The Ramsey Show - App - I Just Spent 17 Years in Jail and Need Financial Advice (Hour 1)

Episode Date: July 15, 2020

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show. The debt is gone, 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. You jump in, we'll talk about your life, your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

Dan is with us in Kansas City starting off this hour. Hey, Dan, welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Well, hey, Dave, it's an honor to speak with you. I've been listening to you for years, and I appreciate your input. So thanks for talking with me today. Absolutely. How can I help? Quick question.

My wife and I are debt-free, and you're talking about your everyday millionaires. We are there thanks to you and your help. I have a quick question for you in regards to my daughter. I have a daughter who is in college who will be graduating next year, and her college has been paid for through more paying for my wife than I am through scholarships. The money we had set back that she hasn't used will be around $35,000. We're trying to see what we should do with that house. Should we gift that to her? Should we tie it to a down payment on a home? What are your thoughts? Okay.

What's her degree in? Marketing and a minor in Spanish. How's her character? She's got a great character. Okay. She's got a great character. Okay. She's got a great character. Okay, wonderful. Okay, good.

And the money is currently in your name, or it is in her name in a college fund? It is in her name. It's not in a college fund. We have transferred over into her name last year out of some stock. Okay, and you did that with some tax advice to avoid gift tax, right? Yeah, exactly. Okay, all right, good. Okay, so you've already given her the money.

Yes, but she doesn't know that she has the money. Okay. So it's in cash at this point. So, yes, you you're right it is hers we were in a similar situation with each of our kids because we saved uh before there were college 529s or esas we just saved the money in the kid's name uh in an utma or a uniform transfer to minors act for their college by the time they got college, we just wrote the checks without using that money. So when they graduated from college, they had a chunk of cash like this

that was already in their name that, you know, they got that much extra as a head start in addition to having a paid-for college. And that's exactly where we ended up. Now, what we did was we just instructed them on what we thought they should do with it, in addition to having a paid-for college, and that's exactly where we ended up. Now, what we did was we just instructed them on what we thought they should do with it, and because they were people of character, in every case they did. And so, you know, what do you think she should do with it? And I think, obviously, if she needs a car, she's going to use some of it for that, or an upgrading car if she's still driving a high school car or something

and maybe she wants to move up a little bit. Paying cash for that's a good thing. Obviously, a down payment on a house is a good thing. Having an emergency fund is mandatory before we talk about either one of those two things, that kind of stuff. So, you know, it's in your name, kiddo. However, it's in your name because we put it there and you've gotten this far because you followed our advice you are someone we are proud of and have used wisdom beyond your years if you continue that we would if you continue to be wise here's what we think it would look like

gotcha and give her a little plan with it and ask her what she thinks and kind of participate in a conversation that plans out where this money is going. Gotcha. So don't really put strings on it. You can't. It's already in her name. Yeah. Trust her.

You're right. It is. It is. She's 20 years old. She's in her savings account. She's already saved through high school and so forth. She has $15,000 of her own money that she refuses to touch. So she does understand what saving money is and what money is.

So giving her this just gives her that head start in saying, you know, we'll help you plan. But you're right, it's already in her name. And here's the other thing that I did, and I did it long before this, and you may have too, but you do it again because nobody hears something the first time you tell them, is take $35,000 and put it in a calculator and say, you know, let's just pretend you didn't touch any of it. You know, you're 20. When you're 40, here's what it would be worth in a mutual fund.

Yeah, that's a great idea. And let watch her little eyes get big and go, oh, my God, I could be a millionaire because of this one thing. This one thing and just change the family tree. Exactly, yeah. But, I mean, I don't think realistically that's exactly what the money should be used for, but it's always good to have that aha moment that if I continue my savings patterns and don't marry a doofus. Oh, my gosh. You know, and screw up the whole thing, right, then this is where I could end up.

And so, you know, that's part of the discussion as well. But, you know, it's just at this point you're making the shift from parenting a child to being a good friend to your grown children. Yeah, so do you think at that time it would be a good time to also have her talk to our financial advisor as well? Yeah, definitely. And start having some discussions with them one-on-one? Definitely. Not us being involved? Well, you could be in there too. I don't care.

But the whole thing is, what would you do if this was not your child and it was a 20-year-old friend's kid that came to you for advice? You wouldn't be in a position where you could use your dad voice. You would have to persuade. Yes, you're exactly right. And that's when you change from being a wise advisor to your grown kids and friend to your grown kids versus being daddy where you just tell them what to do and sounds like this kid's worthy of that she's she's strong man i mean she's she's graduating early she's got a good degree field she saved money on her own from high school her dad says she's got good character this kid's she's got she's in good position so i think you've done a great job congratulations open phones at 888-825-5225 our question today comes from blinds.com

they have a 100 satisfaction guarantee even if you mismeasure or pick the wrong color they will remake your blinds for free free samples free shipping new promos always use the promo code ramsey ken is in arizona i'm making extra payments on my mortgage but when i do i get billed for extra escrow which i'll get a check for at the end of the year is there any way i can avoid this your mortgage company's stupid okay don't make extra payments on your mortgage. Make principal payments on your mortgage. If your website that you're doing the payment through allows for you to have principal only, that's what you need to be doing. You don't need to prepay interest.

You don't want to pay December's payment right now. That interest is not yet due. And you certainly don't want to pay December's payment right now. That interest is not yet due. And you certainly don't want to overpay escrow. Absolutely zero benefit to that. So what's happening is they're counting this as next month or the month after, the month after's payment. And that's not what you want to do. You want principal only. If you're sending in a check, write principal only with the account number on it.

Big letters. If they can't do it, write principal only. Stupid. I said principal only. And keep working it that way until you get them to actually apply it. They can do that. Once a month is what they limit that to. too. Folks, I love telling you about well-made, well-thought-out products. Today, I'm talking about Grip6 belts. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of traditional belts. They never fit right, and they're uncomfortable. Grip6 belts are unique. Owner BJ designed a truly

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Clarissa is in Boston. Hi, Clarissa. How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I have been working on my baby steps, and I paid off my car,

and all I have left is my student loan and a credit card that is in collection. This credit card recently got sold to another debt collection agency, and they're offering me a settlement of about $2,000, so $1,900. And I still technically owe about $6,000 on that credit card. So I'm not sure if I should go ahead and settle, and then all I have left to pay off is my student loan, if that's a good idea or not, and how that would affect my credit score. Well, I assume your credit score is pretty screwed up now because you've already gone into fault on this loan, right?

The credit card's in default, right? I've been paying it off. No, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. They didn't offer you a settlement if you were current, did they? I am. Well, it's in collection, but I pay every month. Yeah, how long has it been in collection? For maybe two years.

Okay, all of that time it's been dinging your credit. You know that, right? Yes, I do. Okay, so, yeah, I'm not real worried about your credit at this point. Okay. And so I'm going to take that deal. Now, here's the thing you get it in writing from them the offer of 1900 not verbally over the phone has to be you can get it by email i don't care

but you need a written document that you can keep in your file okay that says 1900 settles this in full settlement in full okay theettlement in full. Okay? The second thing is you do not allow them to have electronic access to your checking account. They will clean you out. Okay. So no checking account information. You can either pay them by wire. You can pay them with a money order.

You can get a prepaid debit card. You can do whatever you want to do. but do not allow them to get into your checking account okay okay and then yeah i would settle that now uh that is going to damage your credit obviously it's already damaged but you didn't pay the bill in full and they didn't get all of their money and so that's going to leave a ding on your credit so what you're trying to get out of debt you have a mess you're behind just get. Just get her done. I'm with you, okay? Let's do this. Okay.

The second thing is that debt that is forgiven is considered taxable income. So they will send you a 1099 for the difference. So you're going to get an extra $4,000 of income that you have to pay taxes on next year. Likely that they're going to turn that in. They usually do. Who was the original credit card with? Chase. Okay.

Yeah, they likely will 1099 you then for the difference. And so you'll know that you're going to have taxes on $4,000 next year, extra income. And so it'll eat in to increase your tax bill next year. But, yeah, I still would do it in all of those cases. Sean is with me in Phoenix, Arizona. Hey, Sean, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks, Dave. It's a pleasure to speak to you.

You too. What's up? So I was released from prison about eight months ago, and I was in prison. They had FPU on DVDs, so we got to watch it. And they had a little mini class, and I really liked to learn its principles. Great. And when I got out, which was last year, my dad gave me a car, which was a real blessing. But my grandma also passed away, and I inherited $10,000, which I had not spent.

I put it in a CD because I didn't really know what to do with it. That way I couldn't touch it. it could learn a little bit of interest but my car is on its last leg i've spent sixteen hundred dollars in repairs the last month and a half and i can afford a new car but i know how you feel about new cars i know how you feel right and left about new cars so i guess my question is do i just buy another beater that I'm going to put more money into? And then this money I've got sitting there, I don't really know what to do with it. Gotcha. So what's your career? What are you doing? Right now, I just work in a call center. It's a real simple job, but I have a great potential job opening up that's going to be

working for the state of Arizona. It's going to offer me a potential for retirement in 20 years. It's a career. So right now I'm just doing a job because it pays my bills. I get to put 15% of each paycheck in a savings account. That's why I had the money to fix my car. I'm really smart about my money, Dave. I really am. But I just, I don't, I'm kind of at a standstill and I'm kind of at a fork in the road because my car is, I'm losing more money than I know what to do with. I got you. And I drive 60 miles a day to and from work, so it puts massive miles on it. Okay.

Yeah, I think you probably need to move up a little in the car, but I, of course, would pay cash for that. And so what will the car sell for? I'm going to be lucky to get $1,000. My dad thinks I can get two for it, but I'm lucky to get $1,000 for it. Your dad's probably right. Maybe you can get two for it. And if you took $5,000 of your $10,000 and put that with it, you could get a $7,000 car. That would be a whole lot better car than you've got now.

It would. That would be a really good car. And no car payments. You know that. And certainly not a new car. You know that. And then I'm going to continue to save. And now you're debt-free at that point, and you've got a better car.

Am I correct? Yes, sir. Then I'm going to build your emergency fund up. You know the baby steps. You've watched the DVDs. Build your emergency fund to three to six months of expenses. And then I'm going to start saving towards my retirement long term. And as you said, you're moving hopefully into that state job and so forth.

How long were you in prison? 17 years. Wow. For what? A long time. A long story. I don't really want to get into it on the radio, but it was a long story. I made a lot of choices, but I guess when talking about the baby steps, I don't have a house payment, but a huge dream of mine is to have a house. So, like, where do I put that in my baby steps?

Because if I start investing in retirement now, then I'm not putting anything towards a house because right now I'm just paying rent. Well, you've got to get your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses built above getting this car purchased. So after you bought the car, you're kind of down low on cash. You're down to $5,000, right? Correct, yes, sir. Yeah, then we need to build that back up, that cash back up to three to six months of expenses.

And then from there, you would start saving for a down payment if you want to. I would not buy a house until you get the state job, though. Of course, yeah. Or until you get a better job and you get landed in your career. It's okay to rent for a little while, get yourself established, and so forth. So how long ago was it you watched the DVDs? About three years ago. They offered a little mini class, and it was 12 weeks.

I took the class three times. They laughed at me because I kept going back, but I get out my notes when I have questions and I took copious notes. I've taken the class many times. Gotcha. Okay. Well, I want you to go through it again and I'm going to pay for it. I'm going to pay for it. I'm going to give it to you. I want to be part of your future because I think you've got a bright future. It sounds like

your past you've got in the rear view mirror, which is where it belongs. The windshield's bigger. That's why we call it grace. So you move forward and the past is in the past, and that's good stuff. So hang on. I'm going to have Madison pick up. We're going to get you signed up again to go through Financial Peace University. By the way, that's the nine-week class now,

and we give you a one-year membership to Financial Peace, which is all the classes online. Financial Peace University is all online, audio and video. All of the Legacy Journey is online, which is the follow-up class. Smart Money, Smart Kids, for those of you who want to teach your kids how to handle money, is all part of it. Streaming to a bunch of our live events is part of it. The Every Dollar App Plus, which the plus is hooking up to your bank. part of it streaming to a bunch of our live events is part of it the every dollar app plus which the plus is hooking up to your bank that's all part of it it's about six or seven hundred

dollars worth of stuff we give you in that first year of access to the membership and then people renew their memberships year in and year out because they want to stay plugged into the community they want to keep using the every dollar, and they want access to new lessons that we continue to add on different subjects as we shoot new videos and put them on there from Rachel Cruz, Chris Hogan, and me. And you'll be seeing some in the future from other people like even Ken Coleman. We'll put some career stuff in there. It all falls under the heading of financial peace. So be sure and check it out.

Good stuff, folks. stuff in there it all falls under the heading of financial peace so be sure and check it out good stuff folks there's a community in there too that is rock solid a great online community there and in the financial peace so be sure you check that out too so hang on we'll get you signed up for that brother and we're proud you got your future's bright that This is good times. This is the Dave Ramsey Solutions, Julie is with us. Hey, Julie, how are you? I'm fine, thank you. How are you? I am better than I deserve. Welcome. So where do you live? I live in London, UK. In London, England.

Yes. And you came here to do your debt-free scream? I did. Specifically came here just to do this? Yes. Oh my goodness. Wow. It's nice to meet you, sir you it's an honor to meet you i i mean we've had folks uh that were international do debt-free screams before in person or on the phone but i don't know if anybody ever came here just for this they usually found it as

an excuse while they were doing something else no i had to come wow very fun very fun well congratulations how much debt have you paid off? I've actually, it was done in dollars. So I've paid off $47,091. And it was done over a period of 29 months. Okay. Very cool. And your range of income during that time? It was $59,000 to $85,000.

Okay. And you've converted it from pounds to dollars or euros to dollars. Yeah. Wow. Look at you. Cool. What do you do for a living? I work in administration, so HR operations. Okay. Very cool. And what kind of debt was the $47,000? It was a lot. It was student loan. It was family members. It was rent.

It was everything and everything except for credit cards. Okay. All right. And so I'm intrigued. How in the world did you get connected to us in the UK? Ironically, before I got connected to you guys, I was living life. I was living life. I was living beyond my means.

And then I got made redundant. And in the process of being made redundant, I sort of lost my way. I didn't have money to pay for anything. I was on benefits. I think you guys call it government assistance. Right. Redundant meaning you were laid off from your job. Yes.

So I was made. Yeah, I was laid off. Okay. So I literally hit rock bottom because what I was getting from the government to assist me to live wasn't enough to survive on. I had to move out and move in with my brother. At some point I had to go to the food bank and sort of pick up some food from there. And it felt so embarrassing because I'd never been in a situation where I depended on somebody else. I'm the older sister out of my family. So I was very much the mature

one. I was the older one. I was meant to have the most common sense, but I didn't. So the journey started like that. It was such a terrible time. I went through depression. It was horrible. I really hit rock bottom. And it took a long time for me to get a job because I was getting rejected. I was getting rejected because I was too qualified. So even when I tried to do jobs lower than my original pay scale, I still had too much experience. Nobody wanted to invest in me. Eventually, I got a job in January 2016. I still hadn't heard from you and I still hadn't learned my lesson. And it was my month birthday, 2016 May.

And I decided I deserved a new car. Even though I'd gone through what I went through, I obviously hadn't learned the lesson. And it was the introduction. While I went to go and look at a car, I was meant to be signing the documentation for it. A friend of mine randomly called me. And before I signed on the dotted line, she said to me, how much are you in debt by? That's the first time

anybody had asked me that question. And it was the best question she could have asked me. She encouraged me to watch your programs, to listen to you. She encouraged me to come up and set up a budget. So I listened to Total Money Makeover from YouTube. I'm sorry. She encouraged me to come up and set up a budget.

So I listened to Total Money Makeover from YouTube. I'm sorry. That's okay. You're fine. I should have bought the book, but I'm sorry. It's okay. It's all good. I'm glad you're here. Literally, I listened to it over YouTube, and it changed my life, and I couldn't go back.

And eventually, when I calculated how much debt I had, which is equivalent to £36,000 in the UK, that's quite high. I cried. Because I'd never thought I was that much in debt. But I knew it was hard because even paying rent, I was in arrears. I'd just spent stupidly.

So were you born and raised in the UK? I was born in Uganda. In Uganda. Yes. So I'm from Uganda. I went to the UK when I was nine. Oh, okay. So everything I've learned has been from the UK.

Yeah. Okay. And that has been a great journey. But I think that my ignorance was not. It just, I should have known better. Especially as my younger brother is wealthier than I am. Well, it feels like we all should have known better. So I'm glad that we were there for you and that you found some YouTube clips that helped you come along.

Oh, yeah. I became a YouTube crazy. Oh, you're one of the crazies. Yeah. You're hardcore. Yeah. Yeah. Watching us live then.

Yes. I've got my family watching live. They couldn't make it today. So they're watching live. Fine. Well, hello, family. All right. So this is your birthday, I heard.

It is. It is. Today's my birthday happy birthday thank you what a way to celebrate travel to the states and declare your freedom yep i love it yeah that is very cool so when do you fly home uh on sunday okay cool so i'll be moving on sunday and i'm i'm although i visited three different states and I'm glad you welcomed me all I'm good to go home now. I bet.

Are you if you're in Nashville this evening we're going to buy you birthday dinner. I will make sure I'm here. Nashville has a great food scene and there's several of the celebrity chefs in the area that are friends and we're going to get you in on one of those

and let you have an incredible birthday dinner. You come all the way from the UK. We've got to buy you dinner at Southern Hospitality. Thank you so much. Wow. Well, congratulations. Yeah. So very proud of you.

So what do you tell people the secret to getting out of debt is? Remain focused. It's hard. I'm not going to lie. It is hard, especially if you're doing it by yourself and your family is not really supporting you. They don't understand it. And you may lose some friends along the way, but it's okay because it will be worth it. Who are your biggest cheerleaders?

My family. They are so amazing. We have a large family. My grandparents gave birth on just my mother's side. There's 12 aunties and uncles. Oh, wow. Yes. So we're a large family. So you have lots of brothers, sisters, lots of cousins. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So three boys, well, two boys underneath me. And then I have a few others above me. Yeah. Okay.

Very cool. Very cool. Well, congratulations. How's it feel now that you did it? I can't tell you how free I feel. I mean, I wouldn't be here if I hadn't paid off my debt, and I wouldn't have traveled the three different states. And now I'm starting my journey for the next chapter of my life.

I feel like that was the end. Now this is the beginning. And I'm so happy for it. Well, we're proud of you. Thank you. You're an absolute hero. Very well done. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you. Every Day Millionaires. You're on your road to be that. Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires.

You're on your road to be that. That is the next chapter for you. You will never go back. You are done. You are done. Very proud of you. All right, Julie, all the way from London, England, just specifically on her birthday to do her debt-free scream in our lobby.

What an honor for us. Thank you so much. Thank you. scream in our lobby what an honor for us thank you so much thank you 47 000 paid off in 29 months making 59 to 85 count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one i'm debt-free Yes! This is how it works! Oh my goodness. And you gotta love the power of podcasts and YouTubes. They go everywhere, don't they?

That's so good. So good. Thank you, God. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks for joining us, America. Tawny is with us in Portland, Oregon. Hi, Tawny. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up?

I'm wondering if it's okay for my husband to accept a temporary position to relocate our family across the U.S. You're going to relocate across the United States for a temporary position? Possible temporary. There's a chance he could get picked up as full-time. There must be some reason to think about this. There must be some reason you all are considering

that because it sounds kind of weird. Yes, well, there's a few reasons we want to get out of the area and move to a new location. Uh-huh. And what are those? What is appealing about the new location? We do have some family in the area.

It's a lower-cost living. There's better schools out there for our children, and we want to get away from the liberal policies that we're living under right now and get to a more conservative area. Okay. I'm with you. Head out. Okay, that's cool.

It sounds like you would make this move anyway, that you're not making it exclusively for this temp position, so that if the temp position doesn't work out he would look for a job not in Portland Oregon but instead in the area that you're moving to yes and he would have done that anyway is my point so it sounds like this yeah I mean in other words if you were moving somewhere if you loved where you are and you were moving to a place that you didn't necessarily care for just to get a temp position, well, no, that'd be strange, you know? Yeah. Because I would want a permanent position before I would make a move.

But this is an area that you would consider living in anyway, and you guys are just going to say to yourselves, yourselves well if this doesn't work he's gonna what field is he in um he's an equipment operator um working for the va right now and he would be accepting a position at the at the va also oh okay so he's like you're saying he's like a dozer or crane operator um yeah and what city are you talking about moving to um around atlanta not in atlanta but uh a little north of it okay and so i mean there's enough construction going on in that area that he could probably get a job that not with the va operating heavy equipment couldn't he yes okay so yeah i'm gone let's go let's do it okay and as far as um how we take care of our debt and um the equity that we might get from our house

and a little bit of leftover um what would be the smartest way to do to take care of everything well the first thing've got to do is pay for the move out of that money, right? And then when you get the move and you get settled, spending as little of the equity as possible, then we're going to use that equity once you get the move and get settled to apply it to wherever you are in the baby steps, which would be clean up debt and make sure you have your emergency fund in place, right? But let's use the money first to make the move because you're moving that's all that's a long move and so you know you're going to have some costs there and you're going to have some deposits and things with utilities and rents and

so forth on the other end but i would just move over there and rent something right now and use your equity to become debt free and to make the move and then let's settle in and start thinking about saving up and buying a house and get his job stable and all that kind of stuff so hey good question thanks for calling in kim is with us in raleigh north carolina hi kim welcome to the dave ramsey show hey mr ramsey how are you better than i deserve what's up awesome my husband and i are currently on baby step number two we have about 24 000 in debt and um we have a life insurance policy that we took out on our oldest son about nine years ago uh the cash value is about 40 40 000 now so i was wondering if we should take that out cash it out and put it into a college fund instead. And then my husband even suggested us putting it towards some debt,

just getting it out of the way. Agreed. Yeah, I would pay off the debt, make sure your emergency fund's in place, and then start building his college fund. When's he heading to college? Well, we have about probably eight or nine more years. Oh, good. And your household income is what?

Well, we're currently bringing in a little over 50 until i go back to work in august so and then there'll be what um and then we'll probably be up more in the 80 000 okay very cool so if you didn't have any debt and you're living on a budget and you had an emergency fund that would put you at baby steps four five and six we call it i don't know if you've heard of that yet. But the baby step four is you start putting 15% of your household income into retirement. Five is we start addressing kids' college. And any above that we can find, we throw at the house and pay off the house.

But it sounds like we would lean in on that college savings really hard to make sure that we – Right, I think we'd get a bit more with college. Yeah, make sure we replenish what has been used here from this whole life policy but i'm definitely canceling in trash value life insurance i don't ever keep that stuff around oh okay so it's best to go ahead and cash it out and yeah towards something more beneficial okay exactly and you know by freeing up your household income not going into debt or not having debt payments as long as you stay on a budget and use what used to be those payments to build your retirement and his college then you're going to come out way ahead as a result of this move mathematically now if you take the

if you pay off the debt and you half butt manage your money and you spend everything and you don't do any investing for retirement or college, then this was a bad move. Do you see what I'm saying? I do. Yeah. So you've got to follow through and do the budget. And the two of you have to be working together and work those baby steps.

Hold on. I'll send you a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover. Madison will pick up. And if you don't already have one, we'll send you one. And it'll show you exactly how to do this. Barry is with us in St. Louis. Hi, Barry. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Hey, we live in kind of a depressed economic area. We have a decent home, and we have no savings, no retirement, no emergency fund, no anything because we've had to start over because of a health situation and because of a loss of a good job. I make about $30,000 a year, family of seven.

I'm getting a structured settlement and my wife wants to take all of that money and go buy a bigger, better house. We have no savings, no retirement, no investments, no nothing. What do I do here? So what is your current home worth? My current home is worth about $80,000. I owe about $54,000. And what is she wanting to buy?

Something in the $200,000 range. Okay. And how much is your structured settlement? We don't know. That's another thing. We don't know for sure. We're expecting probably $250,000 or less. Okay.

All right. And how many of the seven children live at home still? I actually have nine children with five at home. Okay. We adopted children through foster care. Gotcha. So I'm guessing she's a full-time mom. She is a full-time mom.

Okay. And I'm guessing it's a little tight in the house you're in. Well, yeah, really. We've lived in tighter situations, but I've got a story and a half, four-bedroom with a full basement, big lot, big garage, siding, brick trim, decent home. Here's my issue. What is it that she wants that the other house has? Probably more of a kitchen situation for her, I would say, would make her happier.

Okay. What about renovating your kitchen instead of moving? Thought about building on a little bit, probably. Okay. I mean... My issue is here, too. I've got a $430 house payment, which is unheard of. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. My house payment's dirt cheap. Rent in my town is $700. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't mind you guys using some of this money to better your quality of life. That's an okay use of it. It just needs to be done wisely.

And generally speaking, guys can live under a bridge. We don't need much. And ladies need to enjoy some of the other lifestyle things a little bit more. I don't get why we paint my house as many times as we paint my house. I don't get it. But it's okay. We've got the money. So in this case, you've got a certain amount of money you can allocate to a better quality life,

and that is probably a good thing to do here. I don't know exactly what that looks like, but we certainly don't want to spend it all on that. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.