couple of times. And then we ran out of money on the way back.

I told God thing, right? We were listening to your show a out of money on the way back i told god thing right we're listening to your show a little bit on the way back we run out of money i think we were supposed to get paid you know this friday we didn't end up getting paid i had it wrong and that was like our turning moment saying there's no way this isn't god telling us that you know this isn't we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing so from there on we listened to you all the way back home we made it home barely uh but yeah that basically changed everything wow wow very fun way to go and so uh emily is that when it changed for you on that trip yeah i think um listening to other debt-free screams and seeing the power in that and just hearing i think what jamie said about your the

personality behind the show you know just hearing your rose people but what Jamie said about the personality behind the show, just hearing you're both people but know that there's actually a purpose. It's because you love them. And hearing that kind of switched it for me. And then I realized I don't want to be in debt for my whole life. And so that was kind of our I've had it moment. Yeah, yeah. Well, you did.

I mean, this is amazing. You sold the house, sold the car, sold everything. Sold so much stuff the kids think they're next. I mean, it's just every line in the book. This is amazing. You sold the house, sold the car, sold everything. Yeah. Yeah. Sold so much stuff the kids think they're next. I mean, it's just every line in the book. This is amazing. This is amazing. So what was one of the most difficult challenges, whether it was a real challenge in front of you or an emotional challenge, mental, emotional, when you first started this, getting into this? Well, when we first started getting into it, we just didn't have enough money at the end to make any difference. We went for the first year, just we tried to keep the car. We tried to keep the house. We went for a whole year just trying to pay what we could and we just were sinking still. So we ended up selling the car just to gain a

little more traction. And it wasn't a year later until we finally both agreed, hey, you know what, we need something bigger. And that's when we decided to sell the house. Wow. You had a big jump in income, 75 to 180. Yeah, so basically when we sold the house, we used an ELP to come out. And, of course, they brought in a professional photographer. We were both hobbyist photographers.

I had no idea that someone comes to your house and takes pictures of your house to sell. So once that happened, we sold the house. I started a side business of doing real estate photography. I didn't know it would take off as big as it did, and it ended up becoming my main job about three months in. That's great. Wow. So it's pretty awesome. I can do that.

Exactly. He charged us. What? That is awesome, man. Well done. Good catch. Good catch with the entrepreneurial spirit. So now that you've done it, you're professionals.

What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I think for me it was just letting go. We were living what we thought was the American dream, and it wasn't fun paying bills and seeing that we had no extra money. And we had, you know, these companies were paying every single month and nothing left over. Um,

and you know, we, we got our dream house and I was happy, but then, um, just feeling that pull, um, and realizing,

you know, we've got to give up everything and including the house. That was something that was really hard for me. Um, and then once that happened, it was just like, it felt like we could breathe. So I guess just knowing that it's going to be really hard work for a while

and it's going to stink for a while, but once that's done, now we don't have anything to worry about. Well, you did it. You did it. And with dropping the car and the house, that's some big old visuals in your life. There had to be family members going, what did you do, join a cult? You lost your mind? We were crazy. What'd you do? Join a cult? Yeah. You lost your mind?

We were crazy. What did you do? What was your car? When you sold the car, what did you do for transportation? So we bought a $1,000 car. It was a 2000 Hyundai Elantra. It was a Hot Tamale. Yeah, it was red, so we called it the Hot Tamale. Hot Tamale.

That's fun. Yeah. So you made it fun. Yeah. Yeah, no shame in your game. Yeah. I love that. And then we upgraded into a 2003 Xterra, a Nissan Xterra.

So now that's our little adventure car. So we like it, and we're never going to buy a car without cash again. There you go. I love that. So did people make fun of you, question your sanity? Yeah. A little bit, yeah. Yeah, sometimes.

But it honestly helped us. That was what triggered. That's what drove it, for sure. Ooh, I like that. A little chip on the shoulder. So now you're standing there in a Toby Keith moment. How you like me sure. Ooh, I like that. A little chip on the shoulder. So now you're standing there in a Toby Keith moment. How you like me now? Yeah, I like it.

Good for you guys. Well done. Very well done. Yeah, you've got to have some of those people messing with you, because that just jacks you up to fight harder. Yeah, exactly. So if everybody's just all skittles and unicorns and rainbows, you've got to have somebody punching at you. That's good. Well done. Well, how's it feel now that you're debt free? It feels like relief. Like we're not drowning. And, you know, we just feel like we can actually do what God

called us to do. You know, instead of having to repay, you know, what we've screwed up our whole lives, basically, we can look forward and say, you know, God, what do you want us to do with your money? This is your money. I'm done spending all of it. what do you want us to do with your money this is your money i'm done spending all of it what do you want us to do so it's a really nice feeling we've been able to do some good stuff for him so very impressive young couple very cool i'm so proud of y'all well done heroes very well done all right jamie and emily from bakersfield california 114 000 well or 340 give or take, paid off in four years. They sold their house, they sold their car, they sold everything. They did it.

$75,000 income up to $180,000 and then back down. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah, baby. This is how you do it right here. Well done, well done, well done.

That had some juice in it. That reverberated through the glass. Yeah, we could feel it in here. Good stuff. Well, I got to tell you, we're celebrating Christmas this year with the Ramsey Christmas Cash Giveaway. Once a week, we're giving away $500 and a $5,000 grand prize at DaveRamsey.com slash giveaway. There is no purchase necessary.

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Check them all out. Enter to win cash and save some serious money on your Christmas at DaveRamsey.com. $500 a week given away. Free cash. No purchase necessary. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Ken Coleman Ramsey personality joins me today here on the air answering your questions about careers and I'll talk to you about your money we'll talk to you together about anything you want to talk about open phones at 888-825-5225 you know christmas means something different to a lot of people sometimes it's family sometimes it's food maybe gifts okay we all think about gifts but

giving gifts is what most of us that are adults think more about than getting them and there's always someone on your list who's hard to buy for. Instead of handing over a random gift card, what if you help them make a real impact in their lives? Maybe give them a money plan, and the confidence to know their situation right now doesn't have to be their reality moving forward. That's a gift almost anybody could use, particularly this year.

And so we've got some great with the Ramsey Plus bundles. They get Ramsey Plus, which is the all-access membership to our best money tools, including Financial Peace University, plus even more content that's customized to where they are right now in their money journey. Shop all the Ramsey Plus bundles for them. Check out the Ramsey Christmas Cash Giveaway for you. And just go to DaveRamsey.com slash store. Lots of people, you know, people used to buy Financial Peace University as a gift for their family members.

The way to do that now is it's a Ramsey Plus membership because it includes Financial Peace University. It includes the EveryDollar Premium. It includes the Baby Steps Tracker app. It includes the EveryDollar Premium. It includes the Baby Steps Tracker app. It includes everything, and it's the full enchilada baby, and you can give it as a gift very easily this year because it's a digital gift and very easy to implement for folks. Robin is in Scottsdale. Hey, Robin, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. What's up? Okay, so I am currently 62. I make about $45,000 a year. I'm getting ready. I was hoping to retire.

I'm debt-free. I have about $600,000 in a retirement account, which was going to be fine I think for just myself with the equity in my home but I have now going to be adopting my two-year-old granddaughter and I'm just sort of paralyzed with fear as to how to move forward whether or not I should retire or continue to work as the concerned about insurance. And then also the selling of the house. I've been in it for 30 years. I don't know if I should take money out of the retirement account and just do some basic maintenance and repairs that need to be done prior to selling it or just sort of take less money for it and, you know,

take a, um, as-is offer. And my problem is I'm just so fearful to move forward. Yeah. Well, you've got a lot coming at you at once, girl. I mean, a two-year-old's no small undertaking. No, it's not. That's why I sort of want to retire. I'm exhausted. Yeah. It's a sad situation. I'm sorry. I'm glad you're wonderful and you're there,

but it's going to be a tough road for... Yeah, she brings a lot of joy to my life. I can imagine. I've got them that age running around my house. I'm frequently glad they're not there 24-7. Papa Dave tells them to go home at a certain time. I love them in small doses. Are you on your own in taking care? Do you have other family members that can kind of take a village kind of a situation? What are you dealing with there? No, I'm basically on my own.

I'm a widow. I've been a widow for 23 years. I raised my two kids by myself. And my parents, my mom is 91. My mother-in-law is 91. So they're not a great deal of help. And I have a sister who, you know, occasionally can help out a little bit, but she has her own family.

Okay. What's your home worth? The home I think right now is about $535,000. Some of the ones that have been, you know, fixed up have been selling for like $670,000. So that's why I'm just. What kind of work do you need to do? What would be the cost to get it in shape? The cost, probably about $30,000.

I would say at least $30,000. So you can spend $30,000 and make an extra $100,000? Possibly, yes. I think you ought to have a real estate agent look at the house and advise you on the repairs to do that will give you the most bang for your buck. Just click on ELP at DaveRamsey.com and for real estate and get one of the real estate ELPs out there to help you kind of manage this decision. And then you'll get three different bids from three different contractors to go do the work that the real estate agent recommends. And yes, I would use 30 out of 600 to of $600,000 to get an extra $100,000

when you sell the house. Now, why are you selling it? It's a two-story house. It's too big. The master's downstairs. The baby's upstairs. So I'm constantly up and down with the 30-pound baby. So, you know, or the toddler.

She's a toddler. So it's just getting to be too much to manage. It has a pool. And I just think I need less on my plate. Yeah. And you said you're a teacher? I work for the school district. I work in the transportation department and administrative.

Oh, okay. All right. I would love for you to have some income and some insurance to go with your $600,000 as you move into a different property. But I think you've got to offset that with who's going to take care of the two-year-old while you're getting that income. And I don't know exactly how to do that right what is your plan what have you worked into well right now she's the she's under the state i'm under kinship care but it's been a year now so they'll be moving into me doing a permanent adoption so like her daycare some of that is supplemented from the state but it won't be i, I don't believe, once I adopt her.

So, yeah, I'll have that extra expense of her daycare and her health. Okay, so you've been operating with this two-year-old and going to work right now for a while. Right, yes. Okay. And three years from now, she's going to kindergarten, or three or four years, she's going to be in school. Yeah, and you're 62. Right. And what did you're 62. Right.

And what did you say? You make $45,000. Okay. Right. But the insurance package is so wheat. Right. Yeah. The insurance package helps a lot.

Yeah, with the baby especially. I think I'm going to stay with the plan you're on uh if you want to fix up the house and sell it and profit highly from it and use that money to move down a little bit and have some more for your nest egg that's not a bad plan and get out of the two-story situation that all works together for your good i like all of that um but um uh you're tired you'd like to come home i'd like to come home. I'd like to have you work a few more years because of the insurance package and to get a few more dollars put away to make sure that when you do retire that it is permanent. Okay.

But let's give you, oh, let's pretend you had $800,000 by the time you retire in two years, and you would have, okay? Two years or three years, something like that at 65. If you had that, and if you made 10% on your money, that would be $80,000, that it would create an income. If you made 8% on your money, that would be $80,000, that it would create an income. If you made 8% on your money, that would be $64,000, right? Yeah. Okay. So you're going to be okay at retirement. You're going to make what you're making now, and you can live on what you make now, right? Right. And especially if there's no daycare involved. So it might be that you work three more years and make this house move,

keep the insurance in place to get the thing finally stabilized, and then plan on living off of the income that $800,000 properly invested with a SmartVestor Pro will make you. And I think you're going to be in a position to retire at that point. Plus, honestly, that's about the time a child's going to go to college, kindergarten. Yeah, you get to be there when she gets off the bus or whatever, or he, whatever it is, you know, and you just get to be there and be full-time grandmama. You're signing up for a

big task, and you know, so the next two to three years is going to be tough. It's going to be a tough time for you. But let's get the house fixed up, get it sold, move down, pile up a little more cash, and get yourself situated to where when you retire retire you don't have to think about it. Yeah, get with a smart investor pro about possibly how to invest that money.

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