The Ramsey Show - App - My Mother-in-Law Got Roped Into a Loan at 79% Interest! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 12, 2019

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave 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. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Becky is with us in Arizona. Merry Christmas, Becky.
Starting point is 00:00:55 How can we help? Merry Christmas, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I am equal parts excited and terrified to speak with you. It's okay. We've never lost a patient. Well, we're just getting started. I am equal parts excited and terrified to speak with you. It's okay. We never lost a patient.
Starting point is 00:01:08 Well, we're just getting started. I am a small business owner. I've been in business for about 10 years and have been fairly successful with it. I went through a very expensive divorce in March, and then my father died on Easter Sunday. Oh, my goodness. And both of those things took my focus off my business for about two months and my business just went belly up. I went through FPU with some neighbors and even though I knew I wasn't making money, so I couldn't really work on my debt snowball, I was working on my income snowball and I just got gazelle intense and have booked quite a bit of money coming in.
Starting point is 00:01:47 And I just, I'm not quite sure where to go with it because I feel like I have to work three baby steps at one time because I don't want my business to dry up again. So I feel like I need to put money in reserves. I owe the IRS. I'm trying to get out of debt. So my question is what do I do with all this money that's coming in? Okay. So you got the business turned back around once you were able to pay
Starting point is 00:02:10 attention to it again. Absolutely. Good for you. So what kind of money are you making, taxable income in a year? Well, it's anywhere from the worst of $52,000 a year, and that's when I first started. The best was 2016. That was about $230,000. But since I started working on the business again, trying to ramp things up, I have about $172,000 coming, and that is over the past maybe five months. That's what I'm capable of if I focus like that. What are you doing? What kind of business?
Starting point is 00:02:44 I'm a health care recruiter. You're a what recruiter? A health care recruiter. Health care. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:02:51 So you're smiling and dialing and you're making money. You betcha. Get after it. Okay. You're a hustler. Hustle and grind. Yeah. All right.
Starting point is 00:02:59 Good for you. Yep. Well, way to go. That's awesome. All right. So let's talk through then. Goal number one is get current on everything. Are you current on everything?
Starting point is 00:03:10 The first chunk of money that came in, which was about $30,000, I paid off all of my little credit cards, Home Depot, Kohl's, Target, all those little ones. And I paid $6,500 to the IRS and paid off the state of Arizona. Are you current with your house and your utilities? Yes, sir. Are you current with everyone, the normal payments? Absolutely. Okay. So outstanding.
Starting point is 00:03:34 You have debts, and you have some remaining with the IRS today, right? I have $25,000 with the IRS, yes. Okay. And you have how much of the debt? I have $18,000 on a stupid credit card. My minimum payment is $500 a month, so I'd love to get rid of that. All right. And then I have really maybe another $10,000 in just little ones that I'd like to pay off.
Starting point is 00:04:04 So I'm debt-free. So not counting your home, the IRS is $25,000, the credit card is $18,000. Am I right so far? Plus $10,000. You're debt-free in $50,000. Mm-hmm. Right? Right.
Starting point is 00:04:22 And you made $172,000 since you got back in the saddle. Yes, but it comes in in drips and drafts. I know, and in blobs. Right. But, I mean, how long before you make 50, March? Well, 172 is all due by the end of February. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. I thought you meant you made 100.
Starting point is 00:04:43 Okay, so you've already closed the deals, and as long as they stay in the job, you get the recruiter fee. Exactly. Yeah, okay. So the first $50,000 that comes in makes you 100% debt-free then, doesn't it? But I'm afraid to part with it. I've got to put something in my emergency fund because it's paralyzing when money doesn't come in. How big of gaps do you have between checks?
Starting point is 00:05:13 Well, if everybody pays on time, it should only be like a couple, maybe three weeks to a month or so, but they don't always pay on time, and then I'm chasing down my money. Okay. What's it take you to live a month? About six grand okay well the next six grand that comes in set that aside and everything above that throw it towards the debt okay and if that dwindles down because you're living out of the six grand replenish it this is not really emergency savings this is you live out of your money and you put the balance towards debt. So we're going
Starting point is 00:05:45 to do six grand at a time because you're not going to go an entire month with no check. No, December, January, and February, I'm looking pretty good. Yeah. Money coming in pretty steadily. Some are huge checks, some are little checks. So you kind of got a little bit of PTSD because the year 2019 sucked. It did. Yeah. And you just got hammered with of PTSD because your 2019 sucked. It did. Yeah, and you just got hammered with the loss of your daddy and the end of your marriage and everything else, and that just makes you a human being. So that's good news.
Starting point is 00:06:15 You're human, right? Yeah. So it hurt, and it makes you a little bit scared, and scared drives you pretty hard because when you got with it, you got with it hard. Yeah. Yeah, I'm proud of you. You've turned this around real quick. I don't want you to run scared, though. I just want you to run hard.
Starting point is 00:06:32 Yeah, I'll continue to run hard. I just need to find somewhere. Yeah, so set six aside, set six aside, throw everything else at the dead. And if the six gets down to three and you get another check in, add three back to it, and then everything else to the debt. If it gets down to 2, add 4 back to it, and everything else goes towards the debt. But you're going to be debt-free by February 1st or into February anyway. That's what I'm projecting, yes.
Starting point is 00:06:56 Yeah, I mean, if you get half of this 172, you've got enough to live 6 a month out of and pay 50 grand off. Right. Half of $172,000 is plenty for you. And you're going to get more than half of it. Should I do the IRS first? Yes. I'm on a team of things with them, so they're not going to come after me.
Starting point is 00:07:16 Yes. You're going to have it all done in 60 days. Okay. It's all going to be gone in 60 days. So, yeah, we'll go ahead and pay the IRS first. I always put them at the top. And then you've got a little $10,000 odds and ends, and you've got an $18,000 stupid credit card, and you're done.
Starting point is 00:07:36 And then you build your emergency fund proper. Three to six months, and in your case it's six months because you have a single income that is straight commission. So you've got six months of expenses, so six times 36, so your emergency fund should be somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 to $40,000. And you never touch that for anything. And then you're walking along with no debt and a big pile of money in the bank. Gosh, life feels pretty good, doesn't it?
Starting point is 00:08:00 It sure does. Merry Christmas to you. You're doing good. You're doing better than you feel like you're doing because you've had a year from hell. And it's just you've got some scars. You've got some hurt places, some wounds. I understand. I understand.
Starting point is 00:08:16 This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. In a season of giving, what better gift can you give someone in the coming year than a new job? Business leaders, if you're looking to add to your team in 2020, get started now with LinkedIn Jobs. At Ramsey Solutions, we post on LinkedIn Jobs because we know the right person will have an impact on our company for years to come. And LinkedIn Jobs matches the right person with the right job. It's no wonder a hire is made every eight seconds on LinkedIn, and over 600 million members visit LinkedIn to make connections, learn and grow as professionals, and discover new job opportunities. So find the right person for your team and give the gift of a rewarding new career. Get started today and get $50 off your first job post.
Starting point is 00:09:46 Visit linkedin.com slash Ramsey. That's linkedin.com slash Ramsey. Terms and conditions apply. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know the Ramsey Network is pretty much everywhere? You can check us out on YouTube. You can listen where you find your favorite podcasts.
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Starting point is 00:11:33 Again, you can pick these shows up as podcasts on YouTube. You can pick them up on SiriusXM. We are everywhere spreading this out. And more to come in 2020. More fun stuff in 2020 i am oh i can't talk about it oh my goodness it's exciting all right uh tim is in kentucky hi tim how are you hey mr ramsey nice to talk with you you too um i am a 61 year old man. I'm going to be retiring probably in about six years, but it's 67 Lord willing. And, um, I've currently, I've got a debt of probably around 130,000 mortgage, no other debt at all. The house is valued probably at about eight, um, 800,000. I've got approximately, between my wife's SEP account, which is around $30,000,
Starting point is 00:12:29 I've got almost, with her account and my account, it's about $920,000. That's what I've got in the 401K. Finally got it up from a 201K to a 401K. I actually followed your plan. Love it. I'm one of your all-success stories. We started out making $11,000 a year. Wow.
Starting point is 00:12:53 So you didn't inherit any of this, and you're worth a couple of million dollars, and you're 61 years old. Yes, sir. I'm so proud of you. Well done. It wasn't me. It was the Lord. You know, in your plan, and you just follow it, and you keep going after it.
Starting point is 00:13:10 My wife actually took our credit cards initially when we were young, and she cut them up and put them in the oven, snowed the house all up, but it took care of business. So she's the smart one of the bunch. I love it. Yeah, she's really good. good and really blessed in that regard. My question is this. If I were to take, right now I'm putting 25% in my 401k. Right. And I'm wondering whether I should dial back on that and just do the company match of 6%. Yes. If I dial back to 6% and put everything,
Starting point is 00:13:46 I mean, currently we're trying to pay this house off as much as possible. We were debt-free prior to building our dream home. Yes. So, uh, we built the dream home. So, um, got everything budgeted and everything else. So we're good, but we're trying to get it done early. So yes. To prepare for my retirement. Yes. Do it. What's your household income? It's between her and I right now, it's about $130,000. Okay. Yeah, you need to pay this $130,000 off as soon as possible. And I love that you're going to do that with cash flow rather than actually cashing out some of your huge 401K. Right.
Starting point is 00:14:19 You can always dip into that if you have to get to retirement and you don't have it done. But there's no reason at all. If you just, you know, I'd go ahead and keep six going in because i'd get the match but beyond that i'm just going to budget and uh so twenty thousand dollars a year for uh six years is 120 000 right okay so tell you it's gonna take it's gonna take more than that probably need to do 30 or 40 000 a year and get done with this, and I would do that. And here's the thing. Okay. Even if you added nothing to it, if the thing is averaging around 11%, 10%,
Starting point is 00:14:55 then $900,000 is going to become $1,000,008,000 in seven years. It'll double every seven years. Son, I tell you what, you can get a lot of money away. Yep, you sure can. And change your family tree, and you've retired with dignity. You've got a lot of options. You can do a lot of wonderful things. And, you know, just the income off of a couple million dollars at 66 years old
Starting point is 00:15:21 is going to put you in a really, really sweet position. So well done, sir. Proud of you. Very well done. I love you guys as well. Appreciate you all's ministry. God bless you guys. You too.
Starting point is 00:15:32 Merry Christmas. Open phones at 888-825-5225. So a few years ago he was making $11,000. Now he makes $130,000. And he's got $900,000 in 401K, an $800,000 house almost paid for. So why not you? What's keeping you from doing it? He said it was hard.
Starting point is 00:16:03 But you know what's harder? Being broke. That's hard. Being old and broke is really hard. You want to be 72 years old living on $700 a month coming from social security? I don't. I don't want to be working in mcdonald's at 72 years old unless it's the one i own in st thomas being broke's hard it's not that money is everything it just gives you options it gives you the ability to bless others it gives you the ability to change your family tree i mean that guy if he lives up into his 70s or 80s, is going to be worth $10 million when he passes away. That's where the numbers are headed for him right now.
Starting point is 00:16:54 He's already worth two, and he's 61. Double it every seven years, and let's see what we got. $800,000 house, $900,000 401K. Just double it every seven years and tell me what you get. This is where he's going to be. And, you know, and leave that to your children. As long as you raise your children and they have character and they're people of quality and they think clearly,
Starting point is 00:17:21 they have good critical thinking skills, and they understand that wealth is a responsibility, it's not that they hit the lottery, then you have truly changed your family tree. And listen, there's only one way to get money into a 401k. You cannot put an inheritance into a 401k. There's only one way. It's legally, by regulation, by the IRS guidelines,
Starting point is 00:17:51 the only money that goes into a 401k is payroll deducted or rolled from an old 401k that was payroll deducted. So there's only one possible way he got $900,000 in that 401k. He saved money out of every check. That's how he did it. That's how he did it. And it wasn't the rate of return. It wasn't that he read something on the Internet about some fancy way to do mutual funds.
Starting point is 00:18:27 It wasn't that he didn't pay commissions. It wasn't that he did pay commissions. He saved money out of every freaking check. And he's 61 years old and can do anything he wants. Pretty amazing. But at 61, worth $2 million, you know what he did today? Called me because he was adjusting his goals because he's always had goals. Because if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time.
Starting point is 00:19:01 Oh, I don't want to work my whole life and just save money I want to enjoy my life because I'm four freaking years old emotionally and I want to spend everything on Friday and Saturday and say thank God it's Friday oh God it's Monday because I'm a child
Starting point is 00:19:17 see that's not a way to live that's not a way to live you'll be broke your whole life. Just be a grown-up and set goals. And you get to enjoy your life that way, too, by the way. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. How often can you get the best of both worlds?
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Starting point is 00:20:42 Equal housing lender. 761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee. 3-7-0-2-7. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Nick and Ashley are with us. Hey, guys. How are you? Hey, Dave. Hey, Dave. How's it going? Better than I deserve. Welcome. Good to with us. Hey, guys. How are you? Hey, Dave. Hey, Dave.
Starting point is 00:21:06 How's it going? Better than I deserve. Welcome. Good to have y'all. Thank you. Where do you guys live? Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Oh, I love it.
Starting point is 00:21:12 And all the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. How much have you paid off? It's $56,092. All right. And how long did this take? 21 weeks. 21 weeks? Six months. Look at you. I love it. And your range did this take? 21 weeks. 21 weeks?
Starting point is 00:21:25 Six months. Look at you. I love it. And your range of income during that time? It was around $140. Okay. What do you all do for a living? So I'm in health insurance sales, and I also own my wedding photography business.
Starting point is 00:21:38 Okay. And I'm in sales in the medical field. Okay. Very good. Very good. What kind of debt was your $56? Student loans, and we paid off a 2018 Camry. Nice. Very cool. How long have you guys been married? It'll be a year on Sunday. So this is kind of our anniversary getaway as well. I love
Starting point is 00:21:59 it. Happy anniversary. Thank you. How fun. Very cool. So you get get married and pretty much first thing is game on we're getting rid of the debt how did you know to do that what made you decide to do that tell me the story yeah so basically it was all thanks to my mom uh hey mom so she basically bought us a book um i forget what book it was but we she also listened to the podcast um and every time i was in the car with her she'd be listening to the podcast and And every time I was in the car with her, she'd be listening to the podcast. And she was like, yeah, you can listen to Dave. They do this debt-free scream. And when I first heard my first debt-free scream, I was like, it gave me all over chills.
Starting point is 00:22:32 I was like, I want to do that. And I was in so much debt. I was like, where do I even start? It was just very overwhelming. But when we were first engaged, we knew going in that we were both in debt and we didn't want to be there anymore. So we didn't start until after the wedding because we knew we had to pay a lot of money to have a wedding. But so we started right after that. We took financial peace university at our local church in January.
Starting point is 00:23:03 My mom bought me that for my birthday. So she was really the one that really got us into this. Okay, cool. So Nick, Ashley's like, Mom said do this, and what are you saying? Well, it's great because Financial Peace University, she's like, well, I can bring a plus one. So do you want to come? I'm like, okay, sure. Why not? And then it was, um, after the first meeting, it was, you know, figure out what your, your debt is or what your income and, um, figuring out your budget and everything like that. She was the nerd to start, I would say, um, just cause I was like, Oh, you know, okay, we'll see how this goes. And then, um, probably after the first month, whenever you actually see where your money's going, uh, and how you can actually budget. Definitely, I think I became the nerd
Starting point is 00:23:46 in that and was like, gung-ho, let's keep going, let's keep going. So both of you got jacked up. Oh, yeah. We're very competitive. You're both real goal-oriented. Yeah, and we would have competitions with ourselves. We'd be like, let's see who can spend the least this month. And we'd be like, oh, that person that loses
Starting point is 00:24:02 has to take the dog out every time. So you don't want to do that. So we're very, very competitive people. That's fun. I love it. Turn the whole thing into a game. Yeah. I mean, in our budget, we had a treat yourself budget for each one of us.
Starting point is 00:24:15 So it was kind of like if we went out to dinner where we weren't together, it was like, do I really need to buy the $30 steak or can I buy with the $10 salad or something like that? So I think that motivation helped motivate us. Wow. We won't say who won, Dave. Oh! Oh! Had to take the dog out a lot. In January in Pennsylvania, it was not fun.
Starting point is 00:24:37 Trash talking on the winning, too. That's the whole thing. You not only win, but you have to trash talk when you win. Of course. Absolutely. I love it. So fun. Very cool. So you get to trash talk when you win. Of course. Absolutely. I love it. So fun. Very cool.
Starting point is 00:24:47 So you get married, and it's game on. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Really just sticking to a budget and just being in the right mindset. I mean, that was a game changer for us when we were aware, you know, where our money was going and just knowing, okay, we've got to be strict to this. That just made a huge difference for us. Yeah, Ashley had to keep me in check a couple times of whenever we first started, it was, well, it doesn't really make sense to go after the smallest debt
Starting point is 00:25:13 whenever you have the most interest. And she's like, you can't do Dave-ish. You have to do Dave. And I was like, okay, trust the process. And here, you know, we paid off our first, our smallest loan. And it was like, hey, we did that. And now we can roll that into something else. And, hey, Dave, the debt snowball, it works.
Starting point is 00:25:29 Wow. Believe it or not. Really? Shocker. That's awesome. Very cool. So doing the budget, and it does sound like you guys, like when you became aware of what to do and how to do it, you saw that it was going to work.
Starting point is 00:25:48 You could see it, couldn't you? You had a vision for it. Yeah, we got very aggressive. And like I said, we're very competitive. So once we started going, we were all in. Like, let's do this. Let's knock it out. See how fast we can do it.
Starting point is 00:26:02 And really, I mean, six months went by really quick. But it was a struggle. I mean, we didn fast we can do it. And really, I mean, six months went by really quick. But it was a struggle. I mean, we didn't eat out as much. No, you didn't do anything. I mean, you're making $140,000. You paid off $56,000 in six months. Yeah. And taxes out of that, I mean, you're beans and rice.
Starting point is 00:26:16 Yeah. I mean, in the beginning, it was kind of an ego thing. Like, having a lot in the bank account was like, oh, that's comfortable, but we were in debt, so it really didn't make sense. So you had some that you threw at it at the start. Yes. How much? Maybe starting with like $5,000 after we paid off everything with the wedding. But like she said, to take your bank account down to $1,000 is scary.
Starting point is 00:26:42 It's terrifying. Yeah. Which motivates you even more. Right. And, I mean, I'll be 28 in January, so it's just like, oh, you're young. You want to buy all the things. But it's like, no, we need to start planning for our future. We're married.
Starting point is 00:26:54 We want to start a family. So it just got us on the right track. Excellent. Well done, you guys. So, obviously, Mom was a big cheerleader. You went through Financial Peace University. You had some cheerleaders there. Anybody else were cheerleaders? Yeah. With Financial Peace University, I always think was the biggest thing because that was nine weeks of the 21 weeks that we recorded.
Starting point is 00:27:12 And there was actually a woman in my group that was just in our breakout group that the last one, the last meeting, I was able to go in and say that I paid off my last student loan. And she said, I don't even, I hardly know you, but I feel like I'm about to cry for you. She was like, I'm so proud of you. You're like my son. So just being in that community was great. And our families are very supportive, but it's amazing whenever you actually go out and start talking like,
Starting point is 00:27:36 hey, do you know Dave Ramsey? Do you know his solutions to everything? They're like, yeah, I listen to his podcast all the time. We have the EveryDollar app. My friend Brandon has the EveryDollar app. Our friends Bree and Barry, we talk to them about it too. So it's definitely a community of people once you actually get talking about it. And yeah. Very, very cool. Good job, you guys. Well done. Now that you did it, how's it feel? Oh my gosh, it's so freeing. Oh my gosh, we're saving for a house now. So it's just like on to the next thing. But it's just, wow.
Starting point is 00:28:06 Like those student loans are gone. And it's just very freeing. And it like allows us to be an example and just to show others, hey, you can do this too. You're completely clear and you're not even 30. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. I told one of my coworkers I was coming on here, and she was like, Nick, are you weird?
Starting point is 00:28:25 I'm like, yeah, I guess I am. So it's a good feeling for sure. She knew the lingo. Yeah, I like it. She's part of the tribe. Way to go. You guys are weird. You're not even 30, and you're 100% debt-free.
Starting point is 00:28:38 You made it into a competition, a game, a discipline. You stayed with it, and you had some fun with it along the way but you got her done fast and that's that was really impressive very well done we're proud of you here at ramsey i can tell you that good job we got a copy of chris hogan's book for you everyday millionaires uh because that's your next chapter okay thank you i'm speaking that on you right now you're gonna do it yeah that's your next chapter game on keep going game on you gotta have a goal and uh and so yeah take a copy of that it's signed by him and you guys are incredible nick and ashley harrisburg pennsylvania 56 000 paid off in 21 weeks making 140 count it down let's hear a debt-free scream. All right. Three, two, one.
Starting point is 00:29:26 We're debt-free! I love it! Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop. Yeah. You can't do ish. Ish is a wish. You have to submit to the program. And it's not because I'm the program.
Starting point is 00:29:49 It's not something like that. It's not because of my ego. I don't care. It doesn't affect me. I'm going to go home and pet my dog. It doesn't affect me. It's going to happen with you. This is proven stuff.
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Starting point is 00:32:01 another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. Winston Churchill said, We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
Starting point is 00:32:21 Marty is with us in California. Hey, Marty, welcome to the dave ramsey show hi dave hey what's up thank you yeah thank you for all you do sure merry christmas how can i help yes um i'm getting ready to retire from the military in october of next year so trying to plan ahead um we'll be debt free in april and then have our savings by the time I retire. Way to go. Emergency fund savings. But right now I have $17,000 in TSP under a traditional Roth IRA, or traditional IRA.
Starting point is 00:32:59 So I was wondering, at the time that I retire, should I try to roll that over to a Roth IRA? Should I just leave it where it's at? You said TSP or IRA? TSP. It's your TSP. Yeah. I would always roll a 401k or a TSP away to an IRA when you leave the company. In your case, when you're leaving military service, by the way, thank you for for your service and i would always roll it to a traditional ira there's no taxes for doing that and so you always take your 401k with you you always take your tsp with you when you leave by a direct transfer rollover from the tsp into some mutual funds that you select with one of the smart investor pros they'll help you pick them out, show you what you're doing. You'll understand what you're getting into.
Starting point is 00:33:49 And then I would not do it as a Roth today until you get your house paid off and you've got some extra money because it creates taxes when you convert it to a Roth. Okay. It'll cost about $7,000, $8,000 worth of taxes if you roll $30,000 in to a Roth. Okay. So I just, I wouldn't do that today. But later on, when you've got some extra money, so to speak, then I would roll it to a Roth and let it do that.
Starting point is 00:34:18 But I always take it with me because you've got more access to the money. It's easier to get a hold of and manage. And you've got more access to the money. It's easier to get a hold of and manage. And you've got more choices. There's 8,000 mutual funds to choose from. Of course, the TSP just has a handful of options that you can put it in, and they're all indexes. And there's plenty of mutual funds that will outperform the TSP options. They're not super bad, but they're not super good. So just take it with me. Pick out the four types of mutual funds that we talk about, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international, and do it that way. So, hey, thanks for the call.
Starting point is 00:34:55 Open phones at 888-825-5225. Rebecca in Illinois. Merry Christmas, Rebecca. Merry Christmas to you. How can I help? We just found out that our mother-in-law is having a problem with her debt versus income ratios. She is not leaving, after she's paying her debt, she's not leaving enough money to pay for her medications. So considering her dignity and integrity, should we advise her to stop paying um they're all personal like personal finance companies um so she just went and got personal loans at like storefront
Starting point is 00:35:37 operations or they're payday lenders they're not payday lenders. But close. But, yeah, she said she needed money to pay for an insurance premium, so she went to a personal finance company. Yeah. How old is she? And, Dave, they were so kind to loan her money. Oh, aren't they? Yeah, they're sweet. You know?
Starting point is 00:35:58 Yeah, they check up on her, make sure she's okay. Yeah. And then they charge her 79% interest. Yeah. They're so nice. Just wonderful. 79%. 79%.
Starting point is 00:36:10 So how much debt like this does she have? She has around 15,000. And how much is her income? She's Social Security only. That's all she's social security only. That's all. She has no savings. I think she has, she gets about $1,600 a month. Um, her medications are anywhere between three and $500 a month.
Starting point is 00:36:38 Um, you know, I guess I'm just kind of ticked. First of all, that she went out and got these loans, but then these wonderful companies are— They're predators. They're complete predators. And they prey on the ignorant and the elderly, and that's who they prey on. I mean, nobody— Yeah, this 80-year-old person that can barely breathe, saves effort.
Starting point is 00:36:59 She's 80? She's 80. Okay. What is your financial situation? We are doing—I mean? We're doing all right. We have a fully funded emergency debt-free. We're trying to save some money up to replace our 17-year-old car. What is your household income?
Starting point is 00:37:23 My household income is $130,000. And how many kids does this lady have? She has three kids. Can they all chip in five grand, let's get rid of this? We're the only people in the position to do this out of the three. My other concern is 10 years ago, we reached out and paid off a personal loan for her. And we've been paying part of her household expenses for the last 10, 15 years. And now she's done it again.
Starting point is 00:38:06 The worm has turned, okay? The two of you have to sit down with her in person and explain to her, if we get you out of this, we're going to manage your income from this point forward. And you're not going to borrow a dime ever again. And we're going to get in touch with her doctor and see if there's not generic medications available. Yeah. Because it could be she's double paying or triple paying for these medications that she doesn't have to. Because it's the same kind of scam.
Starting point is 00:38:33 But the only way you can get involved is to take it over and make sure it's run right. She's 80. Yeah. Yeah, we finally sat down with her last month right before Thanksgiving, and she confessed to us she had these loans out there. We thought she was doing okay. Was she ashamed? Yes. Good. I don't want to shame her, but that's a good indication that she's not going to do it again.
Starting point is 00:39:10 If she was arrogant and entitled about it, she would go do it again. Do you see what I'm saying? Yes, sir. So that's good news. So I think you guys, you know, you're just getting your stuff straightened out, but I'm going to take over a whole bunch of stuff, and I'm going to get some real strong verbal promises that she's not going to buy anything else or do anything else ever again. Yeah, I thought we had that a couple years ago. Yeah, you probably did. You probably did. Okay. But my guess is that she's not arrogant and prideful
Starting point is 00:39:48 my guess is she gets scared she's by herself yes i would agree she's somewhat feeble and she gets put in these corners and she gets intimidated and scared and these nice people just show up to help her and they're they're they're crumb bags is what they are right and so um but that's who she is she's not a uh she she's not breaking that promise uh with malice or arrogance she gets scared. Okay. I think. And so what happens is you guys have to be the buffer. And so she doesn't need to be afraid anymore. She's going to have food, and you're going to take care of the other issues. Because she just, she gets, things get out of control.
Starting point is 00:40:45 She doesn't know how to fix them, and she just doesn't want to bother you guys. Am I reading her mail or not? You know what? I think you're right. I was just frustrated with her. She'd done it again. I don't blame you for your frustration, but I've dealt with a lot of folks in these situations, and sometimes they're just a jerk,'re you know they're not completely there and you're having to deal with a partial mental situation but um that's not what i hear here she's a classic case study for what these predators feed on
Starting point is 00:41:15 um the next thing is she'll get conned or she'll buy stuff on shopping tv because she's lonely she also fits that model so So be careful. That puts this hour of The Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at DaveRamsey.com slash show.

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