The Ramsey Show - App - I'm 19 and Got Kicked Out of the House (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 17, 2021

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

5 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Ramsey Show. Where debt is done, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host today as we talk about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Audra is with us in Hastings, Nebraska to start off this hour. Hey, Audra, what's up?

Hi, Dave and George. I said the first thank you for changing my life. I'd prefer to call you for a better circumstance. But in April of 2020, I became debt free from a lot of divorce and student loan debt. And now I'm on baby steps four through six. Good. But I'm also saving. Yeah, I'm also saving for a car and a house. I'm 35 with two kids, and my 20-year term life policy ends at 43. So I thought I would look into getting another one before I turned 40, because I thought I'd be a lot further along than I am right now. Long story short, the urinalysis came back showing potential kidney damage, so they had me repeat it twice. Those also came back showing the damage. company gave me a table B category for $500,000 for 30 years at $113,000 a month, which I think

is extremely high. I currently pay $18,000 a month for my $500,000 policy that I got when I was in my 20s, thanks to you. And I have 13 days left to decide if i want to get this rate or i can wait two years and gamble if my test is going to be better i he said i could go back to the preferred rate or if it's worse i'm uninsurable what is the nature of your kidney damage do you have any idea what cost it i i don't even know that that it's actual damage yet i just know that the test i got that part i mean you don't you don't there wasn't an event that you can look back and go oh that's where the kidney damage came from oh um not to my knowledge um okay i did a test otherwise you're 35 and healthy yeah yeah and your household and your income is what oh very small um under 15 a year why i work from home and i raised my two

girls and um their dad he's with us we're together um I work from home, and so I'm their full-time daycare. And so I do web design and graphic design from home. So I would say I work part-time. Okay, I'm a little bit confused. I thought you said you were divorced. Now you said their dad is there. Oh, their dad is not my ex-husband. That was an abusive marriage that I got out of. And then I met their dad is not my ex-husband. That was an abusive marriage that I got out of.

And then I met their dad. How old are your children? Four and 14 months. Okay. All right. And their dad makes how much money? $28,000, $30,000. So neither one of you are doing very well in your careers.

No. Financially, though, you know, I'm debt-free. He has some student loan debt. Yeah, but you're starving to death. You don't have any money. So, no, you don't need this life insurance is the answer to your question. Okay. It's too expensive. It's ridiculous in your situation. Okay.

Now, what was life insurance for? We got $500,000 there. It's good for eight more years. Hopefully, during that eight years, your health will not deteriorateate, will instead get better if you take good care of yourself. Also, during that eight years, if you want to make sure your children are taken care of, it would involve marrying their dad, and it would involve you guys as a married couple having a financial plan that takes care of your careers, and both of you start working on your careers, because both of you need to double your income in the next three years.

Okay. Because really, your kids are vulnerable because of your marital status and because of your low incomes, more than your insurance issue. Okay. And so that's what I would tell you to do if I was your dad. And I've got one that's your age, by the way. Yeah, Audra, I think if you can get a job doing graphic design, you might make enough money to actually pay for some child care for them.

And like Dave's saying, the goal of this life insurance is to replace your income in case something happens. Right now, that's $15,000. There's not a lot going on there. So number one, I would check. I don't know where you shopped your rates with, but maybe check with our friends at Zander. See what that would be like going forward if you want to check that later on. But I don't think you need 30 years because if you follow our plan, you're going to be doing really well 30 years from now to where you're self-insured. That's

what we talk about. Well, and we tell you 15 to 20-year level term with Zander Insurance, let them shop when you need insurance. But you've got life insurance more than you need today. It's very inexpensive, and it has eight years left on it. So sometime in the next eight years, you need to address this subject. But during that time, stabilizing your household from a career perspective and a marital status standpoint will be the best thing for your kids financially for survivability or sustainability of something to happen to you yeah and that's what the life insurance is all about what are we trying to do there we're trying to make sure the kids are okay and so the advice i'm giving you is the exact same thing we're trying to make sure the kids are okay

we got bigger fish to fry than the term life right now we've got to get this career situation we got to get the income up and put ourselves in a good financial position. Yeah, and I think there's still some hesitation on your part based on the way you told the story and your language both about marriage because you were in a bad one that was abusive. And I appreciate that i know that that was a horrible thing and a certain amount of ptsd goes with that kind of garbage that kind of trauma i don't i don't disagree with that but i'm not looking at your life through the lens of the past i'm looking at your life through the lens of the future and where are you going what's the vision for you in the next 25 years where you're vision for you in the next 25 years?

Where are you going to be in the next eight years? You could be in such a great position in eight years that the four-year-old is 12, the baby is 10, and, you know, you're going to be in such a good position financially that the life insurance is not going to be an issue. That could happen in eight years, but you're going to have to make some pretty serious moves to get you in that direction. So good question, and we appreciate you calling in and being part of the show today. Open phones at 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. George Campbell, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. He is the host of a brand-new podcast that we launched two weeks ago called The Fine Print. It came out as number one in the business section, and the third episode dropped yesterday on Monday, the third of ten.

So be sure and check out The Fine Print. Do you remember when your dad said, read The Fine Print? Well, it's because you get messed over if you don't george does the digging to tell you what's going on in the fine print In an uncertain world, being a good steward of your money is more important than ever. While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org budget. That's chministries.org. George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Lucas is in Phoenix. Hey, Lucas, what's up? Nothing much, Dave. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. How can I help? So I am 19 years old. I just graduated high school probably about two months ago.

I have no debt. I've been working a lifeguarding job here in Arizona for about roughly four years, so I'm on good terms with them. However, it doesn't pay a lot, so I've been incorporating my lifeguarding job here in Arizona for about roughly four years, so I'm on good terms with them. However, it doesn't pay a lot, so I've been incorporating my new landscaping business, and then that's been really taken off. So the issue is with all of this is I've been recently kicked out of the home, and it's not been for not going to college or being lazy or alcohol or drugs or anything like that. You just really don't see eye to eye, and so we tried going to therapy and whatnot to try to work through that,

but this really hasn't been working out. So my mom wanted me out, and I've been staying with a friend of mine who goes to my same church. And so he's been mentoring me and kind of teaching me some stuff about finances and whatnot, just trying to help me get my feet up underneath me. And so my whole goal here is to try to do a minimal, a minimalistic mindset, um, just so that way I can focus into more of my future, not my mental, like the present and, you know, wasting money on certain things. And so right now I have no credit history. Um, and so it's very difficult to, you know, buy anything that's going

to help me live somewhere. Right. So, um, currently I'm with him. And so I'm thinking of, um, getting like a mini camper that I can pull on the back of my truck and I have an actual place to park it. Um, and it's about 17,000, um, outright. So if I walk out the door, it's about $17,000 to buy that. I don't want to lease it very, you know, cause they go down in value so quickly and it's, it's really just a bad deal that way. So I really don't want to lease it very you know because they go down in value so quickly and it's really just a bad deal that way so i really don't know what to do because all i have right now is about 37 to four thousand dollars that's kind of a scary place lucas yeah yeah it kind of woke me up a little bit. Yeah. So you have a landscaping business, and you are making what kind of income?

So when I'm just kind of using it as a side gig, which was, you know, a couple years ago, it was making in, you know, a hundred bucks here, 300 there. Now, what are you making? What do you make? You need money right now. What are you making right now? Right now? Um, like for the past week or so, I've probably brought in about $2,000 within a week and

a half, two weeks. Doing what? Uh, just landscaping. Okay. All right. And so you're out there hustling up landscaping business, right? Oh yeah. I'm out there every single day. Then my lifeguarding, that if I was to work close to 40 hours a week, I'm making about $1,407 after taxes every two weeks for a paycheck that's

bringing me down about $813 to $800, which is nothing. Yeah, the landscaping is going to make you a lot more. And on top of that, I'm working for myself. On top of that what? I'm working for myself, so it's more meaningful. It has greater potential, that type of stuff. Right this second, I don't give a crap about that. I'm just trying to get you where you have shelter and food.

Your life's meaning is way down my list right now for you. I just want you to have a place to live and food and stability, sustainability. Then we can worry about meaning and self-actualization and those kinds of things. But right now, I've got a 19-year-old homeless kid on the phone, and that's what's running through my head. So, no, you do not need to buy a $17,000 camper under any circumstances. Okay? Okay.

Not a good move. You have $4,000. If you can find a ratty old used one for $1,000, which you probably actually can, and you want to live in that for four months while you build up some more cash and stabilize your income and then go rent an apartment with a roommate, that's okay. How long can you live with the guy you're with? She said, I mean, as long as it takes, as long as I'm working my, you know, pardon me, working on my blood off to get myself stabilized. And I do have a very good work ethic.

Like, I'm out here working a ton. I'm not questioning that. Okay. So we need to define that because when someone comes to stay in my home, I want to know when they're leaving. Gotcha. Right. Yes, and I don't want to stay there because it's not my home. I know, I know, but I just, as long as it takes could be until you're 29.

He didn't mean that, so I want to know what he meant. So what he's meaning is like six months, you know, max. Let's just do that. Listen, listen, let's just do that. Listen, let's just do that. Let's just stay there for a while. Okay. And listen, and build up. How big a pile of cash can you build up during that time and get your income stabilized and then get a roommate, right?

Yeah, I mean, it sounds like you have very little expenses right now, Lucas. So I want you to take advantage of that while this man is giving you a lot of grace. And like Dave's saying, I would not go into debt for this camper. I know you want to live this minimalist life, and I respect that. That's not minimalist. $17,000 camper when you're broke is not minimalist. Yeah. I think you need to rent and get a roommate.

After that six months, you don't have enough for that camper. But that camper is not going up in value, and it's a depreciating asset. So it's basically like you saying, hey, can I take out a loan for $17,000 to get a truck? And we're going to say no. So I want you to live your dreams. You're 19. You've got a lot of life ahead of you. But right now you need a solid foundation.

You don't have that. And so you've got a great work ethic like you're talking about. Use that to your advantage and use this free rent to your advantage and sock away. Maybe you could save up $5,000, $10,000, go rent somewhere for another six months, and maybe a year or two from now you get that camper. Here's my prediction, okay? Just listening to you. If you'll stay on the track and probably going to lose the lifeguard job for more hours on the landscaping,

if you can get more and more and more landscaping business, you're going to stabilize your income in the next four months at $3,000 to $4,000 a month. And you're going to have about $10,000 in the bank four months from now. With that situation, you can go rent an apartment and get a roommate or rent a room from somebody very inexpensively and then take your next step, which is continue to grow your business and start thinking about your careers but paying cash all the way. This camper, it sounds kind of romantic and like, again,

you're being sacrificial or something, but it's really going to end up being a long-term bad play. And so I'm going to talk you out of that one. Yeah, it's a tough lifestyle. I know it sounds fun. I mean, you're 19. You could probably swing it for a year or two, but eventually you just want a real place to go and sleep.

So, you know, and just, you know, here's the thing. If you can get your home situation sustainable and stabilized then you can start working on your career and you can start looking out and thinking about your future and you can start thinking about you know investing and upgrading and whatever you know taking some classes or doing whatever it is you want to do with your life there's a lot of things you can do from there but for right now now, let's get the food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and utilities going. Get those basic things underway, and that's what I'd tell you to do first. And along the way, even if you're not living there, stay in touch with your mom and your dad.

Tell them what's going on. I don't know what all has happened here. I can't tell. Um, but that's not what this call's about, but it is what it's about. That's what puts you here. Um, so I, I want you to continue to work on that relationship if there's any way possible. Obviously, if you can't, you can't, but, um, you, you want to have tried everything. You do not want to live in regret on that. And so, you know, maybe you and your mom can be friends when you don't live there. Maybe that takes the stress off of it.

I don't know how all that works in your world. But just make sure you just let them know you're okay and that you're working and that you care about them and so on. Just continue that connection. I think that will be very valuable for you 10 years from now especially. Maybe not 10 minutes from now, but 10 years from now. Wow. Yeah.

I mean, he just got punched in the face a little bit, and he's 19. He's having to grow up fast. But I think if he can build his foundation for a little while and get back on his feet, he's going to be just fine. You can tell he's a good kid, good work ethic. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. and the lobby of ramsey solutions on the debt-free stage, Clayton and Gazella are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? We're great. How are you? Really excited.

Welcome. Good to have you. Where do you live? Fort Myers, Florida. Awesome. How much did you pay off? We paid just under $70,000 in 18 months. All right. Very good. And your range of income during that year and a half? We started right around $110,000 and we ended at that time right around $190,000. Whoa! Nice jump. What do you all do and a half? We started right around 110 and we ended at that time right around 190. Whoa, nice jump. What do y'all do for a living? I am a project manager at a non-profit. And I do sales for a payroll and HR tech company. Ah, okay. All right. So you changed jobs or just get big raises or just worked a ton of overtime? What happened to your income going up there almost

double? That's a great question. Yeah, so we changed jobs. And actually, my job, it was not a choice. I was actually one of the millions of people that got laid off because of COVID. Oh, yeah. But, you know, I kind of took that as an opportunity to kind of like look at myself. I'm like, what do I really want to do and really try to better myself? And along that same time, a better opportunity presented itself for Clayton. Yep. So yeah, my job, well, I was lucky enough not to get laid off. I was really affected by the pandemic in the sense that I worked in conferences and events. So obviously,

there were none. So I was in a sales role there as well. I kind of had another opportunity just due to a friend that just kind of fell in my lap, and it couldn't have worked out any better for us. So we're one of the few lucky ones that came out on the other side much better off than we were before. So we're very blessed. I think it had something to do with more than just luck. That's definitely the case. It had to do with you taking action instead of taking a victim pose.

Yes, absolutely. Well done, you guys. Thank you. Very well done. What kind of debt was the $70,000? That's another great question. We're pretty normal. Ranged from student loans, credit cards, two cars, medical bills.

Am I forgetting anything? Did you do the personal loans? And a personal loan. Yeah, quite the range. I had the personal loan. You were normal. Yeah, pretty normal. How long have you been married?

We just got married in January. Oh, wow. Okay. All right. So you started this process, obviously, before marriage as individuals. We did. And then worked your way on through it. What got you started on this?

You go ahead. So I had heard about you, especially through my older brother. But at that point, I was like, Dave Ramsey who? I don't need him. And then Clayton, when him and I first started dating, he started doing it. And he never came to me about it, but I kind of saw he was doing it. And I was like, you know, this is the person I want to marry. And he's really preparing himself.

I need to do the same because I want to bring into this marriage. And so we can go into this marriage together. So that's really what inspired me. And at that point, I moved out of my parents' house, moved into a little studio by myself. And when I saw how much I was paying in rent, I'm like, if I would have saved this every single month, like I would be set. But instead I was just spending no budget. I put together a budget.

And that's when I really realized, wow, this money is just kind of going everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Same here. I was making great money before. And I guess I came to, when I read your book for the first time,

I think that I came to the end of it and realized I'm making all this money. I don't have any of it, you know. And then, yeah, just moving forward and we got engaged and we were moving toward getting married. We were working the plan separate. And for us at that time, I think our big motivation was just we're going to pour the foundation for a family, right? That was the biggest motivation.

We had our board up in we you know we had our um our board up in our house where we had our uh our debt countdown going on um after we got married and a big picture of the house we wanted to build after we finished and um that was that was our why very cool yeah that drove you then well done well done so it's amazing when you tell these dollars what to do that they will behave. It is pretty amazing. Yeah. Otherwise, they're pretty unruly. Oh, yeah.

I mean, you had a moment where you just went, I got to make some changes here because I have future goals. And you stopped living in the present, both of you. And you said, what are our future goals together? And that, to me, is one of the most powerful elements when you get a couple that comes together and go, we're going to pay this thing off. We're going to do it in 18 months. Yeah. It's incredible. Pretty cool. What advice do you have to somebody if they want to get out of debt what do they need to do i think the biggest the biggest thing was the budget for sure um

sticking to the budget was super hard and we definitely had a few setbacks where we you know could have done better along the way but we didn't let it stop us we just kept moving forward and you know look to the next month and um having to say no a lot was definitely difficult. That was super, super tough for me. Giselle is more of a homebody, so maybe not as difficult for her. But I like to go out and hang out with people and be out and having a good time. And it was difficult at first. Yeah, and then just don't forget your why.

Because I know it was difficult for me, especially with an age of social media where you see this person getting a new car or getting new shoes, getting a new purse, just sharing it all. And I'm like, I want that, but I can't have it because I need to remember why I'm doing this. And I would sit there at the table. It's hard to post self-discipline on social media. There's not much to post. And sometimes I'd be there at the dinner table and I'd start crying because I'm like, I want all of these things. But I'm like, I know that I can't have them right now.

And I would sit there and I'm like, you need to live like no one else so you can live and you can give like no one else. And to just be able to have a partner who is with you together is just a blessing. And I think that that's really why we've been so successful is because we feed off of each other. We celebrate every single little win. We're always on the same page. Yeah. And you did it in 18 months. We did it.

That's pretty impressive. And we cash flowed a wedding. Yeah, we cash flowed a wedding. That's in there too. Yeah. Wow. Wow. You guys are rock stars.

Very, very well done. Well, we're very proud of you guys. Excellent, excellent job. Other than the two of you, who were your biggest cheerleaders? I think my brother and his wife, Colin and Jenny, they worked the plan before we did. And seeing them was super inspiring. And like she mentioned, her brother, Fabian, and sister-in-law, Vanessa, they were working the plan as well.

And they paid off all their debt. They're working now towards paying off their house. Wow. It's funny. She's going to kill me for mentioning it. But Vanessa wanted to build a pool. And, uh, I said at dinner one night, you know, is Dave Ramsey going to be happy about you building the pool instead of paying off the house? And, uh, three weeks later, three weeks later, he, uh, he, she texted Gisela and said, you can thank Clayton

for paying off the house now. Yeah. And I think, um, that's been the funniest part is we've talked to other couples who have done it and typically the wife was not on board at first and they're like, is that how you felt? And I'm like, no, actually I did it myself. I'm like, I told him, like, I call myself a little Dave Ramzet. And I think sometimes, which is really nice because, you know, like I said, we really encourage each other. But it's just like I said, remembering your why.

And I'm like, this is, we're really building our foundation and taking it one step at a time and just learning to be patient. Yeah, that's very cool. Well, congratulations, you guys. Thank you so much. Very proud of you. We got a copy of The Legacy Journey for you. That is the next chapter in your story for sure. As you continue to change your whole family tree and your lives, you've just got a great start going.

Thank you. Very, very well done. And a copy of Total Money Makeover for you to give away to somebody. As you've been yakking about this while you're doing it, somebody needs a copy of that book, and you go, oh, I make too much money to be this broke. There you go. That's a great line.

Very good stuff. Very cool. All right, Clayton and Gazella, Fort Myers, Florida. $70,000 paid off in 18 months, making $110,000 to $190,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

We're debt-free! That is how it's done. Can't help but smile watching that happen that's fun well they they're incredible young couple they got a great start they make a lot of money oh yeah and they have paid off everything very very quickly they get the can be done the number of times that someone does their debt-free scream on this show, that their income went down during the process of this, is almost zero. Very close to 100% of the time, the income during the time they're working on getting out of debt goes up. What do you attribute that to?

I think they needed more money to get out of debt. And they're willing to do whatever it takes. So you start looking around going, where can I get more money? And that's part of it. And then part of it is, I think that, you know, God is looking, he says, you know, when you're faithful with the little things, I'll give you more to manage. And so he goes, oh, look at that one. That one's trustworthy, worthy of trust.

They now are demonstrating so that we can give them a little more. That's powerful. And I think that's part of it. I think it's the blessings of the Lord. Yeah. But part of it is just simply you look around and you go, I need some more money. And you go, I need a different job. This one sucks.

Yeah. Or I need a great side hustle because there's a great place to go when you're broke to work. And, you know, because I want to get out of debt faster so I can move on with my life. And that's the thing. It's just for right now. You heard her say that. It's not forever. 18 months.

This is The Ramsey Show. No parent ever wants their child to experience the panic of being unprepared for an emergency. But teaching your kids how to be smart with money is a really big job. We've got your back. We'll help you. Our digital self-study courses, they help you rest assured that your teen will know the right way to handle money, no matter what curveballs life might throw down the road. I mean, wouldn't you have liked to have heard all this stuff when you were like a teen? Yeah, well, you can.

The best part, no instructor is needed. Your teen has a tablet or a computer. They're all set. All you do is text SELFSTUDY to 33789, and you can learn more about the different courses we have available for your middle or high schooler text self-study to 33789 our question of the day comes from blinds.com find out for yourself why blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings free samples free shipping and new promos all the time you save save money. Always use the promo code RAMSY.

Blinds.com, a great American company. Today's question comes from Sharon in Iowa. My husband and I lost our jobs last year when the pandemic hit. We're both receiving unemployment benefits, and while we'd like to find work, being able to stay home means we don't have to pay for child care. Is it okay for us to stay home with our kids, or should we be looking for jobs? Well, it looks like we need some more information here. But, I mean, I like the idea of them staying home

if they're able to financially. I don't like them living off the unemployment benefits, though. That's how they're staying home. I think they need to get back to work. Yeah. So let me tell you what really benefits your children. Showing them how to live your life properly. Not working is not a model that you want your children to follow.

Letting the government take care of you when you have the ability to go and work is not a model that will bring your children a good, full, fruitful, dignity-filled life. Work brings dignity. Living off the dole of the state does not. And you're teaching your children a horrible lesson. You're modeling them a horrible lesson and calling it under the name of nurturing. And so, no, I don't think you're doing right. I think you need to get to work. Now, I don't know if both of you need to go to work. I don't know what your financial status is.

But that's completely up to you as to whether one spouse or the other is able to stay home while the other works. But, you know, teaching your children that the best thing to do is live off, do the least possible amount you can do and let the government pay for your life is not a lesson that's valuable for your children's future. Bad parent. Bad parent. Not nurturing parent. Bad call.

No. No. Don't do that. I could be wrong, but I'm not. I think, I mean, both of them are on these unemployment benefits. I really couldn't be wrong. There's no possible way I think, I mean, both of them are on these unemployment benefits. I really couldn't be wrong. There's no possible way I'm wrong on this. Not yet.

30 years. You haven't been wrong once. I've been wrong a lot. Good track record. But this one, I'm not wrong on. Okay. Actually, I'm being very nice on this one compared to what I could be. You're being kind.

You can't talk to them, so you're being a little kinder. Yes, that's right. Talking into the wind. That's it. Yeah, that's one thing you could be doing, yeah. Adam is in Boston. Hey, Adam, how are you? I'm doing all right.

Thanks so much for taking my call. I really appreciate it. Sure. How can we help? So my beloved dad passed away a couple weeks ago. He was my hero, and we're all taking it pretty hard. But, you know, he worked his entire life to make sure we were all looked after. And my mother is going to be receiving quite a bit of life insurance money,

and she's asked me to kind of help her figure out how to sort out what to do with all of it. And I was going to call and get some advice from the smartest folks I know. I'm sorry. Me too. He was my hero. How old was he? He was 74. Been fighting prostate cancer for about a decade, and it finally won. Wow. I'm so sorry.

So you are 35? Roughly, yeah, 37. We got it pretty close. And after my mom, she's had some tough years as well as he's been really sick and has some of her own medical issues. And so I'm stepping in to just sort of help guide her right now on the financial side and many other ways. And so she's, you know, set to receive, my dad, if I say he really tried to prepare for this moment, she's set to receive about $1.8 million in life insurance. She currently doesn't have any debt other than a, there's a HELOC on the house, on the primary home, which was for about $300,000 and then a $150,000 mortgage on a vacation home. The primary home's worth about a million dollars. The vacation home is worth about $700,000. And then she also has about $800,000 in traditional IRAs between the two of them. And so I want to tell her that what

she should probably do next year is just pay off the mortgage in the HELOC. And if you agree with that, I'm also curious, you know, what she should do with the rest of it to make sure that she's able to be OK for the next decade or so. She does not currently work. She does have a pension that's with his benefit from Social Security will probably end up being about $2,500 a month. Well, she's got over $3 million with a paid-for house and a paid-for lake house, and so yes, she's okay. There's no question

financially that, I mean, if it's invested just round numbers, what, at 10%, that's $300,000 a year, and they didn't spend anywhere near that. Right. Okay. when you lose someone, it's good to give yourself a little space before making major decisions. Mm-hmm. Because not only is her brain not working great right now because of grief, neither is yours. Right. I appreciate your calling, and I'm not trying to be insulting,

but if something happened to my wife, Sharon, I'm the money guy, and my first rule is I'm not going to make any major decisions right then because my brain is in the fog of grief because of my love for her, and your love for your dad is the same way, okay? Yep. So let's just go slow. There is nothing to be proven on how sophisticated you are financially. So number one, yeah, go ahead and pay off those two debts.

That's kind of a no-brainer. And if you put the rest of it in CDs for six months and cry, and then decide how you want to invest it, that's not a bad plan at all. I think that's a big part of the advice I needed to hear. The only reason it's even on my mind is because all these policies have been put in front of me, and I'm trying to figure out how to put the claims in, and otherwise I would love to not think about this for a while.

Yeah, get the claims in, get the cash in the bank, and in three months meet with a smart investor pro with your mom and start thinking about how we can invest some of it. And three months later, actually make some of the investments. Right. You're not going to make any money on this money, but for six months, whoop-de-dup-de. What's your mom need to live for six months, money-wise? I mean, hardly anything.

She's, unfortunately, doesn't get out too much these days. 50 grand? Probably. Yeah. Put 50 grand in her checking account, look at it with her, put it online so you can watch the balance so she doesn't get into grief spending or something, and pay off these two loans and park the rest of it in CDs or a money market. And you can call a SmartVestor Pro and park it with them in a money market if you want,

but you don't need to do anything fancy. Just wait a little bit and then just cry for a while. It's amazing. It's like everyone sort of immediately comes at you with all the things you need to do, and that's all I've wanted to do. That's all I've been doing for three weeks, and it feels too soon to even be wrestling with this stuff, but it was dropped in front of me.

You're a man of duty, and you're honoring your dad's memory by taking care of your mom, and that's a wonderful thing. But you guys do not have to become sophisticated financial investors in the next 24 hours in the middle of this grief. Don't do it. Go slow. Take your time. You got plenty of money.

She's okay. There's no possible way you're going to completely mess this up unless you guys go play the lottery with this money or go to Vegas or something. Don't invest it in Beanie Babies or Bitcoin. Just put it in the bank and give yourself some room. That's all you got to do. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books.

Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.