The Ramsey Show - App - “I Drove a Mercedes but Had No Money…” (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 22, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Dr. John Delony discuss: Dealing with scumbag collectors, Growing an underperforming business, Being know for your character instead of your cars, Dealing with a messy estate. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the 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, Dr. John Deloney. Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. We talk about your mental wellness. We talk about your relationships, your job, your career, your money, and your life. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Deanna is with us in Knoxville to start this hour off. Hi, Deanna. How are you? I'm doing all right. I'm tickled to be on the show with you guys well we're honored to have you how can we help so my husband and i have been handed a

pickle um he's been he's being sued for a debt that he co-signed with his now ex-wife and she was supposed to refinance it as part of their divorce she never did now they're coming to him for it um we understand legally there's there's not a lot we can do i mean he did sign for it um but we were wondering if there was there was anything negotiating just anything that we don't have to pay the full the full debt what what is this on um it was if i understand everything correctly it was a car that was repoed oh that's wonderful how long ago was the car oh i know it's great um i think probably six years back we've been married for three and it was at least a couple years before then if i understand it the repo was while they were still married yes okay so they they owned a car together and their car got repoed

okay yeah he he co-signed a car for her no he didn't co-sign it was his wife they bought a car together well okay he just bought a car in his car right yeah and his car got repoed it happened to be the one she drove but he got repoed while he was married before and now and the repo was six years ago if i understand the timeline i it's kind of blurry to me obviously this is all before we got together and got married um did he just hope this was going to go away and it was something that she was supposed to take care of in the divorce so it was and of course she up and disappeared last we heard she's somewhere in nebraska running from her debt so it's working and so um yeah so watch out nebraska look out nebraska here she comes the uh okay so did you actually get served lawsuit papers

and it was sent to um his old house that we had sold to his daughter. His daughter let us know what was going on. What is it? A letter? Yeah, from the sheriff, I'm assuming it is. Well, I'm not assuming anything. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Do you have the paper in front of you?

I don't. He has pictures of it on his phone it was it wasn't sent to us we live in tennessee he's from indiana so this is all over the country right now okay all right yeah so let's just stop a second okay number one i doubt you've actually been sued he he might have gotten a notice saying they were going to send something to the sheriff, but if they were going to sue him from a six-year-old repossession deficit, they would have done it a long time ago. It's very unusual to get sued on a six-year-old.

Okay, well, it's possible they did. It's possible someone sold this debt, okay? So either way, here's what's going to go down. Okay? You get in touch with the holder of the debt. One of two things has happened. Either it is the original holder of the debt or they have sold the bad debt to a bad debt buyer. There are people, there are companies that buy old bad debt and then try to collect on it,

and they usually pay around a nickel on the dollar for it. Do you have any idea how much money they're asking for? The paperwork that was sent initially said eight grand. When he called them yesterday, they said 12 on the phone. And I said, oh, hell no no we're not doing we're not doing any we're not doing any of this okay right so here and here because here's the thing let's just say it's ten thousand dollars they probably paid five hundred dollars for this debt if they bought it okay that's what they got in it so anything they get above 500 is a profit for them okay right now the uh

it's very difficult to collect a debt across state lines okay for them to execute service on you in tennessee and actually start getting money from you using a lawsuit to do that is is it's very expensive for them so they're not going to do it the probability is very high they're not going to do it so this is all about posturing and bully in the schoolyard tactics not about legal realities okay so they either paid around five hundred dollars for this debt or they're the original holder and just put put those shoes on for a second it's been six years if someone owed you money for six years anything you could get out of them you would call yourself having one right right all of this translates to you can settle

this for around 20 cents on the dollar it's's going to cost you two grand. Okay. I can breathe with that. Yeah. And so call them and offer them $1,743 as settlement in full and tell them that's your calculation as to what his part actually is after all these years, and that's what we're able to do. Any more than that, and we don't want to talk to you, go ahead and sue and do whatever it is you want to do because we're not going to pay it.

Okay, and with all of that, between the two of us, he's a lot more easygoing about it. I'm more of the bulldog. They won't talk to you. You're not on the debt. That's what I want to make sure. He's going to have to wear big boy pants. So you're going to have to, have to pull his hair or twist his ear or something

and get him a little riled up before he calls him. I can do that. I can do that. And Deanna, I want to challenge something from this point forward, okay? Yeah. The world did not hand y'all a pickle. You spoke as though this hailstorm sat over over your house this is your husband signed up for this and we understand that okay so yeah this is y'all's moving forward yeah okay so let's change

this change the tone this is mr easygoing didn't take care of business yeah well this was before he knew better we went yeah i don't know better ways so i can't be mad at him yes you can't clean up yes you can i'm mad at him but we have a mess together i'm kidding i'm not mad at him i'm mad at the situation there you go okay that's good so yeah so get him riled up and here's the thing okay start at 1743 you're going to settle somewhere a little over two thousand dollars give or take they will take that it's going to take go ahead and count them uh between five and ten arguments they're not conversations they're arguments okay because you're dealing with an idiot in a cubicle 500 miles away who has a really horrible job cleaning septic tanks is better than collecting on old debt that's fair okay he he's he really talks nasty to people all day long and then has to go home

and kiss his children with that same mouth it's awful and so that's the guy you're talking to and so you have to argue with this guy five to ten different times and it will land between 1743 start with that number and it'll land above 20002,000. Get it in writing before you send the money. In writing, in writing, in writing, or don't give them any money that they accept that as settlement in full and then do not give them electronic

access to your checking account. Send them a prepaid debit card or a wire. Do not give them electronic access to the checking account and get it in writing. Five to ten conversations. This is an argument. Go.

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Visit RamseySolutions.com slash careers for more information. John Deloney's new book. Dr. John Deloney is my co-host today here on The Ramsey Show. His new book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, is on pre-sale right now for just $20. And, John, you took your two PhDs, your 20 years of counseling experience, and packed it into a book that basically allows people to feel like they're sitting across the table from you. Yeah, that's probably the most common question to get is, do you do private therapy or would you be our coach, our personal family coach or something? I can't do that. But if I was to sit down with somebody and walk them through where they are to where they could be this would be it right

this would be the conversations we'd have yeah own your past change your future uh it's having a positive impact on everybody everybody who reads it it's all about mental wellness and uh everybody needs a little more mental wellness um including the two guys sitting here so So the single 30-year-old is looking to sharpen their mind. The 25-year-old is out of college and trying to learn how to make better friends, new friends. The mom who wants to connect to her kids better. People dealing with anxiety. People dealing with abusive relationships. People dealing with just simple boundaries.

The interfering mother-in-law. Everyone has a story. And we gave out advanced copies of the book to some listeners. They're going crazy about it. This book has been absolutely life-changing for everyone that's read it, including me. It's an amazing, amazing read. We've taught God and Grandma's ways of handling money around here for 30 years at ramsey and now john is doing that for mental wellness and for relationships it's a complex topic and he's put the put the cookies on a shelf where we can all reach them i pre-order your copy right now at

ramsey solutions.com for 20 it is own your past change. For the $20 in pre-order, you will get the audio book version, the e-book version, and a month of free weekly therapy sessions from the folks at BetterHelp. That's a bargain, all for $20. That's pretty serious right there. And this book is selling, guys, like crazy. It's going to be our next number one bestseller here at ramsey uh it actually comes out in april so just a couple of weeks from now we'll be mailing them out to you guys and uh actually be doing the big launch day and everything official launch day but it is on pre-sale and that's where you get the bargains

is when you order it on pre-sale own your past change your future you you have to read this book it's an absolute must john's been a lot of fun on this project yeah it's the i don't know writing a book would be what i classify as fun but it's definitely been a process right it's like going to having surgery and uh but yeah now it's now it's out out here hey one of the coolest things of the feedback i got to sit down and and speak to some of the folks who've been through the read it and tell me what they thought directly the most that every single person the most common thing they say is it's the first book that i've read in a while that wasn't written at me it was with me i felt like we were on this thing together and when i sat down to write this man i've just read a thousand articles and books that are experts talking at me

and the whole goal was to say no no we're all in this thing man we're gonna sit down let's do this together because i'm walking this thing through with my little kids and my wife and my job and my and so we nailed it man just it's just me walking alongside folks i'm excited that's fun that's the way it should be jordan is with us jordan's in san antonio hi jordan welcome to the ramsey show hi thank you and appreciate all you guys do to help change the world appreciate it all you too brother how can we help um so i'm basically just an underperforming franchise owner a really small franchise and i'm just kind of looking to see what ideas you guys have for someone who sucks at being a salesman selling a product that is higher premium price.

I refinish doors for standard starting price, $850. And it's a two-week process for me. It's a real marine-grade finish. But in my market in San Antonio, there's a lot of cheap labor who will do the door in one day for like $150, $200. So I'm struggling to make sales and just do my part and not be able to pay my bills. So, um, they had to go get an eight to five job. So just wondering, and I need to get Ken Coleman's book, but I'm studying for ordinations. But once I finish them, you get his book. But I'm just wanting to know what you guys have to help me become

a better salesman. So my business can be what it needs to be you're finishing what finishing doors so like uh your wooden um mahogany oak your major entrances where you're going to be paying like thirty thousand dollars if you wanted to replace something normally so a mahogany front door on a home is that what you're talking about yes sir yes sir and you refinish that? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And you refinished that for $850? Started, yes, sir. Okay. All right. And so this is obviously a product for high-end neighborhoods only?

Yes, sir. Okay. And, you know, having been to San Antonio a bunch of times, there's a lot of very nice homes there. I really wasn't aware there were a lot of $30,000 front doors. No, I hear you. Definitely during the territory purchase, I had to look through and go through zip codes that most likely had it. So I have zip codes that's closest to my area that I'm targeting,

but I'm basically the only one here, so I actually kind of have the free reign of the whole San Antonio area for now. Yeah, I get that. I mean, but I live in a home that's several million dollars, and the door, the front door didn't cost $850 probably. Yeah, I understand that. It was born out of Cincinnati. When there you have homes where like the entire front entrance it would cost them tens of thousands to replace things and so i just bought

into it thought it's pretty novel concept and i've actually i've got some some jobs you know i've landed some businesses how many franchisees does this franchise or have across the nation uh i think currently around 10 it's pretty pretty now yeah okay well i guess i'm going to try to find uh the top three and go visit with them and ask them what they're doing that you're not doing because you have a very unique very narrow very niche market and finding the potential customer is probably half the battle and then once you've found them convincing them but dude if i've got a if i've got an super expensive imported italian mexican whatever uh something that i brought in from guadalajara

and it's across the whole front of my house spending 850 bucks on it is nothing uh but i just don't know how many of those they are there are and how to find them i i'm not i'm not doubting that they're there i just don't know how to answer that part of the question but it sounds to me like that that you know line aligning yourself with the potential customers is the biggest thing you don't need to sell firewood to somebody that doesn't have a fireplace. I mean, it's just so finding somebody that actually has the type of product, and this is definitely not something that's on every corner. It's an ultra high-end house. And I would ask the question, is this what you want to be doing?

Or did you buy into something? You thought it would be cool. They gave you a bill of goods by how much money you were going to make you're a year or two in you realize this ain't fun i'm not making this money it's not fun the way i keep getting up every day is because i i absolutely love my job even the crummy parts of it i like the thing dave gets up every day is like he's got this mom in his head that he says i've got to get up today so i can go help her there's a there's an there's a drive that is about serving other people i don't hear that in you at all my brother i hear well how do i just keep this thing that i don't even like it i don't even know i'm doing it i'm good at it how do i keep this thing alive man there's the sunk cost

thing i at some point i said you walk away and get a job that you like or another business whatever it is something that you're fired up about but if you if you are in love with this and you do want to pursue it and you really really what you've got to find is someone who is good at it and find out what they do it's studying best practices so i've got a friend in the real estate in the radio business that contacted me the other day and uh they're coming in three or four of them with their team to spend a half a day with my team to see what we're doing they're going to study us because they want to have some of the success level that we have had and we're going to openly share and not charge them a dime they're just a friend they're coming over and

hanging out and but they're going to walk through here with yellow pad notes and ask five million questions and go home inspired to do different better, do things different than they were doing before. And that's what you need to do. You need to be that guy contacting one of these other franchisees and going, hey, I'm dying down here. Could I come spend a day with you? And take a vacation day from your 8 to 5 and go up there and do that. And if you're going to pursue it, that's what you're going to have to do. Because I really can't tell you how to find people with front doors expensive enough that they want to spend $850 redoing the door.

Yeah. Yeah. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the Debt Free Stage. Joe and Kelly are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good, how are you? Good. Welcome. Where do you guys live? In New York, from MECO.

Where? MECO. It's up in the Adirondacks. Oh, wow. Beautiful area. Absolutely. Well, welcome to Nashville. Good to have you down here. All the way down here to do a debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? $178,000. How long did that take? 19 months. Wow. And your range of income during that time? We started about $260,000 and got to $300,000 by the end. Wow. What do y'all do for a living? I'm a nurse anesthetist. Of course. Okay. I'm a mom

and just started going back to school. Good for you. What are you studying? Biblical counseling. Oh, good. Good. I like that. That's fun.

All right. What kind of debt was the $178,000? Everything. Yeah, we were living the great American nightmare. So we had a little bit of student loan debt left, two cars that we owed a lot on. We had a pool, a boiler, and lots of credit cards. For those of us in the south, what is a boiler? It's a furnace.

Yeah, up north it's a fancy furnace. Okay. I thought it was something you put your wontons in for dinner, so that is a helpful clarification. Well, you could yeah it'd be dangerous it'd be messy not a good idea not not a good plan well welcome guys that's amazing good job so that was an that was a pretty intense 19 months yes it was yeah big change in the dutcher family big time so what happened tell me the story You tell your awesome story first. So this is embarrassing. I was working a side hustle at a hospital on a weekend.

So it's a Saturday. I go downstairs to get lunch. I was driving a beautiful Mercedes E63S at the time, one of the fastest four-door cars in the world. Yes, it is. And I went to buy lunch, and when I gave them my debit card, it was denied. I said, oh, that's no big deal. I'll just use my credit card, right? Well, my credit card was maxed out.

And so I'm standing there. I have people I work with behind me offering to pay for my lunch. And in that moment, I just wanted to stand up on top of the register counter and say, I'm not poor. Like, I drive a Mercedes. But the reality was, I didn't have money in my account. And I did not want to live that way anymore. Wow. Yeah.

I had just paid something big off and drained our entire account, and so he had texted me and was like, what is going on? I'm like, oh, no, no, I can fix it. I can fix it. He's like, we can't fix this. This is a problem. So I feel like that was when we hit rock bottom, and it was like we were living a lie. We were not living. There's something about being embarrassed and shamed

yeah yeah i wrote that in the first uh financial peace book that we did standing in the cold trying to get a credit card to work driving a jaguar to fill i couldn't have the money put gas in the car yeah driving a jaguar yeah just how dumb i was yeah but there's something about that where you go uh-uh right this is wrong i'm done Exactly. Uh-uh. I'm done. Yeah. So a lot of people get that, have that moment, and they rage and blame everybody else. What took you to the mirror? I knew it was my fault. I had done a decent job with our retirement, and I knew how money worked. I had always been taught that debt was something that you leveraged to your advantage.

And I didn't want to die. I was so embarrassed of dying and someone would come look at my finances and be like, how did you screw this up so bad? We would go on trips together. And before we left, I would have a panic attack that if we died, someone would look at our finances. And then we'd come home, we lived,

we'd just go back to life. And then we'd go on a trip again, I'd freak out. Then people are going to look at our finances. So it was like, if we needed- It's like your mother telling you to wear clean underwear. Just in case. Just in case. So yeah, I feel like we had who we are.

We had to hit rock bottom to like, for the Holy Spirit. But it really wasn't rock bottom in the sense that there was no foreclosure or bankruptcy. But it was just this emotional thing. It just smacked you in the face. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. It just smacked you in the face. Yes. Yeah, that's true. And he had worked so hard and made decent money, and I feel like we just had to manage it.

Make really good money. Yeah. We saw it after we started not having so much debt. I was like, wow, you're doing all right, buddy. You're doing all right, buddy. You make a lot of money. Now that you don't have any payments, well, dang gum, where do you have money?

Yes. Super fun. So what did you do with the car? You didn't get to what was the hardest part. For me, I needed to know that Kelly was going to be 100% on board with this. But we had two beautiful cars. Her car was nice, too. And she said, I have to sell the car.

My car. Yeah, when she said that, I was like, man, she's serious. And so I traded in my beautiful Mercedes for a Honda Civic. Atta boy! That I still drive. And when he did that, I was like, oh, shoot. I better take this seriously. Because he just gave up.

You traded both cars. Yeah. Both of them. What were you driving? A Toyota Highlander. That's what she's driving now. I'm driving that now. Before I was driving a Ford Expedd expedition it was so big and

beautiful and expensive they're both grieving these cars they were too tightly he's holding his hands he's a car he's two really good cars though they were reasonable to grieve those cars yeah yeah yeah wow way to go guys So, something happens when you start extracting stuff like that out of your life. It reshapes your heart, doesn't it? Yeah, it's like, do we want to live for cars or character? You know, it's like, I want to be known for my character, not for this Mercedes we drive that we don't even own. So, it was a big, big change.

I'm going to drive a Civic and buy other people's cars. You guys, y'all touched on something that happens a lot when two great people who are well-meaning, you paid off something big to help out everybody and ended up embarrassing you at work. And you work really hard, and we're working a side shift to help the family, and you're going past each other. Even though you you're great people you love each other you're just missing

each other in the night and there's something about getting on this budget together and saying let's do this together that maximizes everything right absolutely today you have to be a team so what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is i think it's contentment and self-control like to know that what we have is enough. You went existential on us, man. I like it. I feel like it's the big deal. I completely agree.

I would say it took teamwork and a budget. You can't underestimate how important having a budget is that you stick to. And teamwork. These four sitting over here gave up just as much as we did. Yeah. And at a time in life where they had gotten used to enjoying things, to have to give it

up was tough. Yeah. Four teenagers that you do a money-ectomy on, that's tough. Yeah. It's way cooler. They were super good about it. To get dropped off at the dance in the Mercedes than the Accord, huh? They felt it.

They felt it. You know what the hardest thing with that was at work i mean i work in health care and i've seen that change from cars in the parking lot and all five the changes i saw were all divorces so people start asking that question you're like no no kelly and i are great we love each other like i'm still married that's not what's going on here i think i divorced was a mercedes yeah yeah but another level of like you know embarrassment and kept you know nose down get it done yeah Absolutely. Absolutely. That's a man.

And now you never have to think about it again. Yeah. Praise the Lord, no. It's funny. It's funny. It's great. Very cool. And y'all have had the moments where y'all have been, this has been a few months ago,

so you've had the moments where you get to keep all of your own money. Yeah. That's when I'm like, wow, it's going to be okay. Yeah. It's going to be okay. Yeah. It was worth it. It was worth it. It was worth it.

Yeah, worth it. Yes. I had one child who asked me, I won't point him out, but when is this budget thing going to be over? It's like, they felt it too, you know? And it's like, oh, this is life. But the same one was with the booth, right?

Yes. The same one who asked me if we could stop and get something. And I broke because I had been telling them no for months. And she said, you know what, mom, if it's not on the budget, we can wait. We're almost done. I was like, yeah, you go, girl.

Yeah, I like it. Well, you've changed your family tree then in so many ways. So very, very well done. All right, we've got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you because if you're not already, you will be soon now that you've done all of this. Very well done. And a copy of Total Money Makeover for you to because if you're not already, you will be soon now that you've done all of this. Very well done. And a copy of Total Money Makeover for you to give away to someone else. And let's bring the kiddos up and have them participate in the process.

The young men and women there. Yeah, it's not kiddos by any stretch of the imagination. But good job, you guys. Very proud of you guys. You're an incredible family. Very well done. And you've changed everything. You've changed everything. The grandkids are are changed and they're not even here yet yeah this is great i love it all right joe and kelly mckenzie isaac olivia and

hayley from new york 178 000 paid off a mercedectomy did it in 19 months, making $260 to $300. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free. Yeah. Woo-hoo, woo-hoo. This is how it's done, boys and girls. Yep.

This is The Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America. This is common sense for your life, for your mental wellness, for your money, for your relationships. It all runs together with your job, your career. It all is intermingled. Daniel is in New York. Hi, Daniel. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I'd like to say congrats to the last people that were debt free too. Yeah. That's great. Thank you. I've got a fun question. I got my mold compass kind of going crazy. So my wife and I are on step two and my grandparents

have recently passed away. They had a will made, thank you very much, they had a will made in the 80s and then they had it updated after my mother passed away and I had an aunt pass away.

So they had five kids and the second will is not valid. So they're reverting to the original will, which had all five kids in the will. But now two of the two of the children are gone. I have two brothers. So the three of us brothers would be entitled to one of the five shares, basically, of the estate. Correct.

My moral compass question comes into the second will they had made that's not valid. There was an issue with witnesses or whatever, but that will stated that the estate goes to the three remaining children. So they would have cut you out. Right, right. Why? I wouldn't have been part of that. Why? Well, it wasn't, well, they weren't trying to cut out the grandkids. What they were trying to do is, they did. While they were living. Well, they, you know, they did, but there was, there's a lot more grandkids involved and they think they were trying to remove

preferential treatment. Oh, and they think they were trying to remove preferential treatment. They weren't cutting you out. They were cutting out the two. No, they cut out his mom's share and gave it to her brothers and sisters. It went from a five share to a three share, right? Right. In the will that didn't happen. But, I mean, we're trying to find out what grandma and grandpa were thinking,

because that's where your moral compass is spinning from, right? Correct. Correct. So what's your question so i mean i could renounce this like you know i could renounce my share and kind of follow their wishes and basically give my share to the other aunts and uncles but do i do that or do i just keep it and throw it toward, you know, looking on my debt? I don't know why you have an obligation to renounce this. You didn't cause any of this. So your morals are not in question. You're just on the receiving end of a screwed up mess. Right.

If the people involved or the actions were, if they were doing something and you didn't want the money because of what they were doing, like they were engaged in, I don't know, they were engaged in something that you thought was immoral, and they made money from that, and you didn't want that money. That would be a moral reason for you to renounce it. But this is just a screwed up legal entanglement, and it's kind of all been settled, it sounds like. Well, we're a long ways from that. I've got to sign some paperwork to do some probate things and some other lawyer forms,

and it's going to be many, many months away. Do you have family members who are calling you out, who are challenging you? No, no. So my aunt is the executor of the estate, and I know, 100% with my life and everything else. She's just letting us know what's going on. We have to, so myself and my two brothers have to sign some paperwork

because my mom is one of the kids that passed away. So we have to sign paperwork for the lawyers to say, yes, we're the descendants. Yeah, yeah. I do not see a moral dilemma.

Okay. And the second part of that is I also am still confused as to what in the flip your grandparents were trying to pull off with the second will. It's not logical. It doesn't make sense. It sounds like they didn't think it through very well because basically they were going to give your aunts and uncles all the money and cut out the two children that had the heirs of the two children that had died and that's not

logical unless somebody did something wrong and they wanted to cut them out but the effect of that second will that was that was determined to be invalid was that you were cut out. Your mom was cut out. Your mom's share was cut out. Right? Yeah, maybe it's God working his way back in. Yeah, it doesn't make sense. I think they just screwed up. Not only did they screw up on the –

I really think your grandparents didn't even realize what they were doing probably is what it sounds like to me because i mean unless there's somebody your aunt says you know well you know there's no logic flow to this you know unless some unless you were trying to carve out a particular branch because of misbehavior or they just didn't want the money for the grandkids they just wanted for kids and i'm just gonna give my kid yeah but that cuts out their dead children's grandkids yeah yeah yeah kids that's just not logical yeah it doesn't make sense so um but it's okay you can do whatever you want to do with your money you're allowed to and it's just i i think your grandparents were were dizzy and you know and then that's part of what made the will invalid was that they didn't even follow through on that part, right?

Because here's the thing. If they'd sat down with an attorney, the attorney would have said, what are you doing? Just making sure you understand this is what you're doing. And then it would have been properly notarized and properly witnessed. Instead, they just bought this thing over at home. They bought the will kit at Home Depot or something and then did the thing instead of doing a proper will with you know that's why with mama bear legal forms we tell you to go there you get a state specific will and each state has unique laws some somewhat unique laws potentially and witnesses are very different in some states some states don't

require a witness some states require four some require one some require notarization some don't and so you need those exact steps in the state that you reside in when you die and that's why we use your mama bear legal forms so you get the thorough and the will is actually valid then so in your case daniel i i appreciate that you're open-handed with this and you're compassionate towards your uncles and aunts and you you're noble enough to want your grandparents wishes to go forward but i'm personally a little bit confused about your grandparents wishes i don't know what they were trying to accomplish i kind of think they're dizzy i think they were dizzy and so i'm not worrying about this i'm signing the papers let's just go forward i'm not gonna be mad about it if it doesn't work out but as long as it just keeps going this way i'm gonna

go this way and let it unfold and it just is what it is so hey thanks for the call that's an interesting discussion john it is so important for every adult to have a will a valid will i can't i just can't think of a more childish way to be a grown-up than to not have a will. And yet 78% of the people listening to us don't have a will. There is zero correlation that if you fill out a will, it means you're going to die soon. There's 100% correlation that if you fill out a will, you care about your family and your estate, even if you don't think you have much of an estate, not dragging your poor family through the court systems and through the weird cousin that comes out of the woods and all the stuff.

Man, Jesse. And I did it. I don't want to push something that I don't use. I got mama bear will and did mine families, and it's quick, and it's not painful. It is painful because you're discussing your death. It's awkward and weird. My dad's a homicide detective, but that ship sailed to my house.

But for most people, it is awkward and weird. Right. I mean, we have the Ramsey estate meeting once a year, and we tell everybody in the leadership team we should because it's like a Monty Python meeting. I'm feeling much better. It's just a monty python meeting i'm feeling much better it's just a flesh wound but yeah it's like we discussed dave's death thoroughly for a couple of hours once a year you got me there you gotta do it you gotta do it it's weird but yeah so what's gonna happen if he

dies this year i'm here i'm here don't talk about me in the third person yeah but yeah but it's just the whole thing but you gotta do it guys it's diligence it's saying i love you having life insurance to take care of your wife your kids your husband your kids your dog your whatever having life insurance is vital having a will that's valid and that everyone knows where it is your family knows where it is. Jeez. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's John Deloney, co-host of The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? A lot of those people listen on one of our 600-plus radio stations across the country.

To find a station near you, go to RamseySolutions.com slash show.