The Ramsey Show - App - If You're Not a Stock Player...Don't Play the Stocks! (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 27, 2020

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Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb and 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. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Very sad news over the weekend with the death, of course, of Kobe Bryant in the helicopter crash in Los Angeles, his daughter, and him and seven other passengers, including his daughter, apparently another dad on board that was a coach, a mom that was a coach,

and some teenage daughters as well. I don't know all the details of the full lineup. I know there was Kobe and one other dad that was a coach. And obviously they were doing something with their daughters, heading to a game. And I don't know anything about basketball at all. But obviously he was a world-class basketball talent. But, you know, more importantly, it looked to me like he was a world-class dad

and passed away in the process of being that. So our hats off to him, our thoughts, our prayers with that whole family. Lots of people hurting over this a lot. Quite a loss to the sports world, but apparently a good man. I don't know him. I never met him. And, again, I don't follow basketball enough to have any clue about what was going on other than he's obviously iconic in that space and obviously a great dad. So we need more great dads in this world. So it's bad to lose one or two in that one event there.

Bad stuff. Bad stuff. Bad stuff. Open phones here again, 888-825-5225. Charles is with us in Georgia. Hey, Charles, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, buddy. Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Dave. Sure.

What's up? It's really like a two-part question. I guess I'm wanting advice more than anything. Um, I entered my back in 08 and I, we've all, we've always had money problems since that time. I tried everything in my power to get back to work. I couldn't do nothing. I just did all the things that I could do. I finally found something where I'm a substitute at my local school and it's going good.

And I'm making, I don't know, probably about $700 a month, I would say, probably about $67,000 a year so far. I've been doing it for the past two years. I'm bad with money, and I'm finally just going to give up and say, here, wife, take it. It's your turn, and, you know, we'll do whatever. But she feels like I need to do more. But, I mean, I just don't. But she feels like I need to do more. But, I mean, I just don't. We live in a small town.

There's not much jobs around here. And I feel like, you know, I'll do that. I'll take care of everything in the house. She don't have to wash dishes. Y'all didn't know about that. But, I mean, she knows my situation. And I just don't understand why she keeps adding all this on there if she knows I can't do it. So you got a lot of pain with your back?

Yeah, I fell off of a truck. I ruptured my L4, herniated my L5. And I just can't stand up for long periods of time. You know, when I sub, I kind of get up, move around the classroom, I can sit back down. That was good for me. But I couldn't go on a job and, you know, stand up for eight hours a day. No.

And you certainly can't do anything that's heavy lifting or physical. No, sir. There's no digging ditches in your future. No, I tried social security, and I tried everything. I had a lawyer, nothing that worked, you know. So it's just been a rough go for me, and I feel so depressed at times because I see jobs that come up I think I could do. I go in there, and I put on a smile.

I mean, I try to do everything I can to get that job. And in the back of my mind, I know they're not going to hire me because they want to know why I ain't worked since 08, and I'm telling them I had an injury, I'm better, I could do this. But they don't want to take me because of that how old are you found something i could do i'm 40 i just turned 40 um last year okay and i injured myself when i was 26 27 oh my goodness okay yeah it's been a rough go yeah it sounds like and back pain is real pain i mean that's a real thing and and then the the money problems to go with that, it is all depressing.

I completely understand that. So regardless of what she thinks for a minute, just thinking about you only, what I always back up and say is I can't imagine being there because I'm a complete wuss with pain. If I was in pain, I'd just be in the corner sucking my thumb because i'm just a complete i'm a i'm a complete sissy so um yeah but so but if i was if i was in your situation i've always thought if i had a a disability of some kind uh something that set me back like like you're facing um what would i do and the people that i have run into that are very, I mean, they're like heroes. You've probably seen them or read about them or done different things where they have some kind of a pretty extreme disability,

even more than we're talking about here, and they find a way to do something different that the disability or the pain or the problem doesn't keep them from doing that. An example in your case would be you could do anything with your mind. You're very limited on what you can do with your body. And so you've got to start thinking about, I mean, you've got 40 years, and you don't want to spend the next 40 years, just you and me. I mean, I'm not talking about your wife. I'm just saying you don't want to make the next 40 years, just you and me. I mean, I'm not talking about your wife.

I'm just saying you don't want to make $7,000 a year for 40 years. No. You don't want to do that. And I tried to go back to school, but I didn't really make good grades in school, and that was kind of hard for me trying to. I mean, I don't know exactly what it is, but there's something that you can, some skill, something that you can develop that you can do. If you start to believe you can again, that will make you more than $7,000 a year. It can be self-employed to where when you're hurting, you just stop for the day.

You know, I don't care. I don't know what you're doing here. You could be an artist. I don't know. Maybe, you know, maybe math isn't your thing. I don't care. I don't know what you're doing here. You could be an artist. I don't know. Maybe math isn't your thing. I don't care. You might be good at fixing computers. I don't know.

I have no idea. But if you just want to say, I think what she's wanting you to be is more fulfilled. I mean, obviously, she's wanting some more money in the house. Both of you do, right? But she's probably just wanting you to be, because, you know, we're happiest when we're doing something. And you're not happiest when you're keeping the dishes washed. That's not fulfilling for you.

That's not who you are. You're happiest, you know, when you come home tired after teaching those kids, but the light bulb came on over the top of a couple of their heads because you were teaching them that day, that's when you feel the happiest, when you've done something. And so what I would wish for you, my prayer for you would be that you can keep searching and praying to find a thing that you can do despite maybe you don't you don't have a four-year degree i don't care what you do that you're self-employed there's not a big physical drain it doesn't require lifting with

your back but that allows you to put your hand to the plow so to speak every day and come home satisfied and you'd earn more for your family. Hold on, I'm going to hook you up with Ken Coleman's materials, okay? Matter of fact, I'm going to send you two books and audio books if you'd rather have them if you're not a big on reading. So Start is one book. I'm going to give you Ken Coleman's book Proximity Principle. Both of these are about career and you need to hook up with Ken Coleman's website and read all through it. I can't believe 2020 is here. If you're paying attention, you're already planning your new budget. For most of you, your mortgage is your single biggest line item.

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to closing costs and is not combinable with other offers. Hey, folks, tax season's almost here. If your tax situation's light, here's my advice. Do your taxes as soon as you can, particularly if you're due for a refund. You were already thinking that. The reason I say do them early and not in March and April is you'll be under far less stress. It means your mind will be clear. You're less likely to make mistakes. And if you owe taxes,

filing early means you can start saving. Well, getting ready to file. I wouldn't file early. I'd file on the 15th if you owe taxes. Wait until the last minute to send it to them. But I'd get it all done and get it ready to file. If Uncle Sam owes you, of course, what the heck are you waiting for? Get it done right now. So you know what you, of course, what the heck are you waiting for? Get it done right now. So you know what? Even if your tax situation isn't light and you need a tax pro, we recommend you reach out to one right now.

Here's the thing. Tax pros get really, really busy. And the sooner you reach out, the more likely they will be able to do your taxes before the deadline. So go to DaveRamsey.com slash ELP, click on taxes, and find out what a local tax pro is doing in your area, one that I recommend. They'll help you out.

Start working with a tax pro right now. Get your taxes done. Don't wait. DaveRamsey.com slash ELP, or click on taxes, either one. Josh is in North Carolina. Hi, Josh. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave.

Thanks for taking my call. It's a pleasure to talk to you. You too, sir. How can I help? So my wife and I just recently finished FPU back in November. We've paid off about $15,000 worth of debt in that time and tonight we are actually leading our first class of FPU. Oh cool! So when we did our class we had a pretty small group, about six people total. So far up now, I've got about 12 couples signed up for the class. So I'm wondering, how do we keep everybody involved in the discussion

and make sure that everybody gets out of the class the same thing that we got out of the class, just making sure that everybody gets, you know, a good session. Yeah. Yeah, well, you've probably got about the maximum size to allow that to happen. There's two possibilities. One is, you know, you just try it with the large group. Obviously, people are going to be less likely to open up in front of 20 people than they are in front of six.

Some people are. And so you've got to do a couple things. One is you always have one, and I might be the one, that takes up all the air time. They want to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. So you have to keep them from using up all the time each night so that the quieter ones get room to process. You can even have that in a small group.

You've got to be really careful with it in a large group. The second thing you can do is just, you know, watch it because you will have a little bit of ebb and flow. Not everybody makes it to every class. So it would be unusual for you to have nine, you know, nine lessons and all 24 people are in every lesson. So you'll have some kind of absenteeism will help the size of the group shrink a little bit. You may have a few dropouts. That may shrink it a little bit too. That's not unusual.

Not everybody completes it, obviously. We wish they did, but not everybody does. And then lastly, if you've got really good attendance and really good, they all stick with it, and you've got a pretty talkative bunch, your worst case scenario is when it's time for the discussion part, you can just break it into two and get you a co-facilitator to lead the discussion in the second group. And you can even do that in the same room. There's two little circles in one room of chairs rather than one great big circle.

And I did that for years and years when I was leading it in person. Obviously, I was teaching it, and then I would turn off the overhead projector back in the day, right, and sit down, and there'd be a larger group. And then the first thing, one of the first things we ever did was we got, you know, co-facilitators, that's what we would call them now, someone to help you with the class who leads the discussion, and you just create two circles. But, you know, attrition and absenteeism may solve your problem. I hope it doesn't.

And otherwise, I would just flip it into two small groups like that. Thank you for leading the class. I appreciate that. You're going to get to watch some people change their lives. It's very, very rewarding to watch people. Their body language changes through the nine weeks as the stress leaves and the empowerment sets in. Tim is in Maryland. Hi, Tim. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? Hi. So I'm going on about four years of my mother's passing, and I'm the PR of her estate. And one of the last things I need to take care of is the house that I was raised in. Right now there's about $85,000 left on the mortgage and the house is estimated about $460,000. I was talking with my little sister. She wants to

sell it as is just to get rid of it, but I want to try to buy it, fix it up a little bit, and then either live in it for some time and then possibly rent it out later. And I guess I was trying to get some advice on that. Why are you wanting to buy it? You're just nostalgic? Well, personally, so right now I'm living in it now. I don't want to live in it anymore, but I do want to buy it and potentially turn it into a rental property. I wouldn't do that

okay so just so that i mean just from experience okay when you lived in a house as your personal residence particularly your childhood home and then you put renters in it it's pretty emotional because they just don't treat your precious baby like you want it rocked and it's just a but if it's just a house you bought just as a rental property you don't get as emotional about the details of working with a renter on the process so um that kind of kind of thing so i i just i i think I'm with your sister. I think I would just sell it as is, get your all's money out, the two of you split it, and then you go on your way.

And if you want to buy some rental property at that point with cash, that's something you can consider at that point. But I wouldn't do that. Hey, thank you for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Sarah is in Oregon.

Hi, Sarah. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So I work for a company, and they gifted us 50 shares of stock two years ago, and that's going to become available to us in the next week.

I'm in baby steps four through six right now. And my question is, was I should just cash those out or let it ride? Because the company did just report some bad numbers for the last quarter of last year. So their stock did take a huge hit recently. What's a huge hit? Wait a minute,

stop, stop. What's a huge hit? Wait a minute. Stop. Stop. What's a huge hit? I mean, before, I don't follow it completely just because I don't have any single stocks right now, but at one point it was trading above 60. Now it's trading in the 40s. So it's taken a pretty good hit. But you have 50 shares.

I have more than 50 shares coming to us because it did gain. That's what they gifted us initially. It's probably closer to 70 or 80 shares right now. But that's what we were gifted initially. So it does become available to us here in the next week. Yeah. I would sell it all. Just sell it the day we get it?

Yep. Put it on your house. All right. Perfect. Because you're not a stock player are you i am not a stock player i don't play stocks to you and then don't play stocks all righty there's no there's no because a stock player might want to wait and see if it came back up you know yeah nah, who gives a rip? It's not that much money when you actually add it all up. Yeah.

$20 a share on 70 shares is not going to change your life. Exactly. Okay. So, and I don't know if it's going to come back up or not. Obviously, I don't even know who the company is. So I don't have any guess on that, nor would I even if I knew who the company was. I don't know what who the company is. So I don't have any guess on that, nor would I even if I knew who the company was. I don't know what it's going to do. If I were in your shoes, you know, you ask yourself, if someone handed me $2,000, would I go buy this stock?

The answer would be no. Then don't keep this stock. And that's how we look at it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Business leaders, right now you have the opportunity to take your business to the next level this new year. You can start by hiring the right people to help your business grow. At Ramsey Solutions, we post on LinkedIn Jobs because they are the best at matching the right person with the right job. LinkedIn Jobs screens candidates with the skills you're looking for so you can hire smart and fast. The thing I love about LinkedIn is they look beyond just the work skills and put your job

post in front of qualified candidates who match your business requirements perfectly. That's how LinkedIn makes sure your job post is seen by the people you want to hire. People with Thank you. first job post. Visit linkedin.com slash ramsey. That's linkedin.com slash ramsey. Terms and your money. If you haven't heard, in just about 45 days, we're going to set sail on the first ever Live Like No One Else Ramsey Cruise. For you people that are on Baby Step 4 and beyond, you're not in the middle of your getting out of debt plan. You're out of debt. You've got your emergency fund. And you've lightened up on the gas

pedal just a little bit on the old gazelle intensity. You're ready to enjoy a vacation. We want you to come with us. We're going to depart Fort Lauderdale. We're going to be in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Stephen Curtis Chapman, all the Ramsey personalities, and Jeff Foxworthy are going to be with us. Now, what happened was we sold this thing out last March, and some of the folks ended up not able to come.

And, of course, they did it inside the deposit return section and got their money back or they lost a small deposit or whatever. And so we've got like 42 cabins available right now. And so you know how these last-minute deals work on a cruise? If you sign up for a cruise, last minute you get a deal. Well, we never think we'd be there because we sold the thing out last March. But it's March the 20th is when this thing is. Here's what we're going to do. This is the first time you've ever heard this.

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Open phones at 888-825-5225. David is in Oregon. Hi, David. How are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How are you? Better than I deserve deserve what's up hey how you doing man so i'm uh doing the debt snowball and i've been doing it for the last

several years and i'm getting toward the end of it i got about seven thousand dollars in student loans left uh and five thousand dollars on a car um student loans would be my next thing to tackle. Yet at the beginning of last year, I had my stepfather pass away, and we had to liquidate a lot of his toys, boats, cabin, things like this. And these are all things that he's earned, and, you know, him and my mother have been keeping for themselves and whatnot. But she's now gifting me uh twenty thousand dollars and i'm nervous on how to approach this situation for what she's got right now she's got it in an ira um and what she says it's going to be making about five hundred dollars a year

um it doesn't seem like the best option for it uh just'm just wondering what would you suggest I do with this money? How old is she? She's 71. Okay. Well, she can cash out her IRA if she wants and pay taxes on it at 71. There'll be no penalties. And she can gift you up to $15,000 a year without any gift tax, any more than that. And there will be a gift tax on it unless she does some more sophisticated financial planning, which would be called the Unified Estate Tax Credit. But after she pays her taxes, she's probably not going to have $20,000. Probably going to be more like $15,000 if she's cashing out an IRA. She's got plenty of money to live on.

Yeah, yeah, she's doing good. He had a pension through FedEx, and she's got his Social Security and his pension. She's got about, I want to say, $3,000 coming in a month that she's living on. She's got any money other than this money? Not that I'm aware of at the moment. I mean, she's got... She does not need to give you this money then. She's broke.

I'm not sure. You know, the house is paid for. She's got, you know, this money coming in monthly. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what her... Listen, if she has $3,000 a month coming in and she's 70 years old and has a paid-for house and all she has to her name is $20,000 IRA, she does not need to give that away. She's got no money, man.

Well, she's got a 401K. I think she's got about $80,000 in there as well. Yeah, it's not enough. Yeah. If she had $800,000 and wants to give you $20,000, that's fine. She got $100,000 to her whole name, man. She doesn't have to be giving this money away. She has a suite of her, but she doesn't need to do that.

I would tell her to hold on to that right now, and you keep working your debt snowball. That would be my advice. Hey, thank you for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Hunter is in L.A. Hi, Hunter. How are you?

I'm doing great, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm in a bit of a dilemma here because as of last month, I was able to pay off all my consumer debt with student loans and personal loans. And the last thing that I have on my list is my vehicle. I owe $16,000 on it, but my question is, I plan on buying a house hopefully by December of this year, and I'm wondering if I pay off the card now, my credit will completely drop. I think I'd heard from you before that it would, you know, just completely erase after six to eight months. No, that's if you have zero accounts open of any kind.

Yes. So you don't have any accounts open of any kind after you pay the car off? No, sir. Good. Pay the car off. So go ahead and pay it off, and then hopefully by December, I'm assuming would my credit just completely erase by then? It should. It really won't stick in the 600s.

It'll either stay where it is or it'll just disappear. It doesn't gradually erode. Okay, that's what I thought. I thought it would just slowly creep down, and then by the time December came, I would kind of be in a bind. No, you don't end up with a 500 credit score. score i mean if you're sitting there at 700 and you're 700 or 700 and you have nothing on your account eventually they can't calculate it anymore it'll just disappear it might take one notch down but i've never seen any ones gradually erode so it

could it could it could drop a little and then you know like if you if you pay off a single credit card and you've got five other accounts open, you'll see an incremental drop in the score based on that. Okay? Sure. But if you're sitting there with a decent score and you have one account left open and you close that account and you have zero activity on it for six months to a year, I've never seen it gradually then.

I can't tell you because they don't share the algorithm with anybody, obviously, because people would game it then. So we don't know either. All we've done is observe what the Ramsey tribe has had happen when they're doing this. But I wouldn't keep a car payment so that you can get a credit score house in December. No. So go ahead and get rid of it. I would.

If I were in your shoes i paid off today hey thanks for the call man we appreciate you joining us joel's on twitter my son is four his money in his savings account that would pay off a credit card should i use it and then pay it back when i'm debt free i don't know how much money we're talking about i suspect this is not a lot of money. Let's pretend that this is $1,000. Your four-year-old has $1,000 and you have a credit card that's $1,000. Would I do that? No. You can. You didn't do anything morally wrong. It's because children are not technically allowed to own assets, technically speaking.

So, you know, the parents are in charge of it. But I'll just tell you, most parents, if you use your kid's money, feel so bad about it that it has a negative effect on the whole process anyway. So if I were you, if it's only $1,000 or whatever, now, if your family's getting ready to lose their home and your kid has $30,000 in a savings account, we're going to save the house, okay? We'll deal with Junior later. But I'm guessing this is a small savings account with a four-year-old with a small loan balance,

and I think the emotional damage you'll do to yourself exceeds any financial benefit of making this decision. Thanks for the call. One of my favorite parts of this show is hearing your debt-free screams. You guys are our heroes. You've kicked debt to the curb and you've saved for the future. Now we want to celebrate with you. If you have lived like no one else and are currently in baby steps four through seven, well, it's time to enjoy some money. And the perfect place to do that is on board our first ever live like no one else cruise in March.

That's right. Just a couple of months away. But get this. It's not too late to book your cabin. So don't miss your chance. This Caribbean cruise is going to be an incredible seven days at sea on a stunning new ship with amazing experiences. I'm talking all of our Ramsey personalities and other world-class entertainers. We're stopping in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and Turks and Caicos. It's going to be an

amazing, debt-free celebration designed just for you. Don't miss the boat. Head over to RamseyCruise.com today to reserve your room. Elizabeth is with us in Oregon. Hi, Elizabeth. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks. I'm excited to get your advice. So I have a brother who I'm trying to help through his financial situation.

We just gifted him SPU for Christmas but I don't think he's started yet. So the details are he makes anywhere between $51,000 and $61,000 a year. He has about $21,000 in debt between a car loan and a family loan.

He has decided to well, he's on the sex offenders list. So his lease is up in June and they can't find anywhere to rent. And so he's worried that his wife and their, you know, who will be two month old baby will be homeless come then unless he, so he hatched this grand scheme. He took out a thousand dollar loan from his 401k. I already tried talking about it, but it's done, I guess. And then he has these supposed insider information that he's going to invest and then grow it supposedly very quickly into a down payment for a house.

I don't, my husband and I have been following you for years. I've tried talking to him, but I don't know how to get across to him that this is not the best course of action. But on the other hand, I'm not really sure what to advise. So I was hoping to get your help I have been desperate a time or two in my life

and that is when I'm the dumbest desperate usually equals stupid and that's what he is he feels trapped he's worried about his baby and his wife, and he just visited the land of stupid. Everything you're telling me is stupid, isn't it? Yes, but I don't know what to do.

Yeah, I know. I understand. But the reason is, and I think the only place you could start with is just to empathize with the fear that he has and just say, I understand you're scared, and usually people, when they make their biggest financial mistakes, are when they're scared. It's when they go to the payday lender. It's when they fall for get-rich-quick schemes. He's going to lose this $1,000, and then he's still going to have a housing problem.

Yeah. And I'm going to look at him and tell him that. I mean, it doesn't sound like he's listening going to have a housing problem. Yeah. And I'm going to look at him and tell him that. I mean, it doesn't sound like he's listening to you much, though. This is all new. He said when we gave him SPU that he's really excited about it and he really wants to get his life on track. And I believed him until today. And I mean, I guess he probably feels that, but he doesn't know what to do.

And when he gets scared, he gets crazy. I believed him until today. And I mean, I guess he probably feels that, but he doesn't know what to do. Then when he gets scared, he gets crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Fear is a, it pretty much ensures you're about to do something stupid with money. You know, when I hear people say stuff like, I was forced to buy a car. That's why I have a 38% interest rate. That's for somebody that felt trapped and scared, right? Yeah.

And that's what he's doing right now. When you fall for get rich quick, when you fall for scams, it's either greed or fear. And in his case, it's fear. And so what I would do is sit down with him and his wife, if you can, you and your husband, and say, guys, you're getting ready to make a huge mistake. You've already made one. You're getting ready to make another. And it's all based on fear.

We've got to solve your housing problem without you freaking out. And you're going to face this for a while with being on the sex offenders list. And you've got to find housing that is suitable, that meets his guidelines. Are there laws, I assume, that he can't be but so close to a school or whatever, right? Yes, it's a very small distance. His rules are pretty lenient compared to some others, yes. Okay, all right. So the only problem is, is if it comes up on a background check and a landlord freaks out. Yes, yes, that's what it is. So the way problem is if it comes up on a background check and a landlord freaks out. Yes. Yes, that's what it is.

So the way you circumvent that is you get to know the landlord. And you say, listen, I've got to tell you, you're going to find this. It was a minor event years ago or whatever the story is. I don't know what the story is. And, you know, obviously I'm a young man with a house with a family and a child and i'm not going to be someone that's going to be a problem for you in any way and you just you have a normal human being that's a landlord that looks at him and walks past that and there's lots of people that will do that i would not i'm a landlord and I would not turn down someone exclusively on that reason now I

would want to know more I want to know who I'm putting in my house I want some freak in there right yeah but uh but I want to know what so I want to know what the story is let me think about it if you're the landlord but but a reason if there's a reasonable story here and I'm looking at a young man who's scared to death with a wife and child who's straightening his life out after some kind of a thing happened X number of time ago. Lots of people believe in giving somebody a second chance if you've got a reasonable narrative around it. But are you going to go into just any old apartment and slap down a deposit? No, they're probably not going to rent to him they don't

because they just got you know they just they throw the baby out with the bath water on everything they're doing they also won't rent to me because i don't have a credit score so you know he's in good company in that regard so the problem the thing is you got to solve his problem so that he quits being stupid because he's gonna lose lose his money he's going to he's going to make some other mistakes this guy's scared out of his mind yeah and on top of that he faces continuous shaming for this label and all of this you know it just boat does not bode well for anything except desperate and every time i get desperate my stupid meter just goes off i do some of the dumbest things in my life ever when i was scared

and desperate because you can justify and rationalize anything in that situation you know i can't let my child be homeless you know that that in the name of that you can do almost anything that's dumb, right? Yeah. And so you get all this melodrama going around the desperation, and we dramatize everything, and your brain quits working. And that's what's going on. He's thrashing.

So you've got to throw cold water on him, calm him down, sit down with his spouse, help him develop a new plan that does not involve stupid and they don't feel trapped and they don't feel scared and you can coach them through that are they in your area they are not they live a couple states away okay well you're going to be doing this by facetime then but yes yeah but just the same what i just told you is exactly true now how long ago was the uh charge on him uh two years ago i believe okay all right so is there a story that can be told that is reasonable that is that shows this in the rearview mirror there definitely is okay then tell that to regular people who are landlords and find someone who will have mercy on a young couple with a baby that needs a house.

That kind of stuff. That's simple. And, you know, it's kind of like this. Okay, who would rent to somebody that just filed bankruptcy? I would because they can't file bankruptcy again, for one thing. Okay, so it makes them a great risk as a landlord. But secondly, I want to hear the story. Did you learn something from this,

or are you still doing the crap that caused you to be bankrupt? And if I can get the story and I can see what's going on, they actually might be somebody that's actually learned their lesson versus somebody that's not bankrupt and is deeply in debt and can't pay their bills, right? Right. But an apartment complex can't pay their bills, right? Right. But an apartment complex can't think like that. They're not allowed to think.

They have to do what somebody in Atlanta or Chicago in the home office told them they had to do. But if you just get the little old lady and little old man that have a little old place to rent over here, like me, you know, you can talk. But all of this comes down to desperation do you agree yes i do yeah and then he can calm down and he can go through fpu and he can start stabilizing his life but he's thrashing around fear-based and a hundred percent of the time that's going to bring damage it's's like impulse. Impulse always brings damage. Anytime I impulse something, it's my highest likelihood of making a bad purchase.

It's my highest likelihood of paying too much. It's my highest likelihood of buying something I don't need. It's my highest likelihood of buying something that I regret buying later. He who is impulsive exalts folly, the proverb says. Folly is the verb of a fool in action. That's what I'm talking about. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Hey, it's Blake Thompson, senior executive producer for the show.

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