The Ramsey Show - App - How to Tell Your In-Laws No (Hour 2)

Episode Date: June 20, 2018

The show about you

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 am Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Josh starts off this hour in Detroit. Hi, Josh.

How are you? Better than I deserve. Dave, how are you? Just the same, sir. How can I help? Dave, I have a question about our mortgage. We have about $850,000 invested, $25,000 in cash, but we still have about a $154,000 mortgage. And our income is about $225,000. We have a plan to

pay off the house in approximately three years. We're wondering if you would recommend pulling out some of our investments, paying the capital gains now when in retirement, you know, our tax liability is going to be so much less. And we look to retire in about seven years. Capital gains tax liability won't be different. You're in a 15% tax bracket on capital gains. You still will be in retirement. So it wouldn't matter if we just paid off now?

Yeah, I mean, at least that part of the equation doesn't. So great income, by the way. How old are you? 46. My wife's 45. Well done. And what is the 850 invested in? How much of it's in retirement accounts?

$400,000 in a 401k, about $370,000 in company stock, and then about $80,000 in another investment account. Okay. The company stock purchased on stock plan or given to you as a benefit? Both. The given to you as a benefit will be 100% cashed. Have you already paid income tax on that? We have.

Everything that's given to us, we've already paid on. Okay. So then the only thing you'll have is capital gain on it. And you're heavy on company stock. We are. Yes, we are. Yeah, that scares me. So that's another reason to do it.

I'd take $150 of that and pay off the house today, plus enough to pay the capital gains, and I'd rebalance my portfolio. The problem is you've got this wonderful income coming from this company, and you've got half of your freaking net worth in this company. And so if this company turns down or worse than that, goes south, you in a real world are hurt. So that lack of diversification scares me. I'm going to move and have no more than about 10% of your total net worth, which is you're probably worthwhile in excess of a million. So $100,000, $150,000 in company stock when all the smoke clears. Yeah, I mean, we actually just went over a million just a few months back.

Congratulations. At 46 years old. How much of this did you inherit? None. You started? We just... How much of it did you steal? Are you a crook? No.

Well, I mean, that's what people think, isn't it? No. crook no no i mean that's what people think it didn't no we're we're we live uh we live on about you know our monthly budget's around 4500 wow so you're living on about 80 grand making two and a quarter that'll make you a millionaire that'll work well done what do you do for a living uh we both work for uh can i say the name of the company i don't care we both work for, can I say the name of the company? I don't care. We both work for Home Depot. Oh, okay. Wonderful. And that's all that company stock.

Well, it's a great stock, great company. Obviously, it's been great to you guys. But regardless of who it is, and you and I had the discussion before I knew who it was, so it doesn't matter who it is. I'm still not going to be in company stock as heavy as you are. So, yeah, I'd pay that off. But you're an everyday millionaire. You're one of Chris Hogan's everyday millionaires, man.

You did it. 46 years old, starting from nothing. Well, and it's all, you know, it's a combination of us working together, common goals, and, you know, live on less than what you make. Well, and you've obviously excelled at your careers. Yes. Yeah. What college did you graduate from?

Neither one of us have graduated. Really? No college degrees? Wow. That's cool. Okay. Very interesting. Yeah, just got very, very good at what you do for Home Depot then, huh?

Okay. 60, 70 hours a week, we'll get it done. Yeah, man. Boom, just like that. Old-fashioned idea very neat hey a guy emailed or tweeted rather this morning he said next time you and hogan are doing one of those millionaire theme hours ask them how much tv they watch so how much tv do you watch uh we have a couple shows that we catch pretty regularly but it

depends like this time of year, we don't watch TV. Okay, so how many hours a week would you average? Five. Wow. A tenth of what the average person does. There you go. So you don't know who got thrown off the island. That was all I said. The typical millionaire can't tell you who got thrown off the island.

There you go. Way to go. Josh, I'm proud of you. Yeah, that's exactly what I'd do, brother. I'd pay the house off today, pull out enough to pay the capital gains, too. I'd rebalance this portfolio, move some of that company stock over into good growth stock mutual funds with your smart investor pro or whoever's advising you on your finances and tax-friendly situations there, you're probably going to want to look for some low turnover ratio type mutual funds that don't tax you as they grow because it has a low turnover ratio. And so that's the portion that's not in a retirement account. That's what you need to look for. So you've got a great situation, sir.

You've done a wonderful, wonderful job. Very proud of you. Open phones at 888-825-5225. So you've got a great situation, sir. You've done a wonderful, wonderful job. Very proud of you. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Sherry is on Twitter, or Shari. My husband and I are in baby step three. That means they're out of debt and they have their emergency fund. We have no kids.

We plan to leave anything we have to our church. Would you still recommend not pre-planning or prepaying our funerals i would always pre-plan a funeral i would never prepay it you have the money to pay the funeral and you pay it out of are they someone pays it for you after you die out of your out of your money. Anytime you prepay anything, college, funerals are the two biggest ones out there. Your rate of return is the rate of increase in price, the inflation rate. So how much does college go up a year? Well, the average is about 7% a year for the last 54 years. So when you prepay college, you're making 7% on your money. Not bad, but you could have made 12 13 11 and a good mutual fund okay so that's why we recommend you do 529s and mutual

funds instead of prepaying college how much a funeral funeral's gone up uh for the last 50 years yeah maybe probably the average inflation rate would be my guess somewhere around four percent a year let's just call it that. And so you're making 4% on your money when you prepay your funeral, and I wouldn't do that if that's the actual inflation rate, and I think that's probably pretty close. It might be 5%, it might be 3%, but it's not 10%. And so, you know, you don't prepay.

You instead invest the money in 10%, 11%, 12% mutual funds, which is a lot more than 4%. And you'll have a lot more than you need to be buried that way. You're not King Tut. So it's not going to be that hard. Or the Queen of Egypt or whatever you need to be to do that. So there you go. I just don't prepay stuff like that. I instead invest it and pay it when it's time to pay it.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs based on new testament principles christian health care ministries or chm helps christian families churches and ministries join together as the body of christ to share their major health care costs christian health care ministries is the original health cost sharing ministry a better business bureau accredited organization chm members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other.

It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years. And our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Well, I'm honored to have my friend and American icon on the talk radio scene, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, with me this segment. How are you, my friend?

I am very happy to be here with you. We haven't seen each other in a long time. Are you still as handsome as ever? And you're still full of it. You're wonderful. That's fun. Good for you. Well, congratulations on all your success over on SiriusXM.

Thank you. It's a very happy place to be. You have done very, very well there, and I'm very proud of you. Thank you. I just got to, this morning, watch the Facebook Live promo piece you did on this Marriage101.com project, The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, and it's classic Dr. Laura. It's fun, it's sassy, and it's accurate. Well done.

Thank you very much. What do you think about the hair? That was pretty good, too, huh? Well, yeah, I'm an expert on hair, so. Yeah, you had great hair. You always do. Oh, that's fun. So let's talk about this, the proper care and feeding of husbands.

That's about seriously politically incorrect. Well, that's my middle name. There we go. Feeding of Husbands. That's about seriously politically incorrect. Well, that's my middle name. There we go. But politically incorrect usually means the truth. So I remember years ago, it could be more than 12 years ago, I was on air and it just seemed like it was one woman after another.

Excuse, I hope I can say this on your show, kind of bitching about their husbands. And at one point I was trying to tell one woman after another how to treat a man. And I slammed my fist down on the table as a joke and went, I have to write the proper care and feeding of husbands. What a commercial. And as I sat there, I went, you know, I do. So that's how the book originally got written and uh i decided to do a course to sort of uh get the millennials end up and refresher to the uppers and because marriage is staying together is the best thing for everybody's mental and physical

health and the well-being of kids and it's the best thing for their wealth building and it's about the best thing for society so it's uh yeah it's a wonderful project and finances are always better yeah always always marriage101.com there are six lessons and uh it's a deal i mean it's normally what 34.99 and you're even giving our listeners a discount, right? Only because I love you. Yeah, that's true, too. But a 10% discount. How can you not do a discount thing when you're talking to Dave Ramsey when you're helping them with their finances? If you can't throw out a coupon here, you can't throw out a coupon. Yeah, that's right.

$31.49. You can watch all six lessons, and each lesson is about how long? 35 minutes. Somehow, I managed to just get to my last thought at 35. There you go. We're all the same length, which is interesting. Lesson number six is sex. Lesson number two is the white rabbit.

Talk about the white rabbit. Well, that's, I'm busy, busy, busy. We had a promo. Our promos are largely little excerpts from callers. And I was telling one woman, oh, you better be his girlfriend. You've got to do these things. You've got to be sweet. You've got to be adorable.

You've got to be flirtatious. And she goes, I don't have any time for that. I'm busy. And I said to her, you better make time for that or you'll be divorced and have plenty of time. So it's a matter of how women don't seem to have the right priorities. Once they get married, of course, when they're dating, every moment of his has to be theirs. But once they're married, it's like, you're on my schedule, and frankly, you're not on my schedule.

Yeah. You know, it goes both ways. Men could bother to date their wives as well. If we would just treat each other like we treated each other when we were trying to make the sale, everything would be okay, right? Well, I'm going to twist that a little bit. Okay. You're a man.

I'm a woman. So you will be able to recognize by virtue of the gender I hope you have decided you are, considering what's going on these days. It's moment to moment. I think that's pretty well settled with me. So, a guy comes home after a really bad day, walks through the door, and his wife is standing there wearing something incredibly seductive, smelling great, and she says, honey, you've had a long, hard day.

I am going to rock your world. He does not remember his long, hard day. Do you agree to that? Instantaneously. Instantaneously. His amnesia is complete. Woman comes home. And he stands there just wearing, I don't know, a loincloth,

looking like something out of the Ten Commandments movie. But anyway, or Ben-Hur, that was better, and says to her, Oh, honey, I've missed you all day. I know you've had a difficult day. I'm going to rock your world. Her hands are on her hips, but she calls him insensitive, that he doesn't care about her feelings. All he cares about is sex.

We have very different days. So when you say it goes both ways, women are in charge. When we are sweet and adorable with you guys, you will kill, you will die, you will do anything for us. And that's how we get the reciprocation. We prime the pump. There we go. The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands is now a course at marriage101.com with the iconic Dr. Laura. And she's giving you guys, the Dave Ramsey listeners, a 10% discount, only $31.49 to watch all six 35-minute lessons.

Very, very good stuff. What has been the response to this that has surprised you the most in a good way what has surprised me the most in a good way is how many women wrote in going you know i read the book and i was doing it and then i sort of let go thanks for pinching me and reminding me and you know i think i would have lost my marriage. It's what has impressed me seriously is how quickly so many women are willing to embrace the notion that they have the power in relationships and to take responsibility for that. Because ultimately, I tell women, if they treat their husbands like their girlfriends and have the kind of attitudes that I talk about in the book and in the course, that they're going to be happier.

I mean, if a woman really wants to be happy, if she's flirting with her husband, try to do that and be depressed at the same time. Try. This time. It makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. So if somebody's marriage is struggling, is this going to, like, throw a grenade in the middle of it, or is it going to help? Well, you know, this is like 15 years now.

The book has been out, and I have a stack of looking over my shoulder a foot high of e-mails that I've downloaded and saved. I don't know why. I just did it. And I look back through them, and I'm very touched, and I saved. I don't know why. I just did it. And I look back through them, and I'm very touched, and I cry. He was out the door, and I read your book, and I didn't argue with him about that I was going to be better. I just started acting like the woman he wanted to marry, and he came back home. So we have the power.

You guys are along for the ride, baby. You said that way too many times already. Well, we do. And you should be happy about that because when we recognize we have the power, things can get better. If we don't recognize we have the power, you don't have the power to make things better. That's how the male-female dynamic works. And that's why when women say, oh, you just want me to be subservient, that's ridiculous. I want you to be adorable and loving and cute and affectionate

and supportive because your man will just explode with happiness and give you anything you want. And that is the way it works, unless, of course, he's a sociopath, a narcissist, an addict, or, you know, likes to beat up on people. Yeah. If he's a good guy, he's going to react that way. Yeah, and basically, most guys are your average nice guy, you know. Yeah, yeah. We run into them all the time.

You know, we've just finished, Chris Hogan, our guy, has just finished a millionaire study, a huge, huge research project. And we found all kinds of data points between the quality of the marriage and their ability to reach a millionaire status. Oh, yes. And men, also health-wise. Big time. By the way, I am widowed for many years now. If you'd like to introduce me to somebody, let me know.

There's about a 15-year addition to your life, I think, if I read right. Did I read that right? Yes. Yeah. If you're a guy. Proper care and feeding. We outlive you anyway, so it's a little warning. The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by the iconic Dr. Lara is a best-selling book now.

It is a six-video lesson that you want to take at $31.49 at Marriage 101. Yeah, save your marriage. That's a pretty inexpensive way to save a marriage. A lot cheaper than 10 years of therapy. Thanks for hanging out with me, my friend. We appreciate you coming on. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I talk about the importance of term life insurance all the time. But how many of you actually have it or have the right amount?

I know you think this is a hassle. You think it's too expensive or that you have plenty of time to buy it later or that you're afraid of making a mistake so you do nothing. And I end up getting calls all the time trying to help families through the financial mess left behind. Listen, if you're married, if you have a family, a mortgage or other debt, people relying on your income, then you need term life insurance. And the reality is it's not a hassle. It's actually pretty simple. Term life is not expensive and the rates have never been lower. You can lock in rates for 15, 20, even 30 years and then focus on getting out of debt and growing your savings. No mistake there. Call Zander Insurance at 800-356-4282

or go to zander.com and make sure your family is protected. Maybe I won't have to take those heartbreaking phone calls as often. Hannah is in Morgantown, West Virginia. Hi, Hannah. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? So, I just graduated from college, and I'm looking at moving now for my job in farm management. The problem is we're having a really, really hard time finding housing. Everything is either really expensive or really cheap and not safe.

And so we have a couple of options. We're not really sure what to do. Even my parents are a little stumped, so they recommended, you know, call you. So the first option is to go ahead and take the expensive housing, move up there with my family, have us all there, do that for a year. We're already living kind of beans and rice, and I'm scared that it's going to make us beans or rice and really stretch everything and really mess up our plans to get out of debt. The second option, which can kind of go two different ways, is to move up there on my own. The farm does have housing for employees. My daughter and my husband would move in with my parents for a short time

while we saved up some money and either had enough to... So what does this job pay? Right now it pays about $34,000. $34,000? Yeah. It's a trainee program. The year after that it goes up to 40 and then when i get my own farm which will be the year after that it goes up to 60 this is a lot of gyration for a 60 000 job um what does your husband do for a living? Right now he is running his own business in graphic design.

He just got it started. He's not making a lot. What he would do is move up and get something steady, either working at a bank. Where is up? Where are you talking about moving to? Chambersburg, Pennsylvania area. Okay. And what major metro area is that moving to? Chambersburg, Pennsylvania area. Okay. And what major metro area is that closest to?

An hour away from Lake Hagerstown, Maryland, 30 minutes north of Gettysburg. Okay. Not that far from where you are now then. Okay. Yes, that's two hours away. Yeah. And there's a housing shortage just because it's a rural community? Okay. Yes, that's two hours away. And there's a housing shortage just because it's a rural community?

Everyone owns their houses up there. Well, because, I mean, it's not a large community is what it amounts to. Because when you make a statement like everyone owns their houses, if that's a town of five people, that's possible. If it's a town of 500, that's bull. If it's a town of 50,000, it's absolute bull. Okay? So everyone doesn't do anything. So, you know, what size community is this?

Population. It's currently about the same size as Morgantown, so probably about $50,000 or so, because it's also got a college in the area, and that's what's taking up most of the housing and driving up the cost. Okay. It might be driving up the cost somewhat. Yeah, when you're making $34,000 a year, it'd drive up the cost, yeah. And how much debt do you guys have? We currently, with everything, I think we're sitting at about $70,000.

And you've got a four-year degree in farm management? In animal science. Animal science, okay. With the intent of running a farm. That's been your dream. With the intent of running a farm, doing production, or moving into nutrition, which this company will allow me to do as well. Okay.

All right. I think you're going to move, and I think you're going to move your family with you, and I think it's going to slow down your debt snowball. Okay. And you're going to just rent something. And I think you've got some more hunting to do to find a good rental. And you may have a little bit of a drive. You may need to get far enough away that the college students wouldn't want to rent that,

and so you have a whole 30-minute commute or something like that. That wouldn't kill you. So the farm is actually 30 minutes away from that area. Well, then there's other stuff 30 minutes away from that farm in another direction too. So I think you're just, you know, your house hunt is just beginning. It's not over. And so, you know, you just can't get into these absolute statements like everyone owns their own home. There are no properties except high-end and low-end,

and not in a community of 50,000 people. That's just simply not true. Now, maybe you haven't found it yet, but you're setting yourself up to make bad decisions when you box yourself in with statements like that. So just say, we just hadn't found the deal we need yet. That's the way you need to say it, because that's the truth. And you just need to keep looking until't found the deal we need yet. That's the way you need to say it because that's the truth. And you just need to keep looking until you find the deal that you need.

Or maybe this is God telling you you don't take this job. You really are doing double backflips for a $34,000 job, really. I mean, that's, you know, it's not like they're offering you $134,000. I might get a little more excited about that, you know, it's not like they're offering you $134,000. I might get a little more excited about that, you know. But, you know, it is what you want to do, and it's what you've trained to do. And if it's a career track that takes you where you want to go, I don't mind you going and doing it. But, you know, it wouldn't also hurt to continue to shop the job market

and see where else you can land. Jessica is with us in Phoenix, Arizona. Hi, Jessica. How are you? I'm doing well. Thanks for taking my call, Dave. Sure. What's up?

So we have a, my sister-in-law is going to graduate from Navy basic training in October. And we explained to her that we don't have the money to go, but we're willing to, you know, celebrate with her in some other way when she comes back on leave. And my husband's parents offered to pay for us to go, but we're willing to, you know, celebrate with her in some other way when she comes back on leave. And my husband's parents offered to pay for us to go, but we know that in order for them to pay for us to go, they're not real good with their finances and they're planning on putting the whole trip on credit. And we, in good conscience, can't allow them to do that. So we just don't know how to tell them in a nice way, you know, thanks, but no.

And we're kind of, we don't want to bring up their finances in the conversation either because that's not really our responsibility. Okay. Well, number one, there's no we in this. Your husband's going to do this because otherwise you're going to be the wicked witch of the West. He's going to tell his mommy that they're they're not you know what's going on and i mean all you can do is just be as kind as possible you still run the risk of someone being upset okay and there's nothing you can do to guarantee how someone else is going to react that's on them they have to decide that

but if it were happening at our house, we would just say something like, Mom and Dad, we just can't make this trip. We know you guys are going to put this on a credit card, and we just don't want you to go into debt for us, and we don't want to go into debt for us. And so this is just one we're going to miss. I mean, it's graduation from basic. It's a big deal.

We hate to miss it. Our hearts are there. Our hearts are there. Our hearts are broken. But we're just not in a financial condition. And, you know, there's no possible way we want you to do anything for us that's going to put you into debt. And I just can't do that to you. And so we can't go. And then, well, you don't have the right to tell me.

I've got a right to tell me. And me says me can't go. And then, well, you don't have the right to tell me. I've got a right to tell me. And me says me isn't going. And that's the only thing I can control is me. You guys got to do what you got to do. But I know that this is going to put you further in debt, and I can't do that. I can't do that any more than I can do that to our family and put us in debt, Mom. And so we're not going to do it. We love y'all.

We love her. We're going to back everybody. High fives to everybody. There'll be another day. There'll be another celebration. Once we've gotten our financial act together and we get ourselves out of debt and we got a little money, we will participate in all these things. And maybe we'll pay for you to go to something next time

because we'll have the actual money to do it. But for this time, this one's a no-go. And they may choose to be mad, but that's their choice, not yours. And you don't even need to be on the phone call, kiddo, nor in the background voicing your opinion over his shoulder. You're not going to come out of this unscathed if you do. You know, just let him handle his mommy. That's the only shot he's got.

And that may or may not happen, but it won't be your fault then. And that's the only thing I can tell you. It's what I would do. I'm not a family therapist. I'm just an old man that's done a lot of stuff. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. For years, I refused to endorse any company that claimed to get people out of timeshares. I told my listeners it's a horrible product and that, unfortunately, they didn't have a lot of options. Then a few years ago, I sat down with Brandon Reed, the owner of Timeshare Exit Team.

Brandon walked me through the timeshare industry, and I learned that you can't sell them, and you can't even give them away. And then we talked about Timeshare Exit Team's process. Every ownership situation is different, which is why they have more solutions than any other company. And that's when they earned my respect. Don't call any of the imposters out there. And there's a lot.

The only timeshare exit company I stand behind is timeshare exit team. They have exited thousands from their timeshare burden this year alone. Yes, you will write them a check, but they stand behind their guarantee. They will get you out or they'll give you a full refund. Call 844-999-EXIT

online at timeshareexitteam.com Kate's with us in San Diego. Hi, Kate. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Hi, thank you. How can I help? Okay. okay well here's my situation i'm 55 i'm separated i have a 16 year old and a 22 year old i have been renovating our homes i did a couple and selling and i'm just about to sell one. And after all the debts taken care of, I'll have $500,000.

My husband, once we finalize the divorce, will take another piece of property that we own that's a piece of land as his. We sort of had it written up and that was what he agreed to do. Although he wanted me to keep the house until my daughter graduated from high school but i felt like now was the time to sell so um my situation is you know what do i do with money basically what's the best thing to do with the money part of me wants to sort of activate it maybe into another sort of real estate investment, maybe do like an Airbnb or a small rental. But I feel like the interest rates might be going up. I feel like, you know, San Diego itself is very expensive. Yeah, I've heard the rumor.

Okay. So where are you going to live? Well, right now, I already got a rental that we're in because my two daughters are living with me. My 22-year-old came back and went to community college, although she's going to be leaving in the fall. So I have this kind of month-to-month rental in San Diego right now. So right now, you've got housing. Well, here's the thing. What I want you to do is do something that takes you where you want to be 10 years from now. A lot of the description, you've been kind of jumping around short-term, short-term, short-term, short-term in this conversation.

And I think you'll make better short-term decisions if you have a long-term plan. So where do you want to be real estate wise, career wise, home wise, 10 years from now when you're 65? What do you want to spend the next 10 years doing and living? And how does this $500,000 best take you there? Right. Rather than, oh, let's go do a deal. Let's go do an Airbnb and let's do another flip. No, slow down. Let's go.

Where do we want to be in 10 years, and does that take you there? If an Airbnb takes you there because you want to own five of them, do it. But if you're just doing this just to run. My problem is I don't have a job history. I've been a stay-at-home mother for 20 years, and so once I get divorced, I won't have much. It'll be difficult, I think, to access funding. You have $500,000.

Right. And the average home in San Diego is $440,000. Yeah, so that's part of it, you know. I'm not sure how important it is for me to actually own a home right now just for myself. Yeah. I think I'd be more interested in... What do you need, but I'm asking, you know, other than monthly income to live on, what do you need funding for?

Oh, well, I guess I would need funding for it to get a decent sort of income property. But actually, I don't want to have a mortgage. I don't want to have funding anyways. So I'm just kind of confused. That's what I'm hearing. I'm hearing this. You're kind of still reeling a little bit from the uncertainty that this divorce has left you in. Okay?

And that's kind of normal. I mean, like you said, you've been a mom for 20 years, and all of a sudden you're, so to speak, out in the cold, you know? And so it's kind of normal to be going, oh, God, what do I do now? But that's what I'm challenging you to do is to smooth that out by looking further into the future and saying, okay, here's where I want to go. Now, what are the five steps, six steps, ten steps, two steps it takes for me to get to where I want to go? And how do I use that $500,000 to get me there? You've got your temper.

Okay, well, let me ask you a simpler question. If I decide to just wait for like two years before I make any decisions and wait until my daughter goes off to college, what would be the best place to put the money? A savings account. Yeah? Yep. Okay.

You're not going to make any money on it, but you're not going to lose any money. If you put it in the stock market buying good mutual funds like we suggest for long-term investing, it could go down and you could lose $50,000 and you can't afford to lose $50,000 of this. Every one of these dollars. Okay, thank you. That's what I was thinking, actually. Every one of these dollars is too precious to put at risk.

And so I wouldn't do that. If you just want to sit there and rent that house for two years and just camp and eel and decide what you want to do about the future, that not a bad plan it's not a bad plan and then when you decide then you've got that half million sitting there to activate towards real estate towards a career towards a small business idea or all of the above you know one of those things and uh you decide i'm going to take some classes i'm going to get retooled and have my own core career. It's time, which, by the way, it's not unusual at all for a lady between 55 and 60 years old to make the most money she's ever made in her life. And so that's a real possibility for you. We call those encore careers and where you go and take a few classes, get a specialization, get something you've always been interested in.

And you're free and you're passionate to do that, and boom, you can do anything. So if you need some more help, I'm here. You call me anytime. Daniel is with us. Daniel's in California as well. Hi, Daniel. How are you?

Living like no one else, so later I can live like no one else. Go for it, brother. How can I help? So I am 29 turning 30. My wife is 26. We are in what I believe you would call baby step 3B. We are completely debt free and we have six months worth of savings. I'm currently in a PhD program that will probably last another four to five years. So we are stuck where we are. We live in a special care room and board for care situation. So our expenses are very low and we're saving to the best of our ability and budgeting.

So over the next four to five years, we're going to be accruing enough that when I do get an academic position that we can put down a significant amount for a mortgage. So my question is, with this four to five year saving, how does one look for good savings accounts, money market accounts, where there's so many options and different rates? How do you make your money grow in this limited time period? It's not going to grow much. I mean, you might get 1.2, you might get 1.6 or something, but you're not going to get 9.9.

You know, and so there's not going to be a substantial difference in what you earn during a shorter time. 98% of what is in this account when the smoke clears is going to be money you put in there, and that's going to be the answer. So I really

just much like the last caller i wouldn't put the money at risk i i really wouldn't i wouldn't um you know i wouldn't play with it if you've got you know 50 60 000 bucks or something and you want to put 20 of it in mutual funds just to try to jack up some of the returns a little bit and take some risk with some of it, then that would be fine. But, you know, a high percentage of the two-year periods in the stock market's history are down. The vast majority, over 90% of the five-year periods in the stock market's history are up. And so if you can leave it alone five years, then investing in mutual funds starts to be

very wise. But prior to that, anything, any shorter windows of opportunity can get you, you know, you can turn, you can lose, you know, you lose $5,000 of your $50. It could be done. It can happen. So good question. We appreciate you joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. My husband recently lost his job, Heather on Twitter says.

I'm contributing 11% of check into my 401k, roughly $500 a month. Should I temporarily stop my contribution until we get back on our feet? Yes. You're in the middle of a storm. You stop investing when you're in the middle of a storm. Temporarily. And you pile up cash and make sure you have a super super large emergency fund he gets his job then he starts you know if you still have your emergency fund in place and you're

still debt free then you just restart at baby step four and that's 15 percent of your household income going into retirement and so that's his and yours together times.15 going into some kind of a retirement. So you're underfunding now, but when he gets back on his feet, you'll get back to 15% of your household income and you'll be fine. Hey, thank you for following us on Twitter, 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 screens, millionaire hour clips, Dave Rantz, and so much more.

Go check it out. Hey, this is Dave Ramsey. You know, most of us have gotten behind on our bills at one time or another. That's nothing to be ashamed of. It happens. And many of us know the embarrassment that comes with those harassing calls from collectors. Some of these guys are just scum. But then there are the collectors that are just plain crooks.

These are the guys that take it a step further and they violate the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act on a daily basis. They're breaking the law and they need to be stopped. The truth is, debt collection is the most abusive, out-of-control industry in America today. But you don't have to put up with it. If you have collectors calling you multiple times a day, calling you at work after you've asked them not to, cursing or threatening you in any way, then you need to visit CollectionBully.com. These folks will connect you with an attorney who I know can help you. These attorneys know how to stop collection agencies from bullying and threatening you anymore.

CollectionBully.com. Go to CollectionBully.com today. That's CollectionBully.com.