The Ramsey Show - App - Is My Fiancée Being an Entitled Princess About Our Wedding Budget? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Rachel Cruze discuss: Dealing with an entitled fiancee who wants her dream wedding, Pulling from retirement to pay off debt, Roth vs. cash management accounts, Spending $25k on a vacation, When to pull from social security.   Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6   Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author. My daughter is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. Anthony's going to start us off in Los Angeles. Hi, Anthony. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, how are you doing, Mr. Ramsey? Great, man. Anthony's going to start us off in Los Angeles. Hi, Anthony. Welcome to the Ramsey show. Hi, how are you doing, Mr. Ramsey? Great, man. What's up? So my fiance and I recently got engaged last August and we've been fighting about the cost of it. I told her that I wanted to pay off my debt first before we went and tried to pay off a big wedding. And I just paid off my debt this month and uh with the wedding that she wants I can't afford it with it only being six months away and I've been telling her that I don't

what is the price tag 16,000 the price tag is 20,000 but so there's $16,000 left. What do you make? About $30,000, $40,000 a year. Okay. What does she make? About the same, sir. We're both in the military. Oh, I see. Okay.

I'm sorry. Go ahead with your question. That's basically, so I was telling her that I don't feel comfortable going back in debt. But she basically, I asked her to move it back. She said if the wedding doesn't happen when it's scheduled, just like that, there's kind of no reason for us to continue. And I don't know if this is something I should hold my ground on or as a man, if I should make this happen for her. Well, the surface problem is that she's choosing a wedding over you. Right.

Which you're kind of involved in the wedding. So this is kind of oxymoronic. It's a little crazy. But then there's deeper stuff. I mean, I would think, though, Anthony, there's other stuff going on, right? I mean, do you have a pattern of not doing what you say? And she feels like that this is part of it. I mean, is there other stuff or is it really that simple that she's like, if I can't have this wedding at this date with $20,000, I'm done?

Like, was it really that cut and dry or have you guys been? We've been fighting since we got engaged. Fighting about what what about what specifically for me it's the cost of it she says that um i'm being greedy and this is something that people you know pay for and i've just been telling her i just don't feel comfortable going in debt there's other ways around it i've said if we can push it back which we've already pushed it back it was originally supposed to be uh happening next month But due to our finances from coming back overseas, we pushed it. That's so frustrating. I'm like, go get married. You guys have been

engaged for a year. Go get a marriage certificate. You guys go to the courthouse, go get married. And then in six months, well, yeah, I guess that's probably true. I guess this would have been like, this is what I would want for you for you though if it was in a healthy state that's fair that's fair is to go do that and then you can go do a reception another time but there's but there are there are too many red flags here let's establish a couple things all right a sixteen thousand dollar wedding is not too much you wrong. That is a reasonably priced wedding. Yes, sir. But you are right to say I'm not willing to borrow money to do it,

and I don't make a lot of money. It's going to take me a while to scratch that together. So in the sense that she's right, she probably feels like you don't value her, you don't value the ceremony, and you're not, you know, you don't. Or he's being cheap. Yeah, you're being cheap when it comes to her, and that's probably hurting her feelings. And that's probably where the fights are coming from.

How old are you two? I'm 23, sir. And she is? 24, sir. Okay. All right. So the amount is not out of line. The process and everything around the thing is out of line.

When you hear, if I don't get my wedding my way, I'm out of here, well, guess what? You're going to hear that the rest of your life. If I don't get this car, I'm out of here. If I don't get this couch, I'm out of here well guess what you're going to hear that the rest of your life if i don't get this car i'm out of here if i don't get this couch i'm out of here if i don't if you don't budget for my nails and my hair i'm out of here so you know you're not an atm machine you're a husband potentially okay and it's not a matter of as a man it's a matter of we need to be as two grown-ups in agreement, in alignment of how we're going to live our lives. And if we can't establish that I'm not going to borrow money,

and so if you demand that we do things that require that we borrow money, then we don't need to get married because that's going to be inconsistent and we're always going to be fighting, and it's not good. It's going to lead to another divorce or a divorce in the future, so we don't need to do that. But if we can be in agreement that the amount is reasonable, but the process, the ultimatum, I'm out of here if I don't get what I want, spoiled little brat routine, or the process of i demand you borrow money to make me happy

um and again that's against your values then yeah this is over she needs to just check out so uh so if i were in your shoes obviously you guys are in love or you think you are um i would try to sit down with a pastor a cha chaplain. You're in the military. Get a chaplain to sit down with you. A good Christian chaplain is the only way I know to get at it. Or go see a pastor at a local church and sit down and try to get some coaching and some counseling, some relational input on how you guys deal with this. It sounds like you're talking at each other instead of with each other. Yes, sir. Like she's not hearing how important this is to you,

and you're not hearing how important this is to her, and so it comes down to you have to borrow money to make me happy. That's probably not what she really means. I hope she's not that immature and shallow. She's probably just saying, dude, this has been going on forever. You know, it's been going on forever. And I don't, I don't see how we're ever going to get there. And I can't, you know, if we don't borrow money, I don't know how we're going to have $16,000.

I don't know how we're going to have a decent wedding, but a $16,000 wedding with both of you working and household income would be the equivalent of about $70,000 is not unreasonable. Yeah. It's not if you had the cash and can put the cash together. By the way, during this year, while you were getting out of debt, she put a whole $4,000 towards this. Where's her? If she makes the same amount of money, it's not your obligation to man up i mean you're over here cleaning up something else yeah so and i don't necessarily believe you have to be out of debt to be married either by the way that's another thing i would throw at you so

we do want you to live out of debt and debt free because we believe that's the best way you're going to have a great life but it's not yeah you're not required to be debt-free to start a family, have a baby, or get married, like these big life things. But you do need to be in agreement. And right now, the big red flags are you're not in agreement. And if this does come down to the ultimatum of you either borrow money or I'm out of here, then, you know, I'm going to miss her.

Going to miss you. That's what it comes down to. She's walking away. Yeah. The old country song. Alan Jackson? No, Brad Paisley. No.

Brad Paisley is a fishing song. Yeah, I'm going to miss her. Oh, I'm going to miss her too. Yeah, there's a lot, Anthony. Yeah. This is the Ramsey Show. well we're already halfway through august can you believe it next week every store will probably have Christmas out. If fall means that you're planning to go broke until tax season,

make this year the one you say enough is enough. You know, let's stop. Say, I've had it. I make too much money to be this broke. The Ramsey $10 sale is back for a very limited time to help you take control of your money now is your chance to get up to 83 off our number one best-selling books and tools like the total money makeover like love your life not theirs like know yourself know your money by rachel cruz those are both number one best sellers our team isn't

stopping get help solving your money worries and it should not be overwhelming. That's why we're also offering a free financial coaching call with any purchase. Talk with a Ramsey Preferred Coach about your specific money questions and plans, and they'll help you make goals and stick to them. So you can go from I've had it to I've got this. Ten bucks. Doesn't get much most places but right now at ramsey solutions.com gets you a lot the ten dollar sale ramsey solutions.com check out

all the best-selling books that are available for you up next is going to be evan in san antonio texas hi evan how are you hello mr ramsey how are you? Hello, Mr. Ramsey. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can we help? Well, my husband and I were coming up on five years on Friday. Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. We're still new at this. However, we have been on this journey to getting debt free, but we're stuck on baby step number two because we've had so many transitions. So I wanted to know, would it be okay for me to

take my retirement money that I have to put towards our debt since we're transitioning again. And that way we would be out of the debt, but we would be able to potentially use the rest of our money towards retirement. Well, if you do that, Evan, no, well, let me say this. No, we would not recommend doing that. Because if you did that, the amount of penalties, the amount of fees that are associated with retirement accounts before the age, it's not worth it. It's not smart. Not smart. Do you guys have any other investments that are not tied to retirement?

Any other just mutual funds? Or do you have CDs or anything in any other account no ma'am we don't we have um we so one of our transitions is that we recently moved from another state so uh we we had this move because of a job offer that my husband had and he accepted it so it was a pay increase for him so what's your household income so for household income right now we're at about 70,000 and how much debt do you have in baby step two so in baby step two we have right around 17 and how much money are you putting in your 401k So in baby step two, we have right around 17. And how much money are you putting in your 401Ks?

It's coming out now of his pay because I'm no longer working. Yeah. How much money is going into his 401K? What percentage? I'm not exactly sure. Okay. And how many times a week do you all go out to eat? I cook. How many nights a week do you go out to eat?

Not very often. How many nights a week do you go out to eat? I'm not going. We don't. I cook. Every night. You never go out to eat not every night he grabs something like on the way to work so he works i would say

yeah he works um and then i have the kids so i i was i was teaching but um i had a baby yeah good so i have a newborn so i'm not congratulations that's awesome thank you and um when was the last vacation you guys had oh my goodness we haven't had a vacation as a matter of fact he's working on our anniversary is fr of fact he's working on our anniversary it's friday and he's working okay so he he what are the transitions you're referring to having a baby and moving um no we had um in 2020 i had um a baby a baby boy and then he had to resign his position at his job. So he wasn't working for a time. He was doing like lift and things like that. But because I was a teacher, I was able to still work during that time.

So we were down to one income in 2020 because he wasn't able to work. And then I had the baby. Let me tell you what I hear happening. And you tell me if i'm wrong okay a lot of life is coming at you job changes babies covid working not working um a lot of things are happening and you've not been paying attention to the details of the money while all these different things were happening because you were your mind was so full of those other things because your answers are incomplete

when i ask you very direct questions yes and so um i think you kind of feel like a hamster in a wheel don't you yes yeah and you're thinking that the magic bullet is to take the money out of retirement. Instead, the magic bullet is to get to the bottom of all of this, and the two of you sit down with the kids asleep and sit down and do a detailed budget and lay out some dreams on paper, like knocking out this $17,000. What have we got to do to do that? And we're going to tighten up the food budget,

and we're going to pick up work here and there and do what we can. We're going to look around here for what we can sell, and we now have a new goal in addition to cleaning diapers and feeding screaming toddlers. We now have a new goal, and that is to knock this $17,000 in the head. But the trick is what will happen while you do that is the two of you will learn to work together and work a budget and work a system and happen to the money while life is happening instead of the money kind of gets parked on the side while life is happening. And you've got to get up in its face and make it behave.

Right. That's the answer to your equation. and that's a lot more valuable than seventeen thousand dollars and that's a lot more valuable than your retirement account being cleaned out no please don't clean out your retirement because this this debt is a symptom of you guys not having focused concentration detailed diligence on this subject because of all that's been coming at you but hey you got two littles two tiny littles now i've had a lot and they're like a full-time that's a big deal i mean they're overwhelming they are they need a lot they need a lot they don't do much for themselves at this age and so you know and i and i really do see the

next 12 months of your lives uh getting better being more simple right like what you just laid out for the last two years that has been a lot and gaining traction in the middle of all that uh would be really difficult and so i wouldn't like don't feel shame or embarrassment because of that but also to dave's point earlier now that things are settled you guys actually work on on your habits and like what you guys are doing where your money's going being so so intentional with a plan list it out know exactly what you're doing have a timeline have a game plan and you guys together do that which from a tactical standpoint fifteen hundred dollars a month on this debt we're gonna be done in a year yeah we. Yeah. We're going to live on beans and rice, rice and beans.

We're not going out to eat. We're pausing retirement. Tell them to pause retirement for now. Oh, by the way, you're still putting money into retirement. That's not what we tell you to do. We tell you to stop. I forgot about that. I pulled that out of her, and then I left it laying there.

It's okay. I'll host the show. Okay. You can catch my slime. And yeah, that's exactly right. You need to stop your 401K. During your baby steps one, two, and three, you do not do investing because you need total focus. And you've not had total focus. It's all spread all over the place.

That's what we're hearing talking to you. So, yeah, stop your 401K, detailed type budget, beans and rice, rice and beans, no vacations, no eating out. We are going to completely focus on this debt. $1,500 a month, and you are debt-free in one year from today. That's all you got to do. You can do it. This is The Ramsey Show. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, my daughter is my co-host today.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jack is with us in Little Rock, Arkansas. Hi, Jack. How are you? I'm doing good. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you taking my call. Sure. What's up? So I'm 26. My wife's 27. In January of this year, we recently

became debt-free, including our temporary house. It's a mobile home we're living in. We're planning to build a home. We have a five-year plan, hoping to save $5,000 a month so that we can build a $300,000 home. Now that we're debt-free, we're kind of getting into the investing portion. I'm investing $100 to $300 a week through a cash management account with Fidelity, along with maxing out my Roth through my employer. What portion of this is for the house? So the investing is not for the house. Neither one of those? No, sir. No, sir. So the house, we're putting in a savings account, $5,000 a month at minimum.

I'm in sales, so sometimes we contribute more than that. But additionally, I'm maxing out my Roth with my employer and then contributing $100 to $300 a week to the S&P 500. But I heard you talking about doing a Roth IRA and didn't know if I was better off doing that. Yes, I am much better off doing that. At this stage of your wealth building i would be putting 15 of your income into retirement accounts in raw and things that have matched first things that are roth second and traditional third until you get to 15 what's

your household income a year um i'm about 260. Okay. All right, so we're trying to get to about $50,000 a year going into retirement. Correct. And so does your wife work outside the home? She did. She was a nurse practitioner, but we recently had twins, so she's now a stay-at-home mother. Okay, cool. Congratulations.

Yeah, that's wonderful. So it's going to be tough to get to $50,000. I mean, you max out your 401K, that's going to be $20, cool. Congratulations. Yeah, that's wonderful. So it's going to be tough to get to $50,000. I mean, you max out your 401K, that's going to be $20,000, and you max out your two Roths, that's going to be another $16,000. You're still not going to be there. It's only going to be $36,000. She's not working anymore, though. I know.

You can do a spousal Roth anyway. But both of you do individual Roths in good growth stock mutual funds. You max out your 401k in Roth. That's what I would do. And you know what? At your stage of the game, how old are you guys? I'm 26. She's 27. That doesn't get you to 15%, but that's all you can do without doing after-tax stuff in a cash management type account. Instead, what I would do is build the house sooner. I'd throw everything above the fully funded 401 and the fully funded two Roths. Everything above that I'd throw in the house account. Let's get this house built in three years instead of five.

So am I good saving the money, or do I need to invest the house fund and then pull it out? No, I wouldn't pull it. You're fine saving it. Just save it. need to invest the house fund and then no i wouldn't fool with your fine saving it just save it yeah on the house fund but the other stuff needs to be in mutual funds and in roths 401ks and two roth individuals do that with a good smart investor pro i mean you're putting 36 000 bucks away that way if i'm doing that right in my head it's not 32 000 but anyway uh for the next three years that's pretty substantial you make a lot of money then you're going to have a paid for house very soon three to four years something like that and um then uh then you can worry about you'll be a baby step seven you can

worry about other investing at that point but uh you're doing great jack great job well done incredible patrick is in denver hey patrick what's up hey babe hey rachel how are you great how can we help good thanks for taking my call i'm calling about taking an expensive vacation this time next year to the beach i want to know if i'm i'm too crazy for doing so um little background it's me my wife and two kids both under two, we'd go to the beach for about two weeks. Half the time would be spent with my son of the family, half the first time to the family. Uh, the total number of people at any one time would probably be about nine. Uh, these things are hard to plan. So essentially we're going to pay for the house,

uh, and invite everyone. Um, People have said that they would contribute, but no discussion with regard to how much. And so the budget that we're thinking is it'd be about $20,000 for the house for two weeks. And then I'm assuming about $3,000 or $5,000 in extra spending for food, travel, flights, all that sort of stuff. What's your household income? So my wife and I, from a salary perspective, we're about $300 a year. I'm heavily bonused, so all in, we're about $500 to $550 a year. And obviously you're paying cash for this. Are you debt-free?

Yep. Everything but the house. I would do it. I would do it i would do it okay yeah that's with it that's within your ratios i mean it's not crazy you told me you made fifty thousand dollars a year i tell you don't do it or if you told me you were in debt you had three car payments i tell you don't do it but um okay i mean you make a half million dollars a year you're dropping 20 grand yeah well me and my wife are just more conservative yeah but i mean if you made 100 grand and you dropped four grand

it'd be the same thing sure got it ratio ratio it's the exact same ratio right yeah the sticker price is probably getting to you guys but yeah but the but the thing to look at really is the percentages of what you guys can afford so when you see the sticker price you're like 20 grand for a house oh my gosh like it feels feels like a lot because it's a lot but you guys make a lot and um generally yeah as far as anybody else contributing and all that kind of stuff i i would have zero expectation there uh the secret to happiness is low expectations all right yeah because if your wife is sitting around waiting on somebody to chip in then she's going to be pissed at them if they don't that don't do this okay just don't worry

about it you don't have to if you you don't need the money whatever they don't chip in is good whatever they do chip in is good whatever it's all good awesome all right congratulations what Awesome. All right. Congratulations. What in the world do you do for a living? I'm in private equity. Ah, okay. Okay. And what were you asking, Rachel? I just said enjoy the beach. Oh.

Which beach? Sounds great. We will. I'll wear my sunscreen, too. What beach are you going to? It'd be in Florida, near Pensacola. Okay. Dave and I might show up, Patrick we may contribute we may not we'll see

low expectations of us i'm not gonna say a thing oh good luck with all that patrick it's's going to work out. Well done, sir. Open phones at 888-825-5225. So ratios are a good way to help you know if the amount is giving you sticker shock or if you're being irresponsible. And here's an example. A friend of mine made $20 million last year. That's what he makes most years, somewhere in that range.

He's very, very, very, very successful, makes a lot of money. He bought a $200,000 car. That's mind-blowing, right? That's a lot. But if you just take some zeros off, let's do it, okay? So instead of $20 million, you made $2 million. Instead of $200,000, you bought a $20,000 car. Or $100,000.

No, if you went from $200,000 a year. Oh, I'm sorry. You went from a $200,000 car to a $20,000 car. Yes, correct. Knock a zero off. Correct. Okay, and you knock a zero off the $20 million. And so if you make $2 million, is it okay to buy a twenty thousand dollar car yeah if you make two hundred thousand

is it okay to buy a two thousand dollar car it's exact same ratios and if you make twenty thousand is it okay to spend two dollars yeah so here's the here's the kicker though so you look at the ratios which is really really important but also gets to the point of, like, when is the line of, like, we just don't need it, though. Yeah. But the point is it's not a relative amount of money. Yes. It's, you know, when someone, when he's making a half a million dollars,

spending $20,000, and, again, back your ratios down, what's that like for somebody making $50,000? That's about like spending $200. Totally. I mean, it's the same thing. So is that irresponsible? No. Can it shock your mind

because it feels like a lot because you've never done it before? Sure. But none of you should stand to the side and go, no one should ever. That's just you being a judgmental jerk. That's all that is. This is The Ramsey Show. our scripture of the day pro Proverbs 11, 13,

a gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence. Eleanor Roosevelt said, great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today. Thank you for joining us, America. We're so glad you are here.

Mike is with us. Mike is in Oklahoma City. Hey, Mike, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you, sir. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, I have been a Dave Ramsey follower for years, and I've a baby all the way through baby seven and would like to be able to start

giving back. Um, and I have a heart for trying to help new businesses get started and I didn't know if you can give me some guidance on what's the best way to set up an organization, whether it's nonprofit, that type of thing to put money into that I can get to this giveaway. Hmm.

Generous, Mike. How much are you talking about? Money to put into, you mean? I'm talking maybe where I can give, oh, like start helping companies, you know, get maybe $15,000 to $25,000 to help them get started, that type of thing. And I'm looking to put in maybe $250,000 to get started, that type of thing. Okay.

All right. I think that's probably worthy of going to the legal trouble to form a foundation. Okay. Form a foundation. Okay. Sit down with an attorney and talk about how we'd put together a foundation. And we did that several years ago, the Ramsey Family Foundation. It's not for small businesses.

It's for ministries that we give to and support and people and so forth. Um, but, um, the same concept and you would apply for and receive a, uh, you'd want to be a 501 C three, a nonprofit, uh, and, um, it's an IRSs process to get that approved it takes a little while six weeks used to i don't know with them not working much now how that's going to be but um the um uh and then you've just got to put together some you don't have to do this legally but from a practical standpoint you just need to think about how you're going to distribute the money in the most efficient way that causes the most lift, right? Okay, right. Are you plugging in this certain kind of programs? Are you going to have requirements or guidance, guidelines for what type of small businesses, or they have to be healthy in this way and that way and this way before you do it or um or is this just straight up startups or it's basically i was looking at startups or ones

that have just gotten started i've done one already and i just did it out of my pocket and they now expanded to have it's a restaurant now have two stores and so i my i thought and i'm just you know and i've been in church and you run across and you hear different things, and I'm thinking, I would like to be able to help out and start this or help them do that. But I've just not been in a position to start until now. I mean, you can continue to do it out of your pocket, but if you run it through the 501, then it's a little more paperwork, a little more structure, but you get the tax deduction that way. And, you know, it's formed for the purpose of this. And, you know, you'll need to get legal and tax advice on how to put all that together. But it's not horrendous.

It's doable. But it's not worth it if you're going to give away $10,000 one time. It's not worth the trouble and but in this case I you know 250 000 bucks and sounds like you've done very well congratulations yeah and so if you're giving out of that to get the tax benefit do you have to give to other 501c3s no no you know once your foundation is formed for that purpose then you're just supporting small businesses and yeah that's what the whole purpose of the non-profit is and um but you've got to establish it that way and it has to all be approved of course um then the money that goes into the foundation is tax deductible not the money that comes out so um so as you put the money in you

take the tax deduction so when we fund right the ramsey family foundation that's a deductible process and i think mike too just on a kind of a different point but i'm like i would have maybe three or four questions that you just ask yourself to kind of run through and if there's a no on one of those questions that it could be a red flag just to give you some a little bit of parameters too as you're discussing this because also if this kind of gets out in the world you may get some people knocking on your door being like hey we heard you did this over here and we want to start this thing you don't mean so like having a little bit of guidance just for yourself for sanity purposes i think is important too so we've definitely got had had to put that in place and have put that in place in ours because we're very restrictive on what we do give to, very careful.

And, yeah, lots of guidelines on it, actually. Roger is with us. Roger's in Nashville. Hi, Roger. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you, Dave and Rachel. I appreciate you taking my call. Sure.

What's up? Well, I'm recently around 65 years old. My wife will be 60 in December. I'm recently retired and I'm at that dilemma of do you take Social Security? And I have a 403B account that has taken quite a hit over the past year or so, and trying to make a decision if I'm supposed to tap into that or just get another job to get me to 66 1⁄2 at the full, with the fruition of my Social Security, have no idea what to do. Yeah. Well, you shouldn't have to.

How much is in the 403B? It's about $175,000. Okay. You wouldn't have to take out much to survive between now and then, but if you want to go ahead and start Social Security, it's okay. But you don't have anything to live on, basically, is what you're saying. I don't, and that's my dilemma. Should I go get another job just to get me to 66 1⁄2,

or should I go ahead and just start taking the Social Security now? Or should you draw down enough on the 175 because you're not going to draw the whole thing out no no what's it what's it take you to live a year um well my income has been about 65,000 for me and my wife is about 38,000 but so I'm at zero so we have her 38 and so that leaves me should i get another job or tap into both social security and and the uh the retirement account yeah well if this is all the nest egg that you have it won't hurt to not touch it and uh uh you know to work a little bit more and get yourself through to where you can get the money coming in to live on that's going to be good it's not 1.7 million it's 175 000 yeah so yeah i'm probably going to work

in that situation um seems like it's a wise thing to do and then get yourself in a position that that um you get everything organized get the house paid off if it's not we're 100 debt free we're going in then we can make it on social security at that point and uh and or a little bit of draw off of the the nest egg that 175 will double about every seven years that you don't touch it if it's in good growth stock mutual funds averaging what the stock market is averaged including all these i think that's what's so hard too is people just like in his position that are so close to retirement and it's like the hit over the last two years it's like oh man it feels it

feels defeating well it's not as bad as the news reports i mean he probably had 200 in there now he's got 175 or something it's not like it went in half yeah it did not go in half but it but it's fear but to his point it's the worst time to take it out. Right. You don't want to take it out at the bottom. Right. Or any of it, even enough to live on. And since it's not a huge nest egg, then, yeah, I'm probably going to work and leave the nest egg preserved and not mess with Social Security right now and go ahead and max it out.

The Social Security formula is pretty simple. It's very easy to do if you know when you're going to die. Because it dies with you. And so the longer you wait to take it, the more you get. But the shorter you live, the less that works. So, I mean, if you wait until 66 and a half, you get the maximum amount. But then if you only live to 70, that doesn't work out. And so if you kind of have longevity in your family and so forth,

you want to wait to take it unless you have health problems that indicate you're not going to enjoy the same benefit. So that's what you're facing. Rachel, good show today. Yes, thanks for having me on. Well done, James, Andrew, Zach, Ben, and Austin in the booth. The dudes in the booth. That's what we're going to start calling them, the booth dudes.

Oh, wow. Make t-shirts. That puts this hour in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Dave here. You can find all of our shows with the Ramsey Network app on your smartphone.

It's the only place to listen to the entire back catalog of episodes. Download the Ramsey Network app in your favorite app store today.