The Ramsey Show - App - How We Destroy Our Kids' Lives (Hour 2)

Episode Date: July 12, 2018

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🎵 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. Have you heard that there is a student loan crisis looming? I'm sure you have. Have you heard that there's about $1.4 trillion now outstanding in student loan debt? Most people can't count to a trillion. You don't have time.

You actually have something else to do right have you heard that there's a number of young people that their entire lives have been destroyed supposedly by these horrible student loans that are riding them into the dirt they're delaying their careers they're delaying the start of their families they're living in their parents homes all because of the student loan burden that they carry. Student loans are ruining people's lives. Well, I'm not sure I completely agree with all of that, because I talk to people all the time who have paid off their student loans,

and they paid an incredible price, some of them. A lot of hard work over a number of years, and extra jobs, and denying themselves and selling stuff, and paying off their $50,000 or $60,000 or $160,000 in student loan debt. They call here every week doing their debt-free screams. You hear them, right? But let's just for a second stop this. I just had a thought. Student loans are out of control.

Student loans are destroying an entire generation of kids. That's what a lot of people really, really believe. I don't completely believe it, but I believe that to a degree. I think it's a horrible mess. You've got to all say it's a horrible mess. And you can blame the idiot children for signing up for $100,000 in debt. You can blame their idiot parents for telling them that's the only way to do it. The idiot culture for telling them that no matter what you pay for an education, it's worth it.

You can blame the colleges and universities for charging too much for the education. The cost of education has gone through the roof. Now, well, there's a supply-demand curve thing. If you had an education economics, you'd understand that. If you have a tremendous amount of dollars chasing something, then guess what?

They will raise the price on you. And so the student loans of availability have pretty much caused, been one of the major causes of the increase in education cost. Because there's a lot of people going to college, no matter what the price. Hmm. So the student loans that you're aware, I'm sure you understand they are federally insured, meaning that no bank in its right mind would make an 18-year-old kid a $100,000 loan unsecured and hope he graduated from college to be able to pay it back in a degree field that actually wasn't left-handed puppetry.

No bank would ever make that loan. The only reason banks make that loan is, is that the government, you and I, the taxpayer, is guaranteeing the bank that they're not going to lose money. It's a federally insured, guaranteed loan. And so the bank's like, we have zero chance of losing money on this loan yeah we'll make that loan absolutely we'll make it okay so let's kind of follow the critical thinking of you and i the idiots that we are in this culture

and the dumber crazier congress people we have elected here's the thing if society culture and the dumber, crazier Congress people we have elected. Here's the thing. If society and our government is making available things to young people that are destroying their lives, shouldn't somebody think about stopping? I mean, if you were handing out cigarettes to kids and then you discovered that it causes lung cancer and you're killing this generation of kids and the government was paying for it, shouldn't we tell the government to stop killing our children?

And participating in the ridiculous process? If student loans have caused such a crisis, and most people agree that it's some more dramatically than others, that there's at least a crisis of some degree here. If student loans are such a bad thing, and I agree that they're a bad thing, and they're so out of control, and I agree that they're out of control, and they really are messing up people's lives. If that is the case, we're doing harm to our children by giving them student loans. Simple critical thought and logical process takes you to that conclusion. So why are we continuing to do that?

It's driving up the cost of college. People are overwhelmed. Oh, there's a huge default, billions and billions and billions of dollars of student loans in default, meaning you and I, the taxpayer, are going to pay them. Because little Junior, for whatever reason, didn't pay the bill. And if he doesn't pay the bill, you and I pay the bill. And so we're not happy paying the bill.

The kids aren't happy. They got their lives destroyed, and yet no one is discussing stopping this stupidity. Stop the insanity. That's just insane. Dave, you're suggesting no more student loans? Yeah, I am. I don't think it's going to happen, but I'm suggesting that.

It's illogical to say student loans are destroying people's lives. Oh, let's keep doing it. That's illogical. It doesn't make sense. Well, you can't get through college without a student loan. Well, how's that working for you? I have a Dr. Phil moment with that. It's not working. you? Have a Dr. Phil moment with that. It's not working.

Billions are in default. We've got little hipsters with their growth all stunted because of their student loan debt, living in mommy's basement. And they got degrees and crap that don't make any difference because they didn't think anything about what they were getting the degree in because we told them a lie about education that it doesn't matter what your degree is in as long as you get a degree you're going to be successful and that's just a bunch of

crap you got a phd in german polka history that's just straight up stupid then just walk around whining because you can't get a job well no wonder there's not a big demand for German polka history. Use some dadgum sense. Parents haven't got sense enough to stop it. Kids haven't got sense enough to stop it. The banks aren't going to stop loaning the money. They're getting a guarantee from Congress. You're going to sit on the sidelines and do nothing, and you can count on Congress doing nothing.

It's what they do best. But we're doing harm to our kids, and no one's suggesting we stop it. Hmm. Something to think about. I don't think it'll happen, but it should be stopped, shouldn't it? This is the 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. Thank you for joining us, America.

We give you the same financial advice your grandmother did, only we keep our teeth in. Brian is with us in Chicago. Hi, Brian. How are you? I'm doing good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Well, I'm currently 17 years old. I'm working on a part-time job right now, and I have saved up a little bit of cash, just under two grand, and I was looking to invest it in some, like, either in stocks or in, like, cryptocurrencies. I'm just wondering what your opinion is on cryptocurrencies. Is it worth it or is it not worth it? Well, let's walk through how that works, and then maybe you can come to the same conclusion I have.

My friend Rabbi Lappin, who is a world-class economist who wrote a book called Thou Shall Prosper, says that money is spiritual. And what he means by that is money is all about trust. Okay? piece of paper with a president's face on it and the number 100 on it and you become convinced it is not a counterfeit 100 bill uh you know you trust with good reason that you can take that somewhere and exchange it for goods or services right yeah but it really doesn't have any value it's a green piece of paper. The only value it carries is the trust that it carries.

Do you see what I'm saying? Yes. As an example, also, I've got some money from the Civil War, Confederate dollars, from the South. And you know what they'll buy over at Chick-fil-A, right? Nothing. Because no one places trust in that denomination anymore, in that form of pieces of paper, because they're not currency. You follow me?

Yes. Same thing's true. I had some friends of mine that were a special forces guy, brought me back a few pieces of Iraqi money with Saddam Hussein's face on it from before he was tried and hung. Right. And before before Iraq folded. So that money would buy you things in Iraq. Prior to that today, it wouldn't buy you anything there. It's monopoly money because there's no the trust has left it does that make sense

now the reason that you hear things like currencies going up or down the euro going up or down or the uh the dollar going up or down or the yen going up or down is the level of trust that people place in it into its stability and will it can i exchange it for goods or services ultimately becomes worth zero if no one trusts or no one will accept it for goods or services that's my problem with cryptocurrency bitcoin okay is that the trust is only among a very small group of people, and it's very volatile. And it has been full of, in the last 36, 48 months, it's been full of fraudulent transactions and bad deals.

And so the vast majority of us on the outside looking in at that are saying i have no trust in that very few people as a percentage of the people in the human race walking the planet use cryptocurrency because they trust it i mean it's it's one one gillionth of one percent versus i was in fr this summer, and you'd be amazed. Obviously, they transact, if you didn't know, on the euro, and a lot of them will take dollars, take American dollars. And sometimes I can go into a country where they don't accept the euro, but they'll accept the euro because they know they can still change those american dollars or those euros out for goods or services they can walk down to their bank with a hundred dollar bill if you're in paris france and turn it into a euro or turn into 100 euros very very quickly with whatever the exchange

rate is and so the level of trust is there even though it's not their actual currency or not our actual currency and so uh you you find that you find that all throughout if you do international travel where you have valid currencies. But the problem with the cryptocurrency is it's very, very risky. All of that to tell you and all of our listeners, I wouldn't put two nickels in that mess. You see why? Yeah. Very risky. you see why yeah very risky you're very likely to learn like you're very likely to learn an

expensive lesson and so at 17 what i would tell you to do is first let's make sure you're going to college and you're going debt free and uh once you've done that got that goal with your investing set aside your dollar saved set aside then the next goal I would give you if you want to do some investing is I would use mutual funds, good growth stock type mutual funds. Meet with one of our SmartVestor pros. They can help you open an account if you want to experiment and starting to learn about that. But the best investment that you can make if you're going to college is in you,

and that's you graduating debt free that's the best investment in a degree that actually has a marketplace use not left-handed puppetry or something but um that that kind of thing so we're going to lean in that that's your best investment but if you want to actually play in with investing single stocks are very risky too nowhere near as risky as something like a cryptocurrency. But currency is always based on trust. I was trying to explain that to a young guy that works here on the team. He's all enamored with this stuff, and he's been in the process of losing money as a result because I didn't get through.

Brandy's with us in Eugene, Oregon. Hi, Brandy. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm doing pretty good. How about yourself? Better than Brandy. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm doing pretty good. How about yourself? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I'm very nervous to call you for some advice.

I'm the personal representative of my grandmother's estate, and we put our house on the market like a year ago, and due to the condition of the house, it's not mortgageable. I'm using an ELP. I'm looking to pause my debt snowball and invest some money into repairs on this house in hopes of getting it sold and me getting my money back. Are there other heirs? There are, and what it is is the house was left to the three daughters, but the estate, you know, the debts of the estate have to be settled before the heirs get any of their money. And you're one of the three.

No, this is your grandmother. My mother. Oh, it's your mother. My mom is one of the heirs. And my mom's disabled, and we're hoping to use her inheritance to buy her a handicap-accessible van to get her around. What's the house on the market for now? The current value is $225,000. No, it doesn't sell for that.

Is that what it's on the market for? No, yeah, it's on the market for $225,000. Yeah, so it's not worth that, or it would have sold. Not in its current not in its current condition no because it needs like siding and flooring and initially because i went through an elp and initially he's like yeah don't put any money but since we haven't been getting anything and we haven't even had any lowball offers on it that i could even take to the courts and say here can i accept this yeah so you're talking about spending what kind of money?

About $7,000 and doing a lot of the work myself. Yeah, of which you get nothing. I don't get any return on my labor, but then let's throw in a little stupid. I started listening to you back in August, and that's like a year and a half after I co-signed on a car for my cousin that she's not paying me for. Wow. You put a lot of money in your family's stuff that doesn't help you, don't you? I know.

It's kind of a silly thing. Maybe you need to stop it. Well, I have. I need this house to sell. No, you don't need this house to sell. Other people need this house to sell. Well, when the house sells, I get $25, 000 plus that car loan get paid off why because my aunt is paying my cousin's car because it's my aunt and my cousin's car and they're going to pay me what's the 25 000 for what's the 25 000 for what's the 25 000,000 for? What's the $25,000 for? What's the $25,000 for?

The $25,000, I'm sorry. It's, so the property was potentially going into foreclosure. So it's like $7,000 of it is a personal representative fee. And then the other $13,000 is part of it is back taxes. I paid the taxes. Money you've already put into it. Okay. Yeah, you need to put another $7,000 in it.

But you need a lien against the property for the car amount and for all this other crap. A written lien signed off on by all three of the sisters or don't do it. What a mess. Okay, I need you to listen to this, because one normal routine that everyone does can cause total chaos in your life. I'm talking about the simple act of using Wi-Fi. When you're on Wi-Fi anywhere in public or at home, you're at risk of hackers easily seeing every site you visit and every search you're doing online.

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Anchor Free's Hotspot Shield. Download it right now. Just search Hotspot Shield on iTunes or Google Play or go to HotspotShield.com. You can be secure in seconds. Download Hotspot Shield by Anchor Free today. Barrett and Chelsea are with us in Los Angeles.

Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, Dave. We're calling you to our debt-free stream. I love it. Welcome, welcome. How much have you paid off? We paid off $35,000 in seven months. Way to go.

And your range of income during that time? We started at about $60,000, and we went up to $135,000. You over-doubled your income. How did you do that in seven months? Yeah, I did. Sounded like somebody got a job. Yeah, well, we were really blessed. In the same month that I graduated with my master's degree and began working,

Barrett also received a promotion at work. Okay, cool. So what's your master's in? An occupational therapist. Oh, nice. Ding, ding. Went straight into that field. That'll make you some money.

Good. Yeah. And what do you do? What do you do, Barrett? I'm a manager for In-N-Out Burger. Oh, great. Okay. Great company.

Yeah. Very good. Way to go, you guys. Good job. What kind of debt was the $35,000? Well, it was all mine. About $25,000 was my student loans, my student loans and 10 was my car okay okay how long have you guys been married i just had two and a half years past okay cool so you're in school

you graduate from school but while you're doing that you got this going tell me the story what happened well we knew once I graduated with my master's that we wanted to pay off our debt right away. So we didn't have a specific plan though. Once Barrett got on your podcast though and started convincing me that I needed to listen and we needed to sit down and go over a strict budget and the baby steps, it really turned us your direction and we started getting really strict on a budget. And as soon as I started working, we pretty much just threw all of my income at the debt. Wow. Very cool. Good for you guys. Very, very well done. So what do you tell people the key

to getting out of debt is? Well, first up, I would say one of the most important things is being on the same page with a partner and making sure that you guys dream together. And another big part for us, especially living in L.A., is to not be in competition with the Joneses because those things really don't matter because God has blessed us with so much already, you know? Yeah, it's pretty easy to get caught up in the loving other people's life instead of yours, as Rachel says, right? Oh, yeah, and I'm a huge fan of that book. And I want to give a shout-out to my older sister, Corinne, who got me on your plan.

She's a huge fan of yours. Okay, very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. So how does it feel to knock that out that fast? Seven months. Yeah. Oh, man, I can't even tell you. It is awesome.

I mean, you guys were... Yeah. Go ahead. It was... My parents were a little concerned when we made our final payment. We had about $40 in our checking account. We had our new direct deposit coming in the next day, and we were just so excited when that time came to make that last payment on my car that, you know, we just went for it. It was the best.

I love it. Well, way to go, you know, we just went for it. It was the best. I love it. Well, way to go, you two. You've been leaning in. I'm proud of you. Very well done. Thank you. Got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. We want that to be the next chapter in your story that you become millionaires now.

Okay. Awesome. Thank you. How old are you two? I'm 25. And I'm 23. Wow. Yeah, a millionaire is in your future without a doubt.

We hope. I hope so. I think so. I think as long as you just stay away from the debt and you continue to live like you've been learning, this is pretty incredible stuff. Yeah. All right. Barrett and Chelsea, Los Angeles, $35,000 paid off in seven months, making $60,000 to $135,000. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Okay, ready? Three, two, one. We're doing free! Ha, ha, ha! Love it! Love it. Way to to go you two very very well done man that is absolutely awesome that is how it's done lisa is with us in cleveland ohio hi lisa how are you hi dave i'm doing well thank you good how help? Well, first, it's such an honor to get to talk to you.

I have listened to you for years, so I know part of what you're going to say here. I just got done talking with one of our advisors, and we're looking into long-term care insurance. And he showed us the long-term care policy that he had all put together. And then a second product, which is Whole Life, and I know how you feel about Whole Life, but it's tied with the long-term care. And looking at the premiums, the premium for the whole life long-term care is $1,000 more a month. For what caught my eye is it's unlimited. It's $6,000 a month paid to the nursing home or whatever, but it's for unlimited years as opposed to having a term on it like four years. Well, for $1,000 a month extra, it ought to be. Well, yeah, but when you have Alzheimer's in both sides of your family,

you know, it's pretty scary looking at, you know, a four-year policy for $6,000 a month. You can get longer policies without doing a stupid whole life routine, and they'll be less expensive you do not get extras in the insurance world unless you pay for them and usually pay dearly through the nose right and i do understand that um but like i said you know the six thousand dollars a month is only four years and seven thousand dollars is unlimited years that's what really caught my eye i think you need to keep shopping if you're needing unlimited uh you can do you are longer than four years you can do that and i wouldn't i am not going to fall into the whole

life trap every time i see that i know there's a snake in the bushes. I just don't know which bush he's in or how big the snake is. And it just, 100% of the time, is not something I'm going to do. Either you may be able to wade around in the mathematics and figure out where you're getting screwed. You may not. Most of the time, I can see it pretty quickly. But any time I see that as part of that, then there's a problem and it's not a product I want.

It is very simple for me. You can do what you want, but you call and ask me. I wouldn't do that. Christine is with us in Los Angeles. Hi, Christine. How are you? Hi, Dave. It's such an honor to speak with you.

You too. What's up in your world? Oh, well, I really wanted to get your feedback um i have some i'm torn between i have a condo that i've always kept since i was single and i ended up keeping it until me and my husband bought a new house just because it was um negative and um now it's um gotten some pretty good equity and i've been've been debating whether or not I should sell it. You know, popular opinion is that I should keep it because it's a really great area in downtown Long Beach, really hot area, and I owe about $200 on it.

And I think I could sell it for about $330. So if you had $100,000 in your pocket and you did not have that condo, would you go buy the condo next door to that one, put $100,000 down, and have a $200,000 mortgage? I don't think so. Okay. Then for the same reasons you wouldn't buy it, you need to sell it. Okay. Even if it's in a really hot area and... If it's in a hot area and that causes you to not want to sell it,

then it should cause you to want to buy it. Okay, I see what you're saying. I see your question. If you have an opportunity to buy it, I can put $100,000 down. You did not enter this in the last 12 months intentionally. This is a leftover from a former life. It's by default. And, you know, real estate's a good investment.

Real estate in Long Beach is a great investment. A condo there is likely a good thing. But that's not the question. The question is, is this something you would do in your situation today and go over there and get a $200,000 mortgage on a rental property? And put $100,000 cash down to do it? Would you do that? Because effectively, every day you keep this, you bought it again for that. It has the same exact effect. So I don't think you're making much on it. You may be making a little bit on it, but you're not getting rich on this thing. And the only upside is the upside

of the value increasing. It doesn't sound like that's anything jumping up and down to me but if you want to keep it keep it but keep it for the right reasons not by default this is the dave ramsey show Let me tell you a story about two families that are very much alike in a lot of ways. Both families have two working parents and a couple of young kids. Each has debt and has struggled to make ends meet. But they're starting to make headway with their budgets and smarter decisions with money. They have dreams and plans, and the only real difference is that one family has the right amount of term life insurance, and the other doesn't.

Big difference. If one of the parents die, and that does happen, their well-being would be destroyed. Paying for the mortgage, utilities, food, and other bills would be impossible, let alone saving for education or retirement. That's why every day I talk relentlessly about getting term life insurance. Just go to zanderinsurance.com or call 800-356-4282 and see how inexpensive it really is. Be the family that takes those deliberate steps to be different and responsible. It really does make you the hero of your story, and it puts you on course for better things ahead. teaching you to live on less than you make concept congress can't grasp this is the day ramsey show john is with us in san antonio, John, how are you? Oh, pretty good, and yourself? Better than I deserve.

How can I help? I've got a question for you. My mother invested in a startup ambulance company about three years ago, and she just passed away a few months ago. And the ambulance company went under, and I was curious if there's any way to get any of that money back.

No. You know? She invested get any of that money back. No. You know? She invested in a company that went broke. She was an owner of a company that went broke. When it went broke, it means it has nothing. How long ago did it go under? About six months ago. What happened when it went under?

Did it sell to someone, or did it close, or did it go into bankruptcy? He just closed the doors. Just closed it and walked away? Yes, sir. Are there any documents that were signed when your mother invested in that? Yes, there is. About how much she put in and how much percentage of the company she owned. But there's not any kind of a note that this was a loan in any way?

No. Okay. Have you talked to the guy? I've tried to several times, and he just kind of gives me the runaround, saying there's nothing he can do, that he just shut the doors. Okay. Well, the only question I've got is, if he shut the doors and he did not file bankruptcy, did the ambulance company still own anything?

I mean, if they own a $10,000 ambulance, it needs to be sold, and your mother's portion of that would come to you. You follow me? If there are any assets left in the business, even after he closed the door. And that's what I try to find out. I doubt there is. He bought about 12 ambulances. Where'd they go?

I can't. He won't let me know that. When he closed the doors, was he down to one? No, he still had all the ambulances. Get an attorney. Okay. Then, because if he's got 12 ambulances let's say they're worth 5 000 10 000 bucks a piece okay that's 100 grand what percentage of the company did your mother own

seven percent okay well seven percent of whatever all that stuff's worth is hers okay okay the guy can't just put close the doors and put all the money from the sale of the equipment in his pocket. He has to distribute it to the owners. Okay. Now, that's the actual technical answer, and you can get further legal advice from a real lawyer. I'm not one, okay? And you probably should. The practical advice I'll give you is this as you poke around in

it don't um don't spend ten thousand dollars chasing a thousand dollars exactly so if you really get to looking at it and the guy really doesn't have anything um i mean if he's got a big pile of something stashed somewhere i wouldn't mind finding that and getting your 7%. But if it's a $10,000 ambulance and she's got 7%, that's $700. It ain't worth fooling with. She just made a bad investment. And obviously she did anyway because the company closed. It didn't turn into, her 7% didn't turn into a bunch of money. What did she pay for that?

$50,000. Good Lord. He got her, didn't he? Yes, sir. Was this a friend or something? Yes, sir. Yeah. That's the only way that lack of judgment would come into play.

That's what I was thinking. So that was a gift. It wasn't an investment. Oh, I'm so sorry, John. Yeah, I'm afraid she got snookered, and you are too. So, I mean, I poke around on it a little bit more. You've already made a couple of inquiries, and if you want to seek some legal advice, to be sure,

don't spend too much on the legal advice. But the big thing is you can sue somebody that's truly broken it doesn't make them have money you know so you could get a fifty thousand dollar judgment against a broke person and never see any money and you just wasted your time your effort and your money to get the judgment but if he actually has some money and he's actually you know playing games and you want to pin his ears to the wall i wouldn't blame you for that and it but it needs to be worth it just be whatever you find put seven percent on that and that tells you quick if it's worth it for your time and trouble probably i'll give you a 80 90 chance it's not going to be worth messing with

but on that off chance that it is if i were you i'd probably make a couple more inquiries and try to find out what's going on and put a little pressure on the guy uh to at least report to you as the seven percent stockholder now inherited uh what happened to the assets that is a reasonable thing i'd spend 100 150 bucks on an attorney send him a letter to do that and just go uh if you do not give us a you know an answer within 10 days as to the disposition of the assets, we're going to come on and start taking your house and messing with you and do some other stuff just to say we did. And then he can send over a list and go, well, here's what happened.

We really went broke and everything got sold off and that money was spent to pay bills and then there was nothing else left after that. And that's the case. Then she just made a bad investment. And he's just scared of you now, and that's why he didn't want to talk to you. But if he's a shyster and he's got a pile of money over here, $100,000 somewhere, he needs to write you a check. I'm giving you less than a 10% chance that's what's going to happen, though.

Just the track record of the situation. Roger's in Tampa. Hey, Roger, how are you? I'm great. I wish I'd have been listening to you in the days when i was making an income i'll hear you how can i help well i am retired now i have uh i owe nothing to anybody except taxes and utilities. Good. And not a lot in taxes. I have $15,000 in an SEP. Good. Well, you know, should be more. If I'd have been listening in the earlier days, I'd have had more. And I have $23,000 in a checking account. Good. I need to do something with those.

They don't make anything in a checking account, and the SEP isn't making a whole lot. How old are you? 71. Okay. And so you're living off your Social Security check? Yep. Okay. All right.

Well, I want to move some of the money out of the checking account in a simple money market account as your emergency fund. I'm going to call that $5,000 just randomly. um and that leaves you eighteen thousand uh you leave maybe two or three thousand in checking just to have some money to give you a little slush room there and that leaves us fifteen thousand to invest there and fifteen thousand to invest from the sep as well uh so you got thirty thousand dollars uh that money if i were 71 and in your situation, I would have it invested in a couple of types of mutual funds, probably a growth in income and a growth, something with a very long track record. It's not going to change a lot because if $30,000 makes 10%, that's $3,000 a year, $250 a month.

That'll help, but it doesn't change your life, okay? If it doesn't make 10% and instead makes 1%, that's $300 a year or $25 a month, and that's what it's making right now probably sitting in CDs and checking. And so if you invest it well, you can make, you you make 5% to 10% in every year, maybe more even in some years. So a couple hundred bucks a month, give or take, and not really be depleting the $30,000, but that would be the income it would be creating were you in mutual funds.

And I guess that would be a help if you're living on straight-up Social Security, right? Yeah. I mean, my checking account is actually increasing each month a little bit. Yeah, like 1% a year. Yeah. Well, I'm up, I think, $1,000 this last month. No, no, that just means you didn't spend your income is all. The money in the account is not making you that much. No.

Yeah, so you're saying you're living very frugally already. Yeah, we live the way we want to live, I guess. Yes, it's frugal, and by most people's standards, I'm sure. Well, but, I mean, you're living on Social Security. What, do you got three grand coming in between the two of you? A little over that, but not much. Yeah. And so, you know, if we add a couple hundred bucks a month to that from these investments,

it doesn't hurt anything. If you don't need it, you can leave it in the investment and let it grow a little bit and so forth. So I'd look at moving about $30,000, the SEP, and about $15,000 out of checking into that type of an investment. Click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com. If you want to find out who we recommend, the SmartVestor pros in your area, a list of them will drop down when you put in your information there. And you can pick which one you want to work with. And they'll sit down with you with the heart of a teacher.

And they'll help you make this money. Make a little bit. It's not going to make much because it's not a big pile, but it'll make some. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, this is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm excited to announce that we're now carried on 600 radio stations across the country. To find one near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show. Can you believe this real estate market? Home shopping has become so competitive.

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