The Ramsey Show - App - My Mom Won’t Give Me My Money! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 27, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Ken Coleman discuss: Borrowing money to buy family land. Handling a trust fund, Buying farm equipment for the tax benefit, What to do with a divorce settlement. 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

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and build and create actual, real, amazing relationships. a symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and build and create actual, real, amazing relationships. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, number one bestselling author,

is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Renee starts off this hour from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Hi, Renee. How are you? I'm good, Dave. It's nice to talk to you and Ken. You too. What's up?

Well, I'm calling because we're baby steppers. And so my husband and I are on baby step seven. And we were planning to get land from my relative. He was going to gift us a piece of land next to our current property. And he's since changed his mind. He's not going to gift us the land any longer. He wants a charge of $60,000 for the lot. Now, our only problem is he's only told us that 30 days ago,

and we are not prepared for that. We don't have the money. We don't have the cash. And so we're looking because it's family land that's been in the family since the 60s, and it's currently next to our current property, and we're concerned that we would like to build maybe next to us at some point or we're not, at least not keep a home, another home from being built.

And so we wanted to know, like, should we take out a loan? And if so, like, I don't really want to take out a loan, but I don't want to also lose this family land. And it's now or never, he's listing it tomorrow. And so we're looking at taking out a HELOC on our current home, and we do own our current home. You don't have any money? No savings. We just completed your plan here in January.

Oh, so you just paid off the house in January? Yes. And you don't have any money in retirement investing at all? We do. We are doing our 15%, and it's more because we obviously reached Baby Step 7. So we're doing – How much is in your emergency fund? 30%.

$12,000. Okay. What's your household income? About $12,000. Okay. What's your household income? About $70,000. Okay. Wow. Well, that's inconsiderate on his part. You are kidding.

Must be your husband's side of the family. Unfortunately, it's mine. Have you tried knocking a noggin on him? Knocking a knot on his noggin. We've tried. We've tried offering better deals. We've tried offering 50 instead of 60 we've tried um everything we could think of would you make us let us what in the world

he went from giving it to you to selling it out from under you cancer so he's had cancer for at least the last 10 years he He has lung and leukemia. He's trying to get it cleaned up for his estate. He says the medical bills are expensive. Oh, he's trying to pay medical bills. Yes, and his financial advisor has advised him not to pull from his investments, obviously because the market's down to pay those medical bills. He's well off because my own father passed, and so he received the rest of the inheritance from my grandparents. Oh, then your dad's portion didn't pass through to you?

No. That's weird. Okay. Well, I've asked every question I can think of. I don't borrow money, and I don't like being jerked around into deals that aren't on my timing. So I have a tendency to walk away from this kind of thing, mainly because I'm just so rebellious. And sometimes I do it to my own detriment. I have regretted it before.

And so I'm trying to be a little bit even keel because I'm pretty ticked at your little uncle right now. He's got the money to pay his medical. He does not need money to pay his medical bills. He's got the money to pay his medical he does not need money to pay his medical bills okay he's got the money to pay his medical bills and his medical bills aren't that much he's got insurance it's not even 60 000 right and he's got plenty of money if he pulled ten thousand dollars out of his stupid investments it wouldn't kill him in spite of the fact the market's down i wouldn't pull it out because the market's down, but I would pull it out before I broke my word to my niece.

Well, the other benefit for him is that there's another lot next to it, and he's going to be selling it. So it will go on the market tomorrow, and he will be able to sell that. And he can get whatever, you know, whatever. How big is the lot? From the real estate? It's about three-quarters of an acre. Okay.

So it's not huge, but there's sewer connection available. So let's talk about it from two different perspectives then, all right? Number one, Dave and Sharon Ramsey don't borrow money, and so we would have to just pass, hard pass. We don't have the money. We don't have a place to get the money. Without borrowing it, we'd have to hard pass because I just don't borrow money. And once I've gotten my home paid off and I'm baby step seven,

the chances of me going back in debt, that would be like throwing up a little bit in my mouth. I couldn't do it. But that's how we feel. And so I would just say, you should have kept your word to me, and I'm sorry you've got cancer but i'm also sorry you don't have integrity and i'll be check checking that box and moving on uh now having said that if you go get a home equity loan for sixty thousand dollars

and you pay it off over the next two years and you're 100 dead free and you've got this lot and you've got a buffer the story still ends excellently, and, you know, you're going to be just fine. You're not going to keep that debt forever. It's not going to break you. You could pay it off in what? You could pay it off in two years, really, couldn't you? Well, when we did the math, it was more like four. Yeah, that's not good enough.

You need to do it in three max maximum of three i'd rather i'd rather you do it in two um because this is almost like you know i don't like home equity loans i don't like any of this but it is a singular piece of property it's not a nice lot that you found across town it's a singular piece of property that's family dirt it's next door to you it gives you buffer and so on um but even the other side of that you're still going to have a house right yeah so you're not you're not got 120 000 right no we tried we tried offering uh less but he would not take that either we tried to buy both lots i'm just getting redneck right now i'm gonna tell him to stuff them both but you do whatever

you want to do uh if you do the home equity loan and take them and um pay it off real fast it's not the end of the world financially it's just i's just when deals like this come at me, I sometimes do the wrong thing out of obstinance, admittedly. And so I couldn't do it for multiple reasons, just because I don't like being lied to, and I don't like being jerked around, and I really don't like it when it's freaking relatives. So, yeah, that'd be the end of that.

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You can get a four-pack of event passes for only $120. That's $30 a person for a whole day of all of America's best speakers. I mean, teachers, this is an incredible, incredible event. Thanks for joining us. Victoria is with us in Pennsylvania. Hi, Victoria. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, thank you, Dave. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Well, you see, so we just discovered you, me, and my boyfriend probably this week, and we're looking to make my emergency fund. And I have a trust fund that probably has, I'm going to say, probably about $30,000 in it. But the only issue is my mom is the, I'm going to say, like the holder of the account right now. She's not really giving me access to it since I became over the age of 21. Now I'm 22. She's making it pretty difficult to access that money.

So we were looking just to get it out so we can start the emergency fund. What are the terms of the trust? So it was originally made for schooling, but I've already had my degree, and they made me – she actually had me pay out of pocket for that whole degree because she didn't want to touch the money. So that's probably about $5,000 that I spent on schooling um but she won't let me touch any of it do you have a copy of the trust um i have the information i've actually been in contact with the trust and they were just like hey she just has to sign this paper and then it goes into your name and she will not do it because

she thinks i'm going to be a quote-unquote stupid kid and blow all the money okay the but the terms of the trust say that it's to revert to you controls to revert to you at 21 uh yeah but because i was underage when it was made she just won't sign it over no no no no no stop you're not underage now right the terms of the trust say that the money is to be turned over to you after age 21 correct yep and she just has to she doesn't have to sign anything she doesn't have to sign anything okay get back in touch with the trust company and tell them you're going to contact a lawyer and sue their butts if they don't turn your money over to you okay

she's no longer a trustee of a trust that is now defunct because you turned 21 okay i'm not a lawyer but that's if you if you have a lawyer look at this situation that's what they're going to tell you yeah that's going to be the next step we were just trying to figure out if that was the right step or just trying to get her to sign it over would be the best step. Well, I mean, best step would be that she doesn't need to sign it because of the terms of the trust. And if you've actually reviewed them, I would get in touch with the trust company and go, the terms of the trust are that it's 21.

It's turned over to me. There's no signature required on her part. If you don't turn it over to me, I'm contacting contacting legal counsel so you need to do this right now yeah just threaten them and just have them send you the money and that solves the whole thing you call your mom up and tell her what you did yeah she's trying to exercise control over something she no longer has control over is what i'm saying yep especially since i moved out she does not has nothing to do with moving out has nothing to do with moving out. It has nothing to do with moving out.

The terms of trust don't state you have to live with her. They don't state where you live. They state that you're 21, period. Yeah. Okay. Now, if you go do something stupid with this money, you ought to have your butt kicked. Yeah, I do. Okay. If you go screw this up, you ought to have your butt kicked yeah i do okay if you go screw this up if you go screw this up you

ought to have your butt kicked but that doesn't change the fact that legally you have right to this money yeah based on what you are telling me if you have correct information yeah i probably just uh go over the trust and specifically what it says. And if it just says 21, then they should either write me a check or legal counsel. Or we're going to have an attorney contact them and tell them to do that, yeah. Yeah. And then you can call mom and say, Mom, I've retained legal counsel because you're illegally holding this. Yeah.

And you need to sign the paper and turn it over to me now well there you go that's an easier answer said than done well it is and thus is the problem but yeah that's the deal hey thanks for the call i hope that's all that information's right because i don't know your situation but it does sound like you need to you need legal advice uh once you've gone through the details of the trust if you can't get mom to release it to you and you think the trust says it's to be released to you and based on what you're telling me that's my advice to you so good question thanks for the call okay so here's the rule ken um nothing wrong with doing a trust,

and it's not unusual to do a trust for a minor until they turn 21, and at 21 it's turned over to them, and sometimes it's later it's turned over to them. The mistake that was made in this situation was they appointed someone to be the trustee who did not have the intellectual power to do it. Because mom is trying to function like mother and not trustee, and it's going to get mom sued. Yeah. Yeah. So you can be a mother, and you can have motherly opinions. And I might even agree with her mother.

Maybe Victoria doesn't need this money. Maybe she's acting out. Maybe she's immature. Maybe Victoria doesn't need this money. Maybe she's acting out. Maybe she's immature. Maybe she's going to blow it. I already told her not to blow it, right? Just like her mom would have told her, right? But those instincts are different than the actual legality of a trust. A trustee is only allowed to do what the trust states.

Correct. They're not allowed to insert their own opinion or advice into the situation unless the trust states that yeah in which case you have really opened up a pandora's box of a mess i was curious what you thought about what we heard here now i think it's fair that victoria i don't know that she's read the fine print and i think she's going to which is great but it does it strike you as odd that the trust would say to her, well, we need a signature from mom? You would think, or is this a bad assumption on my part, that they know what it actually says, and they were in fact telling her what is in fact true?

I truthfully have no idea why a trust company would be, unless they're just out of an abundance of caution, trying to keep mama happy. Right. They don't want mama coming back after him too. Right. She's going to be pissed when this goes down. Yeah. So that's my guess is they're just trying to play politics here rather than legalities, which they're going to get their tail in a crack too. Yeah.

That's going to be a problem so the problem is when you assign a trustee then the trustee uh you know what there's no trust there is no trust company she's the trustee yeah so that's what i'm saying she's she must have gone to a bank account and a banker told her that's what i'm wondering like because that struck me as odd yeah so what you have to do then victoria is take a copy of the trust into the bank right and show the branch manager look this is what it says and the every minute that you hold this past this you're going to be liable yeah and just take that's what i was wondering because the trust is just the document that says here's the deal that manages the money there sometimes there's a trust company but the trust company i mean the trust department

of bank can act as a trustee exactly but that mama company, I mean, the trust department and the bank can act as a trustee. But Mama's the trustee on this. No question. And she's mad that Victoria left the house. Yeah. According to Victoria. Yeah. Didn't like the boy.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Same. And all of that may be accurate. Doesn't matter, though, in this case. Well, all that matters is, so point being, the takeaway for all of you in America is, if you're going to form a trust, be careful who you appoint as the trustee. It is a tremendous responsibility. And they can get themselves into a problem if they start inserting their own opinions into the application of the legality of the trust.

This is the Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the Debt Free Stage. Jake and Kelsey are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Doing well. Doing well. Good to have you guys. Where do you live? Irvine, California. All the way to Nashville, all the way across the whole stinking United States. Way to go, guys. Thank you for coming.

And how much debt did you pay off? We paid off $456,000 in six years. Woo! And $300,000 of that was in the last three years. Wow. Good for you. And your range of income during that six years? We started at $175,000 and we ended at $5 000 cool what do y'all do for a living

i'm a teacher and he's a physical therapist okay and so wow great incomes so uh what what in the world what kind of debt was this student loans yeah primarily student loans we had one car built in there but it was all pretty much made up of student loans 456,000 dollars in student loans for a teacher and a pt oh it was foolish in the beginning but when we were signing up for things it was just it'll be our problem in the future we'll worry about it later and then obviously it became our problem yeah how long you guys been married? Twelve years. We actually had our anniversary on Saturday. Oh, happy anniversary. Thank you.

Very good. Okay, so halfway through your marriage, six years ago, that student loan was just still sitting there, almost a half a million dollars staring at you. And you, what, wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat? I mean, what happened? What in the world? What changed the direction on this? So we grew up in Minnesota, and then we moved to California for Jake's physical therapy school.

And when he was in school, we knew that we wanted to get rid of the debt somehow. We just didn't know what the plan was. And so while he was in school, we were living on the teacher's salary, and I had a long commute. And I listened to the Dave Ramsey show on my commute and so I asked Jake if he was interested in trying the program and basically the minute he got out of school we started running and I would say at the beginning we were a little bit Dave-ish and then that's when the last three years you saw how we picked up and really worked to pay it off. Yeah 100 grand a year for three years you were after it i mean you're on beans and rice absolutely jake at one time was working four jobs so he's an inpatient physical

therapist so he was working at four different hospitals um that became a little too much so he scaled it back but um we sacrificed a lot of time i didn't see him a lot um i did summer school um he worked really hard you know 10 hour days every weekend i would tell people jake works every day and i think they heard jake works a lot it was jake works every day all day yes a lot of days yeah for a lot of days in a row for three years there amazing wow powerful uh guys there's so many times that I have sat with people or talked to people here on the air, either one, and they have a mountain of student loan debt like this, and you guys are incredible. Because that was a wee bit daunting to look up and go,

I got $450,000 on a teacher and a PT's income. Because neither one of these are six figure incomes usually but the way you worked them you turned them into that oh my gosh amazing yeah i gotta ask because just the strain on your relationship just not seeing each other then you're exhausted you're working uh every day as your wife said i, what kept you going in some of those dark days? It was definitely knowing what the future held. And kind of as the one question we figured you'd maybe ask about is one of the keys is sacrifice. And we definitely made the most out of our time. On the weekends, a lot of times when I'd come home, we knew we'd maybe go to church.

We'd prepare a meal. We'd eat. We'd visit with friends for a tiny bit, and we'd have maybe one to two hours together. So we really learned to cherish those one to two hours, and we knew that once we got over with this, life was going to be so much better on the other side. And a few months out, it certainly is. Have you had a moment to kind of emotionally and financially and relationally exhale a little bit a little bit um has it hit you you know what in a sense it hasn't because i'm still working some um working our way through the steps and i actually jokingly have

told kelse a couple of times when i go to work on the weekends it almost feels natural like when i'm going to work extra jobs and extra shifts when i stay home it actually it almost feels natural. Like when I'm going to work extra jobs and extra shifts, when I stay home, it actually feels more abnormal. I'm kind of like, what are you doing here on the weekend? But it's starting to sink in. It's starting to feel real that all the hard work that we did for these years is paying off and our future is going to be better. Did you have a sense of release when it was gone? Definitely.

We knew the day that it was going to be gone, and we had the loan company that we were going to call and do it, and we had cookies made with getting out of debt and stuff. And so once we made that call and once it was processed, we definitely felt the relief. Yeah. Wow. Okay, I'm going to go back to what I said a minute ago.

The $450,000, almost $500,000 is daunting because a lot of people give up right there. It's too overwhelming. I can't get there. It's hard for people to internalize the belief, the hope that they could ever get there. And you guys did it in six years, most of it in three years. What do you tell that person who says oh man there's just no way i can't i can't i i kind of see how you guys did it but i can't believe it for myself you know what i'm saying right they need to definitely believe

in themselves and then like we're living walking examples a teacher and a physical therapist and we made it work as we said it talked it really comes down to dedication and hard work and definitely sacrificing and planning yourself. I think that you have to have a goal. I don't think there was a day that we didn't talk about the debt. Every single day we talked about it, and I think that's sort of been the release now too is you don't have to talk about that,

but you have to have that goal that you're going to. I have to find something else to talk about. What are you doing home, and what am, but you have to have that goal. I have to find something else to talk about. What are you doing home, and what am I supposed to say to you? Exactly. But I think that people just have to figure out what you can do, that you can work those extra jobs, that you can be willing to sacrifice. Ours was a longer journey, and I think a lot of people sometimes are shorter.

And so it's just what are you willing to give up? I mean, we drive a 1998 Camry. So, I mean, there's things sometimes you have to give up to get to the goal that you want at the end. Well, it's time for you to buy a car now. I mean, you really do need to get a better car. That one sucks. Oh, my gosh. Still works.

Yeah, I know. But you've got to break loose, man. You've got to be done. I don't want you to go crazy here, but go pay cash for it for sure. But, oh, my gosh. I mean, you have worked so, so hard. I'm so proud of y'all. Y'all are an amazing couple.

Oh, thank you. And you kind of look like you got a little PTSD a little bit, like you're still trying to – Yeah. A little shell shock still from – You gutted it out so dramatically. I mean, there was so many years of saying no and we can't do this we can't do that um now like we you said the release is yeah coming taking a trip to nashville going to visit family doing things like that that we said no to a lot over the last several years so um now we get to enjoy these things on a much grander scale do you feel um when you do when you take on something this size, do you feel accomplished?

Quite, yeah. If we did this, we could do anything? Exactly, yeah. All along the way, Kelsey and I always tell people that once we even got towards the end, we could already feel the freedom. You talk about the peace, and it's indescribable. Even when we knew we weren't fully done, we still felt, as you mentioned, the release already, you've mentioned before, it always feels like you're giving yourself raises

all along the way. And we, for the longest time, never even had to think much about money because we knew where it was always going to be going. And now we just kind of transitioned that into better ways to save it and invest it. I think we felt the peace along the way, too. It was, at first, it was so daunting to put all those student loans and see them, but once they started going, it's like we felt like we had more money, even though every month our money went out the door,

but you just felt that you had that, I think because you're giving every dollar a name and knowing where it's going. That's good. You felt a sense of control before you're even debt free because you actually were in control good for you yeah good hey we got a copy of baby steps millionaires for you that's gonna be a cakewalk i hope so yeah really and uh we got a copy of the uh total money makeover book and a financial peace membership as well

you guys are incredible you're heroes i'm so proud of you. Thank you so much. Jake and Kelsey, Irvine, California, $456,000 paid off in six years, $300,000 in the last three years, making $175,000 to $285,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Yeah! Wow! That's pretty fun boys and girls This is The Ramsey Show Our scripture of the day, Colossians 4.2, Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. President John F. Kennedy said, As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. Amen. Well done. Good stuff. Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality, best-selling author, is my co-host today.

Marsha's with us in Evansville, Indiana. Hi, Marsha. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hello. Thank you for taking my call. I have been listening to you since April 5th of 1995, and I finally got a question I just need your opinion on. Okay. Should I buy a piece of farm equipment so i can section 179 expense it for next april's income tax no

now let's talk about why uh the way you stated all of that the only reason you're doing this is for income tax yes okay no and 179 it means you just get the only thing about 179 is you get to write the whole thing off in one year you don't have to put it on a depreciation schedule correct okay so how expensive a piece of farm equipment between 80 and 120 let's call it 100 for round numbers okay yes numbers. Okay. Yes, sir. Are you in a, what, a 30% tax bracket, 35% tax bracket? No, actually, I'm in a 21. Next year, it'd be a 25, but this year it's a 21. Okay.

So you're going to write a check for $100,000 for a piece of equipment you don't need, and the actual mathematical benefit. I didn't need it. I'm sorry? I wouldn't say I didn't need it. I could do without it, but I would use it. Yeah. Well, I'm sure.

I mean, if you bought a new airplane, you'd use that too. But that's not the point. So you can $179 that as well if you're using it for business. But the point being this, the hundred thousand dollars leaves your checking account and then you take a one hundred thousand dollar tax deduction is your income in a in excess of 100 000 a year uh 98 is what i expect for this year depending on the grain market okay so you would pay zero taxes on the 98 000 and it would have been around 20 actually around 15 probably because it's a graduated tax income tax it's not all the

final bracket but let's so let's say your tax bill on the 98 000 would be 15 000 yes i yes exactly and then if you didn't pay if you didn't have this write-off, you pay $15,000. So you're trading $100,000 for $15,000. Can I ask you one other thing then? Did that make sense to you? Absolutely. We did not take any crop last year until January of this year. So I already know from my tax lady I will be spending $15,000 in taxes for the 2021 crop.

And so if I were to buy this piece of equipment and $179,000, I'd save $30,000. Okay. But you're spending $100, I'd save $30,000. Okay. But you're spending $100,000 to save $30,000. True. Yes. I agree. I mean, if you want to trade dollars for quarters, I got a deal for you. Well, it's like, what else do I do with the money, my stock?

Well, I'll do that deal with you. How much do you want to do? I'll do $500,000 with you if you want to do dollars for quarters walk away slowly marsha so here's the thing what's the piece of equipment uh it would be a used backhoe or a dirt mover okay all right so here's the only reason you buy equipment in business. The only reason. It makes you more than it costs you. Yes, I agree.

When I buy computers for this place, I can $179 them. When I buy cameras for this place, I can $179 them. And I spend a lot of money on that kind of thing every year around here so i when i furnish offices i can 179 it up to a certain limit okay but i don't buy any of those things for the 179 tax write-off benefit i take the 179 tax write-off but i only buy them if i can make more money because of them than they cost and you're not going to increase the quality or the your income on this farm by as much as this equipment costs i agree so you're not roying you're not getting a return on investment on the equipment and you're only buying this for a tax write-off, which is trading dollars for quarters, and you don't do that.

And I question whether you ever take a piece of financial advice from your idiot tax person again. This is horrible advice. Well, it was my idea, and they agreed with me. Okay. Then I won't be quite so harsh since I have you on the phone. But oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness, darling. No, we don't want to trade dollars for quarters.

People do this all the time in business and call it smart. And it's usually because their tax accountant is only looking at the tax benefit of it, not at the actual economic transaction. And the economic transaction is you're handing somebody $100,000 and all you're getting for it is $30,000. That's not a good trade. It's not a good trade. I hate taxes more than you do, but I ain't trading a dollar for a quarter just for that. Now, I'm going to take the $179 write-off every single time on items I would have purchased because they were going to make me more than they cost me anyway.

That's correct. And I believe me, I max my 179 out every year, and Trump's tax law really helped those of us in small businesses. One of the few things in small business come along a long time, that 179 being maxed out, like entire floors of stuff we could write off around here, instead of writing it off over three years or five years. We wrote it all off in one year. So the small business person, is the answer to that fear, oh, I'm going to get a tax bill, is it retained earnings,

just juice that a little bit? Yeah, you've got to set your money aside for taxes. So then you don't need to be so worried about it. Yeah, so it doesn't bite you. But you just get sick of giving the government money because they're stupid. Trust me. I don't like giving stupid people money. I get that.

And I look and I see the size of the money they take from me so that I am a law-abiding citizen. And otherwise, I'm not a law-abiding citizen. Oh, my gosh. You know, but it's just thievery in the name of government. Yeah. And so I don't disagree with her in that sense. God, man, it pisses me off. I don't want to do it.

I stay mad around tax time. But I'm also not going to trade dollars for quarters in the name of keeping money out of their hand. That's just cutting off your nose to spite your face. Kathy's with us in Canada. Hi, Kathy. How are you? Hi, gentlemen. Thanks for talking to me today.

Sure. Right quick before we run out of time. What's your question? Yes. Okay, I'll make it quick. I'm newly single. I have three children, 43 years old, starting from scratch. I'm getting a $150,000 settlement from my ex any day,

and I'm wondering just pay off debt and start from scratch or invest it and try and build it. I'm just scared I'm starting over. How much debt do you have? I have a $28,000 car and $40,000 line of credit plus my house. 68 plus your house. What do you owe on the house? Yes.

I owe $180,000. It's worth $240,000. What are you going to be doing for a living? I'm a correctional officer for the federal government up here. And you pay your bills on that? Oh, yes. Okay. I gross about $130,000, and I net about $80,000.

So I'm okay. I just wanted to make sure I – Child support as well, or just this one cash in your bill? No, no. Yeah, we're 50-50, so none of that. I'm really nervous. I'm sorry. That's okay.

You're fine. You're doing good. You're doing good. You're doing good. And you're helping me meet the clock for a run of time here. There we go. There we go. I appreciate it. I would pay off the debts and start fresh and make sure you're living on a tight budget

so you don't get yourself messed up on your new income being less than it was when it was combined. Okay. Okay. Be very careful to live on the $130,000. Yeah, I've been binging your books. I've been budgeting like crazy, so I feel like I just want to start this off on a fresh foot

and not make big mistakes. So whatever. One of the things I did when I started fresh after going broke, in my case, in your case, it's a divorce. But one of the things I did is i went back to the old debts and i say okay what was going on inside of my heart that allowed me to do that i want to make sure that's healed so how did those debt where do those debts come from and make sure that part's healed so they never grow back after you get rid of them that's a good thing to look into. You go, well, it was all him. He was stupid. Okay, then that's fine.

We got rid of him, so we're okay. It's one way of healing from it. Ken, good show today. Thank you, sir. Austin, Ben, Zach, Andrew, James, and Kelly in the booth. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace,

and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, folks, Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? Get your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows from The Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts.