The Ramsey Show - App - Is There a Better Option Than a 401(k) for Me? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 21, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, author of the number one bestseller, Proximity Principle, and host of The Ken Coleman Show, where he talks about your career, talks about you getting the right job, talks about you living out your passions. And we're going to talk about that today with you, along with anything else you want to talk about.

The phone number here is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Ricardo is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, Ricardo, how are you? Hey, Dave, how are you? Great, man. What's up? All right. Yes. So right now I'm currently 21 years old. I have $35,000 saved in my bank account. I'm currently in college, but I'm doing like debt-free because I'm getting some help. And then I'm currently living with my parents. I've been thinking about moving out, but I realized when I move out, I'm basically going to be like living paycheck to paycheck. So what do you think I should do?

When will you graduate from college? Next year. Okay. Well, it's not unusual for someone to live at home until they graduate from college. But if you're 28 and you make $60,000 a year in your mother's basement, there's issues, dude. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know you're not.

You're 21. You live at home. You don't make any money. You're going to college. You've got $35,000 in savings. I got it. That's not you. My point is what you're doing is a fairly normal process and does not indicate that you're emotionally stunted.

Yeah. Ricardo, you're overthinking this. You're in great shape. You've got a year left. I'd absolutely stay if it were me, and I'd keep saving money. Is there a relational problem at home? There is kind of a little bit. I actually do work full-time as well.

I make $14 an hour, and I'm actually doing like this, you know, on like the regular shifts and everything. But there is a little bit of problems, but I think we're finding a solution to it. So, yeah. What are you studying? I'm doing business administration. Good for you. And where'd you get the $35,000? The what, sorry? Where did you get the $35,000? I've worked at several jobs during a couple years now, and that's how I sit. I'm pretty good with budgeting with budgeting i'm pretty good with numbers i love budgeting and doing all these things i don't think you're living paycheck to

paycheck i think you you've misunderstood that phrase because you're actually so conservative and so disciplined you got thirty five thousand dollars uh in the bank and you're working full time and going to college uh debt free i think you just gotta sit down if he moved out he would be is what he said. Yeah, because he'd be using up all of his $14 just to pay rent. Just to pay rent. So, who paid for college? So, it was, like,

my family's kind of from a low-income, so I'm using, I'm helped, I got help from CASPA, which is, it's like, you don't have to pay it back, it's like government assistance. So, you got Pell Grants? yes okay all right because that's the only one you don't pay back the rest of them fafsa signs you up for makes you think it was a grand and it turns out it was a student loan so um yeah but okay now if unless you have a toxic i mean a really nasty bad situation

that you've got to get out of there, I'm going to suck up whatever the relationship thing is, be humble, and finish my time there, get out of school, graduate with $35,000 in the bank and a degree in business, and go get the big boy job and move out then. So that means you're only there one more year. Yeah, that's what I would recommend. And if you were my kid, that's what I would ask you to do, to continue to do that. But as you said, it sounds like there's some rough spots you guys need to smooth out in the rules of the house.

And when you live in someone else's house, you live by their rules. Yeah. And also, he's a number cruncher. Where I was going is, you know, could you get a roommate? Let's see what that looks like. What does your paycheck allow you to do? And could you get a roommate and maybe still do it? If not, as you're pointing out, he's got a year.

He's going to save up even more than the $35,000 living at home. So he's going to be in fantastic shape. Yeah, you'll be able to move out pretty easy with a good, solid job and with a graduate. You know, the new job after graduation that should be considerably more than 14 an hour should put you in that position. So, yeah, it's this is an interesting age group. Yeah, we're talking to them. You and I both on the Ken Coleman show on Sirius XM. And but YouTube is drawing in this 19, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 year old bunch.

And, you know, used to that if we had someone call and they said they were living at home, they were 28. Oh, yeah. And so we immediately jumped ahead and said, yeah, come on, you know, but in this case, but we're having a lot of young people who are go-getters that, I mean, I'm talking to 19-year-olds with substantial dollars that are calling in here, and they're doing these substantial things. So a portion of that generation, whatever the label is that's on this 18- to 24-year-old generation, whatever that is, it's not millennials, certainly. No.

I don't know the proper demographic. Gen Z or Mosaics is what they call them. Z was before millennials, wasn't it? No, it's after. Is it? I promise. Okay. Well, you probably know more than I do.

You do. It's what? Oh, you mean, oh. No, no? No, it's after. Is it? I promise. Okay. Well, you probably know more than I do. You do. It's what? Oh, you mean... Oh, no. Yeah, X is me. I'm Gen X. Well, I know that. And so then it's millennials.

There's more in between you and millennials. Then Gen Z or Mosaics. I thought it was X, Z, millennial. But what do I know? Obviously, I don't know. So here, bottom line is, this age group, there is a very serious group of them. Yes. I don't know if there's a bunch of deadbeats in there, too.

I don't talk to them. But they're watching the Ramsey show on YouTube and are calling in. And that guy right there, when I was 21, I had $35,000. Not even close. I didn't even know how to say $35,000. And one thing I want to point out, right now, Ricardo, he's still listening in. Ricardo, I would challenge you to look for a job that pays more than $14,000 an hour over the next year or so, because right now we're seeing companies, not the federal minimum wage,

but companies are raising minimum wages because there is, right now, so many jobs that are open and people aren't returning. Now is the time in a metropolitan area like Charlotte, North Carolina, Ricardo, as sharp as you are, I would at least challenge you to look. Maybe you can find something in the $17, $18, $20 an hour. You'd be surprised what companies are offering to try to get talent, just stable talent in the door. Well, they might want to move you in there into a business- type job with your business degree on the come. Yes, sir. It's almost like a paid internship because they know you're one year away from diploma. So I'd encourage him to do that as well. And then to what you were saying, Dave,

we know this from the data. There's recent studies out that this generation, this Gen Z, they're in high school now. They're in their early 20s. More than any generation previous in America, they are more entrepreneurial. They are thinking when they come out of high school that they're going to eventually own their own business. Some want to go right into it, not even into college. And those that are going into college are thinking, I'm going to college because I want to work for me one day. We're seeing that big time, and I think we're seeing that reflected in the kids that are watching our show. Well, that's going to change the political landscape.

Yes, it will. Wait until they start seeing the taxes come out. Yeah. Yeah, well, that among other things, yeah. Yeah, and all the other policies. Trying to run a business with the government breathing down your neck. Yeah. That's a very good point.

That's a very good point. Wow. Interesting labor market right now. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, host of The Ken Coleman Show on SiriusXM, an ever-popular podcast, and, of course, 75 radio stations plus carrying it now.

You can tune in and hear him anytime. He's my co-host today. This is The Ramsey Show. Imagine a world where people never have to worry about money ever again. At Ramsey Solutions, our mission is to teach people how to get out of debt and build lasting wealth. And if that means we have to take on the toxic money culture that says you need debt to get ahead, then we're okay with that. We've seen millions of lives changed, and we will continue to create digital products and services to help people transform their lives. If you want to join our thousand-member team on this crusade,

we're currently on the hunt for software engineers with expertise in Ruby on Rails, Java, C Sharp, and front-end technologies. Or if you're a UX designer or an SEO and content marketing specialist, we'd love to talk with you. Together, we will disrupt the toxic money culture in America. Find out about all the available jobs by texting CAREERS to 33789. Text CAREERS to 33789 to find out about all our open opportunities. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today.

I am Dave Ramsey, your host. This is a show about you, America. It's about your life, your money, your career, your mental health, your marriage, your money, your life, your career, your mental health, your marriage. It's about you. Celeste is with us. She's going to start off this hour in Tucson, Arizona. Hi, Celeste. How are you? Hi, I'm doing well. How are you guys?

Better than I deserve. How can we help? So really quickly to the point, well, first of all, thank you for all that you do, and thank you for having me on. So to the point, I am at a very, very toxic work environment right now. So I'm kind of just what you were talking about. You know, I get up and I don't want to go to work. I get up and I'm dreading going. I hate being there.

It's gotten to the point that I just want to quit, and I'm not a quitter. So it's a very difficult time and, like, season of my life right now. However, they do pay for school. And so I'm four classes away from getting my bachelor's. However, this past, I was supposed to graduate in May. And I just, you know, a lot of things, a series of events just happened and it didn't happen for me. I'm now at the point where I'm stuck at this job until October 26th. There's no transferring for me.

There's no moving up, nothing. I was initially only there because they pay for school but at this point i just i need something that's going to make me happy i have the money to pay for my summer classes however i'm i'm trying to pay everything off i finished baby step one and i don't want to continue using the money that i'm saving to pay for school when i have school paid for if I stay here but I don't know what to do what is the nature of the toxicity what's the problem with this um I I just I don't grow I have no growth um there's no communication there's no communication, there's no support. That's not toxic. There's no support. That's not toxic. Okay.

What's toxic? There's no support and you're not growing. You're in a dead-end job that's boring. Whoop-dee-doop-dee, that ain't toxic. Okay. So tell me what's toxic. Is there sexual things going on? Are people yelling and screaming and cussing?

Or is somebody throwing things at you? Are they, you know, discriminating against you in some way? I mean, what's toxic? Well, no, that's not all of that. No, you're right. But it is, no one speaks to me. I go in, I say good morning, no one talks to me. But, you know, that is me complaining.

I should just go and do my job. That's what I'm there for. However, there's just no support. I can't go talk to someone. They're not letting me know. They're not asking me, hey, like, how are you? And I don't know if that's maybe me just complaining, but I'd like to go to a place that I can go. Listen, the job sucks, okay?

I don't have any doubt. I mean, you're kind of like, it sounds like Office Listen, the job sucks, okay? I don't have any doubt. I mean, you're kind of like, it sounds like Office Space, the movie, you know? Yeah, Celeste, first of all, Dave's asking the right question. We want to get to the source of toxicity so that you can get the right frame of mind. But I'm going to tell you right now,

you're dealing with something that happens in offices all across the country and all across the world, and you're just underappreciated. People want to know, am I seen? Am I valued? And that's not fun. And Dave's right. It sucks.

But let's reframe your perspective, all right? Let's just go through this very quickly. You're four classes away from getting the bachelor's, which is why you took the job. So what's the new timeline if you stay at this company so they pay for the four classes? Is that what I heard? October? October 26, wasn't it?ober 26th okay great so i'd hang in there until october 26th this is an attitude change this is hey i'm grateful for this really boring place because this boring place is giving me the opportunity to step up to the next rung on the ladder in life

and what you're learning here is how never to lead when you have the opportunity yes you have anti-mentors they're teaching you how not to do crap yeah and you know but but if they're not being nasty to you or breaking the law or you know asking you to do something that's immoral or that kind of stuff uh then it's just a matter of that they they it's a dead-end job it's boring and they're not the nicest bunch of people in the world they don't they're not very friendly if that's the whole version of toxicity you stick this out you suck it up and stick it out yep get your mind on the future paper then no i have the I not pay for it then? No.

I have the money to pay for it. I just don't want to because I'm trying to save my money. I'm trying to pay off my debt. I'm only $11,000 off of my debt. Stay on the baby steps. I don't know if you just got it. Stay with what you're doing. Yes. Let them pay for it and finish.

Listen, you're going to school, and I can guarantee you, you've gone to some classes that are taught by a tenured professor who's boring as crud and not a very good teacher, and that desk hurts by the time you get out of it. I've sat in those stupid classes. And you're putting up with that toxic stuff, in quotes, in order to get a degree, in order to further your life. You're delaying the pleasure. You're putting up with some pain to win later. Does that make sense? It does.

I just feel like I'm delaying the chance to leave this job if I were to just pay for it. If you can leave the job and someone will give you a job that pays for your education that's all thrilling and they affirm you every day, have at it. I'm actually going to push back, Celeste. I don't think you're delaying your exit from this boring job. If you leave, you're delaying getting into the next baby step. Don't use that money when they're going to pay you. How old are you? I just turned 24.

How many brothers and sisters do you have? I have an older brother and a younger brother. You're the middle. Yes. Okay. Interesting. All right. Yeah, I still, you can do whatever you want.

You're a grown person. If you want to quit and spend your money. But basically, you are writing a check in order to get away from these people. That's what you're doing. And I don't hear anything here that's worth writing a check for. You know, 68% of Americans are dissatisfied at work. Is that right? It's absolutely right.

Close to 80 around the world and so that means that uh at least half of those are experiencing something along the lines of what you are experiencing because most people aren't leaders most people are bosses that's exactly most organizations don't affirm most organizations don't communicate most organizations suck and that's why most people don't like working there. And so, but toxic is when something's happening to you that's abusive. Yes. And you're not being abused, kiddo. Yeah. You're just not being affirmed, and it's dead end, and it's boring.

Yeah. You've got to change your mindset here. It's, wait a second, I'm grateful for the money to get the schooling I need while I'm getting out of debt. It needs to be a total shift we know this from i worked in a place in my 20s one time that everybody in the building it seemed like right was sleeping with each other oh it was a dad gum soap opera yeah yeah that's a nice way of saying it yeah um and it was just nuts i mean and i'm in the middle of this thing and i'm going this is gross and you know what i

was only there for about five months before i got moved on right and and but it was one of my first few jobs coming out of college and you go through some situations like that but you know what i learned from that you know that that was 30 something years ago i'm sitting here talking about it what i learned from that is i'm not going to tolerate a situation like that. And I'm not going to, now that I'm in a position to control it, I'm not going to have a whole bunch of people inside our building that are running around like it's some kind of orgy or something. This is nuts.

And so people do this, though, in the workplace, but not ours and, you know, not there. And we're not, you know, it's not who we are. And so then a young lady or a young man could come to work here of character and they can feel safe where you know that and now that's toxic yes but but you know but i still i i didn't walk out the door and quit that day i endured it for a while but what i got from the endurance was the lesson to make sure it never happens in my environment quick thing here folks we see what we focus on we know this they've done all types of What I got from the endurance was the lesson to make sure it never happens in my environment. Quick thing here, folks.

We see what we focus on. We know this. They've done all types of neuroscience studies on this. When you buy a car, you get excited about that car purchase. How many of you see it everywhere for the first six, seven days? It's because there's an intense focus on it. When you focus on being a victim, you will see victimization everywhere you go, opposed to going wait a second i'm so close to being debt free and i'm getting my school paid for with a degree all i gotta do is put up with boring awful leadership until october i can do that yeah that's you gotta wait till christmas

to open your gifts too i hate that day i do no discipline seems pleasant the time, but it yields a harvest of righteousness. This is the Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225, Jeff's in Boise, Idaho. Hi, Jeff. How can we help? Good afternoon. First of all, I just want to say thanks to Ken. I love his show.

I'm glad he's a part of what you guys do. I've got a lot of great tips and advice from him over the time. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Appreciate that. My question for you today, Dave, I recently found out I work for a great company. It's an ESOP company, but I just discovered they're not matching my 401K, which is fine. The ESOP more than makes up for it.

But should I be investing differently? I'm 56, and I would like to retire by the time I'm 65 to 67. I'm flexible with that. But according to using your calculator, I'm going to have about 1.3 by the time we retire. I currently have 404 in our retirement. I'd like to get that number up double about that. Should I be investing differently than my 401K? Well, the first thing we try to do is get a match.

The ESOP gives you payment whether you get a match or not whether you put anything in or not correct that is correct okay so your first thing is get a match you don't have a match are you married does your wife have a match uh she she does she works for um the university here and they they match i think they do okay we're going to look into everything the best thing you can do but is to make 100 return on your money that's a match right that's kind of a no-brainer regardless of the taxation issue the the best thing you can do is do a match with a roth actually so if she has a roth or you have a roth 401k or she has a a Roth 401k or 403b with a match. We'll do the match first.

We're going to 15% of your income until your house is paid off if you're in baby step four. You know that, right? Which we are. Okay. So using the 15%, we do rock, paper, scissors, except only one direction. And so it's matches first beats Roth by itself beats traditional. So does your 401k have a Roth? No, and neither does hers.

Okay. Then we're going to do her match first. We're going to do two individual Roths with a SmartVestor Pro next, and you can do 7,000 each because you're over 50, right? I am. She's not. She's 13 years younger than I am. Okay.

Then we can do $6,000 and $7,000 there. And that's $13,000. If those two numbers, her match plus those two Roths, does not get you to 15%, then I would go to either hers or your traditional 401ks, whichever one has the best mutual fund options in it, the best performing mutual fund options in it, the four types of mutual funds we talk, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international.

So if we look at, say, your 401k, and they're like, eh, they're decent, and we look at hers, and they're like, those are really good funds. Then we're going to go with hers with the match and hers after the Roth with the third step back to traditional 401K. But if yours has got better return than hers, then we'll just do hers match, individual Roths over here, and then bounce back to yours to finish up to 15% because you've got good options in there.

Okay. Match beats Roth in there. Okay. Match beats Roth, beats traditional. Okay. Awesome. And we're always looking for those types of mutual funds, those four types with long, long track records. And that is the number one key we found in the millionaire study to becoming wealthy is that track record right there that path that clear

path megan's in owensboro kentucky hi megan welcome to the ramsey show hi dave how are you better than i deserve what's up in your world okay so my husband and i um we just sold our current home and we have met with some builders, and we have plans to build a home. But I've recently started channeling in with you and listening to all of your advice and all about the baby steps. We have well over 20% down, but we still have some vehicle debt. How much do you owe on your vehicles? How much do you owe on your vehicles? How much do you owe? $45,000.

Holy crap. What are you driving? Well, that's kind of another story, but my husband had a rough year last year, and he actually bought two different vehicles without telling me. So this is the way he medicates? He goes and buys cars yeah it seems that way ouch it just spends money in general um cars and and clothes

and just different different things yeah okay uh so if we get on a good track and get rid of the vehicle debt unless we fix that you're going to be right back into a mess aren't you yeah so i think we start with him does he does he want to work does he want to work a system to build wealth or does he want to work a system to build wealth, or does he want to continue to be a freaking child? He says he's on board with this plan that I'm wanting, you know, basically your plan. Good. Sell the trucks. And I know you say not to modify.

No, just sell the trucks. Sell them. Sell the cars. Yeah. Let's see if he's on plan. He's not on plan. I don't believe you. No.

And you don't believe you. No, not really. I'm sorry, baby girl. Yeah, you guys got to work through that stuff, because these trucks and financial problems are the symptom. They're not the problem. Right. So, Ken, if they dig in and get on the same page really then it what's your household income by the way um about 115 okay and which which two vehicles

do we buy what are they um a brand new toyota tacoma and a vintage, like, 1960s Mustang. Okay. How old is your husband? We're both 31. Okay. And we have about 80,000 right now saved. That's good. You know, for the potential new home. Well, you guys can decide what you want to do.

You're both walking around in 30-year-old bodies, and so it's legal for you to do whatever you want to do as far as these issues go. What would I tell you to do if you were my kid, and my kid is your age, okay? My grown kid. Yes, I watch her show, too. Yeah, the Ramsey, Rachel's 33, okay? So what would I tell you all to do if Winston and Rachel sat down in front of me with this? I'm going to tell you what I have done to myself in these situations.

I would sell the vehicles not because it's necessary, but because you need to prove to yourself and he needs to prove to himself that we're going to start being grownups. And both of these cars were impulse medicaid medicated purchases is what you described he's medicating having a bad year in air quotes um and um uh uh you know you need to break i i went in if i can do something and pull it off and it makes my dumb decision earlier go away, then it makes me more likely to go back to the dumb decision versus if I amputate these vehicles, I have to feel it then. And let me tell you, I'm a car guy, and getting rid of a vintage 60s Mustang makes my stomach hurt right now just telling you to do that because I wouldn't be able to do it. I mean, I could do it, but that just makes my – that's awful. I'm hurting. Yeah. Ken's got a great Karmann Ghia he's redoing right now just telling you to do that because i wouldn't be able to do it i mean i could do it but that just makes my that's i'm hurting i'm hurting yeah ken's got a great carmen guilla he's redoing i love classic cars yeah look i i just want to say this you got to break the cycle

of this and the spirit of this is more important than the actual math yeah and after the discipline he's gonna have to get a vision you two are gonna have to come together this is a marriage thing and you guys at 31 have got to get a vision what do do we want for our lives? That isn't just stuff. He's going after stuff. We've all done stuff before to make things feel better, but what's the big vision? And it'll help him with this, as Dave says, car amputation if he's got a big vision that you two hopefully are on the same page for. What do we want for our lives? What does it look like 20 years from now? This is a big decision. And to the best of your ability, I'd get with a counselor is what I think.

I think this is a, we need to get on the same page about this money thing because it's coming out of another place. It's going to get us in big trouble. So either you put $40,000 down on your house and you keep these cars, pay them off, or you sell them and you put $80,000 on your house and you keep these cars, pay them off, or you sell them and you put $80,000 on the house and you have proven that you're moving in a different direction emotionally and spiritually away from this stuff addiction. That's what I would want to do if I were looking in his mirror and I was him.

That's called manhood, baby. This is The Ramsey personality is my co-host today as we talk about your life, your money, your career, your job, your income. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Matt's in Seattle. Hey, Matt, how are you? I'm doing good. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I have a question about the long-term care insurance question that's coming up in Washington.

Basically, there's a new tax coming in place next year, 0.58% of every $100 with no income maximum is going to be collected. So my wife is 37, I'm 34. We can opt out if we purchase a private plan, but we feel like that's also quite premature. So I'm just wondering if you could help me determine what direction we should go, opt out, one-time option, or just suck it up and pay the tax. Matt, I'm a little bit behind the curve here. I'm not aware that that has actually passed. It's passed. It starts in January 2022, and all the employers here have sent out letters about the one-time opt-out option. Federal or Washington?

This is Washington state only. Oh, okay. All right, because I'm thinking, how did I miss that on the federal level? Okay. No, I'm not aware of that. Okay, so they have passed a law. Oh, my God, what is wrong with your state? We're taxing you if you don't buy long-term care insurance. Well, essentially, if you pay into this program for 10 years, you qualify for $36,000 of long-term care coverage,

which is fairly a drop in the bucket. And for us, being so young, we're wondering if we paid private insurance, if those premiums would be so low that it would be just better that we have that, which is guaranteed and it's portable. So if we leave the state, we could not tax. So you either pay the tax and buy the plan, or you have to have a private plan, one of the two. Correct.

You're automatically enrolled in this bad plan if you don't buy a private plan. Correct. And you can only opt out one time before this starts in January. So this is like a one-time option for us to consider. Otherwise, we have to pay it. Freaking communist. Yeah. Wow.

If I just, a little more information might be helpful, right? So our gross income is about $220,000 for our household. So we'd probably be paying about, you know, $1,200 to $1,500 for this program. I'm not sure what we would have to pay, given our ages, for a private plan for those premiums. But at least if we did a private plan, we could take it with us anywhere. Yeah, yeah. And it'll be much better quality because I'm sure the state-provided service is not going to be to the level of the private-provided service. It never is.

Just think DMV. So this is the problem with socialism. I got two things running through my head. One is there's a math problem, and two, there's a philosophy problem that I have, if I'm in your shoes, and that's how I have to answer the questions if I woke up in your shoes. Okay? Okay.

So I'm opting out just because I'm pissed off. Right. And then I got to figure out how dumb that was mathematically. And it wasn't dumb, really. It's probably going to turn out to be good for you overall um because there's some probability maybe low that you leave that state someday and then you paid into this stupid thing um man that's just i'm surprised there's not a court challenge on that oh yeah i guarantee there's lobbies a lot of people by surprise oh yeah this is all behind the scenes dealing i can tell you that right smoking back rooms um all right yeah so anyway all of my whining aside i'm opting out

and i'm going to take the private plan unless you can see that it is dramatically like tens of thousands of dollars different and i don't think it is i think it's hundreds of dollars you make two hundred thousand dollars a year you want private care number one number two you want portable care and number three there's some probability you don't live there someday and you're not you haven't paid into this plan that you would never use uh which is the irony of the whole thing so uh it's what it's based on so yeah i i'm uh libertarian enough economically speaking that i'm going to run from any government interference and government control over my life that I can legally. Were you shocked by how low the – it was $36,000.

He said drop in the bucket. That seems like you're forced into it, and then you have a $36,000 limit towards your long-term care. And coverage, yeah, which is nothing. That's what I'm saying. It doesn't go very far. Yeah. It just doesn't make any sense covers one year um yeah even shocking so yeah i'm opting out i'm opting out because i'm philosophically against it and because i think you'll work out better long-term

mathematically or close enough uh but you you're gonna have to dig into the numbers i'm not sure of that because you caught me a little bit flat into the numbers i'm not sure of that because you caught me a little bit flat-footed i don't know the details but with what you told me it sounds like it's not that much different a little bit more expensive on the private side but given that your income is so high uh that's what's that's where they're really tagging you this is a soak the rich moment again wow yeah come on washington unbelievable yeah this is the problem uh when the nanny state comes in you get you get bad products uh created by high taxes yeah because you need more money the government needs more to pay for all these things they're doing for people

this is nothing more than a disguise tax that's all it Wow. With the promise of a benefit that's not even a benefit. Ugh, gross. Gross, gross, gross. And such a pretty state, too. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll have to call our friend that lives there in Seattle and give him a hard time with this. As soon as I get off the air, I'll be like,

Absolutely. Let's blame it on him. I rag on him all the time anyway, but this is yet one more reason to just beat him to snot. That's just, oh, mannot that's just oh man that's so sad it's just so sad you know these um but you what you're seeing is yeah all right open phones at 888-825-5225 i'm not going down the rabbit hole i'm going to resist the urge tina's in birmingham hey tina how are you i'm good how are you dave'm good. How are you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up?

Okay, so my husband recently got a job in Arizona. He's there now, and I'm here in Alabama closing up on our house. We have to sell it first. So we have to somehow do in Arizona, so we're trying to see should we rent or should we buy okay are you out of debt um the only thing we have is um a car loan and it's 8 000 that's we owe on it and so how much you're getting out of your house how much you're getting out of your house when it sells so we'll probably get about 60k out of it Pay off the car. Then that leaves you the rest for a down payment minus an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. So there is nothing wrong, especially in a market like we're in, a white-hot real estate market. What part of Arizona?

Tucson. Okay. White-hot. No pun intended. It is very hot, literally, but also the economy is. So beautiful area, though. So there's nothing wrong with renting for six months or a year. Learn the town, and you'll make a better choice.

It's hard to come into a city cold and buy a house and know where the invisible lines are. I mean, you're trusting a real estate agent. You've got to do a lot of research. You've got to learn. But every town has invisible lines, meaning across the tracks. When you cross that road, the same square footage house drops down, you know, and it's just location, location, location is how real estate prices are established. And sometimes it's a little bit random as to how that occurs.

And so learning the market, spending a year researching and learning the market will cause sometimes it's a little bit random as to how that occurs. And so learning the market, spending a year researching and learning the market will cause you to make better decisions. So I like the idea of renting. You know, Ken, I bought a couple of properties this year, and in both, I bought several properties this year, but in every case except one, which was an adjacent property, so I already knew the property, but I have worn myself out looking at options because I learned the entire market. I want to learn everything about it.

I want to learn the per square foot. I want to learn all the nuances of the micro market that it's sitting in. Now, I enjoy it because I love real estate. But when anytime you're making a decision, taking a job, buying a house, options equal power. That's absolutely right. What you're doing there is you're getting really, really clear. And what you just

described gives you tremendous confidence because you're very clear on what the best choice is and the best purchase. It's always better to go clarity, clarity, clarity. Yep. Gives you power and you make wiser choices. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer for The Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry.

We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes section or head to theramseyshow.com. Thanks for listening.