The Ramsey Show - App - Is the Money in My Savings Account Just “Melting Ice”? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 6, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss:   Dealing with family estate drama, When money in savings becomes like "melting ice", Retirement accounts, Join Jade's FPU Class! Dealing with increasing home insurance rates. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET 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, broadcasting from the POTS moving and storage studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people. We help people build wealth. We help you do work that you love, and we help you create actual, amazing relationships. Thank you for being with us, America. We're here to help.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jade Warshaw, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today, and we're here to talk with you about you right in front of you. Tony's going to start off this hour in Minneapolis. Hey, Tony, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Honored to talk to you. Jade, great addition to the show.

Thank you so much. Thank you for taking my call. Great. My mother talked to me this weekend about redoing her will, and she asked me if she thought it was a good idea to have the lawyer be the executor of the will. And the reason she's asking is we don't really trust my sister. She sued my stepmother's estate and won that case because we were

excluded from the, her will. So I don't know what to do. I don't want to deal with the legal ramifications once my mom passes if my sister chooses to do that wow i'm sorry what a painful mess nothing brings out family dysfunction like a good death oh my gosh so in a normal world where you don't have a litigious crazy sister you would um you you would say okay executor the word if you look at it carefully simply means to execute execute your mother's wishes her last her will what she wills to happen what her and she writes

it down called a testament her last will and. So you're going to execute her wishes. But if you've got somebody that's going to screw around with that and fight all the time, not a bad idea to have a lawyer in the mix just to keep her at bay. It might intimidate her into behaving. Okay. And you wouldn't have to mess with her. Exactly.

That's the plus side of it. I haven't talked to her in two years since she started the lawsuit. What's the size of the estate? I don't know. I asked her to do what you recommended, to have a reading in the will, and my mom said that would pretty much end the relationship between her and my sister. Because she wants to break it up by percentages. If you had to guess how much?

You don't know the size? I mean, is it $10 million, $1 million, $100,000? I'm guessing maybe $500 to $1 million. Okay. My guess is the attorney's probably going to charge her $20,000. Okay. Give or take. take i mean he might charge less or she might charge more might charge less but um wouldn't be that unusual uh that's a

and then an hourly rate if it goes beyond that because we end up in court or something right so um but a flat fee to be an executor on a state that size you know somewhere in there i could be off but just ask and find out about that uh but here's the thing i think we what you're describing me is you got a real high percentage you got to deal with crazy sister right yep so why i don't want that no thanks mom get a lawyer okay good and that part sounded great I just didn't know if we could even trust the lawyer part. Well, you can't. You can't.

You can't trust any. I mean, lawyers are people. Some of them are better than others at their job. And so your mom's job is to get in there and learn that the attorney has put everything down right and talk to the attorney about it and go okay this you know crazy is going to come at us when i die come at you so you need to have this thing buttoned up buddy now what's buttoned up mean what extra layers do we need to put in this thing to totally insulate it now here's the thing in america anyone can sue anyone for anything even if they completely make it up

okay we have this idea that somehow you have to tell the truth or something in a lawsuit uh you don't there's a thing called a pleading which is when they file the lawsuit and they put down their version of the story and uh when you're dealing with crazy people their version of the story is mostly lies and it becomes public record so she could say you know you did all these horrible things in her pleading and file that lawsuit regardless of what this will says a will doesn't keep her from filing it just keeps her from wanting to file because it's so airtight okay but i mean you you may get drug through the mud anyway there's nothing and honestly there's nothing you can do about it yeah she's the executor of on her current will but she wants

to update it and that's where your sister is the executor in her current will correct and she's not in good relationship with her yeah she does need to change that yesterday yeah yeah i know she's not a very good person but she's very intimidating too so how quickly do you think she's going to actually make this change i'm open by summer okay how old's your mom? 76. End of March, dude. Okay. Get it done by the end of March. Because you're going to end up tangled up in stuff for a decade, screwing around with intimidating crazy sister.

Now I like her even less. She's a bully. Yes. Yeah. less she's a bull she's a bully yes yeah so um it's there's no amount of money here that's worth putting up with somebody like that so yeah your mom needs to have yes yes yes yes i normally don't tell people to have a lawyer be the executor but in this case it might be a deterrent because the attorney is not as easily he's not or she's not affected at all by the emotions of your sister where you are. That's right. And I feel like if he's the executor, even though it's the mom, you know, the mom created the will.

If he's the executor, sister is going to take it out on him regardless, just because he's in that position. Whereas with the lawyer, it's a little bit more of a, I don't know, he's like Switzerland in that situation. Yeah. You know, so maybe it can preserve some of, I mean, they're dysfunctional, it's a little bit more of a i don't know he's like switzerland in that situation yeah you know so maybe it can preserve some of i mean they're dysfunctional but maybe there's something that can be preserved there by having the lawyer do it it'd be nice but doesn't sound like it all right kelsey's uh ship sailed kelsey's in lynchburg virginia hi kelsey how are you oh dave i'm better than i deserve how are you better than I deserve. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm 26, currently engaged. We are cash flowing our wedding and a baby step two.

I have been at my job as a social worker for a year, making $40,000, and I recently graduated with my master's degree. I've since done some things outside of my job description at work, and I feel like I've added value with the knowledge that I've gained from my degree. How should I go about asking my boss for a pay increase? Well, you know, if I were asking for an increase, I would start with not just saying, hey, I've got these credentials. Here's what I deserve I would probably go in asking and checking myself first and going okay I may have upgraded my career but have I actually added value so it starts with having a conversation with your leader about what value you can add what that looks like and talking about what a long-term plan can look like as opposed to kind of marching in there and saying I deserve yeah that's exactly right switch shoes and say if you were sitting in your boss's seat,

how would you want to hear this conversation coming from that person? And it generally is a lot of humility and it's like, gosh, I finished my degree. I'm so excited about that. I'm doing all these other things here. I want to keep adding value. What could I do here

that would cause you to give me a raise? How can I help? How can I help? That kind of an approach. Very few people are angry about that. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. jade warshaw ramsey personality is my co-host today thank you for joining us open phones at 888-825-5225 our question of the day comes from ryan in arkansas jade you want to take it i'll take it he, I'm 45 years old.

I'm married with two children under 12 and completely debt free. I took a new job a year and a half ago, making 100K a year. And my wife is a stay at home mom. The nature of my job requires me to be on call and close to work, leaving me little choice, but to pay a premium rent of 2000 per month.

We are currently watching the housing market and still learning the area and are socking money away to buy a home. I have $45,000 in the bank doing nothing for me, but I've been hesitant to invest as we would like to have the money available should a home come up that we can buy. I've been told that cash in a savings account is like melting ice. What do I do with it? Well, in this situation, when it comes to saving for a house, it's a little bit different than just any other money that you're putting aside. Typically, we wouldn't invest the money that you're saving for a house unless you know the timeline is five years or more. Although, Dave, I've heard you say

that a lot of times you'll just pop some money in an index fund and let it sit there and grow if you know what you might use it for. I particularly don't have the stomach for that. I'd probably put it in the HYSA and just get the best return on it that I possibly could for the time being, because it sounds like you're kind of in that moment where if the right thing comes open you're ready to jump on it so yeah I would keep it out of the market and I would put it in a high yield savings account maybe put it you know I've heard Dave say that he'll put it in a CD that sort of thing yeah high yield savings account like you said it's perfect it's not melting ice when you are getting ready to use the money and you're getting ready to use this money

and so if you're going to leave it in a stupid savings account for 10 years then yeah it is melting ice yeah but that's not your description you're in the housing market you're ready to buy and get rid of this premium rent and everything else so yeah you definitely go that route it's you're not doing the wrong thing now j, I did have a young guy come in. All the work I've done over the years with different NFL and other professional athletes, they just happen to be listening to the show and say, hey, would you look at my stuff? Yeah, I look at your stuff. So it's always interesting stories.

And of course, we've run into all the negative stories where they've burned through all the money. I made $100 million. I got nothing to show for it or whatever, that kind of stuff. I've met those guys. And there's always a lot of shame and stuff on those guys but in the in the in the light of what ryan is saying this guy comes in he's young i mean he's like 20 oh well 28 years old maybe 26 years old he'd been he'd been the league a few years but not you know he wasn't an old guy in the

league by any stretch. And his sweet little wife, and they drive in in a used van. And they come in and they go like, Dave, you're going to kill us. We've messed up. And I'm thinking they're going to tell me they've blown all their money. And he goes, you're just going to be so mad at me. And I'm like, number one, I'm not going to be mad at you, regardless of how dumb you are. But what did you do? I mean, did you do something dumb? And he goes, yeah, we've got all our money in savings account. And I said, how much money do you have in savings account? 36 million.

Oh, whoa. And I'm like, no, I am not going to yell at you. I'm going to hug you because you did everything right but one tiny thing. You actually, you're a pro athlete who has money. You know what this is? A unicorn. I mean, you're incredible. Way to go.

You're amazing. I'm so proud of you. You actually lived on less than you make. You're driving a used car. You're not trying to impress your posse. You know, you didn't buy your mother a house you couldn't afford to buy her. All the stupid butt stuff i usually run into you have 36 million dollars and the only thing you did wrong was you didn't invest it no you you get a hug you don't get a yelling you know so but yeah

in his case he is melting ice for sure he doesn't need to get that money invested so he was wrong but not only get yelled at wrong side, though. The smart side. Way to go, man. I mean, absolute stud. Very good. So proud of him. All right, Keisha is with us in Atlanta, Georgia. Hi, Keisha.

Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. How are you doing? Better than we deserve. What's up in your world? Hi. I was calling because I was looking for some advice. I am a retired veteran collecting disability, so I have the arrogance that I have money until I die.

So I do save money. However, I don't have any IRAs because of what I just mentioned. What is the best way for me to try to put money, to save money where I'm benefiting and not losing like the previous caller, the caller today, I caller of the day, I have money sitting, not gaining a lot of interest. How much money do you have in savings? Now I have $50,000.

Good for you. How old are you? I just turned 50 last year. Okay. Are you working? No. So unfortunately, the job market, my transition from the military was extremely difficult. So I'm not working. Okay.

So you're getting a substantial disability, you're saying, from the government, right? Yes, and my retirement. I mean, I live within my means. I wasn't questioning that. No, I'm just saying are you are you um is there what's the nature of your disability how extreme mental how extreme mental health yes so it keeps you from working in a traditional work environment is it something that would keep you from working in a non-traditional work environment, maybe doing some work from home?

It keeps me from working from a traditional and I could work from home, yes. Okay. So like PTSD type symptoms, is that what we're dealing with? Yes, that's correct. Hey, thank you for your service, Keisha. Thank you. I, thank you for your service, Keisha. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you ended up struggling with this as a result of serving your country. And I'm glad that we have good retirement and good disability in place to take care of you.

That's a good thing. We, the people, should do that. And so this is a good story because you're a good lady. Now, if I woke up in your shoes, what would I do? Well, I've never struggled with PTSD. I've never been in a traumatic situation like that that would affect me ongoing. So I can't really get into your shoes, honestly. But in general, were I to face some kind of a disability, I would find something I could do in spite of or with as a workaround that disability. So in your case, as Jade was saying, a nontraditional thing, maybe some kind of almost self-employed thing where you control the hours, you control the stress level, you control the volume of work that you do. I would want to put my hand to something because I think it's good for our,

it's good for us. There's dignity in work. Do you know what I'm saying? Yes. I'm not saying you're lazy. You did not hear me say that. But I am saying if I were you, yeah, how do you, it's got to be designed just for Keisha.

Yeah, whatever it is, it's got to be designed just for you. And that's why it might be a self-employed thing. It might be that, you know, you go take some coding classes and learn to code, and you simply do contract work from home, and you code, do coding, where you don't have to deal with humans much, and you just, I don't know what it is. I'm making stuff up right now. But all of that to say, I'd probably add something to that. Now, having said that you can live on your retirement and your disability, you don't need the $50,000. We would

label part of the $50,000 your emergency fund, and we would begin to invest the rest. One of the good things about creating an income is in order to do Roth IRAs, you have to have an earned income. Retirement and disability are not earned income by the IRS's definition for purposes of a Roth IRA. So if we can get you making a little bit of money, then you could do a Roth with some of this money. And that's what I would start talking about. Investing in a Roth.

Yeah, but again, you'd have to create some income that's not retirement or disability. Doesn't have to be mine. So in the meanwhile, I have 75% of my income available that I could be saving. Yeah. What's the best thing to do with that money? I would get in touch with one of our SmartVestor pros and simply start doing some investing in mutual funds. It's just not going to be in a retirement account.

And what you're looking for, what's called low turnover, write that down and ask the SmartVestor Pro about it. Click SmartVestor Pro at ramseysolutions.com. And you want to ask them about a low turnover mutual fund. That's a low taxed environment type mutual fund when you're not inside of a retirement account that's good to look at. jade warshaw ramsey personality is my co-host today in the lobby of ramsey solutions on the debt-free stage isaac Isaac and Brenna are with us. Hey guys, welcome. Hey Dave. Where do you guys live? Fairmont, Minnesota. Fairmont, Minnesota. Now where is, what's that near? Anything I would know? Rochester, Mankato. Okay, cool. Well,

welcome to Nashville. Bit of a haul down here. Sir. Good to have you. And here to do a debt-free scream, how much did you pay off? $114,000. Wow. How long did that take? Just under a year. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? Well, our income was $150,000 for the year.

Okay, cool. What do you all do for a living? I am a small business owner. What kind of business have you got? Masonry construction. Oh, good. Great. And in of business have you got? Masonry Construction. Oh, good. Great. And in the cold.

Oh, my gosh. Wow. What about you, Brenna? I was working as a project manager and a copywriter for a medical device manufacturing company at the time. Okay. And now you are? Now I'm a stay-at-home mom. All right. Ding, ding.

Good goals. Okay. What kind of debt was the $114,000? Well, I had some remaining student loans. And I had a car loan as well as the loan I took out to become a business owner. Okay. So you were fairly normal. Yes. Fairly normal. And something happened a year ago. What got you on this Ramsey stuff? Well, the little girl for me that we have right out here,

I just couldn't imagine having $114,000 in debt when we knew our goal was for her to be a stay-at-home mom. And so it was a roadblock. Yeah, I couldn't handle that stress. Yeah. For context, the monthly payment on our loans was more than three times our current mortgage. Wow. So it was a lot, and we knew we couldn't live on just one income with paying that off.

So how long have you been married? We got married the fall of 2020, so. Oh, yeah. Why not? Why not? I mean, you know. Yeah. It's a pandemic wedding oh yes and uh good

for you all right so how did you get connected to this Ramsey stuff well um I actually was listening to you when I was probably 23 um just a casual listener so it was like like, uh, Dave Ramsey, he's, he's all right. You know, but I wasn't following any of your programs at that time. So, uh, I liked finances and I liked, you know, being wise with my money, but debt was okay for me at that time. Then we got married and he would come home from work every day and tell me all these crazy stories that he heard on the Ramsey show. And so I started listening to the podcast and just for entertainment at first, but then it caught on. And actually, when we first got married, we were seeing a financial advisor who's not affiliated with you, but he told us to take the majority of our savings and to pay off our car loan and the remainder of my student loans.

And he told us, just do it. He said, you won't regret it in 20 years from now, you'll thank me. And so we did that initially. And then later that year of our marriage, we bought a dog, bought a house and kind of got a little off track and we still had the business loan. And then shortly after we bought our house, we were planning a bunch of renovations, not following the Dave Ramsey plan athmm. And then shortly after we bought our house, we were planning a bunch of renovations, not following the Dave Ramsey plan at all. And a few months after we bought the house, we were out, had just gone on a shopping spree and spent about $300 and we were out to eat at a nice steakhouse. And I looked at Isaac and I told him that I was sick of spending money and that I felt out of control with our finances. And, um,

I told him that I keep on listening to the debt-free screams on your show. And I just have this nagging feeling that if we can do this, if we can pay off our debt, why wouldn't we? And he agreed. And so right there in that restaurant, we went through our finances and decided how long it would take us and decided that we were going to do it. And that was the last time we ate out at a restaurant for a year. I love it. I love it. You know, no more shopping sprees or we, we paused renovations on our home and, um, didn't go on any trips or anything and just went hardcore at it. So I love it. So way to go. You guys, it took you a year to do this. Um, for the people listening, what was the key to getting through?

What was the one thing that you would recommend to anybody listening? I think we just had a vision. A vision for what we wanted our lives to look like in 5, 10, 20, 40 years. And looking at your plan, we just knew that was the way and I think there's a lot of moments in life where you realize what way you need to take I've had those moments and this is just one of those turning points yeah that steak dinner

was valuable yes it was at least what happened at the steak dinner was valuable you guys are impressive yeah way to go you guys i'm proud of you good work who was cheering you on outside the two of you well my parents both of our parents were definitely big cheerleaders in our journey and yeah and i'd say for me um cheerleader was we had a little girl and well my wife was pregnant and so i you know i look at her and i'm like oh like this is the reason yeah no this is my why yeah that's my why if you got a big enough why you can do anything right that's right yeah yeah good for you guys well done and your little girl's name is? Beverly.

All right. Are we going to bring her into the debt-free screen? Yeah. All right. Bring her over. How old is she? She is 10 months old. All right.

That's perfect. Oh, how cute. That's fun. She is. Hey, we've got the live and give bundle for you. That includes the Total Money Makeover book and the Baby Steps Millionaire book. Both of those are number one bestsellers. You can read them or give them away or both.

And a membership to Financial Peace University. If you haven't been through it, go through it. If you have, then give it to somebody. This is the Live and Give bundle. It's all for you guys. Thanks for making the trip all the way down here. Congratulations. We're very proud of you.

Thank you. Thank you. How does it feel to be free? It feels awesome. Never go back in debt? Never. Not for anything? Not for anything. How much do feel to be free? Feels wonderful. Never go back in debt? Never. Not for anything? Not for anything.

How much do you have left on your house? $129,000. You're not far on that. You'll get there pretty quick making $100,500 with no payments. Four years, it's done. Four years is the plan. That's about right. I like it.

And you guys are how old? I am 31. I'm 26. All right. Look at you. Man, you guys are amazing. Congratulations. 31 i'm 26 all right look at you man you guys are amazing congratulations exciting guys isaac and brenna and beverly 114 000 paid off in one year making 150 everything changes when you get a big enough why count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one

we're debt-free! Yeah! Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop! That is how it's done, ladies and gentlemen. That's how it's done. Oh, man. Good job, you guys. Hey, a lot of the debt-free screamers, you hear me giving them Financial Peace University to give away. A lot of them have already been through it.

Not unusual at all. And lots of you started the year fired up to make changes with your money but now that some time has gone by it's cold outside the fire starts to go out change is hard transformation is hard and when you're dealing with money you're dealing with a person in the mirror which is really really hard and that's why've got to have people walking with you, and that's why Financial Peace University has been a game changer for, gosh, almost 10 million people now. In a Financial Peace University class, you're going to learn our proven plan to get out of debt and build wealth, and you'll do it with other people going after the same goals you are.

You do not have to figure this out alone. There's hundreds of FPU classes going on all across the country, online and in person. Get in a class right now. It's nine lessons, nine weeks. You'll be through the thing. You're going to be reset and recalibrated and ready to go. So join right now to find an FPU class. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash class. All one word. No spaces. ramseysolutions.com slash FPU class. FPU class. And Jade, you're teaching one.

I am. I have an FPU that is starting March 1st. And you can sign up by going to the FPU page. Or I'm sure that James will go ahead and put that QR code on the screen if you're watching the YouTube show, and you can sign up there. Man, we're trying to pack it out, Dave. I want to teach these people what helped Sam and I change our lives over five years ago. Yeah, almost a half a million dollars that she and Sam paid off. Half a million. So she knows what she's doing. And that also means that she's not going to take your little whiny excuses i'm sure not she's going to love you enough to pop you upside the head and get you going maybe maybe

not quite that that would be not not the ladies that's it that's just the guys check it out this is the ramsey show សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Thank you for joining us, America. Jade Warshaw, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Alex is with us in Fort Worth, Texas. Hi, Alex. How are you? Doing all right, Dave.

How are you guys doing? Better than we deserve. How can we help? Well, Dave, I got a little love note from my mortgage company with our annual escrow account disclosure. Apparently, we had a shortage on our escrow account. Usually, it's a couple hundred bucks a year. It's usually fairly close to the actual and projected amounts, but this year, it's like a difference of over $4,000. Why? Did your taxes or your insurance go up?

Insurance. Taxes, it was short by like $150, which I totally get. But the insurance, though, just absolutely floored us. And they're saying our mortgage is going to go up about $600. Your homeowner's insurance went up $4,000 in one year? Yeah, and that's what we're really lost on, because I called my neighbor who has the exact same floor plan as us, different insurance provider. Well, go ahead and just shop the homeowner's insurance and change it.

Yeah, that's what we're definitely doing right now. I'm talking to like're definitely doing right now i'm talking to like four different companies right now but uh it's clear that we're not going to keep this company but at the same time we're trying to figure out what do we do in the meantime it's like we could we could dip into the emergency fund and pay off that shortage just to kind of get rid of it? No, it's not a shortage if you change the policy. Okay. Have they already paid the premium, the $4,000 extra premium? I think they've paid part of it,

and I think they're wanting us to make up the rest. Yeah, I'm not sure. To be honest, when it comes to esc escrow escrow is one of those things that i usually lost on it typically is in arrears and so what that means is in reverse and so they're billing you now for what they've already paid because when you for they're billing you now for last year because when you set up when you got the loan you set up an escrow account as part of your closing costs and you paid out that you went ahead and paid out so it may be what i would want to do is i want to get on the phone with them and get through exactly what has been

paid because i'm going to cancel this policy and get a reasonably priced policy and then that's going to change your escrow back to close and you'll just change it and then they just need to do an audit and set it up they only they don't need to withhold you know four or five six hundred dollars a month if they only need a hundred dollars a month in which case you would permanently change your payment by enough to cover your taxes and insurance but you need to get the right payment on the books, the right health insurance plan, I'm sorry, homeowner's insurance plan on the books first, and then you've got to pay for whatever you paid.

But if you cancel that homeowner's insurance in the middle of the year, you're only going to have paid for it for half of the year, not for the whole year. So what I'm saying is I want to get into it now and cancel it as soon as possible so that i don't and if they haven't already paid for it for a whole year at four thousand dollar increase then you're only going to have like a one thousand dollar increase because you're canceling it right okay all right um yeah because we we were just looking at them and we're like there's there's no way we're going to stay. No. Yeah, it's –

No. So what you need to do is go to RamseySolutions.com and click on insurance for P&C. It's property and casualty, and get with one of our insurance ELPs. They're independent insurance brokers, and that means they'll shop around among several different companies and get you in your particular situation the best deal and usually you bundle it with your cars too and you can and the typical person shopping against some of these other companies uh they'll save 800 bucks in your case you may save four thousand dollars that would be great yeah and then so what you're going to do and then you're

going to take that new policy and then get with the mortgage company and find out how much of the old policy has actually been paid or earned and you've got to pay the portion that's actually been used so if that policy with that four thousand dollar increase has been on the books for three months then it's only going to be you know one-fourth of four thousand dollar increase you follow me right and so but if it's been on the books a whole year then you bid it for a year but i don't i don't think it has i think you're catching it because they come after you pretty quick with an escrow increase if they're on their game and it sounds like they are so yeah get the policy change get it shopped get with them request an audit and then write one check

and do a true up and then set your new based on your current new homeowners insurance and taxes 150 more on the taxes more on the homeowners but not 4 000 more now what should my payment be reset the payment to be the accurate amount it is going to go up but it's not going to go up as much as they came at you with because they were assuming you're stupid enough to keep that old policy. Escrow accounts almost all have errors in them. Yep. Ongoing. You constantly have to stay on top of it.

They almost all have errors, and when they discover an error that they're behind on, they always almost double dip and hit you. So it sounded like they needed about a $400 raise, and they were giving him a $600 raise in his payment. Yeah, I don't like dealing with escrow. Well, it's just you're dealing with bureaucrats on the other end of the phone. That's another problem, too. Tom's in Salt Lake City.

Hey, Tom, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you, Dave? Better than we deserve. What's up? So long story short, my wife and I, we're debt-free, our house and everything since 2021. Way to go.

Thank you. Yeah, it's a big help to your system. It worked out great. So we're currently now investing heavily to keep our retirement caught up. We're also saving for what we would like to do for our forever home. So we want to buy a lot that we like and then build the house that we, you know, to be designed to put on that. Our question is, so a lot came up that we looked at. We were really, really loving it.

It looked like it could have been perfect, but we let it go because financially we're not we don't have the savings to just cash cash roll and stay out of that good so so we we held off we let it go and we felt good about it but at the same time we felt maybe maybe we missed out and we wanted to get your opinion. So all debt is horrible. And I agree with completely, if at all possible ever, mortgages are, I feel like can be a gray area of debt. And so with what would you recommend? Should we just keep on the track and just, if it takes us five years or 10 years to save up to get this lot that we want and just keep passing on lots as they come along and stop,

stop looking, or would you, if a perfect lot came along, should we take what we've saved, put that as a down payment, get a new mortgage and keep the house as a rental. That'd be the eventual, uh, what we'd really like to do the best is keep the house as a rental. That would be the eventual. What we'd really like to do the best is keep the house we have now paid off as a rental

and then move up to our new home. And have a mortgage on your home. Right. Well, no. The idea would be to save up before we move and not have any mortgage ever again. Oh, and your old house is a paid-for rental and your new house is paid for. Right. So why couldn't you save up the lot price then if you can save up the whole thing?

So where we would like to eventually live is, like I said, it's going to be our forever home, so it's probably going to be where the lot's going to be. There's no such thing. Okay. Where we would like to be right now, the lot is— I got you. It's the nice move-up house. I'll go with that. And you're going to pay cash for it, so why can't you be right now the lot is it's the nice move up house i'll go with that and you're going to pay cash for it so why can't you pay cash for the lot well we don't have it yet i know it's still four four five years out i know and you can't

pay cash for the house either no need to buy the lot until we're ready to pay cash for the lot if you can't even pay cash for the lot you you're nowhere near paying cash for the house. So what's the hurry? Our plan was to pay for the lot and then start, because we would like to have some really nice landscaping trees and whatnot. It's one thing we missed with where we're at now. We have almost no trees. So our thought was find a place we like, buy a lot.

It's not like in the subdivision. We're kind of looking up in the hills and the mountainsides. Buy the lot. You're missing the point. You told. We're kind of looking up in the hills and the mountainsides. By the law... You're missing the point. You told me you were going to pay cash for this house that you're moving into. If you're going to pay cash for the house that you're moving into, you've got to at least have the money to pay

cash for the lot first. So I don't see literally what the trip is. Except you've got house fever and lot fever because you're out there riding around every weekend looking at stuff. Chill till you've got the money. lot fever because you're out there riding around every weekend looking at stuff. Chill till you got the money. That's what I would do.

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