The Ramsey Show - App - If You Can't Afford to Pay, You Can at Least Pay Attention (Hour 2)

Episode Date: December 29, 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, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and a paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, my co-host here on the air today, Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, two-time number one best-selling author, including the latest bestseller, Everyday Millionaires. We're here to answer your questions about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. Samantha is with us in Salt Lake City. Hey, Samantha, welcome to the show. How can we help? Hey, Dave. Hey, Chris. It's great to talk to you guys. You too.

Oh, my gosh. You guys are so awesome, first of all. You guys have helped me so much. I'm reading Chris's book right now, Every Day Millionaire. I'm on baby step one. I'm working on getting $1,000 saved up. And I'm also going on to baby step two. My question is, I know that you guys teach to do the debt snowball from smallest to largest. However, like, for example, if I have a landlord that needed to pay from the last place I was at, does that take, I guess, does that take any sort of like, I'm trying to look for the word here.

Move it up in the baby's time, move it up in your debt snowball, is that what you're saying? Well, I mean, what is your situation with them? Are they going to resue you tomorrow, or have they said, oh, get to us as quick as you can? Or you're paying them payments or what? Yeah, I'm just paying her payments right now. But I'm just asking because I have a lot of, like, old debt from, like, medicals and student loans and stuff like that. So I was just seeing how much I should throw at it instead of doing, like, small to largest debt, you know, stuff that's, like, more urgent to pay, not by means of interest per se,

but just means of, like, you know, paying people off before you pay off companies sort of thing, because I feel like the people need it more than the credit card companies and the student loan companies and stuff like that. I do plan on paying everything, but I'm just not sure. Yeah, so how much debt have you got total? I have about $40,000 in debt. What's your income?

Right now I'm doing Lyft and Uber Eats. I don't have any sort of job right now just because of COVID and everything. So I make about, I would say, $600 a week doing those two things. So I would say maybe $40,000, $45,000 a year. Okay. What is your largest debt? It's student loans. It's like probably around $15,000 in student loans.

Okay. Somewhere around there. So other than student loans, $25,000 gets $15,000 in student loans. Okay. Somewhere around there. So other than student loans, $25,000 gets you out, right? Hmm. Yeah, yeah. And Samantha, are you current where you're currently living right now? I am. Okay.

Yes. All right. How many debts are you not paying payments on today? Well, I'm in the process. I just went and listed my debts in all the largest. I haven't gotten to contact anyone yet. How many debts are six months or more since they've gotten any money? Oh, I would say most of them.

Okay. Just because I've had medical and student debt for so long. So you're in default on most of this. Yes. You've got a payment plan with a landlord, so you're paying that, the old landlord. Mm-hmm. But you've got a lot of medicals that have just been sitting there six months, a year, two years, right? Right.

Okay. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to do two debt snowballs. Debt snowball number one is everything that you are paying payments on now. Debt snowball number two is everything that's in collections and in default that you're not paying anything on anyway, which probably includes the student loans right now. It does. Okay, all right.

So debt snowball number one is the old landlord and anything else you're currently paying payments on, which doesn't sound like a bunch no and we're going to list those smallest to largest we're going to let the other sit because they've not been getting any money anyway so chris let's not give them any money no that's exactly right and but when the time comes samantha as i tell people if you can't afford to pay you can pay attention right And so that means reaching out and communicating. But right now you've got to focus on this active list. And I'm going to tell you, the next step for you is going to be stability and income coming in. You know, whatever the food delivery stuff that you're doing, but you need to dust off your resume. You've got an income problem and that income problem is leading you to have these other issues and so there's no

more waiting on the job you need a job yeah so setting up setting up the the things you're paying payments on on a straight up debt snowball things you're not been paying payments on just set them over the side they've not been getting money anyway run your way as fast as you can through that debt snowball then when you get to the ones that are in default then you can list them off and you can attack those in whatever order you want smallest to largest is best but if you've got someone that's an individual friend that you owe five hundred dollars to that you want to put at the top of the list that's fine right before you start dealing with the fifteen thousand dollars in student loans it would be up there anyway now each one of those you're not

going to call the whole bunch and start payments. You're just going to call the first one on the list and finish the deal up with them. Now, it could be that that's an old credit card. You haven't paid them in three years. They're going to be surprised to hear from you. You owe them $5,000. They'll probably take $2,000 as settlement in full. And so you save up the $2,000, you work a

settlement in full, lump sum payments on every one of those in the second list. No payment plan. I know that you guys say, like, to wait until the end of the month to negotiate a company like that, because that's the best time of the month, the last week, to call them. It doesn't matter. You can do that, but it doesn't matter. The big thing is is that you build up a pile of cash that is a portion of what you owe and you offer them that

and you settle it lump sum you get it in writing and no electronic access thank you for bringing that up the getting it in writing if they won't put it in writing it's not real they're just fishing and so if they'll put it in writing and send that to you now what you get ready to pay them pay them with a certified check. You keep a copy of the check in your file, and you keep moving down the list. Yeah, good stuff. Well done. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Let me tell you what is magical about Samantha. For the first time maybe in her whole life, she is taking control of this. She's happening to all of this mess instead of all this mess happening to her. We got old bad debts, old bad landlords, old bad, which means there's a pattern for years that this has been going on. And I'm so proud of you, Samantha to go you know what i'm not going to let stuff happen to me anymore i'm going to start happening to stuff old dr stephen covey said in the book the seven habits of highly effective people the number one habit was highly effective people are proactive they happen to things things don't happen to them yeah and

you can hear it in her voice she's she's taking in the information, but now she's starting to get confidence. And that confidence, that's where the game starts to change. And here's what happens. You knock off a couple of those, you start to feel, not like a wet kitten, but like a lion coming out of the jungle. I mean, you get to roaring, you know? This is

the Dave Ramsey shot. You've worked hard to make your business successful. Blood, sweat, tears, and prayers. Because as a business owner, you are the secret sauce. And your company is only as strong as you are. So what happens if a key ingredient is missing? And what if that ingredient is your health, resulting in expensive medical bills? Christian Healthcare Ministries or CHM

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Various programs are available depending on your needs and budget. Learn how CHM has served small business owners just like you by visiting chministries.org slash budget. chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Chris Hogan Ramsey, personality, is my co-host this hour. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Dan is with us. Dan's in New York City. Hi, Dan. How are you? Hi, Dave. Hi, Chris. How's it going? Thanks for taking my call.

Certainly. How are you? Hi, Dave. Hi, Chris. How's it going? Thanks for taking my call. Certainly. How can we help? Well, me and my wife will be having a baby in May of next year. Yay! So basically, I'm looking to get some insight on the best way and how soon to get the baby set up. Right now, I just have jotted down in front of me 529, opening an index fund in the baby's name, maybe putting the baby as an authorized user on my credit. How soon of these things, which one should I go for?

The last one, never. They should never be an authorized user on your credit. You can't form a 529. I'm sorry? Not as far as, like, you know, giving them access to a card when they're older, but just to have them build credit. I don't want them to build credit because I don't want them to go into debt. Okay, yeah.

I mean, I do fully understand your views on credit cards, but I was just wondering if that was, like, just something good for them, you know? No. Yeah, you can't understand it because you're suggesting it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Just wanted to reach out.

No, but for real, that FICO score, all it measures is how much debt you have, how long you've had it, the type it is, and the likelihood of them giving you more. So I don't want your kid to – I want you to grow up – I want them to be weird. I want them to never know debt because their daddy had his act together. So as far as the 529, he has to be born and you have to have a Social Security number. So you can apply for the Social Security number after the child is born, and then you can open the 529 or an ESA or an index fund. In all cases, you will be the custodian,

and the account is open in the child's name, but you're in control of it. And so I would just start with the 529. I wouldn't fool with an index fund. Let's go ahead and get the 529 going as a good step. And that's only if you are at baby step five, meaning that you're out of debt and so forth. And Dave, I know I've heard you say this,

but I want to reiterate for people out there. If someone is in debt and they're considering adding to their family, are you telling them to wait until they're out of debt before they add to their family? No, I know that. I just wanted you to say it again. We don't pick marriages or babies based on whether we're in debt or not. But in all cases, whether you're married or not, whether you're having babies or not, you need to be working your way through a plan to get out of debt and build wealth in every case. So that's what we're going after.

And so in Dan's case, it's pretty simple. The only thing I would do of the three things he was asking about is I would do the 529 and get that started if you're at baby step five. The great news is he's obviously going to be a great dad because he's thinking about all these things. He's intentional. Yeah. And overall, the best thing you could do for the kid is to get through those steps.

Like keep working the plan yourself and don't do anything that puts you going backwards at all. That allows you to make progress for yourself and his baby. Congratulations, Dan. That's awesome. Mitchell is in Chattanooga. Hi, Mitchell. How are you? Good, Dave. Hi, Chris. So over COVID, I became an insurance broker and I found Art Williams and through him, I found you. And my question is, I've never been a 1099 contractor, but I'm also still working part-time as a W-2 employee, and I don't know how I'm supposed to file for both or file one at a time. I don't know how to start

with that. Well, I'd probably get a tax professional to help you do it, but it's fairly simple. As a 1099, you're self-employed, and it's a sole proprietorship of a business. And so you have the W-2 portion of a standard tax return, and then you just fill in what's called a Schedule C. And Schedule C lists the income onto 1099 and any expenses associated with your business. And the difference is called profit, and the difference is taxable. Okay, great. That's all I wanted to know. Thank you so much. No, Mitchell, thank you for reaching out because a lot of people are going to find themselves in that situation, Dave.

When we at one point had 58 million people unemployed, you know, had people that are working hustles and side hustles. And so you start to get these tax forms in, keep them in one place, but you want to reach out and deal with a professional that can guide you the right way. And I know our tax endorsed local providers, these are people that are in this game all the time and they know exactly what they're doing. Yeah, that's what I do, Mitchell. I just check on one of those because here's the thing. You may be able to write off some things that you don't know about and you may not be able to write off some things you think you can. And so it's worth it if you've got a Schedule C, if you've got some self-employed stuff

to get a pro on it, just click ELP at DaveRamsey.com, and those guys will help you get that done. But it's a fairly simple process. It's basically a little profit and loss statement is what the Schedule C is. It's your income for your business minus the expenses for your business equals the profit or the taxable income of your business. Ricky's in Louisville, Kentucky. Hi, Ricky. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you.

Hi, Dave. How are you? Great, man. How can Chris and I help? Well, I made a mistake, and I had bought a car. I'm a little more on than it's worth right now, and I'm trying to figure out the best option to uh because i'm working on baby step one i'm trying to find the best option to i guess get rid of the car without having to like voluntarily surrender it um so i

can get a thousand dollar car to roll with and save my stuff up and pay my debts off okay so off. Okay. So how much do you owe on the car? Right about $11,000. And what's it worth? Looking at Kelly Blue Book, it came out around $6,000. Did you roll over another car loan on top of this loan? I did not. How did you overpay that much for the car? i think i was just desperate to get a car and i wasn't really looking at uh what i needed to do before kelly blue book was a trade-in value or a private sale value um it was uh i'm not to be honest i'm not 100 certain on that one i think it was uh i i can't tell you to be honest you're looking for private sale which is more than trade-in trade-ins what a dealer will give you for it um and so what is

your income um eight fluctuates right now i'm on a 1099 income um but i'm averaging uh probably about 800 a week on that. Okay. You know, you're so far upside down. If this number is accurate, if that is the actual private sale number, and you're $5,000 or $6,000 in the hole, 50% on this thing, it's only $11,000.

You're making $50,000 a year. I would go ahead and just pay it off. I would just put it in your debt snowball and attack it and get it paid off. Because I don't think trading out of it is going to do you that much good. If you trade out of it, you're moving from a $5,000 car to a $1,000 car, and you've still got a $6,000 debt because you've got to borrow the difference. That makes sense. So by the time you do all of that, I just pay off the $11,000. Yeah, just get it out of your life, Ricky.

That's weird. Dave, he had to have looked at the trade-in. I mean, yeah, I mean, that just sounds too far off. That or he got screwed. Well, I mean, I don't know which it was. Well, that's possible. It's very possible. But, listen, you throw your shoulders back, start to get intentional,

and you're already looking, Ricky, at ways of bringing in money. You keep hustling. Just get this thing out of your life, but just take care of it. You want this thing to continue to run so you can continue to make money. Yeah, that's exactly right. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today here on the air. Chris, I think cars, we don't talk enough about cars.

They are, I love cars. I'm a car guy, but they are a financial trap. Oh, my goodness. And Dave, not only is it a trap, but it can catch you at the most inopportune time. I remember back years ago, PD is pre-Dave. I did this stupid. I went looking. Y'all ever gone looking?

You just go browsing. You didn't intend to buy, but you go looking and guess what comes home with you? That's like petting a stray dog. It'll follow you home. It followed me home. The vehicle came and a payment. So guess what? I don't go look now.

I don't browse. So be careful what you look at because you can do some stupid. I go to buy. That's right. There's a difference. Cash, baby. Cash. Is.

Game. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Kyle and Emily are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Good. How are you, Dave? Right here on the debt-free stage, which can mean only one thing. You're here to do a debt-free screen. That's right. I love it. Where do you guys live? Ada, Oklahoma. Ada, Oklahoma. Yep. Oh, my goodness. Our CFO, Mark Floyd, here is from there. Oh, my goodness. And so, yeah, we've got some great Ada stories around here, I'm just saying. I bet. All right, guys. Well, welcome.

How much have you paid off? We paid $107,000 off. All right. How long did this take? About 10 months. Good for you. Very cool. And what was your range of income during that 10 months?

About $140,000 to $150,000. Good for you. Okay. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a nurse practitioner in an emergency department. And I do administrative work. Okay. So you either had some money in savings to throw at this or you sold something? Well, I wish we had money in savings to start, but we started with nothing. But we sold a few things to kind of get jump started, some small things. But the biggest help was I signed a loan reimbursement contract with the National Health Service Corps, two-year service commitment for $50,000.

Oh. That was a big chunk of it. And then the other $57,000 we did in the 10 months. Okay. That makes the math work. Emily, tell me, what did you all pay off? We paid off a minivan, credit card. And student loans.

Student loans. There you go. Lots and lots and lots of student loans. If you had a minivan, you've got to have some little ones. I hope. Well, we only have two, and it took me a while to figure out needing a minivan for just two. It's sliding doors. But it's been a blessing.

Very cool. Well, you got been a blessing. Very cool. Well, you got it paid off. Very cool. That's great. So what happened 10 months ago that lit you guys on fire? I'll let her do this one. Maybe a trip to Hobby Lobby. Okay.

Shortly after my purchases, Carl calls and he says, hey, we don't need to spend any more money. We basically have enough to cover the bills until we get paid again. And I just got off the phone and I felt confused. I felt discouraged because I had just went back to work from being a stay-at-home mom. He had finished school, started his new position in the ER as a provider. So we had just doubled our income, yet here we were, not enough money by the end of the pay period. Just paycheck to paycheck. So what did you do?

Well, I at first started thinking we need to increase our income. And then so my brain said, well, I'll go back to school. And I thought, well, no, then I'll have to take out more student loans. So would it really help? And then I thought, no, we need to change our behavior with money. And I called Kyle and I said, let's pay off this debt. Let's change our behavior with money. And I called Kyle and I said, let's pay off this debt. Let's change our behavior with money. Let's do the Dave Ramsey plan.

Let's actually follow it this time. Oh, so you had already knew who we were. Oh, yeah. But it was kind of a Ramsey-ish, or not even that. I found your book at Goodwill a few years before. Oh, okay. So it was basically a coaster, though, on the coffee table. It was a coaster, yeah.

We read it and we said, oh, we should definitely do this. At some point, we'll do it. And now it's time. Now it's time. The Hobby Lobby trip broke the ice. But once she said she's ready to do it, I said, this is our chance. And the nerd was unleashed.

If she's on board, I'll do anything. Wait a minute, so who's the nerd? That's me. That's me, I'm the nerd was unleashed. If she's on board, I'll do anything. Wait a minute. So who's the nerd? That's me. That's me. I'm the nerd. Okay. So anything with charts and figuring out the math.

I mean, I said, I think we can get this paid off in 18 months if we really buckle down. And then we kept crunching numbers and saying, oh, well, maybe like 13 months. Would you have considered that service contract if you weren't in this big game that you're in? I mean, I've got to win the game here. I've got to knock this out. That's what's going through your nerd head. I know that's the way my brain works. Fortunately, I was able to do it at a place where I'd been working as a registered nurse for a couple years, and that opportunity came up,

and they're one of the hospitals that you're able to do this with. It's almost like you were going to be doing it anyway. Yeah, it was perfect. Now, if we would have done it outside of this, I still don't know if we would have just buckled down and finally done it, but it came at a perfect time, I think about five or six months into it. So that was a big day to get that in there. That is fantastic. But it came at a perfect time, I think about five or six months into it. Wow. And so that was a big, big day to get that in there. I'm convinced, God, when you start doing smart stuff, God looks down and goes, oh, there's one I can trust.

Okay. That's exactly right. I'll give you a little. But you were kind of dumb before, so I wasn't going to give you any. But I think he does that. I really do. Absolutely. How much was the student loan debt? About 64 was mine, and she had about 3,000 or 4,000.

So I did the majority. Wow. She had the minivan. She had the minivan, yeah. Got to contribute something here. That's right. Way to go, you guys. Did you all have any major cheerleaders throughout this journey?

I would definitely say our two boys, Dathan and Miles. Dathan was a huge motivator. Yeah, he's our eight-year-old, and he was on board right from the start from it and always watched the show and podcasts with us and was in school one day and had a teacher telling a story about this girl that wanted to help people in California get solar panels for everybody. And she said, you know, I'll even help fill out loan applications for them to do all this. And he raised his hand in class and said, why would she do that? Like, why would she let them go into debt for this? And we said, and so that was it.

I said, we've done it. We've got him. Eight years old? Eight years old. I like this style. I like his style. We've got him. Eight years old? Yep. Eight years old. I like his style. I like his style. She's in California. Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. Way to go. I love it. He's a big fan. Well, congratulations, you guys. We're very proud of you. Way to go. And you brought the kiddos with you.

Bring them in. Let's introduce them. What are their names and ages? So we have Dathan, who's going to be nine in a few days. All right. And then Miles, who's five. All nine in a few days all right and then miles who's five all right very good good looking boy good looking family well so what do you tell people the secret to getting out of debt is definitely for me it was um knowing the why and

my why was for financial peace because every day i wasn't too thrilled about eating a peanut butter and jelly for lunch and not going shopping so I definitely had to know the why and remind myself of that daily and mine was the root of it was just being intentional just intentionality like waking up every day and and we had things to show us our goals and um keeping track of all the dead and making sure I you know balance the budget every day. It's not something that was a habit for either one of us. And just being very intentional. And, again, it goes back to all of it.

Budgeting, knowing the why, and focusing on it every day. And you did all of it off of a Total Money Makeover book from Goodwill. Yeah. Oh, and the podcast. You watched the podcast. Yeah, and then we just consumed everything after that so okay all right very cool yes so now that you're done 10 months of real peanut butter and jelly beans and rice was it worth it how's it feel absolutely oh my gosh it's we still it still

feel so surreal not you know not having a payment, I mean, we have our house payment, but not having any other payment in the world is a pretty good feeling. Yeah. Pretty cool. Yep. Pretty cool. And Dathan's not going to let you get solar panels unless you pay for them. No.

Only kids. Go Dathan, baby. He holds us accountable. Go, man. Go. I love it. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires, the number one best seller.

And of course, that's the next chapter in your story. You're going to be millionaires. That's pretty cool. How old are you two? I'm 31. 29. Turn 30 next month. So probably by 40 or so, you'll be there.

Maybe 37, something like that. You make good money. You're going to be right there. You don't have to continue to sacrifice at this level, but just continue to be intentional and live it out. And that's what we saw when we studied the millionaire. That's right. Be hyperintentional. Get connected with the SmartVestor Pro, and let's walk this thing out, you all.

Very cool. So proud of y'all. Very proud. Well done. Well done. All right, Dathan and Miles, you guys ready? They're ready. All right, here we go.

Kyle, Emily, Dathan, Miles, all from Ada, Oklahoma. $107,000 paid off in 10 months, making $150,000 or $140,000 to $150,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. One, two, three. We're debt-free! Yeah! Woo! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

Oh, that had been rehearsed a few times. I like it. They're ready. I like it. Well, they had a long drive. Well done, you guys. So when is it going to be your turn? Yeah, I'm talking to you.

Yeah, you. Your turn. When are you going to decide to say never again and put yourself in a position to win with this stuff? This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Chris Hogan Ramsey personality is my co-host today here on the air open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Kathy is with us in Minneapolis. Hi, Kathy. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you so much.

I hope you both are doing well. We are. How can we help? So my question for you is, I'm at the end of the divorce. We're at the time where the division is happening of assets. I was awarded the homestead. It has a mortgage and a HELOC on it. And after the quadro and, you know, the division of all 401ks, et cetera, I'm getting a payment of 300 and some thousand dollars, but 200 and some thousand

dollars of it is in a Roth. And I'm wondering if you would advise me to refinance the house or if you feel I could use the money to pay it off. What do you owe on the home so the mortgage is 52 000 but it was a 10-year mortgage you know so the payment's hefty it's like over three grand a month um and the HELOC is 175 oh is that how much is outstanding on the balance yes okay yes and uh. And so you owe two and a quarter. What's the house worth? It's worth about $600. All right. You got children at home? So we have one minor child and two adult children.

Okay. And the minor child at home with you? He is. He splits. Okay. But his age is what 16 okay all right and what do you make so i've been a stay-at-home mom but um i do have my real estate license so i will most likely continue to um do real estate i just dabbled in it, but, you know, I can amp that up.

But I do, you know, I do get a pretty substantial spousal allowance. How much? Like $6,500. A month. Okay. Yeah. Kathy, what does this house mean to you? Is there an emotional tie to this home

yes and it's where my kids want to be your kids you have kid i mean i have kid but two years yes but you know it's like it's you know it's on water it has a pool it's you know, it's on water. It has a pool. It's like a country club. It's a beautiful house. Country clubs are cheaper. And it needs love. Right. Well, and I ask that because you led with what the kids wanted, and I need to know what Kathy wants.

I want the house. Okay. Why? no i want the house okay i mean so what happened so because i i received as a birthday gift a financial analyst from for my sister you know my sister bought that for me and um so when we were doing all of the calculations this gave me the greatest financial future by keeping the house as opposed to then having to go buy something. Bull crap. That's ridiculous.

This money invested in other things could give you a much greater rate of return than owning a house that you can barely hang on to by your fingernails when you don't even have an income yet and you're rebuilding your life emotionally outside of that. Financial analyst, wrong. Okay, now, if you want to stay in the house, I'll help you fight to stay in the house. I'm looking in from the outside as your older brother who has not been involved in the emotions of the divorce and had my heart ripped out and stomped on by muddy boots.

I have a different view of things than you have. Okay? You're still trying. I'm going to just step all over you. Are you ready? Can you handle it? Yep. Okay.

You're trying to. This house represents the past and the good parts of the past, and you want some of that. And I think there's a future, and it doesn't have to be this year but it's not worth cashing out your retirement to hold on to this thing i think you get out there hustle some real estate use your 6500 income and you pay these stinking payments and you hold on to this thing and a year from now when the last one's getting ready to go off to college you should decide if you really want to be in the country club business anymore.

Okay. Because I think you move to a different property that's part of your emotional healing and your fresh start that is not as strenuous as this one is, because every time you walk in a room in this place, some bell goes off for the rest of your life. No, I don't disagree with that. Yeah, you get a chance to redefine your new future moving forward. And as much as I talk about dreaming in high definition, you've got to now learn to dream again of what this is going to look like for you moving forward.

And your 16-year-old doesn't get to be a shot caller in this. They don't get a vote on this one. No, they're not. This is about you. They're going to look at that pool in the rearview mirror as they wave bye. Yep way by yep uh sorry i'm breaking your heart mommy it's been a long day for you but you know what dave it's it's good she needs to hear that because she's going to be in the driver's seat now moving forward for her and her future yeah i and you can probably pull this off and here's the thing if you wait a year and then you decide to not take

our advice and cash out their retirement and pay it off and you keep it because i was wrong there's no harm in that the year didn't cost you anything except some strain making three thousand dollar a month payments but uh you can do that you've got some other money involved in this situation too so the overall answer to your question is i predict that this house is not a permanent part of your future i think you will find higher and better uses for your life and your money than the protection of the country club but i might be wrong so camp it out for a year tough it out for a year cash flow it out for a year and let's see where you end up then let's see how the real estate business is going let's see where your heart is um you'll be in a better decision better

position grief wise to make that decision at that time the good news is you don't have to sell it today and you don't have to pay it off today yeah but it is a strenuous year ahead of you if you don't it isn't kathy you're going to need to sit down and do some math because this $175,000 on the HELOC, you're making an interest-only payment on this. And that's okay for a year. Right. It's okay for a year. But after that, you need to decide, okay, I'm either going to refinance this and work my way through these mortgages. I'm going to use some of this other cash.

Or I'm going to use some of the quadro, pull it, and dump it on this thing but um i disagree with the premise that this house singular this particular house is the highest and best part of your financial future what was it a financial analyst she got for her birthday that's what she said an analyst yes analyze this you know i mean you can take your she asked his his opinion, she asks our opinion. Right. She gets, she's a grown lady, she gets to decide. She knows we're right. I disagree, though. That's right. I do understand that real estate is an excellent investment.

And I do agree with that. I do agree this piece of her asset base will grow maybe more than the other asset pieces. Right. And she finds great comfort in it today. But I really think that some of that I know from having worked with ladies after divorces that held on to things they could barely hold on to to try to keep the past alive. And I've just been through this conversation like 8,000 times in 30 years. So I think you're going to find something different at the end of the year. I might be wrong, and I'm okay with being wrong.

I'm okay. And you can say, eh, Dave Ramsey was wrong. That's okay. Yeah, I'm okay with being wrong i'm okay and you can say day ramsey was wrong if you want to that's okay yeah i'm good with that but i if i'm you i'm gonna just sit there for a year and let's see where we go and let's get some healing behind us and you've been through a really tough time it's a very hard hard time because what you're describing the numbers you're describing here are a 25 or 30 a 30-year marriage, and there's some real stuff that has gone on here that we haven't discussed. And we don't even know what it is, but there has to be. This amount of money being transferred back and forth, $6,500 coming your way, it's very unusual.

And so there's some very painful things that go with these numbers that have to. So I'm sorry. Sorry you've had the year you've had. I'm sorry that things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to. But I would not cash out your retirement today to do this.

I really wouldn't. Thank you for your call. Chris Hogan, thanks for hanging out this hour. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. That puts this particular hour of The of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast. It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast

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