The Ramsey Show - App - How to Pick a College Major (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 10, 2018

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Starting point is 00:00:00 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, 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. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour, Richard is with us in Asheville, North Carolina. Merry Christmas, Richard.
Starting point is 00:01:03 Thank you. Merry Christmas to you. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, I've got a question. My current job is basically I'm not making enough.
Starting point is 00:01:17 I'm trying to figure out what the best decision is going to be. I currently am kind of running a side business and I'm trying to figure out when the best time or if there will be a time where I can make the switch to full-time self-employment. I just kind of want to get your thoughts on that. I don't know if I should rattle off a bunch of details. You just ask me what you want to know.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Mathematically, when you can quit your full-time job and make your side hustle, your full-time gig is when you get the boat close enough to the dock, income-wise, that you can step into it instead of leap towards it and get wet. And so I have people call me up and go, Well, I started my side hustle and I made $600 last year, and I make $60,000 at my job. Well, you can't make that leap. You've got to get your income up, you know. But I have other people call up and go, you know, I made $46,000 at my side hustle,
Starting point is 00:02:16 and I make $50,000 at my full time. And I'm like, well, I mean, that's not a leap. That's a step, right? And so what's your numbers? What do you make at your day job? Well, I'm a mechanic by trade. Basically, I took a local job at my state garage, and I'm making $40,000 a year. Okay.
Starting point is 00:02:37 What do you make on your side job? I'm averaging, starting from my numbers of last year, I'm bringing in about $1,000 a month. Okay. Working just, you know, that's nights, some weekends, that's not much. That's about all you got. I mean, you're working a full-time job other than that, right? Right, right. What is your side hustle?
Starting point is 00:02:59 What are you doing? It's the same. I actually, I built a garage on the property at my house. And, I mean, it's a full-blown shop. It's got a lift, everything. I've just been kind of fixing cars on the side, you know. And it's close to the main road. I think you have the makings of something that will allow you to quit.
Starting point is 00:03:22 I don't think you're there yet. It's probably going to take you 12 more months. Okay. And here's what you do during the 12 months. Let me tell you what I heard. And see, you tell me if I'm wrong, okay? Okay. I think I heard a guy who is very good turning a wrench.
Starting point is 00:03:40 Mechanical things come easy to you. You see them. A car rolls in. You have a sense about it. You have the equipment. You have a good location, you have the building. All the stuff about working on the cars and actually producing the product that your business produces, you've got it locked down, lights out. What you're not doing is bringing in any business. You're not marketing.
Starting point is 00:04:06 When it came to marketing, you said, oh, I kind of work on some cars. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I've got, I mean, I've done a little bit in marketing. I mean, I've got a website, and I've got, I mean, I've got, you know, quite a few five-star reviews on Google, things like that. But I think that some of the issues. What have you got to do to get your volume to 35,000, 36,000, triple it in the next 12 months? Well, I mean, it would be hard because, I mean, obviously, I mean, as you know, there are only so many hours in a day. And, I mean, as of right now, I think the reason that I'm considering it is that I don't see my family much because I'm having to work so much.
Starting point is 00:04:47 I don't want you to work like that for the rest of your life. But I want you to work like that for enough that you know you can make a living when you quit. Okay. I don't want you to be irresponsible. You've got to feed this family. Right. If you make $12,000 a year after you quit, you're screwed. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But I know that I a year after you quit, you're screwed. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Starting point is 00:05:05 But I know that I feel like, you know. I don't. I know you know how to work on cars. I don't know that you know how to get business in there. Yeah. Because you've never gotten it in there. Mm-hmm. Listen, I'd bring my car to you just in talking to you.
Starting point is 00:05:19 I think you could work on it and fix it. But I wouldn't hire you for marketing because right now you still suck at that right sure yeah hey that's fair that's fair okay so i'm serious go make some money and prove it to yourself and then you can quit and completely control your income and your time and everything else but you tell the family you get the wife on board you sit down how old are your kids i've got a one-year-old daughter. Okay. Well, she doesn't, she's not even going to know. But, you know, you're going to see her more than she thinks you're seeing her, more than you think you're seeing her or whatever. Just sit down with your wife and say, okay, if I bust it for a year,
Starting point is 00:05:56 I think I can get this thing up to where it makes sense so we can quit, and I'm not being unwise in leaving us out in the cold. I've got to get this up above 30, though. If you can get it up above 30 while working a full-time job, you probably make 60 or 70 when you quit. You probably could flip. But you've got to learn to get the business in there. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:20 I think the other part of my question is also that my current job, it's a state job, and I get benefits through that. Oh, that's a bunch of crap. Drop all that. Okay. You need to run your own shop. Okay. You make 70 instead of 40, and you control your life.
Starting point is 00:06:35 You can buy health insurance in retirement. Okay. And you'll end up richer anyway than state retirement, I'll get you. And guess what? When you want to raise, you just hire a new person in there to help you turn a wrench. You grow your business. And when you want to raise at the state, you get 3%.
Starting point is 00:06:51 Right. So you control your destiny here, man. I want you to do this. And it might not take 12 months, but if you can have three $3,000 months in a row and you think you can keep
Starting point is 00:07:07 doing that you're there okay instead of three one thousand dollar months yeah yeah i wonder is there what last last thing is there i've run into one issue um kind of a hiccup that i was that i've had um i've got i got a zoning violation notice from one of my neighbors who complained. They didn't like that I'd been working on cars. I didn't know what your take on that would be. It's outside the zoning for you to have a shop there? Well, not a – I mean, it's my personal garage. Okay, so if you open a – but if if you open a shop you can't open a shop
Starting point is 00:07:45 there right right not right a commercial repair facility is right yeah you would have to you'd have to go rent something to open your business then right yes legally yes i mean if i just get it on the side like i'm doing i mean it's fine just because it's obviously low volume. So I don't know kind of how that plays out. Well, it means that part of you going full-time is you've got to have your location figured out because if you're making $3,000 a month but your rent is $4,000 a month, that ain't going to work. Right, exactly. So you need to start shopping for locations of where you're going to land as part of making this jump to full-time.
Starting point is 00:08:27 Because you can't do full-time out of that, is what you're telling me. You've got a zoning violation. You're not going to be able to do it. So, I love it, man. Keep fighting and scratching. Keep clawing. You can do this. This will work for you, man.
Starting point is 00:08:39 You're what America's about. Get her done. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. You've heard me talk about ID theft for years and how it's only a matter of time before you become a victim. But I ran across some numbers that even surprised me and shows the real nightmare that people go through when they become a victim. Of the 16 million victims of identity theft last year, yes, 16 million, 26% of them had to borrow money from family or friends, 22% of them lost even more money by taking time off work, and 900,000 victims took out payday loans.
Starting point is 00:09:26 This stuff is a freaking nightmare. That's why the only plan I have for my family and my entire team is through Zander Insurance. Zander takes over all the work to solve these problems and more, along with the systems to reduce your risk and protect your money if your accounts get hacked. Visit Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. It's the smartest, most affordable way to protect yourself. Thank you for joining us, America. We're so glad you're here. This is the Dave Ramsey Show.
Starting point is 00:10:17 Open phones at 888-825-5225. Mark is with us in Atlanta. Hey, Mark. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello. Hi. How are you? I'm doing spectacular.
Starting point is 00:10:32 I was doing better until I decided to follow the directions of your call screener, Kelly, I think it is. And she asked me to pull over. So I started fasting today, and I'm parked 100 feet away from the front door of the Waffle House. We better get this call over with fast. Okay, how can I help? I'm going to get to the point. How can I help? Okay, so my question is about health and, not health insurance, but life insurance.
Starting point is 00:11:11 So my wife and I, we have blessed through our employer, they gave us the Smart Dollar program. And I've got the Gazelle and King City right now, as you've described in some of your YouTube videos. So we are just completing the baby step one. We've just started baby step number two. Okay, your phone's going all over the place. You're going to have to speak directly into it. I am so sorry. That's okay.
Starting point is 00:11:37 We have just finished baby step number one. We're starting baby step number two. Okay. And the thing is, I gave your call screener a heart attack, I think, Shelly. I told her that my life insurance policy had me dying off at 2021. But what I said is I'm due to die off at 2021. So anyways, I have a $750,000 term policy that expires in 2021. Okay. Overweight, I'm 55.
Starting point is 00:12:14 And I'm paying an exorbitant amount of money right now, as you know, through my employer, which is about $800 a year for a 50K policy. And it will increase each year. So the question is, I'm 55. You know, in your 50s, getting life insurance is not very cheap at all. It's not hard at all if you're in shape. But if you're overweight or you smoke, it gets real difficult. Well, I don't smoke.
Starting point is 00:12:50 I enjoy my wife's country cooking. And I don't freak with the Waffle House that I'm looking at. But it is bothering you severely, okay? Yeah, there's nothing going on in my head. Okay, so what's your question? So my question is, what is your advice on finding this life insurance to keep me going? Because, you know, my wife and I make a combined income of about $160,000. So what do you make?
Starting point is 00:13:30 I make $20,000 in salary and $12,000 doing consulting work on the side. Gotcha. Okay. Well, what I would tell you to do is get on the phone, not the website, but get on the phone with Zander Insurance. You can go to zanderinsurance.com and get their number and pull it up and just get on the phone with zander insurance and go to zander insurance.com and get their number and pull it up and and just get on the phone with them and talk to them and talk through what you've got with your height weight ratios and let them give you a quote that way because the online quote system uh might not you know it's not going to take into consideration all
Starting point is 00:14:00 the things all the variables we're talking about but But you need about $300,000 on you, and you can afford to do that in the midst of this, and you do put it in the budget until your family is out of debt and until your family has enough nest egg in place to take care of your wife if something happens to you. And then you can also look at it and say, well, what if I did lose weight? Where would I be? And start asking some questions about what you would save there in terms of policy and policy costs and so forth. Because one of the things they look at is have you lost weight for the right reasons or have you lost weight because you're ill, obviously.
Starting point is 00:14:44 And they also want to know that it has been for for a while and so those are possibilities though i mean some lifestyle change could uh really really save you a lot of money here and you start to look at that and make some decisions on there i'm not saying you have to but you can you can ask them what you what would happen if i did this and here's what i here's where I am today money-wise. Here's what it costs me to get life insurance today. And here's what it would cost me two years from now if I had a different height-weight ratio. And do I care? And if you care, then you could go do something about that and get there.
Starting point is 00:15:18 So, hey, good question, man. I appreciate you joining us. I fight the exact same thing. My wife's country cooking and the temptation of the waffle house i can i can totally relate my doctor told me one time he said if you don't quit eating that briskets and gravy we're going to do a biscuit ectomy in your heart one of these days jp is with us jp's in cleveland Ohio. Hi, JP. How are you? Great.
Starting point is 00:15:46 How are you today? Thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? Well, we're basically done with our baby steps except for number two because we're helping our kids pay for their student loans since we co-signed for those. We have our emergency fund, and we have our three- to six-month emergency fund saved away, and then we have about $1.9 million in our retirement account. Way to go. Thank you. So we kind of did it backwards a little bit.
Starting point is 00:16:20 How much of these student loans are you paying off? How much of the student loans are you paying off? How much of the student loans are you paying off? Well, there's two of our kids, and they're about $180,000 total. How much money do you have that's not in retirement accounts? Well, we have about $50,000, but they're in a Canadian fund. My wife's Canadian, and when her mom passed away, we had an inheritance there, and we've kept it in a Canadian bank there. I would use that to get out of debt.
Starting point is 00:16:51 If we put it and convert it to U.S., it would be like a 35% exchange rate difference. And we didn't know if that would be prudent for us to remove that to help pay down the debt there. Yeah, I'm going to use that and get out of debt with it. Take that hit and do it that way? Yeah, I don't play monetary policy. I don't sit and play currencies trying to figure out if I can make money. Currency is an investment, and by you holding onto this based only on the exchange rate, that's essentially what you're doing. It's not a deal-breaker or deal-maker for you guys. You've already done it. I mean, you got $2 million. Well done. You killed it. That's essentially what you're doing. It's not a deal breaker, deal maker for you guys.
Starting point is 00:17:25 You've already done it. I mean, you got $2 million. Well done. You killed it. It's amazing. Now, if you're over 59 and a half and you've got $2 million in retirement, I'd use some of that to pay off the debt too. I'd have this debt cleared immediately. You're co-signed on it. Translation, you're liable. And I would clear it as fast as I could. Now, if you're under 59 1⁄2, I certainly would not cash out retirement to pay off debt. Conlon is with us in Madison, Wisconsin. Hi, Conlon. Welcome to Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.
Starting point is 00:17:55 How's it going? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm 17 years old. I live on my own right now with my uncle. And I'm kind of trying to figure out what I want to do for college and sort of like a career, and I was kind of wondering what you would suggest.
Starting point is 00:18:13 Okay. I would not pick school based solely on the income that it produces. If you get to producing a great income doing something that you hate doing every day, you will not be good at it, and eventually you won't produce a good income on it okay um i would pick it but i would also want to have an income figured out so if you're going to spend x number of dollars on anything you want it to make you more than it costs you and an education is an investment like anything else and so if i'm going to to spend $50,000 on it and I can make $100,000 a year as a result of that, then that's a good investment, right?
Starting point is 00:18:55 But if I'm going to spend $200,000 on education and I can't get a job making $20,000 because I got a degree in left-handed puppetry, then that puts you in the stupid list, right? And people do that stuff all the time. And so I would try to figure out what, you know, what is it that turns you on? Is it the languages and the English language? Are you going to be a writer? Is it math?
Starting point is 00:19:17 Are you going to be in finance or accounting? You know, what are your natural skills in your high school experience? I've been a math nerd my whole life, so it led me easily into finance and real estate. My parents were in the real estate business, so I got a degree in finance and real estate. And it has served me well. I've got a basic business degree, in other words, undergrad. And it's served me very, very well. My return on investment was excellent.
Starting point is 00:19:51 It's time to take another look at your budget. That means scouring every expense and making sure you're not leaving any money on the table. One of the biggest expenses is your mortgage payment. I recommend a quick Churchill checkup. In just five minutes, our friends at Churchill Mortgage can tell you if you could save some cash each month. They've helped thousands upon thousands of my listeners keep more cash in their pockets through a smarter mortgage. I want you to call Churchill for your checkup and see if you can lower your monthly payment, or better yet, see how you can pay off your house early. Think about it. What could you do with your money if you didn't have a mortgage?
Starting point is 00:20:24 Call Churchill at 888-LOAN-200, 888-LOAN-200, or visit ChurchillMortgage.com for your Churchill checkup. That's 888-LOAN-200 or ChurchillMortgage.com. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLS ConsumerAccess.org. Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevardd Brentwood, TN 37027 In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Richard and Casey are with us.
Starting point is 00:21:15 Hey, guys. Merry Christmas. Hi, Dave. Where are you all from? Where do you live? San Diego. Oh, cool. Well, welcome to Nashville.
Starting point is 00:21:22 All the way across the continent to get here. To do a debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? $68,801.63. Cool. And how long did this take? 17 months. Good.
Starting point is 00:21:37 And your range of income during that time? It was about $125 to about $195. Okay, cool. What do you all do for a living? I'm a fireman. And I work at a private Christian school in administration. Oh, very cool. What do you all do for a living? I'm a fireman. And I work at a private Christian school in administration. Oh, very cool. Good for you guys.
Starting point is 00:21:52 And what kind of debt was the 69,000? It was cars. It was HELOCs. It was everything, credit cards, you name it. You guys were just normal? Yes, very normal. Just loaded up, huh? Yeah, we did.
Starting point is 00:22:04 Okay. What happened 17 months ago got you, huh? Yeah, we did. Okay. What happened 17 months ago got you on fire? It kind of started with me. I was doing my annual decluttering of the house, and I was looking around one day, and I thought, oh, my gosh, we had to use our hard-earned money to buy everything in this house. And I kind of just felt sick to my stomach that we had just wasted so much money. And here I was just giving away stuff that he had to work so hard to buy. And so I went to go see, I took him to go see your friends, the minimalist.
Starting point is 00:22:35 Yeah. And that was great. When we left there, they are such an inspiration. And so when we walked out, he goes, that's it. We're selling everything. Kids thought they were next. Yeah. I bet. Okay, cool.
Starting point is 00:22:50 And then what happened? And then I thought, well, you know what? We're losing all this stuff. We need to lose this debt because it's a ball and chain. So I decided to get us on a budget. I didn't really know you then, So it was the Casey and Rich plan, which means we did it all backwards. We ended up getting a HELOC after I set the budget. We ended up getting a new car after I set the budget. And finally, I heard about you through
Starting point is 00:23:17 Instagram and I started reading people's stories on there. And I thought, oh oh I'm doing this all wrong so wrong so I read the total money makeover in two days and then I handed it to him and I said you have to read this and he is not a reader I thought I was being indoctrinated or something honestly once I picked the book up and started reading I couldn't put it down I knew we had a goal and I know we could had a way to obtain that goal now and that's what we went after. That's fun. Okay. So, yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:50 So six months into this, we really weren't doing your plan, and then after that, it was gazelle mode. Okay. All right. Cool. Good for you. So the total money makeover, and then you and I were talking at the break. You've actually become one of our coaches, right? I am.
Starting point is 00:24:02 So you've gone all the way through the whole process now. I have, and I want to teach people what we did. Very cool. So what is the key to getting out of debt, Coach? There are four things for us. One is a purpose. That is your why. Then there's a plan, which is your budget.
Starting point is 00:24:17 Then there's prayer mixed in there. And last but not least, you need a paycheck. Oh, alliterated it all the way through. Yeah, look at you. Yeah. Now, what's in your hand? Those watching on YouTube see you've got something on your hand. Yes.
Starting point is 00:24:35 I have a shadow box of my kid's picture and some of my 50 credit cards or our 50 credit cards that we shredded in here. And it says, never again. We will never again be in credit card debt or debt of any kind. And those kids are your why then? That's your purpose? They are. We literally want to leave them a legacy. You have. You already have. debt or debt of any kind and those kids are your why then that's your purpose they are we literally want to leave them a legacy you have you already have because they watch mom and dad learn some some uh new tricks later in life and that's inspiring they they how old are the kiddos
Starting point is 00:24:56 they're 21 23 and 26 oh yeah that's perfect yeah and one of them's already jumped so far onto your plan it was so proud of them they took all their money out of savings, paid off their student loan right away, took their bank accounts down to nothing, and now they're following our footsteps. Very cool. So you're coaching in San Diego. I am. Okay, very cool. Well, good for you guys.
Starting point is 00:25:17 Well done. Outside of the two of you, who was your biggest cheerleader while you were doing this? I would have to say my mom and my boss and then the debt-free community on Instagram. Yeah. Well, I love the way you got at this through the spirit of the minimalist, set the stage, laid the foundation almost for you guys to be able to do this. Because you kind of came home and went on that program. We're going to declutter. We're going to clean out.
Starting point is 00:25:40 We're going to simplify our lives, which is a spiritual experience in and of itself. And then you're going, yeah, but this debt's got to go, too. And then you take off down this other road, and you get indoctrinated then, Rich, with the Total Money Makeover book, which is right. That's exactly how it works. That's so fun, you guys. So fun. Very well done. Well, I'm proud of you.
Starting point is 00:26:03 Thank you. Great work. How does it feel now that you don't have any payments? Oh, it's like, what are we going to do next? I think the house is probably going to be next, and we have a goal of four years. Oh, man. Yeah, I like to say I like to smash that debt right in the mouth on that house. I love it.
Starting point is 00:26:17 I love it. Very good. And how old are you two? I am 52. 53. And how long have you been married? 28 years. This is the first time in
Starting point is 00:26:25 our 28 year marriage we've ever been debt free wow that's got to feel amazing amazing amazing well done i love it i love it i love it well we've got a copy of chris hogan's retire inspired book for you and we'll send you another one in january called everyday millionaires because that's what you're on your way to be. We're going. No question. Outrageously generous and on your way without a doubt. We'll get you both of those books and
Starting point is 00:26:53 make sure you keep it up. Thanks for becoming a coach. We'll definitely be sending some folk your way, I'm sure. Oh yeah, you already have. Thanks, Dave, for what you do. Honestly, all the people that you have working for your whole team. It takes a tribe and you guys have done a great job here great. And thanks, Dave, for what you do. Honestly, all the people that you have working for you, your whole team, it takes a tribe, and you guys have done a great job here. Thank you very, very much.
Starting point is 00:27:09 We've got a good team. We're proud of them. All right, Richard and Casey, San Diego, California, $69,000 paid off in 17 months, making $125,000 to $195,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!
Starting point is 00:27:32 This is how it's done. I love it. Man. Hey, if you've ever wanted to do that, that's kind of how i got started with this coaching thing larry burkett is a christian financial guy that passed away several years ago we became friends he was iconic in that space um he had a class series that you could take to learn how to do financial counseling to help coach people from a biblical perspective in your church. And I went and took that after I went broke because I really wanted to help people not go broke like I did.
Starting point is 00:28:13 And it was one of the things that propelled me into actually doing everything I do today. And so if you've ever thought, hey, I'd like to learn to do that. I'd like to learn to help people in my church or even in the community and maybe do it as a side hustle or something or a part of your CPA business or whatever it is. You just heard from a couple of our financial coaches who've been through the online program Financial Coach Master Training, and they're helping people kneecap to kneecap, face-to-face every day. And it really doesn't matter what your background is.
Starting point is 00:28:44 You do not have to have a master's degree in finance to do this stuff. It's common sense. You just have to have the heart to serve people. And if you're interested in becoming a financial coach, don't miss the free webinar on Thursday. This Thursday, December 13th, free webinar. If you register today, we'll send you our Hope Now video series from Chris Hogan, and you get a chance to win a free enrollment into the coaching program.
Starting point is 00:29:13 It's if you register and then attend the free webinar this Thursday, December 13th, about becoming a financial coach through the Financial Coach Master Training Program. How do you do all this? You text the word COACHING to 33789. That's COACHING to 33789, and it'll set you up to do all of that, get you registered to potentially win the free enrollment, and we'll definitely send out the Hope Now video series from Chris Hogan and, of course, set you up to attend the upcoming webinar this coming Thursday, September the 13th, for the Financial Coach Master Training Program.
Starting point is 00:29:56 Fun stuff! Nothing more fun than helping people. And if it's something you kind of got a little itch on, well, maybe that's a way to scratch it. Like I say, it's kind of how I got started. So check it out. We'd love to help you be able to help others. We need the help.
Starting point is 00:30:11 There's a lot of people needing the help out here. I can tell you that. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. Our scripture of the day, 1 John 3, 18. Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with action and in truth. George H.W. Bush said, We must act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope of a saint. In crucial things, unity.
Starting point is 00:31:15 In important things, diversity. In all things, generosity. Powerful. Prince is in Arlington, Virginia. Hi, Prince. How are you? I'm doing well. How about yourself?
Starting point is 00:31:28 Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? So, first of all, I want to say thank you for your program and what you do. I went to college. I majored in financial planning. So, when I graduated, I thought I was on fire for my debt until I started listening to you. And I really got on fire for it. So, thanks, thanks again for what you do. Thank you. I'm calling, no problem. I'm calling about a situation I have with my family. So to make a long story short, my mother
Starting point is 00:31:57 had a rental property that she used for her other daycare, and it was successful for a good amount of years, but within the last three years, it wasn't as successful, and the payments were being upkept. So my oldest sister did a very wonderful thing, and she refinanced it, and the plan was to use it as a rental property. So there's five siblings total. My three oldest siblings all put in money into it. And then the two youngest siblings, me and my sister, we took out loans for various repairs of the house. And this past year, the tenant situation has been terrible. So I was wondering, is it worthwhile to keep or should we just sell the property? And the last variable that you need to know is that the mortgage is actually very low.
Starting point is 00:32:51 She refinanced it to the payment is $700, but we can charge up to $2,000 in the Northern Virginia area. Okay. You refinanced it, and your mom no longer has anything to do with the property, right? It's in my sister's name at the moment. Who lives there? Tenants? Right now, it's vacant. Okay, so your mother's gone. She's got her own place, her own life separate from this discussion now, right?
Starting point is 00:33:21 Yes, this was just a separate property. Okay, so the siblings all got together and bailed mom out of a mess. Exactly. Well, my oldest sister gets the credit, but yes, that's exactly what happened. And you guys got into a mess. Yes. Okay. All right. So here's the way I look at things. There's a thing, there's a great article I read many years ago, and it really has helped me. I use it all the time here on the air, and I use it personally, from the Harvard Investment Newsletter.
Starting point is 00:33:51 And there was a Harvard professor teaching finance that when a student working on a case study would make a recommendation based on the past instead of based on the future. In other words, I bought this stock for $50, and it's gone down to $16, and I'm going to wait until it goes back to $50 before I sell it. The class was taught to yell at the person, not yell at them, but to yell out, sunk costs, meaning how we got here doesn't matter. All that matters is would we go forward. And the way you ask yourself the question is, if I didn't own this house today with five brothers and sisters knowing what I know now,
Starting point is 00:34:40 would we all sit down at the table over Thanksgiving and decide to all go buy a rental house together and the answer is a hundred percent of the time no okay you guys fell into this deal trying to help your mom get out of a mess but you would not all sit down together and go let's go buy a rental house no i don't think we would this was all of you working together trying to fix mom's problem and you you converted it to another problem so all of that to say is i'd sell it all right well um i guess that answers my question uh before i go thanks again for everything you do hey thank you sir we appreciate you joining us cindy is in billings montana hi Hi, Cindy. How are you? Good.
Starting point is 00:35:25 Great. Thanks for taking my call, you and Kelly. Thank you. Quick question. Sure. It's regarding the backdoor Roth. Mm-hmm. The IRS pro rater rule says that it'll take into account all of my IRAs. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:35:38 So do I still move forward and open up a backdoor Roth? I have between 500 and 600K in SEP and traditional IRAs. You need to sit down with your SmartVestor Pro or your broker and have them calculate if it's going to do you any good. It doesn't sound like it will. We don't have one in our area, so that's why I called you. We are in a little tiny area in Wyoming. Yeah, who does your brokerage stuff?
Starting point is 00:36:04 Somebody who is not affiliated with you. Oh, that doesn't matter. I mean, if they have the heart of a teacher and they know their stuff, they ought to be able to answer this question because it's a calculation, and I'm not able to do it here on the air. But everyone can't do a Roth, a backdoor Roth, but it sounds like you're pinched on this. I don't think you're going to be able to,
Starting point is 00:36:23 but I'd love for somebody to crunch the numbers and figure out what portion of this is qualified. In my case, I can do it all, but not everyone can. And so you've got to look at that, look at how much of your other income you have and how much other stuff you have tied up in IRAs and 401ks and so forth versus your other incomes. And I've just got enough other income streams that I'm able to do it. But you've got to look at those ratios, and that's what you've – you're on the smell of something here. You're hunting the right information.
Starting point is 00:36:59 I just can't do it for you. I don't know. But I think you can sit down with your broker there, and I think they can help you work that through. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jump in. We'll talk about your life, your money. Matthew is with us in San Diego. Hi, Matthew.
Starting point is 00:37:18 How are you? Well, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? About 10 years ago, we attended Signage Peace University, and we are past the living like nobody else and getting ready to start giving like nobody else. Cool. My wife and I have been called to gift a pretty substantial amount of money to a daycare teacher for our child before
Starting point is 00:37:47 she leaves on baby leave. And I don't know, I've listened to a lot of episodes, but I've never heard anything about specifically about the giving. What we're looking to do is, you know, one of the scary things is altering the relationship. You know, I've done substantially smaller amounts and people have refused to take it. So just kind of from somebody who has experienced that, just kind of curious what lessons learned you got. What are your thoughts? How much money are we talking about?
Starting point is 00:38:18 Probably $10,000. Okay. Well, you can do that without any gift tax issue. This lady is obviously not a non-profit. You can give up to, in the year 2019, you'll be able to give up to $15,000. But I don't think that has to do with your question. Your question is more how to handle the actual discussion with them. Now, this lady was a daycare teacher to your child? Yeah, it's somebody who has basically, you know,
Starting point is 00:38:47 she spends about four times more time with our kids than we do. Still, still. And just still, correct. Okay. And why do you feel like you're supposed to give her money? I'm not saying you shouldn't. I'm just curious. It's just one of those things that it started out small and and over the last six
Starting point is 00:39:05 months or so um it really has become almost a calling it's it's just hey look this uh and then we found out that she's uh going to be having her second kid and going to be taking off from work and so uh it all lines up okay a way that i have been successful to do that is to sit down and say hey listen you've been a huge blessing i feel like god has told us to do this um and what we'd like to do is to uh pay your house payment for a year or pay your house payment for 10 months or something and that way the money is going directly at something that's a basic need and could equate to $10,000. I mean, you could figure out, you know, how much is your house payment? It's $800.
Starting point is 00:39:49 Well, that'd be 12 months, you know. So you just kind of figure that out. But I've done stuff like that or we want to cover this expense, whatever it is, or pay off this debt for you so that you're able to do better and so on. Sometimes, well, I mean, and the other thing is you can't control their response. And so some people are offended, believe it or not. Some people are embarrassed, and you're not responsible for their response. God just told you to give it.
Starting point is 00:40:21 Keep that in mind, too. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. We'll be back with you before you give it. Keep that in mind, too. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show and the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, guys, it's Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer for the Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's up, but you'll find more on our YouTube channel, where we have over 6 million YouTube views each month. You can find debt-free screams, millionaire hour clips, Dave rants, and so much more. Go check it out.

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