The Ramsey Show - App - My Dad Passed Away with Assets in Another Country (Hour 1)

Episode Date: November 2, 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, host of the Ken Coleman Show, where he talks about career and jobs every day, is my co-host today. And what that means is you can talk about career and jobs as well as money or anything else you want to talk about. We're here to help you with your life. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Amit is with us in Buffalo, New York.

Hey, Amit, what's up? Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? So I had a question about finances. So I'll explain the situation. Me and my wife were both residents.

My wife graduated residency last year. I'll be graduating this year. So during our residency, we had whatever money we were able to save. We invested it. It was a small amount of money, so I was okay doing it. But with my wife getting a new job and me graduating and soon to get a new job, the amount of salary we have, I find it difficult handling that much amount of money. So my question was, like, when should I get a financial advisor?

Because I have talked to a few people, but I just, I'm not able to trust them. But at the same time, I'm afraid handling that much amount of money, which I have never seen in my life. Good for you. You're being very wise on a whole lot of fronts. So here's what the mistake that a lot of people fall into, and it sounds like you're starting to, and it'll solve both of your problems.

Sometimes people want a financial advisor in their head. That means they have to take over and run their life, and we have to trust them. Instead, I use a financial broker to do investments with, but I make the decisions. And the way I make the decisions is his job is to present options to me, ideas to me, and to teach me something I didn't know before. And so much like you've studied in your medical career to learn to be an expert in that, you won't have to study nearly as hard on money. It's not that complicated.

But you're going to have to learn a few basic things from a good financial, from a good investment broker or investment advisor. And they say they are advising you. They're not telling you. It's not a babysitter. You're not turning your money over to them and just hope it works out. They're saying this is advice, and with advice means you're going to learn a little bit. Okay, I don't understand that.

And by the way, the rule is you don't work with a financial advisor that doesn't have the heart of a teacher. If they have the heart of a salesman, they're slimy, run. If you feel like you need to have a shower after you met with them, run. And the other rule is don't put money in anything you don't understand. And then you don't end up with being one of those broke doctors. And broke doctors, there's more of those than there are broke musicians. Right. Broke doctors. And broke doctors, there's more of those than there are broke musicians. Right, that's what my fear is,

because on your show you say that doctors have doctoritis, you know? They do. So that's what I'm afraid about, that I responded to the money that I earned, and that's why I'm looking for a financial advisor. But at the same time, I have talked to a few people, and I just have difficulty trusting them with my money. Yeah, you don't trust them with your money.

You trust them to teach you because you trust you. Yes. Right. And you must trust what Dave just told you. Let's just rewind what he said. You should be writing this down going, okay, wait a second, I'm in control. If the financial advisor gets frustrated with you, and they don't want to teach you and explain the questions that you've got, you don't understand the financial move that Dave said, then don't do it.

And you get to interview several people. You need to be meeting with some SmartVestor pros. Yeah, click SmartVestor. RamseySolutions.com. Click SmartVestor at RamseySolutions.com, and that'll help you line up with someone that has the heart of a teacher. Now, here's the other thing. I don't want to squander my money, you said. Now, let me make sure.

You mean you don't want to make a bad investment that you didn't understand and lose the money. Is that what you mean? Correct, yes. Okay. Not squander it like I'm going to overspend and be undisciplined. Oh, no. No, no.

Both of us are quite fool. Okay. So I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about, like, if I put in the wrong investment, then I lose that money. Yeah, no. Both of us are quite fool. Okay. So I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about, like, if I put in the wrong investment, then I lose that money. Yeah, exactly. Because, you know, sometimes I've run into, and you were not saying this, but just for the sake of our audience, sometimes I run into someone who comes into a lot of money,

and sometimes someone who's very young, for instance, in the music world,'re in nashville they become very popular and they got a lot of money all of a sudden they don't have the maturity to control the situation and that's a no one can give you that that's called growing up but you've already got that obviously okay so we're frugal we're not going to overspend we're not going to do something stupid but you don't want someone know, like I've heard people say stuff like, well, I called my financial advisor, and he told me I couldn't buy a car. Well, it's not his job to tell me whether I can buy a car or not.

I'm going to decide if I'm going to buy a freaking car. I put the money in the dadgum account. I can decide it. I'm a big boy. I can decide I'm a grown man. I can look at the numbers and go, I can afford this car, can't afford this car. I don't need to ask someone's permission to do crap with my money and so that's when you look that's when you handed it over and somehow you've gotten someone who's babysitting you and that is not

what you do that's how people get screwed that's how they lose all their money and they make a lot of money and they end up with none so here's's the trick. Don't put money in something you don't understand. Don't work with anyone in the financial world. Real estate agents, insurance agents, investment brokers, estate planners, tax people. Don't work with anyone in the financial world that does not have the heart of a teacher. My poor tax guy has to explain our infinitely complicated tax returns enough that i i'm not just signing them because he put them in front of me and that's the key dave still has the power and and and i'm you have the power as a doctor here would be the analogy i'm sure you've had somebody show you how to use a medical device before and you don't use it on a patient until you

know that you know that you know that you know how to use it, and you have the same control. I'm not going to do that until I understand how to use it. You are in control here. You're not giving over any control. And I love your spirit, but again, there should not be a spirit of fear here. Go to RamseySolutions.com, interview three, five, seven smart investor pros until you get a good feel, a good chemistry, and that they're willing to explain things to you. Because as Dave said, he doesn't sign on the tax form until he understands what he's signing.

Yeah. So, Emmett, you can just pile up the cash. That's true, too. If that's all you understand until you understand more. I had a young man that was an NFL football player come in and sit down with me about two years ago. He and his beautiful little wife. And, I mean, they were like ken and barbie right and um he said i gotta tell you dave you're just gonna kill me i said why am i gonna kill you what'd you do

he said i'm so ashamed i'm like what are you ashamed of and he goes i'm such a horrible investor and so how are you a horrible investor what did you do and he goes i have 35 million dollars in a savings account i'm not gonna, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to kiss you. You're a genius. I thought you about to choke on that. He goes, yeah. Well, I could have invested it.

And I went, yeah, you probably should have invested it, but guess what you didn't do? You didn't freaking lose it. Yeah, you got 35 mil in the bank. You didn't lose it. In the NFL, that's called touchdown. Unbelievable, baby. Now we can teach you a little bit about investing.

And wade out into the shallow end of the pool and learn to swim into the deep end. It'll be all right. That's a good starting point, son. We're going to be okay. My goodness gracious. This is the Ramsey Show. People all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting health care costs through Christian Health Care Ministries. Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM,

is a nonprofit organization that helps members carry one another's burdens with health care expenses, and they have successfully shared each other's medical bills for nearly 40 years. See if CHM is right for you by visiting chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Rena is in Seattle. Hi, Rena.

How are you? Hey, Dave. Hi, Ken. How are you? Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can we help? Thanks for taking my call. Okay, so my dad passed away two years ago. I'm sorry.

He left us with the opposite of a legacy. He left us with a mess. No will, nothing whatsoever in regards to bank accounts any of that but um so he spent the majority of his life living in another country in iran and my mom just recently went over there to kind of try to finalize things and she called me and asked if she could send money over and deposit it into individual accounts like my kids savings account so because she's trying to avoid any sort of penalties or taxes and i'm curious and i don't want to end up getting in trouble or penalized for that do you know how that any of that or can you explain to me how

any of that would work i have no idea about iran um i can tell you that inherited money in the united states is not taxable okay so if it's sent over from another country you don't know yeah why does she just not send it to her account i think she's worried that if she sends all of it to her account that she's going to have to pay heavy taxes. Well, she needs to get some information and get some knowledge because she's not going to pay any taxes. And if she gives the money away, she might have gift taxes. She needs the money, though.

You left her with absolutely nothing. Okay. How much money is involved? Yeah. She does not need to send it to your kids or you. She needs to send it and put it in her own account. There are no tax implications in the United States for doing that. Now, there might be something to do with Iran. I have no idea what happens over there.

Yeah. And, you know, to be super sure, she would just contact an estate attorney here in the States that does wills and does probate, and he can give her some instruction or she can give her some instruction on how to do this properly. But the common sense aspect of it is simply send the money, it's your money, and you're transferring your money from Iran to the United States. There's absolutely no implication of that at all. Yeah, okay. They were married, right?

Yeah, here's the thing. yeah okay well they they were married right yeah they were married and you were on a divorce in the u.s so how is she getting possession of this money because she's married in iran yeah she stayed married in iran because she knew that he was never going to do a will or anything like that he was in denial that he was even going to die even though he had cancer for however many years. Okay. Given that this is not her husband in the United States, then this is like me taking the money from his name and put it in my name. So she needs to contact a tax attorney and or an estate planning attorney,

but she does not need to send it to your kids. That's dumb butt. Okay. She's going to make a tax attorney and or an estate planning attorney, but she does not need to send it to your kids. That's dumb butt. She's going to make a mess. Your instinct was right. She's going to make a mess, and she's acting like she knows what she's doing, and she has no idea what she's doing. So just get an attorney, spend $500 on it, get a little bit of advice on how to properly do this,

because it's very complicated this is an ex-wife by united states law and i don't know what the divorce decree says i don't i don't know that she has any rights to this money uh i have no idea i because i don't know if the marriage in iran gives her rights to it legally in the united states so. So that's squirrelier than crud. So, no, you do not want it going into your kid's name because she might technically be accused of stealing it at some point. Oh, boy. I don't know who would accuse her of that, who's alive that would care, but maybe his brother still lives in Iran. I don't know.

So there's no will. I don't know how she's getting access to the money. I guess because she's a wife there. Golly, it's complicated. No, she needs legal advice, and you do not put this in your kid's name. Your instinct is correct. That could be a mess. Yeah, absolutely.

This is why lawyers exist. Oh, God. As much as you hate to acknowledge that. This is absolutely straightforward here that you've got to get this figured out before anything gets transferred. Because Iranian law? Oh, boy. Yeah. Well, yeah. And you've got to get out of there.

Charlie's in Cleveland. Hey, Charlie, how are you? Hi, Dave. So my question is, I have some large life events coming up. My wife is turning 50, and next year we're having our 25 year wedding anniversary. And yeah, right. It's awesome. So I was calling to see if the amount of money I was looking to spend was out of line in your opinion. So for her birthday, I was looking to spend $5,000 on a gift. And for our anniversary, I was looking at taking maybe a $10,000 trip.

Do you have the money? That's an easy question. Do you have the money? Yes. Okay, you have the money. So are you in debt? I owe about $85,000 on my house. That's all.

Okay. And what's your household income? It's about $200,000. So why do you need my permission to spend $5,000? We're pretty frugal, and we do every dollar. Like, we budget every dollar, literally. $300 for the salt for my water bill, we budget it. Good, good.

I mean, we do, too. We have a detailed, we're very intentional with our money, but we have the money to go on a $10,000 trip, and so do you. We haven't, like, set a budget for any of that, so I would take it from somewhere else in my on-hand cash. Yeah, which I suspect, listening to you, you're such a tightwad, you've got a lot of on-hand cash. It's all relative, sir. Okay, how much on-hand cash do you have? So I probably have 50 for an emergency fund.

I probably got 25 for the next car we buy. We probably have 25 for an investment opportunity that is going to come our way sometime in the future. And we probably have a little more cash lying around, too. Let me tell you, I just found your investment opportunity. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Yep. I would invest in two of the biggest dates in her life, her 50th and her 25th anniversary, dude. Stop thinking, man.

That's it. You're overthinking this. You've done a really good job with money. Here's the thing. You've got to remember this, Charlie. There's only three things you can do with money, and you have to do all three. You can be generous with it, you can invest it, and you can enjoy it. And you have to do all three to have a good life.

Most people only enjoy it. They're broke. Some people only save it. That's you. So you need to also have fun and enjoy some of the money. And to take $15,000 out of that future investment fund and do this, if I were in your shoes, if Ken were in your shoes, Stacy and Sharon would demand this. Our greatest investment. And the ROI is just priceless. You're talking about that.

Well, I think we're deeply in debt, and we're still trying to pay our way out. That's what it really is. Yes. The debt we will never pay off is that we convince those good women to marry us. We will never dig out of this hole. That is true. We married so far up that we're always climbing. Yeah. He needs to gamify this, Dave.

He needs to turn this into a game where he can rework his budget. The guy loves his budget. He's a good dude. He's disciplined. Rework that budget to reach these financials. So you got the five,

and then you got the... You got a year and a half. Good gracious. You make $200,000. Enjoy it. $15,000. Enjoy this. So the interesting thing is

what you said was very true. It is relative. Yeah. And this is a very small amount of money out of what you have saved and out of what you make. If you make $20,000 a year and you're $40,000 in debt, the answer is no. You don't need to spend that kind of money on luxury items, birthday gifts, and that kind of thing. But, sir, you have done a very good job. Enjoy your money.

That's one of the things it's good for. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. in the lobby of ramsey solutions on the debt-free stage ken bonnie joins us from jacksonville florida hey bonnie how are you hi i'm good how are you? Hi, Dave. I'm good. How are you? Good to have you. I'm excited to be here. All the way from Jacksonville. Very cool. Yes, all the way from Florida. How much have you paid off? About $43,000.

Love it. How long did that take? Almost 14 months. Good. And your range of income during that time? I started at about 81 and then just got another promotion, so I'm at about 97.5. Hey, hey. I like it.

I like it. I like it. What do you do for a living? I'm a service executive for a technology company, so client relations, essentially. Yeah, good, good. And obviously good at it. Very good. Thank you. So what kind of debt was your $43,000?

A tax bill, six credit cards, a personal loan from my parents. That was pretty much it. No student loan debt. Okay. All right. How old are you?. No student loan debt. Okay. All right. How old are you? I am 41. 41. Yeah. And 14 months ago, you kind of have been bopping along with this like lower back pain kind of debt. That's what that kind of debt is, isn't it? It's like you're making enough that it's small enough that you can almost ignore it if you take a few Advil, you know, but it just keeps coming back, and it's always there.

Is that right? Yes. What happened? What broke you loose? I was planning an extravagant birthday trip to South Africa for my 40th birthday. Yum. Yeah, a trip I couldn't afford, and I was taking stock of my life and had a come-to-Jews moment with myself.

Oh, it's the old 40th birthday thing. The 40th birthday thing, yeah. So taking a look at my finances and knowing I couldn't afford it and then I was in a toxic relationship at the time. I didn't like my job. Basically, I wanted to change everything and was looking for ways to cut costs.

So I enlisted the help of my parents and asked if I could move in with them for a year. Wow. To pay off debt yeah so they're. And they were one of the debts and so they said yes. Yeah I paid them first and it was a huge blessing because then COVID came along and so we let the boyfriend go first and asked him to leave and then I got a different job that I liked a lot more and job no boyfriend no apartment lease no trip to South Africa and we're getting out of debt right and look at you yes thank you it's been a long a long journey but it sounds cleansing it was very in more ways than financial oh yeah career boyfriend the whole thing.

I mean, this is awesome. This is great. Yeah. I'm very, very grateful. Yeah. I want to ask you a quick progression there. So you gave us the range of income from 81 to 97. Yes.

So when you were in this miserable job and you changed to something you like, is that where we pick up 81? Did you get a bump there or was it a parallel move? I actually went from 81. My first promotion was to about 87. Okay. And then the month after I was debt-free, I got another permission to 97.5. Wow.

And I feel like God was just saying, thank you for being a good steward of what you have. And now you don't have to struggle as much anymore. Little tip of the hat from the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Well done. How much did the loving the work, really enjoying the work, how much did that play into any mindset or emotion and performance that led to what you believe?

Did it lead to the promotion is my question, do you think? I think I was just hyper-focused. So everything else that was positive that I was drawing to myself, I think just led to a job promotion. It was more so my boss I didn't like, if I'm telling the truth. That's not a surprise. People leave leaders, not companies. Right.

Yeah, the work was okay. I'm actually at the same company. I just have jumped apartments. Good for you. Yeah. So much better fit. Not surprising, Dave. You hear that all the time.

Yep. Focus. Yep. Focus to get out of debt led to professional gains, not just financial. Good for you. Yeah. So much better fit. Not surprising, Dave. You hear that all the time. Yep. Focus. Yep. Focus to get out of debt led to professional gains, not just financial. Well, and another thing was you cleaned all this junk out of your life. Oh, yeah. And you were in the process of cleaning junk out of your life. I did, yeah.

Of different kinds. And this is such a great story. Thank you. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Your parents got to be proud of you. I hope so. They're here with me today. They came with you to cheer, right? Yes, they did. And my niece, Christabel, as you. Thank you. Your parents got to be proud of you. I hope so. They're here with me today.

They came with you to cheer, right? Yes, they did. And my niece, Christabel, as well. All right. Very good. Very good. Well, that's cool. That makes a nice Nashville trip.

Not South Africa, but a good trip. Not South Africa. I told my parents when this was all over, I would buy them a vacation. So I'm sending them on a cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary next year. That's awesome. That's more fun than going yourself. I like it. Yes. Yes. I'm very year. That's awesome. That's more fun than going yourself. I like it. Yes, I'm very excited.

That's awesome. Very cool. So 14 months, $43,000. That's pretty intense. Yeah, it was. What do you tell people the key is? Living on a budget, for sure. For a while, I did Dave-ish.

I took Financial Peace years ago. But like you said, I had enough to manage the chaos. It was just sort of my juggling system. And now it's more of a, this is why I have hope and focusing on investing and planning my future. And when I decided to do this, I was just in a really hopeless place and struggling with depression and going through a breakup. So I was a hot mess when I moved into my parents' house. But I had a lot of shame dealing with thoughts that I hadn't been a good steward of what God had given me.

And I knew I was capable of more. So I just prayed that I could be the person I wanted to be. I wanted to be someone my family would be proud of. And that one day I'd stand here. They are. That's awesome. They are. They are proud of and that one day i'd stand here they are that's awesome they are proud of you and we are too and that shame flipped to conviction then and it's game on yeah yes it was game on yeah shame is destructive conviction to get your butt in gear yeah yeah it will it will i'm so proud of you well done very powerful

wow what i you know your whole life has changed and it's the debt the debt piece is just part of it it was just part of it part of it but it almost precipitated it in a sense it started the whole ball rolling it did it did i feel like it really came to a head and i was unrecognizable to myself and that really started my journey um to be gonzalatans and get out of debt and change everything um but yeah i'm happier now than i've ever been it's the highest base salary i've ever had i just feel like it's a reward for being a good steward of what i've been given you're free yes and you're and you're generous yes and you're in a much healthier place all the way around

so when the emotion just grabbed you there, because you were talking about, I envision getting to this moment. Here you are. You did it. You are standing on the debt-free stage. I want you to tell people, because the emotion's still all over you. It was hard.

Is it worth it? Standing there moments before you do your screaming, was it worth it? Absolutely. Absolutely. I would say for anyone listening that's struggling, it's hard to hold on your hope, especially day after day. Like even in the 40, you know, plus thousand dollars, I also paid cash for about $3,500

of car repairs in that time. So anytime something would go wrong with my car, I was so discouraged and, you know, I had a plan for I will be debt free on this day and then something else would go wrong with my car was so discouraged. And, you know, I had a plan for I will be debt-free on this day and then something else would go wrong. And I listened to your podcast and I would hear the debt-free screams and just think, you know, if I just keep going just one more day, you know, I can do this. And then the chains start to drop off and you see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's not an oncoming train. And here I am. You are there.

I'm here. I'm just going to leave and let her do the next segment. Yeah, she could take over the rest of the hour. I think everybody's signing up for Financial Peace University right now. That's right. I'm amazed. This is so powerful. Well done.

Very, very well done. Thank you. All right, Bonnie, we've got a copy of The Legacy Journey for you because that for sure is your next chapter in your story, a chapter of generosity and legacy and control and destiny, and that's where you're headed. You're a powerhouse. You're amazing.

Thank you. You grabbed every part of your life up by the neck and shook it and made it behave, and it was very, very powerful. It's an honor to meet you. Thank you. And also a copy of the Total Money Makeover for you to give away because you haven't shut up talking about this. And somebody that you know needs a copy of it that you've been bothering about this stuff. And we're just so proud of you.

And I know your mom and dad are. Thank you. Very, very well done. All right. It's Bonnie from Jacksonville, Florida. $43,000 paid off in 14 months, making $81,000 to $97,000. What a great story. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Love it! Woo! Absolutely fabulous. Unbelievable. What a great story.

This is the Ramsey Shad. Thank you. We'll be right back. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. This is The Ramsey Show. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Amy's in Dallas. Hi, Amy. How are you? I'm good, Mr. Ramsey. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Well, okay. So I've been very blessed with financial wellness, mainly because ever since I was about five, I was always asking my dad questions. And so he taught me a lot of your principles, really. So when I first graduated college, I figured out what I needed to live on and saved all the rest, pretty much. So what that trickled down to is I'm now married,

I have two kids, and I had been investing in my company stock for a long time, thinking this is going to be my kid's college fund until I actually have them because I can't put a five to nine on a blank person. But now that I have a good chunk of money in there because I didn't take it out because it was just skyrocketing. So I figured I'd ride the wave. But now I have a, my daughter's five and my son is two. I'm thinking, you know, maybe I should withdraw some of this and pull the trigger and pay off the house, which is our only debt. And front load both of their 529s so that I don't have to think about it ever again. You have enough stock to do both of those things?

It's about $450,000, so yes. And how much do you own your home? $70,000. Yeah,. And how much do you owe on your home? $70,000. Yeah, you need to do this tonight. Okay. I figured you'd probably say that, but I was just a little worried about the tax implications of a big lump sum of money being given to me. Well, what do you think your gain on it is?

What do you have invested in this 400 000 yeah honestly i think the gains are like 300 and i keep in mind i don't have to sell all of it because obviously if i front load a 529 i could put like 90k in one and 30k in the other and based on calculations i think that'll be okay when they turn 18 um and then 70k on the house and so i should still have like 200k left over over in there. But on the gains of that $200K, especially if I strategically sell, like not the ones that were purchased within the last year, I think my gains on it is probably $100,000. Yeah, you select the – it's not that big a deal. It's a 15% capital gains rate.

You've owned it more than a year, and so it's $15,000 per $100,000. It's not that big a deal. Okay. So, yeah, you need to do this yesterday. And when you're selling it, you select the shares that you last purchased. Last in, first out is the accounting principle on this, meaning that the most expensive shares, the ones you have the most invested in, will create the least gain, and that should be the last ones you purchased.

So, you know, as you're dealing with it, you want to go with last in, first out. Okay, then what do I do after that? Because now it's like... Well, then you have $200,000 sitting in stock still. Do you want that? I don't invest in single stocks, and I don't advise people to more than 10% of their net worth. So is your net worth over $200,000? I mean, I'm sorry, over $2 million.

Over $2 million? 1.3, I think. So I think you're a little heavy in a single stock, even after we execute the debt-free on the house and the kids at 529s are set up. I'd probably liquidate some of that and move towards mutual funds. I'm not as big a player as you are. I don't want that much risk. Claire is in Denver, Colorado. Hey, Claire, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up?

Okay, so I have a little bit of like a double life going on. I am an accountant, and I'm also a professional MMA fighter. You're an accountant. Wait a minute, I don't want to drive past that too quick. You're an accountant by day and an MMA fighter by night. Yeah. It's like a superhero. Yeah, like a superhero.

Clark Kent. It's normally a good balance. But, yeah, yeah. So what happened this week is, so I had a little bit of head trauma. Nothing super serious, but it was unexpected, and I was having some side effects. So I had to go see a specialist. Um, so I went to see a neurologist and basically, um, all of a sudden I had a $2,500 bill, uh, and that's for my whole treatment. Like it was actually a very reasonable price and whatnot. Um, but I only had a thousand dollars in my

emergency fund. So I used that and then I had to unfreeze the credit card that I was paying off and put the balance on that card, which, you know, is not something I was wanting to do. And I'm still paying off debt. I've got about $22,000 left in my debt. So yeah, so at this point, I'm just trying to figure out if maybe I need to pad my emergency fund a little more for the time being before I can get to that third baby step or how I should handle this. Wow. Okay, so head trauma is not an unexpected event when you are an MMA fighter.

Right. That's a predictable event. Right? I mean, logically. Yeah. I've never participated, but I've watched what you do, and I'm scared of you right now. So have you made money fighting? So I'm at this point right now, I'm actually in a really good spot.

I fight for a good organization, but the way MMA works is you're making very little money until you're making a lot of money. So right now, from fighting, I make about $15,000 a year. Okay, let's bank that as a business. Let's bank that to the side as a business and hope you break even with medical bills right so take you take run your life on your accounting income and set the mma aside as a as a small business idea and say this small business is going to break even if we're lucky okay okay and then you can just

bank that money and they and instead of changing the baby steps let's just qualify this as a small business because it legitimately is it's a side hustle and uh you know and so how long have you been doing this i'm interested uh i've been doing this for I think about six years altogether. I had a long amateur career and I'm a professional so it's been a journey. So how long have you been pro? I've been pro for about I think it's only been about two years right now so far. How old are you? I'm 25. Okay so you you figure you got what five years in the ring more? You know I'm 25. Okay. So you figure you got, what, five years in the ring more? You know, I'm hoping 10 more years. So that's also why I'm taking this brain stuff real seriously.

And, you know, after that, I want to do accounting for the rest of my life. Yeah, so you really can't afford to get your eggs scrambled doing that then, right? Yeah, exactly, exactly. I just wonder, I've got to ask, this is quick. Do you allow the frustration of the accounting to get you mad enough to punch somebody, or do you love the accounting? You know, I really love the accounting. I knew that.

I honestly, I feel like I'm living the dream. I love both my jobs. Good for you. That's great. That is so fun. Yeah, and so you're probably a very technical fighter then. Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, very cool.

Well, fun, Claire. Well, that's neat. First MMA fighter question we've had. Yeah. You're the first. Oh, wonderful. I know I'll have more moving forward, especially when the money starts rolling in. I'll probably remember the call because it's not one I get all the time.

So you call back any time we can help. That's interesting. Very fun. Aren't you a little scared right now, Ken? No, there's no question. In fact, I just wonder how long I could last in the ring with her. I think three seconds. It's too late.

Yeah, it's over. Not until you finish the sentence. You'd be done. Me too. As long as it would take for her to catch up to me is the real answer. That's right. How long before she could tackle you as you ran real answer away yes that's it got her hands on me it's over i probably faint tap out from just head hitting the ground she would even have to strike

me i don't think it's the real answer uh they don't allow guns in there so i'm not going in there i'm too scared i'm just really scared that's fun that is awesome oh man i'm a tough lady yeah that's that's an interesting way of looking at something though i mean she's looking at this business through the eyes of an accountant. What an interesting thing. That's very cool. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. Ken Coleman, my co-host, James Childs, my producer, Kelly Daniel, my associate producer and phone screener. I'm Dave Ramsey,

your host, and we'll be back. 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.