The Ramsey Show - App - I Received a Terminal Diagnosis This Morning...How Do I Prepare My Wife? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: July 19, 2021

Debt, Investing, Relationships, Home Buying Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE

Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music

Music Music Music Music Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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. Thank you for joining us, America. Open phones at 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Chani is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Chani. How are you?

Hey, I'm good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. How can I help? Okay. There's a lot of meat to this, but let me just get right into it. So, I'm 48 years old. I'm on baby step number two. I've only got $5,000 until I'm debt-free, and it's credit card debt. So, I'm working on that.

Good. Now, I am on Social Security death benefit income. And basically, on that income, it says that I can only make a certain amount a year, which I believe is like $19,700 or something, before they start taking away from me from what I've made. So it's kind of been hard for me to get anything other than a part-time job. But I have had them. Now, I will tell you that due to COVID, my doctor took me out because I was high risk, but I did get released last month for my, you know, to get released to go back to work.

Here's the pickle I meant. I've been apartment living for eight years. My daughter is 14 or will be 14 years old in November. And when she's 16, she has expressed to me that she does want to have a job. So I do want to help her and aid her in getting a car for her. However, I would also like to have a home. I'm kind of stuck. I can't do both because I just, I'm not able to afford to do both, but I want to know which

one to do. So your husband passed away and you have a social security death benefit from his being deceased? That's correct. How long ago? He passed in 2007. I'm sorry. Okay.

I am not, so you're telling me that on a death benefit from a deceased spouse, they stop that if your income gets too high? Are you sure? That doesn't sound right. Yes, sir. I've been, not last year. So what is the death benefit too high. Are you sure? That doesn't sound right. Yes, sir. I've been, I've, last, not last year. So what is the death benefit? How much do you get? I get $935 for my portion, and I get $935 for her portion.

Okay, I'm 100% sure it does not affect her portion. It does not affect her portion. It will affect my portion when she turns 50. So what? It's $10,000 a year, girl. Go have a life. Screw the government. Well, and that's what I'm trying to figure out.

You're sitting around for $10,000 a year handcuffed when you could go have a life? Yeah. Well, I did that. I actually went out, got a full-time job. No, you need like a, you're 48 freaking years old. There's nothing wrong with you. You need like what's on a full-time, go-get-it-girl career. Go make you $60,000, $80,000, $100,000 and flip your pinky towards Washington as you do it.

I did that actually a year and a half ago. Good. And then I got stuck in the government by them taking away, I think it was $130 each month. Who gives a crap about $130 if you're making $80? Well, I'm not able to make $80 because even though I went to college, I am not a college graduate. So what? There's lots of non-college graduates make $80.

I talked to one last week made 300 selling real estate. I'm trying to find that job that will put me over. Honey, it don't take much. This is a squirrel bar. This is a low bar. It's 10 grand. Squirrel can get over this bar.

It's low. It's way down there. Low. Like it's not even knee high. It's ankle high. Yeah. Let me tell you, let me tell you. Okay. Let's stop just a low. It's not even knee high. It's ankle high. Yeah. Let me tell you. Let's stop just a second, all right?

I'm going to tell you what I think I'm hearing, and you can correct me, and I'll be happy to be corrected. But I think when your husband passed away, like for most people, it was devastating. Yeah. for most people it was devastating yeah and you and your daughter have clung on to each other and grieved and hurt from this and mixed in with that you didn't think you were valuable because you didn't get a college degree which is not true by the way that's a lie from the pit of hell and the second thing is you lost some of your confidence when he left. Yes.

And now you've set your value down at $10,000, and I'm sitting here saying, honey, your value is a lot higher than $10,000. I believe in you like way more than you believe in you, and I've only talked to you one minute. It's been hard. I know. That's what I'm hearing. I'm hearing some pain in there. Am I missing that?

No, you're not missing it. So you were 42 years old when your husband died, right, or 40 years old? Yes. How did he pass away? It was a combo. They don't know what got him first. It was either lung cancer or cirrhosis of the liver. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. And that was another situation. Yeah, there's a situation that goes with that for sure. Yeah. So there's a lot of pain around all of this, and it is a normal human behavior for that pain to leave a scar on our psyche. And I just want to tell you out loud as somebody just

listening to you i'm not talking to a lady that's unintelligent you're very articulate you made your case in a very short period of time you got on the radio which is a nerve-wracking thing to do and you pulled off this conversation not everybody can do that not everybody can get past Kelly to get on the air. I mean, you did all of this today. And so I think that I just, and I'm not, you know, I'm not blowing smoke. I really do believe you are worth five to ten times more in the marketplace than you think you're worth. I do believe that myself. And I think we need to develop a career path and track that might take you a year to get on. It might take a little time.

But to start to believe and take some steps in the right direction towards something that gets your income way up. Because this government idea of $10,000 hovering over your head, it's not like they're offering you $100,000. They didn't offer you a good life. They offered you below poverty, and you took it. Yes. Well, here's the second option. Okay. What about going back to school?

Well, you don't necessarily have to go back to school. If that's what it takes to go live your dream, we'll talk about that. But that's not necessarily the magic pill. Yes. The magic pill might just not necessarily the magic pill. Yes. The magic pill might just be, the magic pill might, I mean, because let me just, I'm not suggesting you do this, but let me just give you an example. The example I used a minute ago. You do not have to have a college degree to sell residential real estate.

Right. And if you told me that was your dream, and I'm not suggesting it is, but that's an example of something where going back to school is not necessary. Now, if you want to get a master's degree in psychology because you want to do grief counseling as a professional counselor because you've been through some stuff, then, yeah, you need to go back to school for that. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to put you on hold, and Kelly's going to pick up. We're going to plug you into the Ken Coleman stuff. We're going tool is your income. For business owners, this comes as no surprise,

as you're used to putting in extra hours and watching your bottom line. That's why Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, is a great option for those who are faith-focused and budget-conscious. CHM is not health insurance. Rather, it's a health cost-sharing program. It's not harder, but it is different. To learn if CHM is a fit for you or your business, visit chministries.org slash budget. Well, if you're in debt and you're stuck, it can feel like you're fighting a losing battle. It feels like the bills are winning. I've been there, I remember.

You may wonder if you're ever really going to get ahead. Well, I can tell you that you can. It doesn't have to be this way. When you attack this debt like your life depends on it, it starts falling back. You can take back your paycheck and start building the life you want. Start building some wealth. Become a Baby Steps millionaire. You can get there with Financial Peace University.

In this class, you'll learn our proven plan. It's helped millions pay off their debt fast, but you'll never make the change you need to do unless you stick to a budget. And that's why with this, you also get the premium version of our budgeting tool, EveryDollar, the world's best budgeting tool. And it's all available only with a Ramsey Plus membership. Financial Peace University, EveryDollar, and many other things with Ramsey Plus. You can get ahead, start your free trial of Ramsey Plus, and end this constant battle

for your money. Text TRIAL to 33789. Text TRIAL to 33 789 text trial to 33 789 our question of the day comes from our friends at blinds.com a great american company find out for yourself why blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings you get free samples free shipping and with the new promos they run all the time, you'll save even more. Use the promo code RAMSY to get the best possible deal. Today's question is from Gwendolyn in Connecticut.

I'm 21. I've got $3,000 in debt, which will be paid off by August 1. I came upon your YouTube channel. I heard you talking about the Ben Arthur story. Where did Ben invest the money? In a bank or in the stock market? Does it matter whether I put a lump sum or a little in each month, as long as there's $2,000 at the end of the month? How do I keep the money in the account, and should I pay off debt first, and can I start saving and paying off debt simultaneously? A lot going on here, Gwendolyn.

Well, I'm glad you found us on YouTube. So here's the thing. The Ben and Arthur story is not a story or an actual game plan. It is mathematics to show you the importance of compound interest. That's all it is. It shows you the power of compound interest. It shows you how important it is to get started early, which is a motivated use because you're wanting to get started early.

So that's perfect. Now then, that's how that works. Now, what you do want to follow in order to have the results that Ben and Arthur had, meaning get compound interest working on your best favor, your most powerful wealth building tool is your income until you have $10 million. And then your most powerful wealth building tool is your wealth. It'll start making you more money than you make you. But until you've got $5 to $10 million, you are the magic sauce, kiddo.

Your income is the deal. Now, the problem is in America, most people have given their income away to buy crap that they can't afford, that they didn't even really want, to impress people they don't even really like. And so we have a whole bunch of Instagram freaks out here running around, deeply in debt, impressing people that they'll never meet at a stoplight with a car that they can't afford.

It's one big freaking selfie. That's what the whole thing is. It's all about presentation and not about fact and actual who we are. We lost our soul in the process. So the secret, Gwendolyn, is you don't give a crap what other people think. That starts it right there. Because that changes what you wear, the purse you carry, the trips you go on. It changes the car you drive for most people.

It might change the house you live in. It might change the apartment you live in while you're waiting to save up money to buy a house. Because if all you care about is I'm going to live like no one else so that later I can live and give like no one else, it sets you up in a whole different mindset. Because, see, if you don't have any payments and you've got control of your income, now you've got money to invest. And now you've got money to be generous with. And 100% of the people that are generous and invest systematically over a given period of time become wealthy.

It happens every stinking time. But most people aren't generous and most people don't invest systematically over a long period of time become wealthy. It happens every stinking time. But most people aren't generous, and most people don't invest systematically over a long period of time because they give all their money to the bank in the form of payments, buying crap that they can't afford. So we work a thing called the Baby Steps. It's a proven plan. It's gotten millions and millions of people out of debt, and for that matter, probably made several million millionaires we call them baby step millionaires because they work the baby steps and so the first thing you do is get a thousand dollars the second thing you do is you pay off all your debts listing them smallest to largest everything but your house if you've got a house listing them smallest to largest paying minimum

payments on everything but the little one get rid of everything now you don't have any payments that's a good place to be that's an unusual place to be that puts you in about the top 10 of americans right there alone because most people have sally may in their spare bedroom most people have a car fleece they've got a payment on the bass boat because they needed a bigger motor those bass were out running them most people buy crap all the time on payments you're going to stop that and you're going to get out of debt once you're debt-free everything but the house and by the way if you do this with great intensity no eating out during this short period of time no vacations during the short period of time so that you can vacation and eat out anywhere you want later. You live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no

one else. Then you get to move on to baby step three because you got no payments now. You're going to build a fully funded emergency fund, a rainy day fund. You know why? Because it's going to rain. Dave, you need to be positive. I'm positive. It's going to rain. You need to be ready. It's coming. Life is going to happen, and you need $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, three to six months of expenses sitting there to catch the crap when it comes at your front door and doesn't turn into new debt. The transmission is going to go out. Your aunt is going to die, and you've got to fly to Seattle.

I don't know what it is. Something is going to come up, and you're going to need some money suddenly. That's what an emergency is. It's an unexpected event. Three to six months of expenses. Now you're at $20,000 or so cash in the bank and you don't have a payment in the world except your house payment. How's that feel? Everybody say, great. Great. Highly unusual at that point. You would be officially weird just having gotten through those three steps. Then you do baby step four, start saving 15% of your income into your retirement accounts, Roth IRAs, 401ks with matches, all in good growth stock, mutual funds that have great rates of return. And in an average of 15.4 years, you will be a baby steps millionaire.

Meanwhile, you're saving for your kid's college and baby step five and six is you're paying off your house. The average person following this plan pays off their house in 10.2 years. Oh, these are actual numbers. Now, you can, listen, if you want to get rich quick, you've got to go somewhere else. I can't help you with get rich quick, because get rich quick is not reliable. There's no shortcut to

any place it's worth going no discipline seems pleasant at the time but it yields a harvest of righteousness discipline sorry maturity sorry see it's so easy to stand out in a world full of people that don't have any of that all you gotta got to do is just decide. You get to decide, I'm going to do this. And you just decide. No one can tell you what to do. Nobody can make you do it. I can't make you do it. You know, all this crap Dave Ramsey said, I can't.

Dave Ramsey didn't tell you you're going to do anything. You got to do whatever you want to do. I'm just showing you a path, and if you decide to follow that path, it is the shortest distance between where you are and some wealth. Is wealth everything? Good Lord, no. I'd rather have relationships and health, but why not go get both? They're both within your grasp.

Doesn't cost any extra to play the game right. Matter of fact, it costs considerably less. That is the baby steps. And then once you're completely out of that house and everything, you will become very, very wealthy throughout your life. And you'll be in a position to look over and go, hey, there's a single mom hurting. I can buy her a $3,000 car.

And it's like most people buying a biscuit. Because if you've got $3 or $4 million and you write a $3,000 check, you don't feel it. If you have $3,000 and you write a $3,000 check, you really feel it. See, this is what wealth does. It gives you margins and options, the ability to help other people, the ability to change your family tree. That's what this is all about.

So, Gwendolyn, the answer to your question is you follow the baby steps, and it's your shortest distance to get to be Ben and Arthur. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the Dead Free Stage, Kirk and Nikki are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Oh, we're good. How are you, Dave? Welcome. Where do you guys live? Elmira,, how are you? Oh, we're good. How are you, Dave? Welcome. Where do you guys live?

Elmira, Michigan. Say again? Elmira, Michigan. And what is that near in Michigan? Gaylord. Okay, cool. Good to have you guys. And you're all the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream.

How much have you paid off? $33,122.62. Perfect. And how long did that take you? 22 months. All right. And your range of income during that two years? 69,000 to about 72,000. Very good. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a stay-at-home mom. I plate gold and silver for an automotive. Excellent. Very good. Okay.

And what kind of debt was your 33,000? Oh, lots of stuff. Computer, medical debt, 401k loan, four credit cards, a car, and a signature loan. Just kind of normal? Yeah. How long have you guys been married? 13 years today. All right. Well, happy anniversary. Thank you. Very cool. So two years ago, a decade of marriage caught up with you.

Yep. And kicked your butt and said something's got to change. Tell me the story. What happened? Well, we had started sending my son to preschool at a private Christian school and we wanted him to continue throughout elementary school. And the tuition goes up quite a bit once they hit kindergarten. And we were looking at that and we had to go through our budget and we couldn't afford it. Wow. Okay. So the the babies come first now what are we going to do what'd you come up with uh well about 10 years ago i had gone through fbu with a friend uh she invited me to go with her and her husband and uh i i had told him about it at the time and he's like yeah yeah i got it i got this you know and we didn't. Yeah. You go on.

I got this. We don't. Okay. So what happened? You went back? Yeah. Yep. Yep.

After we went through the budget and I was like, you know, if we didn't have all this debt, we could afford to send the kids to private school. And then I brought it up again. I was like, please, please take this class with me. It took a little bit of convincing, but I got on board. How did she get you to do it? Just asking me, you know, just showing me the numbers. I need some help.

Well, she literally put together a whole spreadsheet of everything that we had. You know, if we paid this off, this is what happens. You know, this is how much we need for the for the kids of school you know and i got on board it made it made sense yeah he was he was so she used like facts okay that works i like that one that's a good plan because you weren't obstinate you just said i thought we were okay and then she looks at and goes oh this is not fun i'm with you let's fix this okay so then you go to financial peace university what was the first thing you learned in there that you went oh my um just really about how to manage the debt you know seeing that once you put it on paper it's a lot

different than just you know saying oh i got this much i'll pay this much this month once you actually put it on paper and look at how much you're spending yeah and just in debt it's a real eye opener yeah it really is it blows your mind you feel like where's all that money going right yep yeah yeah what are you gonna say uh nikki uh well i was actually just gonna say that part of our story was that we had ten thousand dollars in debt that i wasn't aware of uh Uh-oh. Yeah. And we talked about this beforehand. I'm not throwing them under the bus. But part of the other part of that story was that I didn't know what was going on because I wasn't participating. Oh, okay.

So it wasn't really he hid it from you. He just didn't tell you. Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, once we started working together as a team, everything changed. Wow.

Okay. And that takes the pressure off a team, everything changed. Wow. Okay. And that takes the pressure off of you, Kirk. It does. It's like, oh, okay, let's do this together. And then, you know, because one of the things I told Sharon was, you're going to help me make these decisions. That way, if they're wrong, you can't say I told you so. Yeah, no.

She's my rock on this, you know. Yeah. Her being a stay-at-home mom, you know, she does so much more than just being a stay-at-home mom. Oh, sure. You know. It's a home economist, yeah. It is, you know. And, you know, I go to work, but she honestly does more work than I do, you know.

You know, kids are tough, but, you know, kids are growing up beautifully and very loved. Yeah. So. That's good stuff. Well done. So what do you tell people the secret to getting out of debt is? For us, teamwork.

Once we started working as a team, everything changed. Everything's on the table. All cards are face up. And then we say, all right, let's do the plan, and we're doing it together. And discipline. Once you start it, stick with it because it's very easy to fall off. But if you are dedicated to it, you can get through it really easy. What was the hardest point where you almost run out of steam during the 22 months?

Where were you when you kind of went, I'm out of breath? COVID, really. Oh, really? Yeah, because I got laid off. Luckily, it only ended up being four weeks, but we got laid off. We were, you know, it's like, okay, let's go into cash conversation mode. Yeah. You know, and shortly after that, my car broke, you know, and it's just like.

So that's like this time last year. Yeah. Yeah, like June or May or something. Yep. Yep. Okay. You know, so. Yep.

And we got tested like right after we started going on the program. Our septic went out. Of course. Of course. Yeah. COVID, the car breaks, the septic goes out. It's like Murphy shows up. Yep.

But we cash floated. We sold a camper to pay for the septic system. That's when I knew he was in. Yeah. Yeah, that was my baby. That was my camper. That's a big deal, yeah. Losing a camper is a big thing, but the septic system working is kind of essential.

Yeah, it is. For sure. Yeah, wow. You guys, that's real stuff because really what that's saying is about halfway through, right? Yeah. Is when you got smacked in the mouth. Yep. And you had to reset and go, okay, are we doing this?

If we're doing this, the camper's got to go. If we're doing this, then I've got to do this, mouth and you had to reset and go okay are we doing this if we're doing this the camper's got to go if we're doing this then i got to do this and we got to do that and we got to conserve cash like you said and and a lot of people were facing that at this time last year a lot of people and you guys you guys found a way to work through it and and here you are the other side victorious yes feels pretty good to work through it doesn't it oh so good yeah yeah how's it feel to have no payments awesome have you ever been debt-free in your marriage ever no no so 13 years is the first time and your anniversary present yes i'm so proud of y'all thank you and you brought the kiddos with you to do the debt-free scream yes come up what are their names and ages cole he's six and courtney just turned four okay and you brought some cheerleaders with you in the

in the gallery here. Who's with you? My mom, Tangie, and my dad, David. Well, they've got to be proud of you all, too. Yes, our biggest cheerleaders. That's good. That's good. You've got to have those.

We've got a copy of The Legacy Journey for you. That's your next chapter. You're on your way to Baby Steps Millionaires now. Move on to changing your whole family tree. Very good stuff. And a copy of the Total Money Makeover for you to give away. Get somebody else started as you keep talking about this because you can't shut up about it once you do it.

Nope. It's good stuff. It's good stuff. So have Cole and Courtney been practicing? They have. All the way from Michigan. They know their debt-free scream, huh? Oh, yeah.

And they know what's about to come up. Well, you changed their tree. You changed their family tree. You guys are heroes. We're so proud of you. It's an honor to know you. Very, very well done. Your mom and dad are proud of you it's good stuff very good stuff kirk and nicky cole and courtney from michigan 33 000 paid off in 22 months in the middle of covid 69 to 72 000 income count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one we're debt-free

i'm not sure courtney's old enough but cole may be old enough to remember that weird time his parents came to that weird place down in Tennessee, and they stood on the stage, and they screamed, I'm debt-free. And when Cole is 90 and telling his great-grandkids the story of his mom and dad changing their family tree. That's pretty powerful stuff, you guys. That was the sound you heard. You could hear Cole's voice screaming over that microphone. That was the sound of a family tree being changed.

Mom and dad are heroes. They did what it takes to go win. In a culture where everybody tells you that the government is going to fix your life, where you're a victim of this or a victim of that not kirk and nicky not them way to go guys this is the ramsey show Thank you for joining us, America. We're so glad you are here. This is The Ramsey Show. Carlos is with us in Los Angeles. Hi, Carlos.

How are you? Hey, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. I'm a long-time listener, first-time caller. Honored to have you. How can we help? So my wife and I and our family, we've been working baby steps for about five years now. And we're currently on baby step 3B and on Baby Step 4.

So we have about $200,000 saved for down payment here in Los Angeles, but you know that the market's pretty ridiculous here. And the mortgage will not be a fourth of our take-home. Well, we can't find a mortgage of a fourth of our take-home if we buy a mortgage that we take-home. Well, we can't find a mortgage of a fourth of our take-home if we buy a mortgage that we're looking for. So one of the things we do have is we have some out-of-state rentals.

And I know how you feel about out-of-state rentals, but we bought them before the program. And we like the real estate aspect of it. We owe mortgages on both. We have $80,000 that we owe on one and $90,000 on the other. My wife and I are thinking of pausing, maybe it's a 3B,

and just hitting with the intensity for the next two or three years and pay off the rentals, which will increase our cash flow or our monthly income that will then allow us to meet the guidelines for the fourth of our take-home. But we don't want a 30-year mortgage, and we're not trying to fall into stupid. We definitely want to kind of make trying to fall into stupid. Good. We definitely want to kind of make sure we follow the program. Good.

That's a good way to do it. There's nothing wrong with that. How much equity is in the properties? Could you just sell them and use that to meet your goal? Well, we do have substantial equity. We do have about 200 in each. We have $200,000 of equity in each house. But one of the things, our long-term goal is within 15 years,

we want to pay for primary residence. And we do like the residential real estate aspect of it. We don't like the state that we currently are in as far as rentals because this doesn't work for us. The numbers are ridiculous. And actually, I thought of your sunk cost analysis about putting the money that were on the table. Would I purchase these homes? Would I actually purchase these homes with the intention of renting them out? And they've been pretty good. We've been lucky, I know.

If you want to go that way, that's okay. I'm not going to be mad at you if you want to go that way. Okay. But I mean, another option is obviously selling those, and that would give you the money to buy a home today. Yeah. The other thing we thought, with the those, and that would give you the money to buy a home today. Yeah. The other thing we thought, with the cash flow, with the money that you paid off the rental, should we invest the money short term? No, just pay them off.

Just pay them off. Just pay them off as fast as you can. We do have $200,000. Should we just pay them off? Yes. You have what now? Say that again. We have $200,000 that we have saved.

Should we just pay them off now and then rebuild our down payment again? Yes. Because we don't get more cash flow? Yes. You have what now? Say that again. We have $200,000 that we have saved. Should we just pay them off now and then rebuild our down payment again? Yes. Because we don't get the more cash flow? Yes. Yeah. All right. That's what you're wanting to do. You're wanting to use these rental cash flow to be able to buy a house.

And does 200 pay both of them off? Yes. We would actually have, yeah, it's $170,000 that we owe on the total mortgage balance. Yeah. okay. And then use that increased cash flow and everything else in your budget to go back to Baby Step 3B then. Actually, you're technically at Baby Step 7 if you want to be technical about it because you're debt-free until you go buy a house, right? Right.

But it doesn't matter. Either way, you're going to pile up as much cash out of the cash flow of the rentals and everything else to build your down payment and then go buy. And that's exactly what I would do. Franklin is in Richland, Washington. Hi, Franklin. How are you? How are you, Mr. Dave? Good. How can I help? Well, I am on baby step two with my wonderful wife. And all I've got left is my student loan debt, which is about $30,000, and got a bit of bad news. I just got a terminal cancer diagnosis, 6 to 12 months.

Oh, my. So I have a 17-year-old, a 6-year-old, and a 3-year-old. How old are you? I am 35. Oh, my. Have you gotten a second opinion yet? I do, and it's not good. It's esophageal cancer, and it's really quick,

and it's really one of the worst ones you can get. Franklin, I'm so sorry. How's mom doing, your wife? I'm scared to tell her so far. I just found out this morning. Oh, my. I've known for nine years it would be a possibility because I had the pre-cancerous condition, but now I'm kind of heading home.

And my wife is a wonderful woman, but she's the spender-free spirit, and she comes to our monthly budget meetings every month, and she lets me know what she wants, but I'm still in charge of making sure all the bills are paid. How do I help set her up? I do have about $45,000 in 401 and about $500 in life insurance. Okay. Well, we're going to surround you guys and walk with you and help you, okay?

There's a lot of moving parts to this, and everybody's scared and everybody's emotional, and it's all valid. So you called and asked, and so I'm going to be cold and calculated in spite of how much this, instead of, in spite of how much I have a lump in my throat right now. Okay. Um, number one, student loans, uh, uh, if you don't survive, uh, they, they go away. So you don't pay another dime on the student loan.

Okay. So the government's going to eat this student loan. If the diagnosis... We have about $50,000 in mortgage balance. Okay. If the prognosis is correct, the student loan is just going to go away. And there's a process she goes through to file with a death certificate and so forth. And when you pass away or you are permanently disabled, student loans are forgiven.

That is one of the times they are actually forgiven. So anyway, we can help you with that, help her with that process and when the time comes. But in the meantime, we're not going to use any of your money for that. We're going to use your money for you to uh have a quality of life and a quality of life includes time with your family that's there there's no point in working on a debt snowball there's no point in doing anything right now except just conserving cash like i said we were almost all the way done with baby step two and all i had left was a student loan and you don't have that anymore because i just took it off the table.

Okay. And so now what we've got to deal with is get her trained with money where she's confident to carry this household while she's walking through this diagnosis and prognosis with you, okay? Okay. Because the more confident she is, the easier it's going to be. Would it be wise to go through the class again? Absolutely, and we're going to pay for it. It's on us. Okay. Because the more confident she is, the easier it's going to be. Would it be wise to go through the class again? Absolutely, and we're going to pay for it.

It's on us. Okay, I'm going to put you into Ramsey Plus, and we're going to hook you up with one of our financial coaches there in Washington that will walk with you as our gift. You're not going to charge your dime for any of this, okay? And I want her to have some people in her corner. And you watching. We've some people in her corner. And you watching... We've got an amazing support network.

And you, what I'm talking about on the financial piece, okay? And so you watching her become confident will be helpful to you, agreed? Yes, sir. If she becomes competent with money and confident, that's going to help you with this process as well, okay? So you're in a good's going to help you with this process as well. Okay. So you're in a good church. You said you had an amazing support group.

We have a good family support network, yes. Okay. Good. Good. Well, obviously, you're going to get spiritual things arranged in your life as well. Agreed? Yes, sir. Okay.

And so we're going to get her trained. You've got, she will have, if this prognosis is correct, she'll have $500,000 coming to her. And it would be okay for you guys to have already planned out what to do with that before she gets it. And I'll recommend that you said the mortgage balance was what? Right around $50,000. I recommend we pay that off, and then we've got $450,000, right? And so you know what the plan is, and if she executes that plan, she's going to be okay because she's competent and confident,

and we've got a plan. If I'm in your shoes, this is how my brain is working i will feel better if the people i'm leaving are going to have a are going to be taken care of and that's why you're calling and that's all that's been going through my mind today yeah i can imagine okay and so uh the the last piece of that then is you meet with, as you've got the strength and are able to do it all, and you feel you get past these things, you meet with a SmartVestor Pro. So I'm going to put you on hold, and Kelly's going to hook you with a coach, with a SmartVestor Pro, and Ramsey Plus Financial Peace University,

and we're going to walk with both of you, and you tell your sweet wife we're praying for both of you, and we are here, whatever she needs, whatever questions she's got along the way whatever questions you've got along the way we're going to walk with you guys and keep our arms around you i'm so sorry franklin this is the ramsey show this episode is over but if you heard about an event product or service and didn't have a chance to write it down don't worry we list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes section or head to the ramsey show.com thanks for listening