The Ramsey Show - App - If You Follow the Proven Plan, This Stuff WORKS (Hour 2)

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the Ramsey Show where we help you win in your life, specifically with your money, your work, and in your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the number for you to jump in. We'd love to talk with you. I'm Ken Coleman. George Camel joins me. We're Ramsey Personalities,25 is the number for you to jump in. We'd love to talk with you. I'm Ken Coleman. George Camel joins me. We're Ramsey Personalities, and we are here for you.

I'll help you on any work-related questions. Chime in on the money stuff. George will help you out on the money stuff. Chime in on any work-related stuff. So we love taking your calls. We're all about helping you win. So let's get to it. Sonia or Sonia?

I never know, George. We're going to find out. You feel like it's Sonia? Yeah. I'm going to go with Sonia or Sonia? I never know, George. We're going to find out. You feel like it's Sonia? Yeah. I'm going to go with Sonia as well. We'll see. Sonia, is that how we say your name in Dallas, Texas? Hi, George.

Hi, Ken. This is Sonia. Yes. Yes. We got it right. Okay. It's such an honor to speak with both of you. I'm so nervous.

My heart is pounding. Oh, my goodness. Well, first of all, all right, take a deep breath and know that you're already doing a wonderful job. So we're here for you. You can't mess this up because it's all about your story. So what's up? All right. So we have two residences. We have a rental property out in Arkansas and we have a primary residence out here in Dallas, Fort Worth, that we just bought last year. And my husband and I have been at a tug of war between whether we sell the Arkansas property, it's a paid for rental property, to pay off our primary residence, or I should

rephrase, it's not to pay off, but to expedite the process of paying off our primary residence. He wants to keep the rental. I want to sell it. Is this rental property changing your life financially? Yes, in a way, because that would mean that it would very quickly pay off our primary residence. I mean, currently, with the rent you're getting from this place and the headache, is it just like, wow, we're making 50 grand a year from this rental? No, we're not. Because if it's okay, I'd like to give you some numbers.

Sure. And so we make pretty decent income. We make about $220,000. And our rental property is worth about $350,000. And our primary residence, which we still have a mortgage on, is about $548,000. We have no other debt. We have a pretty decent retirement 401k set up. And we're both under 40. So I think, you know, either way, I know that we'll be okay. It's just that for me, I'm in a hurry just to clear out all my debt so that we can, you know, utilize that money towards putting it towards so many other things. He, on the other hand, wants to keep his investment property because he feels like he's never going to get another opportunity at that price that we bought about seven years ago. Okay. What is this rental property bringing in?

It's bringing in about $24,000 a year. Okay. And that's on top of your 220? Correct. And what's your monthly mortgage payment? Here, it's about $4,000. So you're telling me if you pay off this mortgage, you would have $4,000 back in your life every month? Yes. Which is double what you're making from the rental property.

Yes. And not to mention interest, because that's the killer, because we ended up buying it, I think, at the peak. Well, it's still pretty bad, but I know last year, right before it kind of slowed down, that's when we bought our current home that we live in. So what's your interest rate on the primary? 5.5. Okay. And what's the mortgage? You said the 548. Is that what's left on the mortgage or is that what it's worth? It's worth about 675. We have about 548 left. Okay. Yeah, that's a hefty mortgage. Makes sense that it's $4,000 with those interest rates. And you're going to take all of the equity, all the proceeds you get from the rental would go on to your primary, knocking it down to about

what? That's what I would like, yes. Close to 200 left? I mean, after capital gains, because we haven't lived in that, we've been running it out for the last like four years. So after the capital gains, I'm not sure. But it's still a very substantial amount that we would knock it down to. And, you know, it's just about, you know, I guess us trying to be on the same page about it, but I am always, you guys have really changed our lives because I know we found you in the pandemic and we had two kids since the pandemic. And we're just trying to make sure that, you know, we're, we're on baby step four or five, six. So, you know, we're,

we just want to make sure that, you know, we're, we're going to get to that millionaire status very soon. Absolutely. Well, I'm on your team, maybe not for the same reasons, but I think, you know, the way we look at it is this, and Ken, chime in on this. If you were living in Texas and you said, hey, we're looking at this investment property in Arkansas that we want to buy, you wouldn't do that, would you? It doesn't make sense to be a long distance landlord. And so that's kind of how I reverse engineer it to go, I'm selling this thing.

I know it's paid for, which is awesome. I love that for you guys. And the money's nice, especially when it's cash flowing like that with no mortgage attached to it. But at the same time, I think you guys are going to be back there. Because think about this.

You're going to have a little over 200 left on the mortgage. You're making 220. You're going to pay that thing off in two years. And now you're making 220 with no mortgage, which is going to free up 50 grand that you can then put towards saving up for a new investment property. Right. And his argument is just that he does not want, he doesn't think that he's going to get an investment property at such a low, because when we bought it seven years ago, we bought it for like 200,000. And so he just feels like it's just, that's not going to happen now. Um,

even after we pay off our primary residence, which I disagree with, but I'm just, I'm trying to make this call just so that, you know, I'm able to persuade him, um, you know, that he does we end up selling it and putting it towards our primary resident. It was kind of like a little challenge. Cause he was like, why don't you call Dave Ramsey and find out? And I'm like, you know what? I will do it. I'm glad you did because he can watch this. You can actually watch this back. George asked me to chime in. This is what I'm going to say. I think that what he has to understand is that he's looking at this from a scarcity mindset versus abundance. That's

all a bunch of fancy stuff. Let me just break it down. What that means is he's going, if we sell this now, we're never going to find a property like this again, as opposed to what I thought George laid out beautifully. Focus on what this property, because it's debt-free and you can now sell it, what does it do for your future? He's kind of in the past on this and he's going, well, it's paid for, it's thrown off this, but George is right. It's long distance. It's a pain in the neck. And instead of looking at what do we got to do to keep it, it's celebrate what we are going to do with it because we can sell it. I just think it's a shift in mindset and he's worried about the wrong thing as opposed to wait a second, this is a massive fast forward button. That's what I think. Absolutely. And he also needs to remember that he almost

doubled the home appreciation here. He bought it at 200 and now it's worth 350. Fantastic. Let's celebrate that. That's a huge win. And it's one of the beauties of real estate. Leverage it. That's what you have to think of is like how much further we get far. I mean, get ahead in life by leveraging this investment. That's the right kind of leverage right there. It really is. Instead of debt leverage. So you guys have done a great job though. I'm proud of Sonia and her husband. I'm excited. They're not even 40 yet, and here they are making these kinds of choices. Yeah. Hopefully Hubs gets on board. For the record, Hubs, George and I are with your wife. That's three against one. It's three against one. I'm

not a math prodigy, but I think we're winning. I think it's one. If it's a vote, we vote it. We'll see. We'll see what happens. If only Congress handled things that easily, we'd be in a better place. But I digress. Amen.

He's George Campbell. I'm Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show. Don't move. More coming up. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. George Campbell joins me. We are here for you, America. 888-825-5225. Taking your money questions and your work questions. The money work thing. Very, very... Inextricably tied. Thank you. That's the word you were looking for. You knew it, too.

I love a good usage of inextricable. By the way, use that at your holiday party. It's a little bonus. And that's a 50-cent word that people go, okay. I was going to go $10, Bob, but. You think it's $10? It's a $10 word. Okay.

Very good. Hey, listen. Let me tell you what I think is maybe one of the most invaluable shows we do here at the Ramsey. Network and the Ramsey Show, and that's our giving edition of the Ramsey Show. It's a fan favorite. We do this every year around Christmas time. What does that mean? We want to hear your stories.

You're always the star of the show as we take your calls, but we want to flip it a little bit and say you're the star, but you're going to share stories. It doesn't have to be a story about you specifically. It could involve you, but it is a giving story. Maybe you've tipped the waitress $100 or you bought Thanksgiving dinner or toys for tots that needed it. Who knows? Maybe you've been on the receiving end of an unbelievable gift, and you want to thank that person or persons who gave to you. We want

to hear it. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash ask. That's ramseysolutions.com slash ask and put giving in the subject line. And we do this every year around Christmas time. It's coming up. It'll be here before you know it, George, December 18th. By the way, it's probably time for you to start shopping for your old pal. Ken Coleman? Yeah, your desk mate. That's speaking of generosity. We'll see how generous I feel this holiday season. I'll try to be nicer throughout the rest of the show. How many

cashmere sweaters do you need, Ken? That's all I'm saying. Well, you know, you need one of every color. Don't forget the cardigan cashmere is the double combo. That's right. If you really love me, that's what you'll get me. Wow. Just so you can make more fun of me uh but i digress december 18th the giving show as you know for decades davis challenged us all to live like no one else so later you can give like no one else we'd love to hear your story all right it's time for our question of the day brought to you by neighborly i feel like we need a jingle on this i don't think they want

it from us. I'll tell you that much. I think they probably would like it. If you and I harmonize neighborly and kind of went up kind of just the octave. Yeah. Let's work on that. Yeah.

We're going to work on that. We'll see how that goes. James is shaking his head vociferously right now. Your hub for home services is neighborly. When you need to make repairs, schedule routine maintenance or get local help for home improvement projects like George and I need, because we can't do anything around the house, go to neighborly.com slash Ramsey, your source to find and schedule reliable home service providers in your area. Today's question comes from Maria in Arizona.

I'm trying to make a decision. I recently started a new job, but I feel like the nature of the work is not my passion. However, the job pays really well. Oh, I love this question. I love you balance pay with something you feel called to? Oh, I love this question. I love this question. And can I just tell you? Tell me. He's not here today, but Dave kind of doesn't like it when I throw this out there. And let me tell you what I think about this. And I base this on fact. Ramsey Solutions, George, as you know, has done the largest study of net worth millionaires all time, over 10,000. Number three in the top three group of net worth millionaires were

teachers. So what that tells us, all of us, is that you can become a millionaire by living on less than you make. And that is largely driven george by contentment contentment with your contribution uh you know as deloney says sometimes are you willing to live a civic life you know a honda civic you willing to drive these things are you willing to live in a ranch that maybe was built 1955 that's the idea and And in America's consumer culture, it's more and more bigger, increasingly newer, nicer. That's right. So that's philosophically setting up my answer here. And I believe that if Maria can live off of 42K versus 91, that's a big cut, George. But if she and her family in that situation, they don't go into a super tight paycheck to paycheck style of living, then I'm all for it.

If you can afford it, do it. Now, the caveat there is, what must I do to be able to afford working in a $42,000 job? If you can do it and you're content in it, I say absolutely do it. And I think that we're seeing this younger generation. I'm having some fascinating conversations with Ty, my oldest. Gen Z is thinking more and more about contentment. They really are about the kind of life they want to live. Well, they've seen their parents work jobs they hate. They don't like the rat race. They're watching it and they're going, I don't get it. We're seeing more and more of these videos pop up on TikTok and I actually applaud them.

And so in this situation, if you can manage the drastic pay cut, but on the backside of it, you're not hurting yourself financially, putting yourself in a negative situation, and you are content and fulfilled, I say absolutely do it. Yeah, I like that caveat. How controversial is that, George? I think you have a great point. It's not all you can't just look at, well, I would never take a pay cut. I've been there and you might take the pay cut temporarily. Now, my goal for Maria is that if it's something she loves doing, that tells me that she's probably going to be really good at

it because she's focused and intense about it, which tells me she's probably going to be making more money soon. And so I would be looking at the overall trajectory. Maybe. Maybe. I want to caution against that. She might not be making $100,000 ever doing this. We don't know. I want to use an extreme example here to make a bigger point, if we could. Mother Teresa lives her life in poverty. That's an extreme example. I understand, but the point is made. This is a woman who was given to ministry and service, and she decided to live, she changed her lifestyle to be able to do the things she was called to. I'm not saying we all are called to poverty. But are you willing to make the sacrifices needed to do that mission?

That's the issue. What's driving you? Stuff or significance? I do think it's that simple. And I think you can change your lifestyle to fit that. I really do. I believe that. I believe that. Yeah. If we were on the phone with Maria, we'd have a lot, a better picture of what her financial life looks like, if this is a good idea right now. But that's a great answer, Ken. All right. Let's get to Joe in Washington, D.C. Joe, how can we help? Hi. Yeah, I was just calling because I have some student loan debt, and I was just wondering the best ways I should go about handling that. Okay, how much student loan debt do you have? I have just under $40,000, $38,000. Okay. And are you working in a job right now? If so, what do you make? I am. Right now I make $4,000 a month after taxes.

Okay. Any other debt besides the student loan debt? Nope, just student loans, no credit card or anything else. Great. All right, George, tell me how many student loans you have. If you broke them all out, how many are there? I believe four. Okay. Awesome. So if you look at the smallest debt, you want to attack that one first while making minimum payments on the rest. That's called the debt snowball method. It's just smallest to largest balance, focus intensity on the smallest one. And I had a very similar situation to yours. I had 36,000 in student loan debt and I paid it off in 18 months and I wasn't even making what you were making. How'd you do it, George? It was side hustles,

lean cuisines, living on less than I make, saying no to friends, keeping my lifestyle in check, all of those things over 18 months, you start to go, all right, this becomes a math problem, doesn't it? If you make $4,000 a month, you have $38,000 in student loan debt. I want you to pay it off in 18 months. You need to be putting over $2,000 a month toward your student loans. Can you do that currently with your budget? I believe I can, but I also have $42,000 in savings. Oh my gosh. My one predicament was if I should just... Why'd you bury the lead, my man? Okay, this becomes a lot easier. Tell him, George, pay it off.

We got about 50 seconds. How does he do it? Pay it off today. That leaves you with four grand, right? Yes. Now we're going to build a fully funded emergency fund from there with this newfound money because you just freed up all those payments. I'm telling you, it's worth it. You wouldn't be calling on the show if you were debt free.

And that tells me you don't want this debt in your life. You have the money to pay it off. I know it hurts because you've worked so hard to build that $42,000. But it had Sally Mae's name on it. And it still does until you're free from her. Break the chain, my man. Pay it off. You will not regret it.

And you're going to be back to having that $40,000 in savings real soon. Sally and Fannie Mae, the sisters of misery. Get them out of there. Sisters of misery. It sounds like a rock and roll. Nice ladies though. Really? If you get to know them.

I'm kidding. Sarcasm, folks. Tell you a fun story coming back right after the break. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way

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What a nice change of pace, Ken, that you're going to be honest. Yeah, we're going to be honest. So the amount of gifts we feel pressured to buy in America around Christmas time, it's endless, George. I feel it. It used to be the family and then it was like, well, our uncle, uncle Larry and aunt Maude coming in. Well, we got to get him something and we got to get aunt Maude. Yeah. It's like, and then at what point you go, well, we're not going to send gifts, you know, away anymore. Is this all the stress around gift? It's a lot. All right. Then you got the office gifts. Do you buy a gift for the boss? Do you get it for the coworker? I mean, I try to put as much pressure on you as possible to get me a lot. All right? Then you've got the office gifts. Do you buy a gift for the boss? Do you get it for the co-worker?

I mean, I try to put as much pressure on you as possible to get me a gift. Well, the Ken Coleman Show team, I know they're getting some nice gifts this year. Yeah, the Isotoners are going to be great, thanks to Dan Marino. But, you know, it's like, okay, so what do I get? What if I get a gift that keeps on giving? And this is not the Jelly of the Month Club from National Lampoon. Is it Jell-O or Jelly? I think it's Jelly.

I think it's Jelly. How about meaningful gifts in our $12 sale at Ramsey Solutions? Our best-selling books like Total Money Makeover, Baby Steps to Millionaire, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, Don't Forget from Paycheck to Purpose, just $12 each. Quests for Human Cards, there's only 300 of those decks. Something for everyone. Something for everybody. I think they have it for dogs at this point.

I saw one the other day. It was Question for Humans octogenarian version. Wow. If you're hanging out at the old folks' home. For those that have some years experience. Yeah, you know, because it's like a decade-sensitive type deck there. That's true. So that's out there. All kinds of great stuff at RamseySolutions.com

slash store. RamseySolutions.com slash store. Check it out. You can't beat that sale. So there you go. Fun stuff. Alright, to the phones we go. Detroit, Michigan is where Andrew joins us. Andrew, how can we help? Hi guys. Thank you for taking my call.

You bet. What's up? A few years ago, I stopped working my 9 to 5 to do ride share. And recently, they said that we can't do the luxury ride share anymore. So I've been going through my savings. But most importantly, my daughter helped me purchase the car for Lyft. And I've been hearing her show that we should just sell these bad loans or cars with bad loans. But we're pretty underwater on the car. And I was wondering, how do I go about selling a car that you're

underwater on? And how can I improve my situation until I find another job, basically? What were you doing before ride share? I was working as a technical writer. Okay. Were you making more money doing ride share? Is that why you quit it? Exactly. I started making about $300 more a week,

and I had more time for myself, so I said it sounds like a better gig. So I started working less hours doing rideshare and earning a little more money. Okay. Now, what happens when you get rid of this car? Because you just lost your full-time job, essentially. Exactly. Well, basically, I haven't paid for a car, so I have a car that I can drive. Oh, you got two cars. One is for ride share.

One is your personal, essentially. Yes. Well, now I had an old Beater send in a backyard that I never drove. But now if I can get rid of the car, I don't mind driving it. So you're upside down? My wife has a very, very much so. All right. Give us the numbers.

I still owe about 50, a little more than 52, and it's only worth about 25. What car is this? This is a Tesla Model X, and I used it for luxury driving. And Lyft has said, we're not going to do luxury driving anymore in my area. So it can't support it. When it was going strong, I had no issues at all. I got a nice budget, but now I'm going through all of me and my wife's savings. And I'm trying to see what my... What year is it?

Why do you think it's only worth $25,000? Is it just super high mileage because of how much driving you do? The mileage and the condition, and they don't have a good resale value to begin with. Uh-oh, George. Well, what year is it? This is a 2016. Okay, so it's older, but you bought it brand new back in 2016? I did not.

I bought it used a few years ago. And you still had a $52,000 loan on it. Exactly. Yes. Oh, man. Well, you probably bought at the height on top of, you know, the market, car market taking a dip. Oh, boy. Okay. How much money do you have in savings? I've been, we've been going, I went through my savings trying to find another job. So I don't have anything. I have about $1,200. And my guess is your credit is shot, considering your daughter had to co-sign for you. Indeed it is. Goodness gracious. Yeah, when you said my daughter helped me, she did not help you. She enabled a terrible financial decision that she's now caught up in.

Two bad financial decisions. What is her financial state? You mean my daughter? Yeah. It's okay. I helped her buy a house a few years ago, and the car is actually doing damage to her as well. I did tell her to get a house.

I think you all need to stop helping each other because it usually ends up with bad decisions being made. Yeah, I was going to say. Let's let her do her thing and you do your thing. Yeah, maybe so. So, George, I think there's no short-sell option here because he can't get a loan from a credit union for the smaller amount. Yeah, they're not going to give you the difference. I think you're going to be working yourself to almost asleep.

You're working like crazy and way better pay you're not driving anymore but you got to pay this thing off or at least pay it down to where you can make a little something on it you still owe 52 i still owe a little more than 52 yes what was the original balance uh around 60 i didn't originally have it for uhhare, but I got it because it was free gas or free energy. I didn't have to pay for the energy to use, and I was using rideshare. I was paying for a lot of gas off that. Might as well. Oh, boy.

Going 60 grand into debt for free energy. Basically. Yeah. Okay. Well, you can try going to where the loan is held and walking into that bank and saying, I need to talk to the manager. Here's the situation. You guys have a bad loan on your hands because this car is only worth this much. I owe this much. I need the difference in a loan so I can pay down that 25 or 27 or whatever the difference is in order to get out

from under this. That's the only way you're going to get out of this thing other than just paying it down. Okay. Or saving up the difference and then selling it. And you've got to fight for it. Those are three tough options. But you've got to fight for it. You've got to really convince them that they're going to get their 25 or 27 back.

They're probably not going to get the 50, whatever. And you've got to hope that they look at that and they believe you, and there's your shot. And you can pay that off a lot quicker than you can the 52. But, I mean, you're going to need another job. A couple of jobs. Yeah, I'm looking out to do a replacement. I thought I could try to find something that makes the same amount,

but I'm going to be selling here shortly because I need to get back in the workplace. But, again, two or three jobs, four jobs, selling everything else. You got anything else you can sell? My house, actually. Well, that's an extreme situation. But then you're going to have a, you said you own it free and clear? Technically, because I bought it,

and then I maxed out some credit cards to get it, but to get it operational. But yes, it's technically free and clear besides the credit cards that I maxed out to make it right. Okay. And I would do some more homework on that car value because I'm looking it up right now. It seems real low. What I'm seeing online right now is anywhere from 33 to 40 is what that car should be worth. So before you just go, it's worth 25, you might have a shorter gap or smaller gap than you think you do. And that could give you some hope to get out of this thing sooner. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Tell him what, tell him that's just a same area as he is. And then I just did

my zip code with a hundred mile radius and see what these cars are going for. 2016 Model X. Okay. It's that easy. So, Andrew, let's go. Let's go multiple sites, get the value up on that. Let's get the most we can, get to the bank, and get busy. You've got to change this stuff. And I would not right now sell that house.

We want to hold on to that. If you own that, there's no debt. That's a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy. Don't rush into that. Thank you for the call. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. So excited to have you with us as we talk with you about you, specifically your life.

We want to help you win financially, and a big part of that is winning professionally. And so I'm Ken Coleman, the work personality here at Range of Solutions. George Campbell, one of our financial and money personalities, is with me today. 888-825-5225. How can George and I help you in those areas? We'd love to hear from you. 888-825-5225. Speaking of how we can help you, for years we've talked to people about knowing where your

money is where is it going why is it going there is a part of the process of the baby steps that we teach to help you win with money and every dollar is our world-class budgeting app that helps you manage money the ramsey way you can start every dollar for free and immediately to see where you stand with your money it helps you get organized personalize your budget stop overspending and save if you're brand new to every money. It helps you get organized, personalize your budget, stop overspending, and save. If you're brand new to EveryDollar, we'll show you a long-term financial roadmap, track your net worth, debt-free date, retirement date,

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All right, to the phones we go. Chicago is where Kyle joins us. Kyle, how can we help? Hi, thank you for taking my call. How are you doing today? We're doing great. What's going on with you? So just a little bit of backstory. I'm on baby step number three, so I'm trying to say three, six months of emergency fund, but I own a townhouse in the Chicagoland area, but my cousin goes to university, Tennessee, Knoxville, and my uncle and I were thinking about going in on a townhouse for her and a couple roommates together. So I was just wondering your opinion if I should go in with my uncle on that financial investment or if I should hold off until I basically pay off my townhome mortgage until I basically try to invest in real estate further.

Well, I think you know the answer. You called our show, and you know when investing in real estate would fall into the baby steps, and that's after you have your primary home paid off and you do it with cash. And so, no, I would not step into this. And there's other reasons too. This just sounds messy. You're going into this deal with a family member and equity and deeds and it's long distance. There's a lot that I don't like about this plan, truthfully. In your financial position as well, being in baby step three, you don't have an emergency fund in place. You don't have your townhome paid off, it sounds like, correct? Correct. I do not have it paid off currently. There's about, I've paid off about $58,000, but there's still about $182,000 left to go.

Okay. And this would obviously slow down your financial progress there. Correct, yeah. And you don't have any money to put into this investment. Do you have separate savings? Yes, I do. So I have about $13,000 in a CD right now that would mature before we would go in on the investments.

So it would be around $14,000. And then I have $10,000 in my savings, which is kind of the building blocks for my emergency fund. And then I have about $5,000 in my checking. And then about $33,000 between a 401k HSA and a stock market. Okay. Well, if you have anything that's non-retirement, I think you could liquidate that to help speed up the emergency fund. And I would use that CD money to fully fund your emergency fund. And I wouldn't have done the CD to begin with because of how illiquid it is, but that's for another time. But I would focus on the baby steps. Right now,

you're doing a lot at once. I assume you're investing as well? Just through my 401k, but in the stock market, I'm kind of holding off on that for now until I get in a better financial position. Yeah. So, I mean, you're doing Kyle's plan, which is fine. I'm not saying you won't succeed in that, but I'm telling you, when you follow a proven plan and you just pause investing, let's get the emergency fund set up in baby step three. Let's begin investing the right way. 15% into retirement. Let's pay off the house and let's save that investment property

for a later date. And I would do it on your terms and I would not do a long distance and I probably wouldn't involve family because it's going to get messy. And we just see that too much on this show. Okay, yeah, no, that's understandable. But thank you for your opinion.

Absolutely. Yeah, thanks for the call. Not the answer he wanted to hear, I could tell. But, Ken, the amount of times someone called into the show and said, I went in on this investment property with my uncle long distance, and it has worked out amazingly well. That's right. It's usually, I went in on this deal with my uncle,

and you're the last call we make until we go to the people's court. You know what I mean? By the way, who's there now? Judge Wapner's long gone. You know, as astute as I am, I've not kept up with the roster of who's running people's courts. Who's the latest judge? We're having a little fun with the fact that it's just a mess. Yeah, because what happens later on down the road? Uncle wants to sell. He needs the money't want to sell there's capital gains that's right who's gonna go deal with the hvac situation well if uncle larry's taking care of it you know and he can't do it anymore because of his gout you know kind of kicked up no pun intended then you know we got a problem just stay out of

the family real estate everything looks good on paper until life happens isn't that and that's what we deal with on the show is on the side, when life happened and it didn't work out. All right, life happens caller after caller. Pat is now joining us in Birmingham. Pat, how can we help? Hey, how's it going? My question is, I have asbestos in my popcorn ceiling. Oh.

And I'm wondering if it constitutes an emergency fund draw. I'm trying to save up for my three to six month emergency fund of about $6,000 right now and the job would cost around $8,000 to $10,000. Oh. They've offered to do like payments, three payments three equal payments um but i'm just not sure if i should if i should pull the trigger on it could you cash flow it with the three equal payments i think so and is it this isn't uh no no interest correct right george what do you think about that i mean that would be you you've got to fix this ASAP. You can't live there, right?

Yeah, I mean, from what I've heard, as long as you don't, like, touch and you don't mess with it, then it's fine. A lot of people have said just remediate the one spot, you know, but for retail purposes and just for peace of mind, I would rather get the whole house done. And that would cost you eight, you said? Yeah. Have you got a few bids? Eight without the drywall finishing, the ceiling finishing,

and then probably about 10 with the ceiling refinished. How quickly could you save up two grand? If you sold stuff, got a side job, whatever it took, could you do that in a week or two, three weeks, a month? Probably about a month or two. Okay. I'm wondering if we start on this thing and you attempt to cash flow it, whatever's left, you make a payment the following month and finish it off with them. You make that agreement with them on paper. Yeah. And this is not ideal, but just from a cash flow perspective, George, if you could put up with it um if you're

okay living for three four five six months with just the if it's not a ceiling safety issue what's the drywalls in if you're comfortable looking at that dry finish it later finish it a little bit later i'm just saying that's an option yeah when we talk about cash is this your entire family is it you uh yeah it's my family. It's my wife and two children. Oh, the wife is probably not going to go for that. I've got a strong feeling. Right?

Yeah, I mean, it would be better if we had the ceiling finished. Yeah. Well, again, George is okay with the cash flow. That's what I was thinking. As long as it's not debt and we're not any interest payments on that and they're going to work with you, I think that's fantastic. And I'd still get a few bids. I would too.

And even say, hey, if I do all six grand up front cash, would you guys be willing to work with me on this? And they may be willing to do that to have some instant cash flow. Maybe. Don't get your hopes up on these trades. Sometimes a cash deal makes – I get, you know. Even on the trades where they're just in demand? Well, sometimes you get cold, hard cash, and they like that when you flash the green, Ken.

I'm just saying. Did you say cold-hearted? Cold heart, hard cash. Oh, hard. Cold-hearted cash. Cold hard. Okay, I see. To the question, if it's urgent, unexpected, and necessary, you pull from the emergency fund.

If you can't say yes to all those, it's probably justification. But I like this case. I like this situation. I think you can cash flow this. It's pretty serious. I think you can cash flow it, which is a good move. All right, good advice, George, as always. Good hour to my friend and to James Childs, our fearless leader, and the crew in the booth.

Thank you. Thank you, America, for listening. This is The Ramsey Show.